c. Provide a worship service which is inviting. The worship service is the primary place of entry into the life of the church for most people. Therefore, we will do all that we can to see that it radiates a spirit of openness and friendliness.
d. Recognize that music is a tool which the Holy Spirit powerfully uses to draw people into this encounter with God. We will intentionally include many of the contemporary styles of music while not sacrificing the rich musical heritage that has preceded us in the history of the church.
II. AN EQUIPPED PEOPLE
Maturity in Christ is both the product of, and the producer of, a hunger to know God and to understand who we are in relationship with Him and with each other. Disciples are disciplined learners of the one whom they follow. Towards that end, Westminster church will place a concentrated emphasis on:
a. Systematic teaching of the Scriptures
b. Application of the teaching of the Scriptures, not just on a cognitive understanding of their contents - We will seek to create settings in which we can live out what we have learned from the Word, so that we learn by experiencing as well as by being directly taught. In this way we prove in practice what we have learned.
c. Imparting a Christian world and life view which helps our people see God’s perspective in every area of life.
d. Training leaders and teachers.
e. One to one discipleship.
f. Staffing to meet the heavy requirement which accompany this emphasis on leader/teacher training, individual discipling relationships, and administration of these and other ministries.
III. AN ENGAGED PEOPLE
As we spend time in worship, and as we learn more of who God is and who He has called us to be, we are changed people. One who is growing in maturity in Christ is one who more and more is coming to actively care about the things which are important to God. That caring, resulting from transformed hearts and minds, will thrust us into our world (both locally and globally) and will compel us to involve ourselves in the lives of people and to be engaged in the eternal and temporal issues which confront our world. Westminster Church will demonstrate and develop this aspect of discipleship primarily through our engagement in the following areas:
a.Evangelism: Disciples of Jesus Christ will care deeply, as does God, about those who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior. Thus a natural outgrowth of our emphasis on making disciples will be a visible care and concern among our members for the unsaved. Our primary evangelistic focus will be on a friendship evangelism model as we seek to be engaged in the lives of unbelievers and to be aware of the concerns and issues which confront them. We will also develop ministries which are specifically designed for evangelistic outreach.
b. World Missions: Explicit in the Great Commission’s call to make disciples is the phrase “out of every nation”. Westminster church will take seriously the command of Christ to be involved in other nations. The primary focus of our mission’s ministry will be, then, to those people groups who have never had a chance to become disciples of Jesus Christ because there is no viable witness for the gospel among them. We will also make a strong commitment to the world outreach ministries of the EPC.
c. Ministries of Compassion: We are compelled by our love for Christ to involve ourselves, as Christ commanded us and as he did himself, in the lives of the sick, the lonely, the oppressed, the outcast, the widow and orphan, etc. We believe that our acts of compassion, done in the name of Jesus, will help the world to see, experience, and understand the love of God for them. Though our good works are not the basis of our salvation, they are the necessary outgrowth of it and will serve to open doors for, and validate the truths of, the gospel which we proclaim.
d. Congregational Care and Fellowship: One of the clearest demonstrations of God’s love for us is His gift to us of the body of Christ. We believe one of our principal places of “engagement” must be with those whom God has placed in the midst of our body. This emphasis will be show in our ministry through the development of effective:
1. Small Group Ministries.
2. Shepherding Ministries.
3. Intergenerational Ministries.
The faithful fulfillment of these ends will result in an ever-increasing number of people coming to faith in Jesus Christ and growing to maturity in Him. A hunger for the worship of God, a longing for the knowledge of God, and an active engagement in the lives of the people of this world are marks of mature followers of Jesus Christ. We long to be used of God to bring a steady stream of people to such maturity and we commit ourselves to this pursuit. In so doing we pray that the Lord God will be able to call us, as he called King David, “a people after his own heart.”
