 Vision & Philosophy of Hope
Our Values reflect 23 building blocks to develop strong and biblical people and Churches The following is the philosophy of ministry of Hope Christian Church Values: Church Leadership 14. Full time ministers must serve God fully first. • The local church should be involved in leadership training herself. Leaders are not "hirelings", they should emerge from within, and not elsewhere. Thus, we need to be involved in training and raising up our own people. At the same time, we are open for God to bring in new ones, who of course must be willing to go through the ranks to gain credibility. • We cannot rely on outside leaders, for instance by hiring Bible College graduates because it is difficult for them to have full ownership. • We also need to have the right concept of going full time. Firstly, full-time serving the Lord differs according to our gifting, talents and needs. • Although not everyone will go full-time, we should have the willingness if we are called to do so. We need to decide what is most beneficial for the expansion of God's Kingdom. • Secondly, money should never be the motivating factor to go full-time. However, we do look after God's full-time servants well, and we aim to remunerate them according to market rates. An exception only when the church is still small especially during the pioneering stage when we may not be able to afford market rate. • Thirdly, in a normal situation, one should seriously consider going full-time only when they have no other time to serve God effectively. A good guideline would be when one is looking after at least 50 to 100 people. Nevertheless, this needs to be considered on a case by case basis; taking into account, the leader's gifting as well as the church's financial standing. 15. Church leaders are not appointed by men but God. • Leaders are identified by the fruits of their service (i.e. the bottom-line measurement is the number of disciples they make.) They are recognized by their lifestyle, qualification, anointing and behavior. • Some of the criteria are: having a good reputation, filled with the Holy Spirit, full of wisdom, faith, grace and power, performing of great signs and wonders as mentioned in first Timothy chapter 3 and Acts chapter 6. • Having said this though, willingness and availability are more important than talents and gifting because the latter can be trained. • In our church, we do not subscribe to democracy by voting for leaders. Instead the appointment of a leader is done via a theocratic approach, that is, a leader is confirmed by their fruits, and not by an autocratic or democratic approach. 16. The pastor is the chief overseer of the church. • The title pastor is used to communicate with outside parties and to identify the leader of the local church. • Pastor is the senior leader to bring the team to work together. • There is no equality of power and authority among all leaders, for this will only create problems. • However the church should be functioning in plurality of leadership, like in a team. We adopt the example in the Trinity where God the Father leads the Godhead; and the model of husband and wife where the husband takes the lead and the wife submits. • To choose one leader to lead has always been the pattern we see in the Bible to have a senior leader to lead the other leaders. With no exception, a pastor should function before appointment. 17. Authority is given as a blessing. • Without authority the world would be a mess. Authority enables us to live in an orderly manner. The devil, however, misused God's authority and that is why there are problems. Therefore, true obedience means total submission to the authority of God's word. • To ensure that our leaders are able to serve effectively, we must submit to those in authority. This means we need to be humble and give room to our leaders to guide and lead us. On neutral issues, even if there were differences in opinions we need to let the leaders lead. We should only "disobey" if our leaders told us to do things contrary to God's Word. However, we should never do so with a rebellious spirit but we should keep our spirit sweet and forgiving at all times. We need to continue to respect the instructions of faithful pastors, whilst at the same time be cautious not to be carried away by wrong doctrines. • An authoritarian carries out authority without proper love, character and spirit. However, if we only give love without exercising any authority at all, we will leave the people directionless. Therefore, we need to handle authority with wisdom. Luke 7:1ff gives us an understanding of authority. Even the Centurion, "a man of authority" recognized that he too must be as one under authority!" 18. The church must emphasize on leadership development • Leaders must function before appointment. We do not "import" leaders from other Bible colleges or anywhere else. Please note that we are not despising the roles of Bible colleges but we train our leaders from within. The turnaround of leaders is not fast enough to cater for our growth and expansion. Only selected high level of leadership will be sent for formal full-time Bible college training. • (Acts 1:21-23 NIV) Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, {22} beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection." {23} So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. • (Acts 6:2-3 NIV) So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. {3} Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them • Outside leaders would need to earn credibility in leadership by function, and not just base on past achievements elsewhere. They must be willing to go through our full training programs (with no exemption). We do not just appoint leaders based on their academic qualifications or past experience. Our leadership training programs are meant to train, develop and produce leaders at every level. Christian Living 19. Every Christian must follow God's will • To expand the Kingdom of God is the key thing in life. We should have kingdom mentality as found in Matt 6:33. We need to mobilize every Christian to extend the Kingdom of God (Eph 4:16). Going to church is not a hobby. The church is the channel for us to build eternal treasures in heaven. Therefore, we should discipline ourselves to always think along the lines of what is most beneficial for the Kingdom of God . • (Mat 6:33 NIV) But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. • (Eph 4:16 NIV) From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. • We need to serve God in a right way by giving Him undivided attention and laying aside temporal things to build things that will last. 20. Every Christian should serve God fully. • Every gifting must be fully utilized; i.e. it is not enough just to attend church services and care groups during the week. God's will for us is fruitfulness, not just faithfulness. • (John 15:1-2 NIV) "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. {2} He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. • Every gifting should have a place to serve in the church, so that each member will have a sense of usefulness. • We do not undermine any gifting, for even the smallest gifting can be used for God. Hence, no one should sit around having nothing to do, but we encourage every talent to be used to serve the whole church. • We hold that one should only go full time when we are serving fully till we have no other time for other thing. Once we become Christians, we also become servants of the Lord. Therefore, the issue is not whether or not to go full-time, but whether we are serving fully. 21. Every Christian needs to receive spiritual covering. • This is because spiritual covering is necessary before God's anointing can flow. • The devil fell out of grace because he willfully went outside God's covering. This basic rebellious nature now creates the universal problem of sin. • All Christians make up The Body Of Christ. We may be redeemed but we are not an independent entity; we are under the authority of Jesus Christ. • It is our duty to submit to governors. Romans 13:1-2. At the same time, we also need to submit to the leaders in the local church. Once we are out of the church covering, we are exposed to the attacks of the devil. • (Rom 13:1-2 NIV) Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. Impacting Society 22. The church is a salt and light to the nation • We aim to be different and yet influential by touching all walks of life with the Gospel, for e.g. Education, Politics, Arts, Commerce, Mass media, Entertainment, Religion, Environment, Health, etc. 23. The church is a place of security • The church is the answer to the world and the key to bless people. • (Mat 16:18 NIV) And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. • God will bless us to enable us to work for Him. The Church is the only institution that will last. Therefore, we must make our lives count by ensuring that everything we do revolves around the church/Kingdom of God. Let us aim to achieve something that will last for eternity!
International Vision : ONE Million Churches Around the World by 2015 Hope Mission: To help fulfil The Great Commission by building strong and biblical people to plant strong and biblical churches in Melbourne, Australia and all over the World. Hope Vision Statement: Hope Melbourne Christian Church, Waverley Centre brings the healing work of Jesus Christ to our community and is a place of refuge and restoration for all kinds of people. It also equips those belonging to the Waverley Centre in the healing ministry and in building strong and biblical churches. Its most prominent characteristics are prayer, joy, unity, sincere love and the presence of people from many cultures.
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