Philosophy of Ministry

A Biblical Philosophy of Ministry

What is our purpose as a church? How will we do ministry? What are the divine objectives for biblically-based, New Covenant churches?

Critical questions indeed but ones often left unanswered by local church leadership. Too often in the past we have been content with having a doctrinal statement to detail what we believe. A doctrinal statement is critical in defining a local church and protecting its doctrines, but more is needed. At the same time, this paper in no way attempts to replace our doctrinal statement. Rather, it complements and supplements it. The doctrinal statement should be used together with this statement for the complete picture.

Practical issues must be addressed as we carry out local church ministry. Parameters are needed. Common objectives and goals must be understood and embraced by all. There is simply too much at stake to go about the day to day activity of ministry in an unfocused, undisciplined manner. Biblical, Christ-centered ministry is a war, a constant battle between truth and error and sin and righteousness. Eternal souls are at stake. God’s living Word and the accurate proclamation of it is at stake. We must know not only what we believe and why, but also what we are doing and why we are doing it.

Amid the constant pressures to compromise, to deviate from the mandates and to dissipate into a “shot-gun” approach, the church and her leadership can easily lose focus. Pastors today are “burning-out” at an ever-alarming rate. Many often lament their lack of time, lack of energy, lack of focus and effectiveness. It is all too easy to lose sight of the target in the trenches of ministry.

Will a written philosophy of ministry cure all our ills? No, but if it reflects the biblical data accurately and if it’s embraced by the church leaders and people, if it resides in our minds and if we are reminded of it often, we have a far greater likelihood of effectiveness as a church. If we all collectively know and embrace our target, our likelihood of hitting it in enhanced ten fold. “Aim at nothing and you will hit it every time” someone once said.

Our target as a church – that’s what this paper is all about. We seek to be like an arrow in the hand of our Lord, able to fly straight and true toward His target for us – a target made clear from a study of the biblical data.

Beyond the most crucial benefit of collectively knowing our target, a biblical philosophy of ministry can also aid in …
• keeping pastors and elders focused on biblical essentials
• helping the church to determine its scope of ministry
• evaluating our effectiveness and correcting weaknesses
• mobilizing and energizing the saints “for the work of service”
• examining the merits of prospective ministries
• keeping the church balanced among her priorities

One of the common realities about churches, just like the pastors and people that make them up, is that they tend to become out of balance. Churches tend to become really strong and focused on one or two important areas to the neglect of something else equally important. For example, a strong teaching church over time becomes “ingrown” and neglects evangelism. Or a strong gospel-preaching church witnesses many conversions but the new believers don’t mature in the faith because the focus is on salvation and not growth. Or a church with an excellent emphasis on worship, music and praise lacks rich preaching and teaching. And so it goes.

We must have a way to evaluate ourselves, some way to recognize these “out of balance” situations so they can be corrected in God’s strength. A philosophy of ministry can help us. It helps supply the frame of the “house” we are seeking to build. It provides the “lens” through which we all view ourselves as a local church congregation seeking to do God’s work God’s way.

This philosophy of ministry statement has two objectives – to summarize the divine principles of ministry found in the Scriptures and then to draw implications from these principles. To the degree we are successful in that endeavor will be the degree of it’s usefulness to us.

A BIBLICAL APPROACH TO MINISTRY

Let’s begin with our theme verse, our mission statement if you will. It is powerful, succinct and compelling.

“And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ” (Col. 1:28)

Herein lies our message (the Lord Jesus Christ), our method (proclamation), our target audience (“every man”; i.e., no one is left out or overlooked) and our objective (complete in Christ). To summarize each, our message is Christ Jesus from beginning to end. We seek to anchor everything in the Person and work of Christ. To proclaim Christ is to preach the Scriptures, for He is found in them throughout. To proclaim Christ is to draw attention to Him, His perfect life, His sacrificial death and His glorious resurrection. To proclaim Christ is to magnify His grace and mercy in the forgiveness of sins. We are here to boldly proclaim the greatness, loveliness, virtues, excellencies and all-sufficient nature of the incarnate God in Jesus Christ. We want to draw people to Christ Himself, not the church, not programs, not a pastor, not even the Christian way of living, but to Christ Himself.

