Philosphy of Ministry
General:
When a baby is born, it experiences different stages of growth. A child goes from an infant, to a baby, through childhood, then adolescence, and finally into maturity. A church, which is composed of a body of believers, will experience the same cycles of growth as it progresses toward maturity. Psalm 127:1 teaches us that the Lord will be the one who will build His house. The New Testament is clear that Christ is to be the foundation. The Bible also teaches that we are the builders and the labourers for His Church.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the head of this church, not the members, Church Board Members, or the pastor. Christ is the one who leads, provides and guides this ministry.
Trinity Baptist Church was founded in 1964 and as the church has grown from infancy to maturity; along the way we have developed the need to have some structure and organization implemented in order to keep our course and vision clear.
Many of our folks come from varied church backgrounds, culture, and diversity thus we have established some guidelines that will keep this ministry, focused, balanced, and continuing in the direction God has mandated for us.
We want to maintain our diversity, yet we also strive to keep unity within the body. These guidelines should not hinder our fellowship, but rather enhance it.
A philosophy of ministry is simply a direction, not a destination. This philosophy of ministry helps us decide how we believe the Lord is directing us to build His house in this community of North Battleford. A philosophy of ministry helps us keep the pressures of people, programs, and ministries in their proper balance and it is the direction we believe God is currently leading us. This philosophy has been gathered from a number of different sources and has been developed with much prayer and time. It has been discussed, accepted, and adopted by the leadership & membership of TBC.
PURPOSE
We Do What Is Biblical, Not What Is Religious:
Our Doctrinal Statement reveals what we believe are the essentials on which Christians must agree in order to work together for a common goal as it relates to TBC, thus our philosophy is to align ourselves with only people and churches that are in agreement with what we believe as a church.
Therefore, we do not participate in something because it is “religious” or has a “Christian” label involved. It must be biblically based and doctrinally sound before we participate as a Church fellowship. The Bible, not tradition, is our authority in all matters of faith and practice and we believe the Word of God is the main instrument for growth in the lives of Christians.
We have adopted the philosophy that numerical growth is not important but spiritual health is everything!
We believe Trinity Baptist Church has the gifts and people to build a large church. People in this area are hungry for Bible teaching and Christian fellowship. We seek to offer both to our church and community. If we had the room, this church would continue to grow and grow.
As we cope with building options in the future, we could continue building and moving our facilities. “Mega” churches can meet the needs of a community and provide tremendous world outreach, but this is not our philosophy of ministry. Our philosophy is that once we reach capacity (100-150) that we will begin the process of planting another church.
Regarding our People:
At Trinity Baptist Church we believe in the biblical principle that the ultimate work of the church in the world is to be done by the believers – plain, ordinary Christians – and not only by professional clergy or a few selected laymen. We believe the purpose for the church is revealed in Paul’s statement that apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teacher exist for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry and for the building up of the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12)
Regarding our Membership:
We believe that every member of the body of Christ is a member of Christ’s body (Romans 12:5). Therefore, we seek to help each person take the next step spiritually in his or her Christian walk. We try to minister to people based on where they are in their walk with Christ. We feel that strong expository preaching is the primary tool for challenging people to take the next step spiritually. Our goal in preaching is not to simply comfort, but rather to challenge people to Godly living.
Second, we also believe that every member of Christ is a minister. Scripture teaches that servant gifts are as equally important as leadership gifts in building a healthy, disciple – making church. We believe that God has uniquely gifted individuals with natural as well as supernatural gifts. We do not believe that God saved us to be “spectator” Christians.
Third, we believe that stewardship includes the proper use of God-given gifts. Christians are not to be critical consumers or detached bystanders; they are to be positive contributors to the body. This is essential to who we are in Christ.
Fourth, we encourage members to use their gifts creatively in this church. We do not expect an eternal commitment to a ministry; however we would hope that each person would find an effective ministry for an extended period of time in this church. We believe this helps in the stability of the church and the faithfulness in those ministering.
Regarding Spiritual Growth:
We believe that spiritual growth is intentional (Phil. 2:12, 13), practical (1 Timothy 4:7), and involves an element of time (Ephesians 4:13). True spiritual growth is demonstrated more by behaviour than beliefs (Matthew 7:24-27). We also believe that spiritual growth involves the body (1 John 1:7) and a variety of experiences. It does not occur in isolation, but rather in the context of fellowship.
Spiritual growth is shaped by one’s spiritual gifts, a heart for God, God given natural abilities, personality, and personal life experiences. In this context we sense God will mould us into the person He wants us to be.
Regarding Leadership:
Our philosophy regarding leadership is to involve as many people in the process of ministry as possible. We are training people to do the “work” of ministry. The importance of “lay people” instead of professionals” is a distinctive of this ministry. We would rather have someone from our fellowship ministering than professional paid people ministering to our fellowship. Therefore, we allow people the freedom to minister and learn from mistakes, rather than requiring people to be “professional” before they can minister.
