1. Lost people matter to God. This truth must motivate and permeate our ministries. Lost people mattered so much to our Father God that He gave His Son to pay the price for our sins. Through Him we can have forgiveness and restored community once again with God and with each other (Luke 5:32, 19:10; John 3:16-17; 1 Tim 1:15; 2 Peter 2:9).
This is a value we will “go to the mat” for and battle against complacency. We must, therefore, encourage innovation and creativity while preserving our core values. We have not yet begun to see all the ways, plans, methods, strategies, etc. that our creative God wants to put in our hands to advance His Kingdom.2. The church is the most important agency on the earth. It is the Body of Christ and the hope of the world. Through the ministries of the church God intends that people experience transformation and grow in community into the likeness of Christ. The Church is the only agency to which God committed the task of the Great Commission (Eph 5:25, 1 Cor 5:18-20, Luke 24:47-49, Acts 1:8).
The church is worth giving our “one and only life” to its service.3. Anointed leadership and a mobilized laity constitute the catalyst for growing the church. It is the will of God that the church should grow. He has chosen to utilize anointed leaders with the spiritual gifts of teaching and preaching to lead believers to grow the church, each using his or her gift for the common good of all (Eph 4:11-13, 1 Cor 12:7).
Churches should be led by people with leadership gifts…people who model servant leadership and mobilize the church for growth.4. Planting churches is the most effective way to fulfill Christ’s commission. When Jesus gave the Great Commission to His disciples, the emphasis was on proclaiming the Good News and teaching Christ’s truth to every ethnic group on the face of the earth, from Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria and to the whole world. From the very day the disciples were empowered by the Spirit to accomplish this task, they understood the mandate in terms of forming communities of believers – planting churches everywhere. The Acts is a history of the expansion of the church. The rest of the Bible from the Acts onward, is predominantly written to churches which were planted by the apostles in obedience to Christ’s commission (Luke 24:47-49, Matt 28:19-20, Acts 2:42-47).
We too are witnesses of the death and resurrection of Jesus through the new birth and have received the same mandate as the apostles. In some cases, existing churches will daughter a church or partner with other churches to plant daughter churches. In other cases a church may establish satellite worship centers. In all cases, we will endeavor to reach every man, woman and child in our areas with the saving Gospel of Jesus and from communities of believers where new Christ followers may be nurtured to become fully devoted followers of our Lord.5. Dynamic ministries in major cities are essential to a pervasive Christian witness. Cities are reflective of God’s intention to demonstrate His power and mercy to all the peoples of the earth. The Apostle Paul planted churches city by city. He writes to the church in Thessalonica that all of Macedonia and Acadia had heard the gospel through its witness (I Thess. 1:7-8). Main cities are the economic, culture, and nerve centers. They can be the “faith centers” for whole regions.
6. Innovation and creativity are essential to advance the Kingdom. The Gospel is never changing and forever new. This means that we will preach, teach, and propagate the never changing gospel until Jesus comes. And, because the gospel is the Good News – forever new, we constantly and intentionally find new and better ways to win people to Jesus and grow them into fully devoted disciples. The Apostle Paul said, …I have become all things to all men that by all possible means I might save some (1 Cor. 9:22).
7. Excellence honors God and inspires people. This means that our priorities will reflect that we will give the best of our time, energy, and resources to advance the Kingdom. As we model excellence, it will issue in others becoming fully devoted followers of Jesus. This includes also the concepts of stewardship. Kingdom people are great givers (Col 3:17, Prov 27:17, 2 Cor 8:7, Mal 1:6-14, 2 Cor 8:2).
Excellence means giving to God all that we have, and doing the very best we can with what He gives us, in dependence upon the Spirit.