Our method is one of proclamation with both a negative and positive aspect – “admonishing and teaching with all wisdom.” To admonish is to warn, to exhort, to urge repentance and obedience to God. God’s Word is replete with warnings of a wrathful God, a hungry devil and the devastating consequences of sin. Therefore our proclamation will be sprinkled with compassionate and loving warnings to both unbelievers and the people of God. On the positive side, we are to teach or instruct “every man” the revealed truth of God. This is the aspect of training, explaining and coming along side folks on how to live a godly and victorious life in Christ.

As a result of this text and many others, we must reject the current trend that emphasizes music, drama, films and short “talks” as the God-ordained means of spreading the gospel. In other words, we believe that God’s means are primarily through preaching and teaching the authoritative Word of God. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

Our target audience is “every man”, a phrase used three times in our theme verse. Our culture embraces an attitude of seeking the “best” and leaving the “rest” but this doesn’t square with the heart of God nor the Apostle Paul’s ministry. We seek to love, respect and move closer to Christ every person God brings into our world as individuals and as a church.

Finally, our objective is a high, holy and glorious one – that every person in our ministry would be “complete in Christ.” This is a daunting task. The target we strive for is clear – maturity in Christ. Conformity to His image. Living day to day resembling our Lord and Savior. Our goal then is to help each individual in our church to better love, honor and treasure Jesus Christ above all else.

Having unpacked our mission statement, we are now ready to discuss the following six areas of our philosophy of ministry. They are:

1. The Purpose of the Church
2. The Pillars of a Biblical Ministry
3. The Power for Effective Ministry
4. The Proper Spiritual Attitudes We Seek to Develop
5. The Mature Product of Our Church’s Ministry
6. The Programs that Carry Out our Purposes

THE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH

Why does our church exist? The grave danger in trying to articulate a single purpose is to narrowly focus on one item to the exclusion of something more important. With that caution in mind we would like to suggest that the one overall, over-arching purpose of our Church is to glorify God (I Cor. 6:19-20, Eph. 3:20-21).

What does this phrase – “to glorify God” – really mean? How can we say this is our one true purpose? In Eph. 1:3-14 Paul lays out our blessings in Christ. In this opening section on salvation, the Apostle repeats three times “to the praise of His glory” (1:6, 12, 14) in answering why God has chosen and saved anyone. Salvation then, and by implication, the church itself, is ultimately God-centered and for His glory. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev. 5:12). Verse 13 adds “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

To glorify God means that we put God on display in and through our lives. Paul often calls the church “the body of Christ” (Eph. 1:22-23). As His body, He being the Head, we are the very representatives of Christ on earth. There can be no adequate discussion of our purpose if we fail to grasp that the church is uniquely the body of Christ, becoming His hands and feet as it were. As we live as His body we will bring glory to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The church brings glory to God in three primary ways.

Exaltation
As the redeemed of God, the church is to be a worshipping community of people that exalts God through Jesus Christ (I Peter 2:9-10 and 4:11; John 4:23-24; Phil. 3:3). Our services should reflect this priority. To worship God means to ascribe to Him the supreme worth of which He alone is worthy. It is to properly understand the revealed character of God and respond in praise, worship and thanksgiving for who He is and what He has done. As creatures of God we ought to humble ourselves in adoration and reverence, even holy fear, of Almighty God. Man needs this awe of God and the church of all places should reflect this priority. Our daily lives should also reflect this priority of holiness and worship in all things (I Cor. 10:31) lest our Sunday services become a sham.

