Freedom Ministry Network
Statement of Belief
Vision Statement
- At the bottom a current statement of where we are in ministry at the moment
This is what we believe:
1) We believe in one God who lives forever in three persons: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19) Three expressions of the One God in undivided unity.
2) In the verbal inspiration of the Bible. The Word of God is the most important element in our lives speaking to us with authority and without error. (2 Timothy 3:16-17) It is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. (Psalms 119:105)
3) We believe that all mankind is lost in sin and need to turn from it and trust personally in the Savior, Jesus Christ. All need to be born again by the Holy Spirit’s power into God’s family.
(Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:5-7, Titus 3:5) We believe that the only path to heaven is through Jesus Christ. (John 14:6,
2 Tim. 2:5)
4) We believe that every believer is called to be a bold witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That the only way we can be a consistent, effective witness is through the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot live consistantly a life for God under our own power.
(Acts 1:8)
5) We believe that the healthy Christian life is one that is continually growing in Christ and His Word.
(Matthew 4:4, Matthew 11:28-30, 2 Timothy 3:16-17) No believer can continually grow with out reading the Bible.
6) We believe that the Holy Spirit lives in us and through the process of sanctification makes us more and more like Jesus. He brings the characteristics of Jesus by causing the Fruit of the Spirit to be evident more and more in our lives. (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self control)
(Gal. 5:22-23, 1 Corinthians 12:31-46)
That He releases power in our lives through the biblical experience of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. The initial evidence of this experience being speaking with other tongues. Additional evidence being a hunger for the Word, power to overcome, greater intimacy with God and a walk of authority as the believer continues to grow in the Lord. Jesus is the Baptizer and the gift of the Spirit is for all believers. We do not believe the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is required for salvation but is available to all believers. (Joel 2:28, Acts 2:39, Rom. 8:26)
7) We believe in the resurrection of every person; to eternal life for the believer and eternal judgment for the lost.
(Matthew 25:31-46, Rev. 20:11-15)
We believe in unity for all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ and seek community together: We want to become more like him in every way, who is the head of His body, the Church. We are called to love Him and one another and are enabled to do this only as His life flows through us.
(1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Matthew 22:37-40)
Vision Statement
1) We are a Church out of which flows a non-traditional ministry network encouraging and releasing people to “be the Church” in their homes, campuses, businesses and communities. We began and became incorporated in 2006 after leaving a large suburban church where I had been a pastor on staff for 15 years. We spent some time seeking the Lord's direction and getting ourselves shaken from that old mindset. In 2008 we began to operate a 'ministry center' out of a large storefront in downtown Jeannette PA.
2) We believe that “Church” isn’t just a place but where two are gathered in His name He is there and you have “church”. We have a vision of smaller fellowships to be raised up and to plant these “Micro-churches” everywhere for the purpose of fulfilling the Great Commission through evangelism, discipleship and world mission. The individual will be more involved in accomplishing these goals as they are personally challenged and given more opportunities to live our their faith.
3) We have a vision for the “Simple, House or Micro Churches” as they are called to be an effective tool to evangelize geographic areas in cities and towns. When these churches get a foothold in places where there was previously no gospel witness the spiritual climate over that area will change. As God's kingdom spreads it will overtake the kingdoms of this world. We see these churches “born pregnant” as when they grow to 15 or 20 people they start another church in a house, business or where ever the Lord leads. The potential for growth is already built in.
4) We want to provide the intimacy, community, relationships and accountability that many are seeking that they are missing in the Institutional Church. In place of being talked at (pew/preacher relationship) we see the Word presented with a facilitator and everyone involved in the discussion. We are experiencing greater, participation, accountability and support for each individual member of the 'church'. There will be a shared meal and genuine fellowship at our meetings.
5 ) There is basically no over-head and no building to 'maintain'. We pay rent on the storefront and utilities that are covered by the giving God has raised up to the ministry. We believe we can free up offerings and gifts to effectively to take care of genuine concerns of God's people and the lost. We've been able to pay rent for people that needed help, dental bills, food, gas bills and be God's hands to help in times of need. We believe that we are freer to be creative in our expression of Christ's love as we minister in Detention Centers, Shelters, Prisons, on the Street and where ever hurting people are found. We don't want to be focused on "In Reach", we want to focus more on "Out Reach". We have already been able to help many people financially that the "Churches" of our area wouldn't help partly because we don't have all the red tape. We would never 'require' someone to be a 'member' of 'our ministry' as a prerequisite for receiving help from us.
6) We want to see more leaders raised up and given opportunities and responsibility.
7) We have a vision to follow the Acts 2: model of going house to house breaking bread, giving heed to teaching from the Word. We believe God is restoring this simple formula in our day and our vision is to be a part of what He is doing. We see this as part of a worldwide movement sweeping the globe, crossing borders, cultures and demographics.
We've had over 2000 years to reach the world for Jesus and we have not come close. Somethings got to change in the way we do things, there's more I could say about that but I'll stop there.
Currently this is where we are at. It's 2010 soon to be 2011 as I write this. As I read over the vision statement I can confidently say we accomplished many of the goals we were reaching for. I can also see where we never saw the full realization of the vision God had given us in the beginning. It was a season of ministry for us, a precious time where we saw God raise up people, answer prayers, supernaturally provide, forge strong relationships and move in awesome power on many occasions. I knew that my physical injuries were getting worse and that eventually that could affect what I could physically do in the ministry. It's only by God's grace and ability that I went as long as I did in active fulltime ministry. The relationships that we made, the experiences that were had and the way it all has shaped us will last forever. I am now in a much more toned down phase of ministry. A lot of it is relational as God brings people across our path. I seem to be doing more on the web now in communicating and writing articles. I still do weddings and speak from time to time. I still operate in the ministry of encouragement but the opportunities are fewer now. I've slowed down but by no means am I totally out of the race. I'm not completely sure what God has in store for us in the future but he has made me content to be where I am for the moment.
