• TRUE MINISTRY IS ESTABLISHED BY GOD (1 CORINTHIANS 12:4-7)
Just because another ministry is engaged in some task or someone requests something to be done are not sufficient reasons for beginning a work or new ministry. There must be an identifiable sense of God's leading in every situation prior to starting something.
• WHAT GOD ESTABLISHES, HE EMPOWERS (JUDGES 17, 18)
When God raises something up, you don't have to worry if you will have enough personnel or money or if there will be results. Where God guides, He provides. If God is not providing what is necessary (money, people, etc.), we must stop and ask ourselves if we are where He is guiding.
• TRUE MINISTRY IS RECEIVED, NOT ACHIEVED (ACTS 16:1-15)
Even if we have a sense that something is God's will, that doesn't necessarily mean it is His timing. Often there is a period of waiting between our awareness of a need and God raising up His solution. We are responsible to wait in faith on the Lord until He gives direction, and then act in faith on that direction.
• TRUE MINISTRY IS NOT THE RESULT OF COMMITMENT, BUT SURRENDER (ROMANS 15:17 -18)
Ministry that flows out of man's efforts requires striving and does not matter in eternity. Ministry that flows out of surrender, requires continual yieldedness, and lasts for eternity.
• TRUE MINISTRY GLORIFIES GOD, NOT MAN (ROMANS 11:33 -36)
Ministry that flows out of man's efforts glorifies man. Ministry that flows out of surrender glorifies God, who does the work and brings the results.
• THE CHURCH (A TRUE MINISTRY) IS AN ORGANISM, NOT AN ORGANIZATION (ROMANS 12:1-8)
The Body of Christ, as an organism, will by nature be organized in line with Christ's nature. It is our desire to follow His organizational principles given in His Word as He guides us by His Spirit.
• THE ROLE OF THE LEADERSHIP IS TO EQUIP THE SAINTS FOR THE WORK OF MINISTRY (EPHESIANS 4:8-13)
It takes each member of a church, functioning together in their respective places, that makes the local church work as one body. The only spectators in the Christian life are those who have already finished their race (Heb. 12:1-4)