Description of a Disciple

1. General Definition:

A disciple is a Christian who desires increasingly to be like Jesus by intentionally seeking to obey all that He commanded. He does this by giving priority to his relationship with God, his growth in Christian character and his ability to minister to others.

2. Phase One Description – “Come and See”

1. Major intent:

To help the person experience the saving grace and goodness of God by acknowledging Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. He will be helped to learn some basic truths about his faith so that he can have a personal relationship with Christ. This will be evidenced by his personal testimony and water baptism and commitment to pursue a new life in Christ.

2. Initial Commitment Required:

• personal devotion daily.

• occasional involvement with covenant group

• occasional participation at worship services

3. Final Goal:

The disciple has completed this phase when he

• has trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and has been baptized.

• grows in knowledge and understanding of God’s basic truths about his faith

• grows in knowledge of basic doctrines of the Bible that affect his life and behaviour.

• shows enough commitment to learn and practice some basic spiritual disciplines for his growing relationship with Christ.

• is committed to attend a covenant group, weekly worship service and personal time with disciple-maker.

• is willing to commit himself to the next phase of discipling.

4. Approaches used:

• Personal follow-up by disciple-maker

• Evangelistic Bible Study/New Believer’s Class

• Attendance at worship services

• Outreach events (example: Parents’ Appreciation Night) and retreats

• Invitation to home fellowship

• Attendance in covenant group

4. Duration: 6-12 months

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Faith EFC Philosophy of Ministry

Our Purpose:

The purpose of our church is to glorify God by making disciples equipping them for life and ministry.

Our Product

The most important aspect of our product is the kind of disciple we produce. We desire to produce a disciple who desires increasingly to be like Jesus by intentionally seeking to obey all that He commanded. He does this by giving priority to his relationship with God, his growth in Christian character and his ability to minister to others.

Our Philosophy of Roles and Functions

A. Pastor

1. His primary role and commitment is to give direction, train leaders, teach and preach the Word.

2. He is to model what a disciple is and to impart and keep the vision of disciple-making before the congregation.

3. He should seldom perform ministries lay leaders could do unless it is absolutely necessary.

B. Lay Leaders (Elders/Deacons/Deaconesses)

1. They are to model discipleship and to grow in their own ministry skills.

2. They are to assist the pastor in equipping the congregation for ministry.

3. They set broad policies, and together with the pastor provide direction and strategic focus for the church.

C. Other Key Leaders

1. They are to be faithful, growing disciples committed to the church’s philosophy of ministry.

2. They are to grow in their ministry skills and to equip those who are under their care.

D. Church Members

1. Their role and commitment is to grow as a disciple.

2. They are to be trained to use their gifts.

3. They are to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to directly minister to Christians and pre-believers.

4. They are to carry out the purpose, ministry and mission of this church by exercising the gifts given them by the Holy Spirit.

5. All regular worshippers are encouraged to be official church members. This will provide accountability, nurture, and encouragement to the body of Christ as well as to share responsibility for decision-making, service needs and finances.

Our Philosophy of Equipping

1. All staff, policy makers, Board members, and group leaders must be growing disciples committed to the church’s philosophy of ministry.

2. Leaders will be recognized by considering both character and giftedness.

3. We will recognize servant gifts as being equally important as leadership gifts in building a healthy, disciple-making church.

4. We will develop leadership skills by intentionally provide opportunities in ministry by placing individuals in an apprenticeship role with leaders.

5. All leaders of key ministries will take part in on-going leader training once a month to constantly improve the gifts God has given them.

Our Philosophy of Church Programmes and Structures

A. Purpose:

1. The purpose of every activity of our church is to produce and further develop disciples. We will evaluate every activity by its effectiveness in producing disciples, and will modify or discontinue activities that ineffectively do this.

B. Small Groups (Koinonia Groups)

1. Our primary method of making disciples is the decentralized small group. We see

one-on-one approaches as valid, sometimes necessary, but only as secondary

method for most in our church.

2. We will offer small groups and other ministries at multiple commitment levels to develop sequential growth for disciples.

3. We will develop our small groups to provide relevant Bible study, caring relationships and outreach that lead to personal accountability and discipleship.

C. Evangelism

1. Our evangelism will focus on multiple specific groups (examples: English speaking, lower/middle income family and children) rather than using a generic approach. This will provide different levels of opportunities for everyone to be committed and to be involved actively in evangelism.

D. Worship

1. The primary function of our worship services will be celebrational, God- exalting, and Christ-centred and where there is proclamation of God’s Word.

2. We will make sure all outsiders will feel welcome and comfortable and the committed disciples challenged and encouraged.

E. Structures

1. We will establish a healthy balance between large groups (for unity), medium-sized groups (for fellowship), and small groups (for intimacy) to provide the proper infrastructure for the disciple-making process. Consequently, our church will be structured at three levels:

   1. as a large group (i.e., more than 70 persons) primarily for the purpose of worship, inspiration and proclamation of the Word.

   2. as a mid-sized group ( i.e., 18-70 persons ) which will be a key outreach and assimilation point for church as well as a place for fellowship and teaching.

   3. as small groups ( i.e., 7-17 persons) primarily to develop intimacy which results in instruction, pastoral care, and personal development.

2. Our Church Board will be to set broad policies, macro-manage the church, and keep all ministries in line with the doctrinal statement, constitution and philosophy of ministry.

3. Our organizational structure and leadership styles will flex and change as we move through our life-cycle as a church.

Our Philosophy of Methods and Principles to Help Us Best Make Disciples

A. Intentional Strategy

1. We will, at all times, have an intentional strategy to accomplish each aspect of our purpose. At the same time, we believe that all we do must be saturated with prayer to express our total dependence upon God.

B. Discipling Process

1. We will primarily make disciples as a team, as a church, but not just a collection of independent individuals.

2. We are committed to the principles of multiplication of ourselves by evangelizing, discipling, training, and delegating ministry to others who are faithful, teachable and available.

3. We will multiply ourselves and train others using the method of apprenticeship.

C. Evangelism and Missions

1. We believe evangelism (including pre-evangelism) is the starting point and indispensable catalyst to all disciple-making.

2. Our evangelism methods will flex and change according to the type of people we are trying to reach. The gospel will never change, but our ways of presenting it will shift in response to our culture. Thus, many methods can be used at any one time.

3. We will encourage our members at all levels of the disciple-making process to make appropriate commitments to missions. This will be done through prayer, practical home-based involvement, participation in mission trips or to be sent as missionaries.

D. Ministry

1. The micro-management of all ministries will be delegated to leaders of those ministries and accountability will be maintained through leadership training meetings and normal discipling channels.

E. Finance, facilities and other resources

1. We will budget for growth and not maintenance

2. We will ensure that facilities and resources are only important as they serve to enhance the mission of making disciples.

F. Implementation and Amendments

1. This philosophy of ministry will be pursued with grace during the first 12 months and will take full effect on September, 2009.

2. The philosophy of ministry will be amended when appropriate by the Church Board with agreement from the congregation.

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Musicians' rota updated

Worship leaders and musicians please take note. Some changes to the musicians' duties have been made. Check the updated rota here.