Our Philosophy of Ministry*

*Our philosophy of ministry was adapted from "What We Believe" and "What Does the Pastoral Staff Emphasize in Their Teaching?," by permission of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN.

Our philosophy of ministry developed out of the various relationships God intends for His church. Every maturing believer in Christ needs to be growing in three simultaneous relationships: (1) our relationship with God through worship and trust; (2) our relationship with fellow believers through love, edification, and accountability; and (3) our relationship with unbelievers, conveying the gospel message in word and deed to the end that they would become disciples of Christ.

These three relationships – with God, the church and the world – involve three distinct actions on our part: worship, nurture, and outreach. These three actions do not necessarily develop in a certain order; rather, they develop simultaneously. We should not wait until we "master" worship to get on with nurture, nor put off outreach until we are "complete" in our nurture to the Body of Christ.

The Priority of Worship

Although the three ministry priorities of The Village Church (worship, nurture, and outreach) are all crucial and are intertwine, nevertheless, worship stands at the top of the pyramid. The ultimate end for which God created man is to see God's glory and worship Him fully. Worship is the motive and the goal of all our deeds of love done to fellow believers (nurture) or to unbelievers (outreach). Seeing and being captivated by the glory of God makes us long to align ourselves with God's purposes of love. And the goal of loving others is to build believers and unbelievers alike into people with greater and greater capacities and desires to praise the glory of God's grace.

The Importance of Prayer

We desire to be a prayerful people who place our trust in the wisdom and power of God. Prayer, throughout the Bible, is defined as constant, personal communication with God. We believe prayer is not made so that God can find out what we need; Jesus tells us, "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him" (Matthew 6:8). Instead, God wants us to pray because prayer expresses our trust in God and is a means whereby our trust in Him can increase. Prayer also brings us into deeper fellowship with God. He loves and delights in our fellowship. Through prayer, God allows us as creatures to be involved in activities that are eternally important.