The outworkings of this goal in our services requires that we have God-centered song lyrics and preaching. We should never structure worship out of our corporate services in trying to create a “comfortable” atmosphere for the unbeliever. In fact the typical church service is not primarily for unbelievers (cf. I Cor. 14:23-25) though they should certainly be invited and welcomed guests that they might hear the Word of God. Believers should make up the majority of the church congregation. Flowing then from this group of redeemed people should come unashamed praise and worship.

Worship can take place in many ways during the service. We must keep in mind though that what happens on Sunday morning is but a corporate overflow of individuals who worship God Monday through Saturday. Singing, music, orchestra numbers, solos, praying, giving, preaching and listening to God’s Word, Communion, Baptism, serving and the reading of Scripture all make up part of our worship or service to God, but all must come from peoples whose mind in focused on God and whose desire is to please Him.

Our worship service should reflect this priority throughout, meaning we should be aware of the reality that our worship is an offering unto the Lord and must be done with a whole heart and surrendered life. Some practical implications of the goal of exaltation are that we …
• strive to do all things related to the worship service with excellence. This means that every leader, whether pastor, musicians, song leaders, ushers, sound/light technicians, etc., have adequately prepared themselves, rehearsed as needed and prayed.
• always view the church body as participants in worship, not an audience. Therefore, we will resist and reject the temptation to entertain or put on a “production” to impress a crowd. We consciously reject any “showmanship” in our service as something unfitting for a preacher of the gospel or a worship leader. Since the congregation serves as participants and not an audience in our services, we will seek to lead them to worship via a call to worship and encouragement to sing with joy and enthusiasm to the Lord.
• will continuously seek to enhance and improve our music ministry by developing talented, gifted musicians and singers. Music is a gift of God, His creation, and as such we should strive to use it in ways that honor Him. Again, our goal should be excellence in all things, making the most of the talents God has given by seeking to raise the standard of musical offerings so that we ensure that the highest qualified in our church are involved.

Our striving for excellence in all things, our desire to do “all to the glory of God” does not mean that only “experts” or “professionals” can participate in our service. Rather, we will strive for the participation to come from within our own body. We desire to create and maintain an atmosphere where gifts and talents can be discovered and developed while at the same time ensuring that we enhance worship. As a body of forgiven people, we will always strive to be forgiving among ourselves when mistakes are made of any kind. In other words, though we strive for quality, we balance that with a desire to be a place of grace and growth; a place where there is “room to fall”, to try again, to be encouraged and to grow together in serving the Lord.

Edification
Ephesians 4:11-12 reveals why God gave gifted men to the church. We find
that pastor/teachers are given to the church “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.” Clearly then one of the primary purposes of the pastor, and the body at large in a variety of ways, is to build up and equip the body through effective teaching of the Word of God and through a Christ-like example. One of the pastor’s primary roles is to equip and train the saints to effectively do the work of the ministry, as he himself seeks to do his part. A properly focused and functioning church must realize that it can not be a one-man show. In fact, the work will never be done by only one person or even a staff of people. The church is a team that must have every member doing his/her part. It’s an army, depending on one another to protect and advance its message. It’s a body, functioning together in unity and diversity, accomplishing so much more together than any one member could alone.

The pastor and the church together exist to build each other up, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). Biblical unity is a lofty goal and one with two main obstacles to overcome, as pointed out by John MacArthur … “disunity in the church comes from doctrinal ignorance and spiritual immaturity.” Accordingly, we will focus our efforts on dealing with these two obstacles via teaching and shepherding the flock. While earth-bound, pastor and people alike are not yet fully Christ-like so each must do his part to further the process. Paul explains in Eph. 4:16 that when every “individual part” of the body is doing its part, the “whole body … causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” This concept is truly amazing! The body builds or causes the growth of itself when functioning properly, all under God’s all-wise design.

