Our Mission Statement:
Our mission is to glorify God by multiplying healthy churches that know Jesus Christ and make Him known.
Our Objectives
Biblically, we are to have two primary objectives that influence everything we do as a church:
The Great Commandment - Matthew 22:36-40
To love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
To love others as we love ourselves.
The Great Commission - Matthew 28:18-20
To "make disciples" of all the nations (people groups).
By GOING (Evangelizing locally and globally)
By BAPTIZING (Winning to Christ; forming churches)
By TEACHING TO OBEY (Training and sending)
At Shepherd's, the emphasis of all our ministries will be to produce genuine disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. A disciple according to John 15 is one who: abides in Christ, sees answers to prayer, bears much fruit, loves, obeys Christ, is joyful, sacrifices to serve others, receives insults and persecution from the world, and brings glory to God.
All true followers of Jesus Christ are at different levels of maturity in their walk with Christ. Our task as a church will be to take people from wherever they are and lead them to a place of greater maturity. Our focus is on quality, not just quantity!
Our Plan
In order to accomplish all that God has given us, it is of utmost importance to have a plan of action. Using the acrostic "AWESOME" we will go step by step through this plan, for ultimately we desire to be an awesome tool in the hands of God!
Authority of the Word of God
Everything we do will be based in the Bible. We will preach/teach the Bible as God's authoritative truth in every ministry of the church. We will preach through the Bible, study the Bible in small groups, and encourage personal reading, study, memorization, and meditation. We will determine the course/direction of our church based upon the Bible. Every area of our church (corporate & personal) life must be surrendered to the Lordship of Christ and the authority of His Word.
Worship
We will seek to be a people that offer genuine worship to the Lord when we gather together. The Word of God, singing, and prayer are vital elements of worship that we will devote much time to in our worship services. We want to lead people to a place of being lost in the majesty of an awesome God. Our goal will be to see church members who worship the Lord everywhere they go, every day of the week. When that happens, our corporate worship, our service to the Lord, and our giving (time, abilities, material possessions, money, relationships) will be a true celebration.
Excellence / Equipping
We will strive to do everything heartily unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23-24). We will give our best in every area of ministry, not just the things people notice. But we can't stop there, we must equip others to do what we do in an excellent way. We will labor to reproduce ourselves so our area of ministry does not depend on us for survival. This kind of leadership development will be crucial to the growth and effectiveness of our body (Ephesians 4:11ff; 2 Timothy 2:2).
Service / Servant
Every member will be looking for that special place in the church that the Lord has for them to serve. We will not be striving to lead others but to serve them (Matthew 20:20-28). If we produce servants, we have produced true disciples (Mark 10:45; Luke 6:40). We were not saved to spectate, we were saved to serve!
Organization
God is a God of order and He will lead us to be organized. We will constantly seek Him to see what He wants to do through His church. He has given each member of His church spiritual gifts so they can function in a special way according to His perfect plan. We will strive to help people find out what their gifts are so they can employ them to the edification of the body of Christ in an organized fashion (1 Corinthians 12-14). God has also given gifted men to the church to lead His church in an orderly way (1 Timothy 3; Titus 1). We will seek those men (elders) and follow them as they follow the Lord.
Maturity / Multiplication
We will strive to produce Mature/Maturing Christians. As people mature in their faith, we will train them to reproduce their lives in others so the church can Multiply in its growth. Much of our ministry will focus on discipleship (small groups, one-on-one, etc.) so that we can send self-feeding, reproducing believers out into the harvest field for Christ.
Evangelism
This will be a natural outgrowth of the previous six components of the Plan. If we are implementing the things stated above, we won't be able to stop evangelism. Then it will not be a program, it will be a passion! We will also provide practical training in evangelism for every member as well as special events for the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel to lost friends.