TOPICS » Philosophy of Ministry

Apr 13
8

Foundation Document Review – Theological Vision for Ministry

The leadership of Emmaus Christian Fellowship makes a point of reviewing one of our Foundation Documents each month for the purpose of keeping the beliefs and vision of the church always before our eyes. We read the document and ask two primary questions: One, do we still believe the doctrine or philosophy of ministry expressed within to be true to scripture? And two, are we faithfully teaching or fulfilling the principles laid out in the document?

We find this to be a helpful and challenging practice. The review process is helpful in that it forces us to take these (sometimes rather long, and some might say, dry) documents out from the file cabinet (the digital file cabinet, of course), read them, discus them, and in so doing, be reminded of the vision and beliefs of the church. Without being disciplined to regularly review our Foundation Documents it would not take long for the original vision of the church to be lost and for us to grow flabby in regard to our upholding of biblical truth. The process is challenging in that it forces us to ask orselves hard questions. It forces us to go back to the scriptures and to discuss things perhaps more deeply than we have before. It forces us to honestly evaluate the church and our leadership within the church and ask the hard questions, “are we being faithful?”, and, “in what ways do we need to grow?”

Here is a link to our Theological Vision for Ministry which we reviewd last month. We feel that this is a beautiful, challenging, and deeply important vision for Emmaus Christian Fellowship, and we would encourage you to read it.

Below is our yearly review schedule. Please keep the leadership in prayer as we meet twice a month to study, pray, and fulfill the other obligations associated with serving as overseers in the church. Please feel free to attend the open agenda meeting on the second Tuesday of each month at 7pm. Details about the location will be posted on our website and on The City.

Yearly Review of Foundation Documents

January – Mission, Vision, Passion, Commission

February – Emmaus Distinctive’s

March – Theological Vision for Ministry

April – Resolutions

May – Statement of Faith

Spring Retreat – LBC 1689

June – Emmaus Catechism

July – Chicago Statement on Inerrancy

August – Position Papers

September – Membership Process

October – Church Covenant

Fall Retreat – Bylaws

November – Policy and Procedures

December – Job Descriptions

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Posted in News, Foundation Documents, Theological Vision for Ministry, Church Documents, Philosophy of Ministry, Joe Anady, Posted by Joe. No Comments

Oct 12
15

Driven by a Passion for the Glory of God and Reverence for His Word

The year-and-a-half since God has called Emmaus Christian Fellowship out to start a new work has been full of study and reflection for myself and for the other leaders within the church. In that time the Lord has provided a lot of clarity concerning why we are doing what we are doing. It has taken time to sort through all of the complexities, but in the last nine months, things have become much more clear.

The thoughts posted below from Kim Riddlebarger sum things up quite well. Someday I hope to write pieces like this myself, but for now, with sermon preparation pressing in, the demands of finishing an MDiv, the responsibilities of being a pastor, a husband, and a father to four young children, I will have to be content with sharing good thoughts from others.

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Posted in Good Thoughts from Others, Kim Riddlebarger, Philosophy of Ministry, The Church, Philosophy of Ministry, The Church, Joe Anady, Posted by Joe. No Comments


"Him we proclaim,
warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom,
that we may present everyone mature in Christ."
(Colossians 1:28, ESV)

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