Several key passages must under-gird this aspect of our ministry. We’ve already discussed one – Col. 1:28-29. The second half of the Great Commission is the other. We are to teach every convert “to observe all that I commanded you.” Teaching by precept and example then becomes the responsibility of every Christian in seeking to edify one another. Other key texts (Eph. 4:7-16, I Cor. 12-14, Rom. 12:1-8 and I Peter 4:10-11) instruct us about our spiritual giftedness within the body, given to us by God to use in serving one another, not ourselves, and bringing glory to God as we minister to one another in His strength.

Yet having said all of this, the responsibility of the pastor/teacher as shepherd of the flock does not diminish. He is responsible, with the other elders, to shepherd, protect, feed and care for the flock. Acts 6:4 tells us that ultimately and primarily the leader must be focused on two priorities – prayer and the word. He must be a man of prayer, leading the congregation by example in this crucial area. He is also responsible to lead the leaders, imparting to them his vision and philosophy of ministry and seeking to train them to train and teach others (cf. II Tim. 2:2). Along with the other elders, the pastor has as a mandate from God to walk above reproach and close to God, being sensitive and dependent on His Spirit. As a man among men making critical decisions for God’s flock, he must be in tune with God and filled with His Word.

Many forms exist to meet this NT function; for example, small group Bible studies, fellowship groups, Sunday school classes, discipleship groups, preaching, testimonies, songs of praise and worship. Edification takes place as every believer, in the normal flow of his life in and out of church, has as a priority the building up of others in the faith and the exercise of his gift to God’s glory.

Evangelism
From Matthew 28:18-20 to Acts 1:8 to the book of Romans (Paul’s “Gospel Tract” as it were) all the way to the end in Revelation, we see the priority of evangelism and witnessing of the gospel of grace. In fact the epistles almost “assume” that believers will give testimony of their faith in Christ. Evangelism is how a church grows, as the body “gathers to edify and scatters to evangelize.” Evangelism is the responsibility of leader and people alike and the primary focus should be on lifestyle evangelism (I Pet. 3:15-16). A growing believer, walking with Christ, becomes a powerful witness to the gospel of grace when their words reflect their walk and they share Christ with someone they know and love.

Paul goes to great lengths in the book of Titus to set forth God as a saving God. In doing this, he constantly exhorts believers to good conduct. In 2:5 his instruction is so that “the word of God may not be dishonored.” In 2:14 he writes that Christ gave Himself not only to redeem us but to purify “for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” Jesus said we are to be salt and light in this world. Peter exhorts us to always do right so that our testimony and defense of our hope may have validity among unbelievers. The point is this – in our philosophy of evangelism, we must come to understand that even though some people are better or more comfortable at it than others, the responsibility and privilege falls on every believer to live a powerful, holy life, speaking the truth in love to those in their “world” as God gives the opportunity. The whole body takes part in evangelism by how they live and by what they say. It must be both. So the primary focus of the church should be to train its members in knowing and living the gospel to reach the people in their lives that only they can reach. The pastor that only preaches a gospel message week in and week out, along with the church membership that thinks evangelism can only take place in church meetings, has missed a major emphasis of the entire NT. Practical experience backs this up. Perhaps over 90% of Christians come to faith in Christ in part through the personal witness of a friend or family member.

However, part of our focus on evangelism will obviously include special sermons and meetings on occasions, specific outreaches to our immediate neighborhoods and other planned evangelistic outings. These forms of evangelism vary greatly. The main purpose is to keep before the church a constant reminder to love their neighbor and to proclaim the gospel without shame.

Missions and church planting come under this category as the church significantly invests time, money and people in the effort of reaching the lost around the world. Missions should be a huge priority for the local church, but not to the neglect of its own neighborhood and city. The church, not the missions agency or para-church organization, is the sending agency of missionaries. Without church-based missions focused on the centrality of the local church (meaning church planting and support of established biblical churches should be the #1 priority), missions becomes skewed from the NT model.

Exalting Christ, edifying one another and evangelizing the lost – the three primary functions of a biblical church. Our goal as a church should be to have an equal emphasis on all three by being able to recognize and correct imbalances.

