1. We propagate by multiplication and division. – Our number one job is to expand His kingdom, so we are a church planting church. It is what we do best. In our ten year history we have planted twenty-five churches, thirteen in Cuba and Costa Rica and twelve in the Carolinas. Our pastor teaches church planting for the SBC and we are looking to plant eight new churches this year, two will be in Vietnam. (We are very excited about that!) The other way we seek to expand His kingdom is by division. This last Sunday marks the third time that our church has split. No, these were not hostile church splits, but instead they were planned. Each time about eighty to one hundred members spilt off into a new church. Twice our church moved on to a new building while the split church remained behind in the old one.
2. The church grows and matures as the members grow and mature. - We started off as a seeker friendly church, but are no longer so. Unlike other seeker friendly churches our church was designed to grow in maturity as the congregation grew in maturity. All of the churches we plant are seeker friendly, yet designed to mature also.
3. We do not seek to duplicate ministries that other area churches are already doing well. Instead we would prefer to join them in their ministries. Duplication of process among Christian churches creates small ineffectual ministries repeated time and again from church to church. So instead of creating a new food bank, we teamed up with the Lutheran church down the street to help with theirs. We supply food and labor they supply the building and their expertise. It has benefited not only our two churches, but more importantly the community. Four other area churches have since joined in. This is just one example. We have teamed up with dozens of churches from many different denominations for various ministries.
4. We share our resources. Many small churches lack resources. We share our library, our printers, copiers, computers, etc. with them. Also in the weekly sermon meeting other churches are welcome to join in. There are about fifteen pastors from other churches that attend this meeting either in person or by teleconference. They are free to use the sermon in whole, in part or to totally disregard it. It is also a great benefit to us to have their input.
5. Our church evangelizes only to those who are unchurched. We do not accept new members to our church if they belong to another church, unless they have made a sincere effort to reconcile with their church to our satisfaction. If need be we will act as mediators between them and their church. The only exception to this is for newcomers to our area that previously attended a nondenominational church. If we are to take our communion and the unity of our church seriously then we must be equally serious about anyone breaking communion or unity with their own church.
Non-Denominational Ping!
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My denomination is Uniuqe (pronounced U-Knee-ooo-kee) only when it’s okey-dokey.
Our church evolved from an American Baptist Church. It was a very small church with only a few families. When our pastor was hired 25 years ago, he had just graduated from an old pentecostal School near Rochester. It exploded! Since he’s been there, we’ve built two additions, a Christian school, have a lively mission oriented youth group and also adults who enjoy going on short-term missions. Jesus is glorified in our worship and our pastors are Christ centered men who preach the Word. We have a lively children’s ministry and an annual VBS that reaches out to the communities around us.
Our church is full of young families and lots of little children. We have a good age spread. I can’t wait to get there on Sunday mornings. God is moving mightily there.
IMHO, there are several positive aspects of non-denominational local churches.
The spiritual gift of pastor-teacher is not a soulish gift, nor a gift of the mind, but a spiritual gift for the communication of the Word to believers given by God the Holy Spirit to only some believers. All too frequently, those who decide for themselves that they are going to help God out, by performing ministries independent of faith through Christ and in fellowship with Him, confuse morality and organized religion as a substitute for His Plan. Such a worldly ministry is not limited to denominational or non-denominational assemblies, but many who are gifted as pastor-teachers, who recognize their gift, find themselves more welcome following a non-denominational path and getting on with their ministries, rather than becoming subordinate to a worldly religion with the appearance of sanctity.
Secondly, pastor-teachers continue to be sanctified in their walk with Christ as well as other believers. Many non-denominational pastors are not trapped into worldly agendas in teaching their congregations on issues they are only trained in a worldly fashion, rather than in those issues which God the Holy Spirit might so move that particular pastor-teacher and his flock.
Thirdly, non-denominational pastors, as they continue to grow in the Lord, also may develop more mature doctrines, faith upon faith, and are able to change their previous teachings, based purely upon their fellowship with God and His correction in their teachings. Their relationship to God is more direct, and effective as originally provided by God the Holy Spirit in the spiritual gifts to the pastor teacher.