PHILOSOPHY OF MINISTRY

David Bruce Linn, Pastor-Teacher

1. THE PRIORITY OF SCRIPTURE -- The Bible provides the only objective, concrete standard for submitting to the lordship of Jesus Christ. This, and not human structure, is what provides the church with long-term stability. I subscribe to the Chicago Statement on Inerrancy (copies available). The Scriptures judge us, we do not judge them.

2. THE PRIORITY OF ELDERS -- The New Testament specifies elders as the managing authority of the local church and gives clear requirements for the office. The elders delegate administrative matters to the deacons in order to pursue "the word of God and prayer." Diminishment of the ministry of the elders leaves the church exposed and vulnerable to confusion from within and without. Elders are shepherds. As was the case with the Great Shepherd, their leadership is expressed not through institutional authority but through relationships based on love for God and man. Therefore they do not "lord it over the flock, as the Gentiles do."

3. THE PRIORITY OF THE CHURCH AS GOD'S INSTRUMENT ON EARTH -- In an era when more money is given to parachurch organizations than local churches, it needs to be remembered that Christ said: "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not be able to withstand it." Even within the church, there is often a false belief that the specific programs are what give growth. On the contrary, the church with its beautiful divine design is completely adequate to achieve God's sovereign plans for every age.

4. THE PRIORITY OF THE LOVE COMMANDMENT -- Jesus made it clear that the central motive of the Christian life is the divine intention to love and be loved in return. Even the Great Commission is a subset of the Great Commandment. This means that every action of the church is to be motivated and measured by God's standard of love. Love cannot coerce or be coerced; neither does it ever harm those for whom Christ died. Every teaching and training facility of the church must be focused on the development of the sanctified capacity to express mature love by faith.

5. THE NECESSITY OF EXPOSITORY PREACHING -- The call of God upon every preacher is to "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction." If the knowledge of Christ is the primary goal of discipleship, and if the word of God is the only revelation of Him, then expository, systematic, doctrinal preaching is the indispensable path to that knowledge. The love and obedience of Christ require preaching which seeks to present God's people with the entire truth of God and to call for a response in the power of the Holy Spirit.

6. THE NECESSITY OF HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERMENT -- The early church did not manage its way to effective ministry. The primary reliance was not upon plans and standards, but the leading and empowering of the Holy Spirit. While planning and management are necessary for every church, any such process which robs the flock of its essential reliance upon God for all things is a dreadful mistake. Prayer is the evidence of such reliance.

7. THE NECESSITY OF SMALL GROUPS -- An irreplaceable part of the reality of our fellowship in Christ is fleshed out in small groups. The early church is the model for dynamic Christianity, and its primary structure was the house church. There is therefore no essential size barrier for a local church which provides for fellowship on the small group level. A return to the small group as a necessary unit of fellowship in Christ will have a positive effect on every aspect of the church. The testimony of these groups is assured through the pastors and elders as they exercise oversight of the small group leaders.

8. THE NECESSITY OF CULTURALLY-APPROPRIATE MINISTRY -- The ministry pattern of Jesus was to leave the comforts of heaven, to enter the realm of the lost by identification with them as people, to meet real needs though healing and feeding, and to speak the truth of the gospel to individuals at their point of need. The church is called to leave its comfortable fortress enclave and do the same. This is genuine love for the lost. A primary way that this ought to be seen is a reasonable, sanctified, missionary-style adaptation of the church to the cultural patterns of successive generations and other micro-cultural groupings.