II. The Pillars of a Biblical Philosophy of Ministry

Our whole structure rests on these six items. On these there can be no compromise or negotiation. They are essential. Without them God will not be glorified, nor will we be able to function properly.

A. The Authority of God’s Word. We must hold firmly to the Scripture as the verbal and plenary inspired Word of God that is adequate, inerrant and sufficient for all matters of spiritual life and godliness. Our church must be a church that stands on the authority of the Word evidenced by people who submit to it in faith and obedience. Practically speaking, this means that our preaching and teaching will be expositional, line by line, chapter by chapter, book by book. It means we will strive to teach and preach the “whole counsel of God” as Paul desired. It means that our counseling will be from the Scriptures and not from human wisdom or psychology-based systems of thought. In a nut-shell, it means that we view the Word of God as sufficient for dealing with all the non-organic problems and issues of life (cf. II Tim. 3:16-17). As Peter wrote, “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness”.

B. A High View of God, a Central Focus on Christ and a Complete Reliance upon the Holy Spirit. Our view of God must come from His self-revelation in Scripture and include all of His glorious attributes. Our view of God will determine how we live. In other words, our thoughts and beliefs about the character and activity of God have a dominant impact on our behavior. As a result, our teaching and preaching will have theological foundations in light of modern man’s greatest need – the personal knowledge of God. A prevalent focus on the person and work of Jesus Christ must also characterize our church. Apart from Him there would be no church. And any group of people who gather together and call themselves a church but do not exalt the Person and sufficient cross-work of Christ Jesus is no church at all. Practically speaking, this means our church will focus our worship on Christ and not on the Holy Spirit as is often the case today. We hold that the Spirit’s ministry is to exalt Christ and to draw a sinner’s attention and praise to Jesus and not to Himself. Finally, as discussed more fully below in section III, we will consciously demonstrate a reliance upon the Holy Spirit and not man’s wisdom or power to bring about the God-ordained purposes of gospel preaching. We hold that the Spirit’s primary role is empowering the preaching of the Christ-centered Scriptures, for the conversion of sinners and the sanctification of believers.

C. A Right View of Man. It is so critical to our ministry methodology that we thoroughly understand the truth about man as a creature made in God’s image yet fallen, depraved, spiritually dead and utterly wicked. Lost man is in a terrible plight in need of total transformation by the redeeming power and grace of God. This foundation is essential in every aspect of ministry, from working with children and youth all the way up to the elderly. We never outgrow our sinful flesh this side of glory. Many mistakes are made in ministry methodology because this critical point of our doctrinal statement is overlooked in practice.

D. Sound Doctrine. This point really overlaps with the others, but the distinction here is that the church exists as “the pillar and support of the truth” (I Tim 3:15) and as such must teach doctrine from the Scriptures. Pastors are given the charge to nourish themselves and their people on “the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine” (I Tim. 4:6). The church is a teaching institution not an entertainment venue. We reject the false notion that sound doctrine is “boring and irrelevant” and therefore without apology will seek to propagate the wisdom of God in everything we do. We further hold that solid, practical, “experiential” Bible teaching from Spirit-filled and gifted teachers will always find an eager audience among obedient Christians walking in the Spirit.
E. Personal Holiness. The church exists as a “called out” group of saints, declared holy in God’s eyes through justification and growing in holiness in practice through sanctification by the power of the Spirit. We are to be separate from the defilement of the world (II Cor. 6:14-7:1). We have been commanded to “walk by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16) and not in the flesh. As a result of God’s standards for churches and as a result of direct instruction in the New Testament gospels and epistles, we are committed to church discipline, with the following goals in mind: to maintain a holy standard for membership, to restore sinning members, to establish and maintain a clear distinction between ourselves and the world and to honor our Lord. This discipline is to be carried out in a spirit of humility, compassion and love with a view not toward punishment but toward glorifying the Lord and restoring the fallen believer.

