At Mountain Hope Church we strongly believe that your character is ever so important as we work our way through life. There will be many decisions and events that will shape us. These become opportunities to refine our character and ultimately our destiny. So...

What's so important about Character ?

Everything !

Abraham Lincoln once said, "Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."

Our character is not just what we try to display for others to see, it is who we are even when no one is watching. Good character is doing the right thing because it is right to do what is right.

Excert from character-training.com

How then do we build and maintain a good character?

There are many places to find teaching on character development the foremost of course being in the bible. It takes a commitment and the setting aside of regular time to develop character and we would like to encourage you to seek out suitable ways to do this.

Below are some suggestions that may suit you depending on where you are in your walk with God and what you are after.

What are some important character traits?

Character First has a fantastic list of character qualities and definitions that can be downloaded for free in an easy to read print fomat. View or download the list here.

Bill Gothard is founder and president of the Institute in Basic Life Principles, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to serving youth and families through God-ordained leaders. He has a great list of character traits (and their opposites) listed here.

I want to study some character traits of Jesus

The Institue in Basic Life Principals provides a 49 week program called "Daily Success" designed to help individuals and families develop and maintain the spiritual discipline of Scripture meditation. It is aimed at men but can be used by anyone.

Because the key to loving God and others is found in the commands of Christ, this program focuses on one command each week. An overview of theses commands (and its associated character trait) can be seen here. A series of daily e-mails are sent for 49 weeks that provide instruction and encouragement to continue meditating on Scripture.

If you are interested in this program simply click on the graphic link below which will take you to The Institue in Basic Life Principals website, then click on Daily Success.

If 49 weeks seems a little overwhelming we would like to recommend some great material at Discipleship Tools which you can explore at your own pace.