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Win-Build-Send The purpose of Grace Church Aurora is to glorify God by lovingly making disciples who worship and obediently serve Him. In our efforts to meet this purpose, we utilize the Win-Build-Send model of ministry. WIN - Initiating relationships and sharing Christ with those who need to trust Him as Savior BUILD - Training and discipling new and growing believers to walk with God and to serve Him, His Church, and the community SEND - Mobilizing trained believers for ministry within and beyond the local church Grace Church Aurora is a growing church seeking to worship God and to impact our city and our world by winning people to Jesus Christ, building disciples in spiritual maturity and sending believers to serve at home and abroad.
PHILOSOPHY OF MINISTRY
PURPOSE:
1. Definition of the Goal: A Mature Disciple
2. Role of Church Leadership to Effectively Develop Disciples
2.1 General Leadership Philosophy
2.1.1 All elders, deacons, pastoral staff, ministry leaders, and small group leaders must be growing disciples committed to the church's philosophy of ministry, recognized as such by the elders or ministry leaders after due consideration and evaluation of godly character, giftedness, ability, proven experience, training, and desire to serve.
2.1.2 All leaders of key church ministries will take part in on-going training and accountability to constantly improve the gifts and the ministry God has entrusted to each of them.
2.1.3 We are committed to the principle of multiplication of ourselves by disciple-making -- evangelizing, edification, training, and delegating ministry to others who are faithful (2 Tim. 2:2).
2.1.4 Elders are to be obeyed and are men to whom the local fellowship must submit (Heb. 13:17, 1 Pet. 5:5). Conversely, the elders are not to "lord it over" the congregation in their leadership.
2.1.5 Leaders are to set the pace for others to follow by being godly examples (Heb. 13:7)
2.2 Elders
2.2.1 The elders' role is to devote themselves to the ministry of the Word, to prayer, to the shepherding of the flock and to overseeing the ministry of the flock of Grace Church Aurora.
2.2.2 The elders will seek to minimize their role as policy makers and to maximize the number of persons doing ministry; thus, the elders will transfer responsibility and authority, whenever possible, to ministry leaders, to task forces, and to discipleship structures, providing resources whenever possible.
2.2.3 In matters of disciplined restoration, the elders will ensure that persistently sinful individuals will be admonished primarily within their closed fellowship group, that restoration is maintained as the objective of such a process, and that each step of the process will be followed accurately before advancement to the next step is allowed.
2.3 Deacons
2.4 Pastoral Staff
2.4.1 The role of all pastoral staff is to exercise their spiritual giftedness, especially the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher, in equipping or "coaching" believers for their works of ministry through modeling, preaching, teaching, and exhorting (Eph. 4:11-12; 1 Pet. 4:10); the senior pastor is usually a generalist while additional pastoral staff are usually specialists.
2.4.2 The role of the senior pastor is not that of chief executive officer of the church, a role collectively entrusted to the elders.
2.5 Ministry Leaders
2.5.1 Leaders are to model personal growth through discipleship, to grow in ministry skills, and to equip believers for ministry.
2.5.2 Leaders of adult, youth, and children's ministries will not be recruited to leadership positions and then "abandoned". We will confirm their preparedness through apprenticeship, observing a trained leader and practicing while being observed.
3. Role of the Congregation to Effectively Develop Disciples
3.1 The believer's role is to press on towards maturity (Heb. 5:12-6:1) and to make disciples (Matt. 28:19-20), setting a godly example for believers by maintaining one's spiritual health as well as that of his or her family, praying personally for the needs of believers (Eph. 6:18), practicing the priesthood of the believer (1 Pet. 2:5), using his or her spiritual gift(s), and empowered by and in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, directly ministering to Christians and unbelievers as a believer-priest.
3.2 Spiritual Giftedness
3.2.1 We recognize servant gifts as being equally important as leadership gifts in building a healthy, disciple-making church.
3.2.2 Each believer is expected to prayerfully work at discerning whether his giftedness is primarily in serving or in leading.
3.2.3 Each believer is expected to minister consistently with his or her type of giftedness to further the work of Christ.
3.3 Priesthood of the Believer
3.4 A regular attender is to be involved in Celebration, in Congregation, in a Cell group and to use his giftedness in some ministry.
3.5 The primary means of building intimate relationships and of meeting individual needs of the flock will be through cell groups..