F. Spiritual Authority. Jesus Christ is Head of the Church. He is the Owner and Lord of the Church. As Head and chief authority, Christ has delegated some measure of authority to a plurality of elders in each local body (I Tim. 3:1-7, Titus 1, Heb. 13:7,17 and I Peter 5:1-5). The elders are responsible to shepherd, protect and lead the flock. They will give an account to God for this duty. The body is to submit to their rule and obey them as they obey Christ and teach His Word. Ultimately, the Word is their source of authority, but in the many areas where clear Scriptural teachings are not the issue, the congregation is to follow their lead in humble submission as they lead in humble, servant-oriented leadership.

III. The Power for Effective Ministry

Earlier we looked closely at Colossians 1:28 relative to a mission statement of our church. It’s a daunting task indeed and one that requires a massive power supply. Paul goes on in Col. 1:29 to allude to the power supply for ministry – both divine and human. “And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”

Our means is God’s power working in us, not the power of the flesh. We may strive with all our might, giving 100%, yet all is for naught apart from His power. True ministry must come out of a life of walking with God in dependence on prayer, the Spirit and the Word. Yet in this dependence on God we must never forget the pain, toil and hard work involved in serving the body of Christ.

Paul says, “I labor,” kapiao (Gr.), meaning to work with wearisome effort, to work to the point of exhaustion. He adds that he is “striving” according to His power. Striving, from agonizomi (Gr.), means to work to the point of agony (origin of our English word agony). When these two words are combined, we are struck with the reality that ministry is no place for the faint hearted or lazy. The passion and work required to fulfill our mandate taps all the human resources within us. We are to give everything in us in serving the Lord God. We are to give maximum effort, doing our very best whether pastor, deacon or lay person. What else could we give as we join hands in the greatest cause in the world?

Practically speaking, ministry is tough, time-consuming work. It has enormous costs to both paid and volunteer staff. It takes time, money, energy, discipline and endurance. As with any great cause, the stakes are high and the cost is high as well. Also implied in Paul’s words is the reality that he sought excellence in all he did in serving the Lord. Small churches sometimes wrongly take on a “small-church” attitude about ministry and do things in a casual, sometimes sloppy way. This is not acceptable in serving the King of heaven. Smallness in numbers or resources is never an excuse for doing less than our best for the Lord.

This desire to spend ourselves and do all things with excellence has very practical implications for everyone involved in a leadership position in the church. It means Sunday school teachers and nursery workers should arrive to classes early and be prepared to greet students and parents. Ushers and deacons should be available to greet visitors and help them find their way around our facilities. The worship leaders should be thoroughly prepared to serve the Lord through practice and prayer. And so it goes, for everything our church does, whether inside our church walls or out in the community. Perfectionism isn’t the goal, but excellence is. Thank God He is patient and forgiving when we fall short, but nonetheless, we should still aim high in serving Him.

Paul doesn’t leave us dependent upon only our own striving however. The human effort is mysteriously and gloriously united to the divine reservoir of power resident within each believer through the Holy Spirit. As a result, as one has said, “Paul exhausted himself for Christ’s purposes, but his ministry was never exhausted.” God mightily and powerfully works in and through those yielded to Him so that their strength is renewed and they are able to press on. If we attempt God’s work without His power, we commit spiritual fraud. And we will burn out quickly, feeling frustrated, ineffective and disenchanted with ministry.

IV. The Proper Spiritual Attitudes

Though ministry is God-centered and Christ-exalting, people are our business, not programs. And we desperately need a purpose in working with people. Our goal ultimately is to see lives transformed by Christ marked by godly spiritual attitudes and actions. As Paul told Timothy, “the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” To elaborate, we desire to see such qualities as:

• obedience to God from the heart
• humility
• love
• unity
• gladness in serving and giving
• joy, peace and thankfulness
• a desire for accountability
• a forgiving spirit
• a hunger for the Word of God
• faithfulness
• a motivating hope in the return of Christ
• a dependence on God
• and a burden for the lost.

