A Theology of Ministry — Thirteen Core Values that Undergird GBC’s Ministry
Selected Scriptures
October 12, 2014
Over the next six weeks, we want to think with you about what church ministry looks like. There are two motives behind this:
It is good to regularly remind ourselves of the purpose and foundation of ministry — what are we doing and on what basis should we do this? Last spring I preached again on our philosophy of ministry statement — GBC exists to shepherd God’s people by God’s grace for God’s glory. In nine words, that’s the ministry of our church:
- One function (Shepherding God’s people)
- By one means (by God’s grace)
- For one purpose (for God’s glory)
This morning we want to consider the theological foundation behind that statement: is there a biblical foundation for that philosophy of ministry? And then in coming weeks we want to continue to flesh out what we do as a church.
Secondly, in the next few months, we want to strengthen two areas of weakness in our constitution and doctrinal statement.
- With the expansion of our counseling ministry, we’ve come to realize that our position on church discipline is not adequately addressed in our foundational documents; we aren’t changing our position on church discipline, but we do want to make our position explicit in all our documents (so Keith will be preaching on that in a few weeks).
- Our culture is changing rapidly and we must clarify our position on what marriage and gender is and is not in our constitution and doctrinal statement. When those documents were penned 35 years ago, it was unimaginable that we would have to define marriage as being between a man and a woman only, and that one’s sexuality is determined by how one is born at birth — male or female — and not by one’s choice. But that’s the world in which we now live.
So this morning we are going to start this series with a reminder of the biblical foundation of why we do what we do in ministry. These are the 13 core values that drive our ministry.
Every individual and every church is governed and directed by a set of core values and truths. These are the doctrines that undergird and compel our ministry.
- We Believe in the Supremacy of God Above All Things —
- We Believe in the Preeminence of Christ
- We Believe in the Transforming Work of the Holy Spirit
- We Believe in the Sufficiency (and authority) of Scripture
- We Believe in Grace
- We Believe in the Church
- We Believe in the Priority of a Personal Walk (Life) with God
- We Believe in Discipleship
- We Believe in Evangelism
- We Believe in the Power and Priority of Forgiveness and Reconciliation
- We Believe in Marriage and Family
- We Believe in the Value of Problems (and Trials) — both our own and others (yours)
- We Believe in “Every Member Ministry” and the Ministry of Presence — Our Relationship with Fellow Believers
Download the rest of this sermon on A Theology of Ministry.
The audio will be posted on the GBC website later today.
Words of Grace 