Church
planting
We affirm that the church is God’s plan for this age and commit to mobilize our members
and resources to plant new churches because:
· the Spirit of Jesus poured
out upon the Church is the Spirit of Mission to the nations (Acts 2:1-42; 13:1-4)
· the Church is a fruitful
community in which disciples are made (Acts 2:42-47; Eph 4:11-16)
· the Church calls the lost
to be reconciled to Christ through its evangelistic efforts (2 Cor. 5:16-21)
· the Church displays the
multifaceted wisdom of God (Eph 3:10-11)
· through the Church God
is glorified in Christ Jesus (Eph 3:21)
Therefore, we call upon:
· every local church to reaffirm
their God-given mandate to reproduce through a concentrated effort to make disciples and form new churches.
· every National Fellowship
or Association of Grace Brethren Churches to designate 2010-2020 as the decade of multiplication in which every church will
be mobilized to reproduce itself through planting one or more new churches.
Leadership
training
We affirm that a leader is a person who influences others towards the fulfilment of defined objectives and is indispensable
to the health and multiplication of the Church. We affirm that leadership training:
· Takes place under the responsibility of the local church
· Seeks the equal development of character, knowledge and skills according
to giftedness.
· Is a life-long process involving mentors who share their example, values,
convictions and experience
· Protects existing leaders from temptations such as pride, exhaustion,
family neglect, immorality, isolation, through accountability and team work.
We call upon the churches:
· To develop culturally sensitive strategies and means to train leaders,
creating a comprehensive set of tools to:
-
Proclaim the
Gospel (from non-belief to salvation)
-
Teach the fundamentals
(from salvation to baptism)
-
Enlist in ministry
service (from baptism to service)
-
Train leaders
according to gifting (from service to leadership)
-
Empower leaders
to train others according to gifting (from leadership to coaching)
-
Encourage a life
of wisdom (family & work ethics, etc.)
· To share these resources worldwide with appropriate training how to use
them (objective, target, content, time, cost, required skill to teach them…).
Integrated
ministries
We affirm that God has created human beings with physical, emotional and spiritual needs and that the Church expresses
the compassion of Christ in proclaiming the Gospel while caring for various needs of mankind.
We call upon the Church to bless believers, strengthen churches and reach the lost by showing the works which reflect
true faith (Jam 2.26):
· Assisting those in need,
· Promoting economic, family, and personal development,
· Encouraging the development of businesses with a missionary focus (Business
As Mission)
We recognize that this is still an investigative avenue for mission. We encourage churches to deepen their theological
understanding (cf. Charis paper) and further refine the principles governing holistic ministries.