These attitudes really come about as people are filled with God’s Spirit (Eph. 5:18ff) and filled with the Word of Christ (Col. 3:16-17).

V. The Mature Product

We must ask ourselves, “what are we trying to produce through all this expenditure of time, energy and money?” In other words, when all is said and done, what will the end result look like? Obviously the goal is Christ-likeness (Rom. 8:29, Col. 1:28, Eph. 4:13), but what does this really mean?

The church is here to grow “oak trees” for God. Our end product should be a person of deep spiritual and emotional maturity whose mind is steeped in the Word of God. He (or she) should have a thoroughly biblical, God-centered world-view, relating all of life to the character of God. He should be holy in behavior, hungry for growth, humble, discerning between truth and error, fruit-bearing, willing to listen to loving reproof, unselfish, armed with an eternal perspective on life, and controlled by deep and intimate knowledge and union with Christ. He should be a person of prayer. His community of friends, family and neighbors should see him as a devoted parent and worker, honest, full of integrity, sincere, pure and dedicated to the things that really matter in life. He should have clear biblical convictions that guide every decision of life. He should always be prepared to answer God’s call on his life with “Here am I Lord, what do you want me to do?” He should be repentant when he sins and always aware of God’s greatness and man’s sinfulness. Maturity in Christ should be every believer’s greatest desire.

VI. The Programs

In addition to the various remarks made above related to programs, we want to add several specific ways in which this philosophy of ministry can be implemented.

• Special worship services during the Christmas or Easter season can be used to uniquely focus on exalting the Lord Jesus Christ. These services could include substantial time in worship and praise led by a worship team that is well-trained, gifted and well-rehearsed.
• Other unique services can be scheduled that focus on baptism, testimonies, prayer or the Lord’s Supper.
• On occasion a short sermon series on the gospel or other specific topic can take place to heavily emphasize crucial areas. These series will also add variety to the ongoing expositional teaching and preaching through books of the Bible which make up the foundation of the pulpit ministry.
• Evangelism/missions conferences are essential in promoting these areas to the congregation on an ongoing basis.
• Fundamental to the strength of any church is the strength of its families. Our church should focus on helping the family and strengthening husband/wife relationships, parenting, etc. This focus could include pre-marital classes, parenting classes for all ages, marriage retreats, etc.
• Evangelistic home Bible studies can be used to reach unchurched friends and family.
• Basic instruction classes, such as the Fundamentals of the Faith, should be developed and staffed to integrate new believers and to establish them in the basic doctrines of the Word of God.
• Leadership development and teacher training courses are essential to a healthy, strong church. The pastor and elders should be heavily involved in this area to ensure that the church is helping people discover and develop their spiritual giftedness within the body.
• Special speakers can be brought in on occasion to help focus the body on some specific area of doctrine or Christian living; thereby tapping into the vast giftedness and expertise that exists in the universal body of Christ and helping to educate the community on what our church is all about.
• Home Bible Studies/Fellowship Groups should be considered as a very effective way to accomplish many of our objectives as a church.

Conclusion

We thank God for giving us His Word – an all-sufficient, truthful revelation that “equips us for every good work.” From His Word we have discerned one target for our efforts – God’s glory. Three distinct mandates are revealed in how we are to bring God glory and pleasure: the exaltation of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ; the edification of His people and the evangelization of the unsaved. Kerrville Bible Church exists solely for these purposes. As we preach and teach God’s truth, “one verse at a time,” and as we seek to live lives of grace and holiness in the strength of the Lord, we believe the Lord will be pleased to produce through us spiritual fruit for His honor. We believe He will build His church. We believe He will inhabit the praise of His people and empower the proclamation of His Word. We believe that He will mightily use every believer who is surrendered to Him. And when our days on earth are over, we believe that our lives will have made a difference for we have given ourselves to the greatest cause known to man.