Pastor Tim Guptill is doing a terrific job of leading Crosspoint (a Wesleyan church in Marysville, New Brunswick) to new levels of Great Commission effectiveness. I appreciated his recent blog posting and wanted to pass it along. Tim writes:"I’ve done a few interviews recently with students from Bethany Bible College for their courses. One student this week asked me for a few of my ‘core philosophies of ministry’. Here is the list I gave him.
-The mission of every church is the same. Check Jesus’ words from Matthew 28. Go into all the world, make disciples, baptize them, etc.
-The vision is the unique calling and design of a church. It’s the way that God wants to use that church to reach its full redemptive potential.
-Most churches are doing far too much. The best thing they could do would be to refocus and stop trying to please everyone. Instead of doing a few things well, they do a lot of things average.
-Worship is about creating environments where people can experience the life-changing presence and message of Jesus.
-Worship (the entire service) done with excellence creates a culture of anticipation and expectation. Repeat that week after week and you won’t have to beg people to invite others, they just will.
-Never apologize for giving an invitation to accept Jesus.
-Spiritually mature people are more interested in lost souls than having their own personal preferences met.
-400 people can’t have everything their way. We all have to put the vision ahead of personal agendas.
-There is a fine line between faith and foolishness. I’ll take risk over regret every time."
