5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
One of the primary ways we avoid leaning on our own understanding is to “acknowledge him” by going to Scripture to inform us as to what our church should look like. And there is good reason for this:
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
The Scriptures are the only sufficient guide for church ministry. That is why we desire to start with Scriptures and then evaluate current and future ministries in light of what it has to say to us, not only about what we should do, but how we should do it. God knows better than we do in how we are to thrive spiritually as a church.
Our ultimate goal is to be able to read in the Bible what the Scriptures indicate a New Testament church is and to be able to see ourselves there. Our stepping stone goal to get there is to be able to “draw a line” between Scriptural guidance for the church and who we are and what we do in our church life and ministry. Of course, this includes avoiding what the Scriptures say to avoid (legalism) and promoting the only means by which any of this is enabled (God’s grace). It must be clear that Scripture-driven ministry means Scripture-driven ministry and not Legalistic-driven ministry.
We believe man’s opinion on how the church should function, if not wedded to God’s Word will not produce a spiritually thriving church:
7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:7-8