Philosophy of Ministry 

II Timothy 2:16-17 offers that, 

¹⁶All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

Correspondingly, we are informed by all of the scriptures of the Bible as we are led by the Holy Spirit.  At this time, we offer four passages that are profoundly insightful in anchoring and informing our understanding of ministry and may well be said to shape our philosophy of ministry. These passages are,

Luke 4:16-21 

¹⁶And he came to Nazareth , where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. ¹⁷And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 

¹⁸    “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, 

    Because He has anointed Me 

    To preach the gospel to the poor; 

    He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, 

    To proclaim liberty to the captives 

    And recovery of sight to the blind, 

    To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 

¹⁹    To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 

²⁰Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the    eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  
 

Matthew 4:19 

 ¹⁹Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 
  

Matthew 28:16-20 

¹⁶Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. ¹⁷And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. ¹⁸And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. ¹⁹Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ²⁰Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. 
 

Ephesians 4:11-17 
 

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. 

 

In these passages, we believe that Jesus articulated the commitment of his mission and ministry; directed his disciples to follow in his example; charged them and us to share all that we knew of him with others; and through the Apostle Paul gave focus to the order of ministry as a process of equipping the saints to do ministry to the end that, 
 

… We all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man the measure and stature of the fullness of Christ. 
 

Accordingly, our philosophy of ministry may be articulated as incarnating and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the end that we may engage those who respond and believe to follow after Christ with a radical reflection of Christ in all aspects of our individual and collective lives and in the continual sharing of the good news of the Kingdom of God, making a difference in the lives of others, and further, living in anticipation of the return of Christ. 
 

As we do all of this, we celebrate and worship the Lord God Almighty as we have come to know Him through Jesus Christ, led and guided by Him as He manifests Himself to us as the Holy Spirit and sharing together in the oneness of the Church, the Body of Christ.