We give people in ministry a degree of trust rather than demanding absolute control. This trust allows people the freedom to fail with the understanding of the responsibilities that are involved in their ministries. We also allow people the needed authority to fulfill their God-given responsibilities. Responsibility involves both authority to do ministry, and freedom to make mistakes in ministry.
Regarding Evangelism
We are a soul-winning church, but not an evangelistic meeting church. We do not bring the world into the church buildings to be saved, but we send believers into the world to evangelize. God has given each one of us gifts, and we are to use these gifts to bring people to Christ. It is our ministry to move out into the community and use our gifts to witness. We do not bring people to our meetings so that our Pastor and church leadership can lead them to Christ.
“TBC” is not a seeker-sensitive ministry. We feel this type of ministry can produce a “consumer mentality”. We focus on the family of believers that God has called together to invest themselves in the lives of others. When properly trained and fed, they will automatically reach their community for Christ.
While some churches see the church as a primary tool for evangelism, we believe that each member of the body is the primary tool for evangelism. We believe that Christians are to go into the world (or their own personal mission field) and be light and salt.
Therefore, our services are not designed to bring the world to us, but rather to minister to the believers who will each week take Christ into the world.
PROGRAMS
Regarding Ministries:
We believe God’s people do God’s work; therefore, we will not beat our heads against a wall trying to recruit people to fill a certain need. Specialized ministries depend on the gifted people that God sends to our church. If a certain ministry begins to die, it could be that we no longer have the leadership or the need for that ministry. We will let it die until God brings along the right people with the right gifts to administer and lead the ministry.
We also realize that we are not the only church in this area. We cannot be the whole body of Christ; we are only part of that body. Since we cannot meet every need, we do not feel guilty for not having certain ministries.
Regarding Activities:
We believe that every member of Christ needs maturing on a consistent basis (Ephesians 4:13). Therefore, the main purpose of our activities is to develop followers of Christ and to further disciples for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11). Our activities are simply a means to an end. We evaluate activities based on how they will help mature the believer and allow for evangelistic and ministry opportunities within the context of our ministry objectives and mission statement.
Regarding Money:
Realizing that money can easily become a major focus of any ministry, we have established some strong beliefs regarding money in this ministry. We believe that God’s people will willingly give to God’s work and that they should not have to give grudgingly.
We do not believe the world should be asked to support the work of God, so we do not have fund-raiser; bake sales, or church rummages. We also use caution in raising funds for special projects through letter writing campaigns, or pleading for funds.
Regarding Family:
We believe the family is a God ordained institution, therefore we seek to focus on family oriented activities, rather than age determined activities. While we do provide some age-oriented activities, our main focus is on the development of the family as a unit. Therefore, we do not schedule too many activities that tear families apart.
We try to schedule church activities in order to allow the family time together. This also allows our people time to be involved in community activities so that we can be “salt and light” in the community.
Regarding Government:
At Trinity Baptist Church, we hold to the principle of separation of church and state. The role of the church is to lead people to Jesus Christ and disciple them. We are not to become an organizational political caucus to lobby for the changing of the civil laws.
Individual members of our church may be involved in many political issues, acting as “salt and light” in the community. We believe this is how God directed the Apostle Paul to organize New Testament churches. Paul never led the church as an organization to demonstrate against slavery in the first century. Paul taught the principles of how to be moral in an immoral world. This is our calling as well. We meet to worship and study the principles of God’s Word. We are called to lead people into a personal relationship with a Holy God through the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and to teach the principles of biblical morality.
We do not feel that Canada is God’s special blessed country or that we are to keep it pure through legislation. We believe that the only way to keep our country pure is by humbling ourselves, praying, and seeking God’s face (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Regarding Missions:
From a worldwide perspective, this philosophy addresses our mission program. Our commitment is to work diligently and sacrificially to pray, to go and make disciples.
Our Sphere of Involvement:
Because we believe the field is the world, our responsibility begins where we live and extends to the world.
Our “Jerusalem” (our homes and community of the Battleford's and area)
Our “Judea” (within our province of Saskatchewan)
Our “Samaria” (within our nation of Canada)
The uttermost parts of the world (the rest of the world).
Our Support Program:
It is our plan to support missions financially and prayerfully as a church.
Our prayer is that there will be a day when our own people (whose missionary gifts have been recognized by the church and the BGC Nationally) desire to go to the mission field as missionaries. We believe we should provide as much of their support as possible (even to 100%). We would be able to say to the perspective missionary, “You need not take the time to raise support – GO!”
Regarding our Property and Facility:
Our building is a testimony to our community in that it is functional and has a nice appearance, but not flashy thus we strive to maintain the facility as the Lord leads but believe that a majority of our money should be put into ministry rather than buildings.