4. Purpose and Use of Structures to Effectively Develop Disciples
4.1 General Program Philosophy
4.1.1 We will evaluate every ministry of our church, not by its importance as an on-going program of the church, but by its effectiveness in producing maturing disciples (changing lives), and we will modify or discontinue each ministry whose efforts ineffectively work towards our goal of developing disciples.
4.1.2 The primary method of disciple-making is the small group.
4.1.3 We will promote the belief that the church's most important identity and ministry takes place while it is decentralized (i.e. when believers minister individually in their homes, in places of employment, in neighborhoods, in small groups rather than when everyone gathers together at the same time in one location).
4.1.4 We will budget for growth in disciple-making and not for maintenance.
4.2 Evangelism (Win)
4.2.1 Evangelism (including one's efforts to build relationships with the lost before the Good News is shared) is the starting point and indispensable catalyst to all disciple-making.
4.2.2 We will utilize two kinds of evangelism, spontaneous and planned:
4.2.3 A plan of prayer must underlie all of our efforts as a foundation to reach the lost for Christ.
4.2.4 Church programs must not be so involvement intensive as to preclude believers from building relationships with the lost.
4.2.5 We will first evangelize within the network of relationships of our families, neighbors, co-workers, and social circles.
4.2.6 We will work to provide multiple levels of entry for attracting unbelievers to Jesus Christ and to the church.
4.2.7 Secondly, we will evangelize Aurora based upon demographic study and an assessment of our ability to meet needs.
4.3 Christian Education (Build)
4.3.1 We will develop sequential growth for disciples by offering varying sized ministries at multiple commitment levels.
4.3.1.1 Celebration (Worship). The church, based upon its collective unity in Christ, gathers in large groups of more than seventy primarily for the purpose of worship, encouragement, and celebration of all that God is and has done, while being contemplative of its cost and of its meaning for our lives.
4.3.1.1.1 While making all of our ministries warm and accepting of newcomers, the primary function of our worship services will be to proclaim God's Word and to facilitate a life-style of true worship -- a genuine and active response to God's revelation whereby we declare His worth -- both individually and corporately.
4.3.1.1.2 Since the primary purpose of our gathering for worship is celebrative, we will work to ensure that the "outsider" feels comfortable and welcomed and that the committed disciple feels challenged and encouraged.
4.3.1.1.3 Participation rather than observation is encouraged in the worship service.
4.3.1.2 (Mini-) Congregations (S.S. or ABF's). The church gathers in moderate-sized groups of approximately seventeen to seventy, for the purpose of pro-active outreach and assimilation as well as a ministry of fellowship and teaching; these open groups will be segmented (as in life-cycle groups) to better meet personal needs and to effectively target and assimilate outsiders.
4.3.1.3 Cells (Small Groups) The church gathers in small groups of approximately seven to seventeen for the purpose of facilitating increased intimacy as an environment for increased accountability (helping a fellow believer to keep one's commitments to God) so that basic Christian habits may be increasingly developed.
4.3.1.3.1 Covenant Group We will facilitate the initial discipleship of a new believer through a group usually running thirteen (13) to twenty-six (26) weeks.
4.3.1.3.2 Basic Accountability Group (Care Group) We will facilitate the further discipleship of a growing believer through a group usually running in duration from six (6) to nine (9) and up to twenty-four (24) months, grounding each believer in the basic habits of spiritual life (prayer, Bible study, witnessing, fellowship, obedience, and continued growth).
4.3.1.3.3 On-going Accountability Group We will facilitate the advanced discipleship of a more mature believer through a closed group of very committed believers designed for stimulating consistent growth over an indefinite time period.
4.3.2 Task Groups We will gather in other small groups for the primary purpose of accomplishing a task rather than developing intimacy and growth (e.g. ushers, choir, task force, etc.).
4.3.3 Support Groups We may gather in additional small groups for the purpose of addressing a specific need (e.g. self-image, divorce recovery, drug abuse, incest, financial difficulty, etc.)
4.4 Leadership Development (Send)
4.4.1 To develop leadership skills, we will intentionally provide modeling and opportunities for ministry by placing individuals in an apprenticeship role with trained leaders.
4.4.2 Leadership Community We will develop and multiply knowledgeable and trained small group leaders in an on-going small group for leadership training, vision-casting, planning, bi-directional communication, and mutual encouragement.
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