What We Believe

There are many ways to describe the Church. The people of God. Two or more gathered in the name of Jesus. The Bride of Christ. The Body. Yet at the functional level, our ecclesial minimum, and our discipleship approach looks like this: When you find a group devoted to worship, mission, and community you find the Church.

The implications of this are profound. This means there are many religious buildings and Christian groups that sing songs, facilitate monologues, and call themselves “church” – but that does not make it so. This is why there are huts and caves and homes all over the world that look highly plain on the outside, but on the inside you find a worshiping community on mission. And that is Church.

When the yellow of our devotion to God (worship) meets the blue of our devotion to people (mission and community), we reach the deep green of the Church. The kingdom of God comes to earth.

We call people to live in the green. We scrutinize the health of our families and microchurches and discipleship by whether or not we are living in the green. We recognize and resist the dangers of organized religion to complicate the simplicity of our call.

Note the order. Worship is first. There is a reason that the first of the Ten Commandments involves worshiping only God. The second involves idols, a function of worship. All of the other commands – most involving people – will be an outgrowth of these first commands. You never break commandments 3-10 unless you have first violated number one and two. Indeed, our lives flow out of our worship. We absolutely must disciple people and lead churches with this truth in mind.

Yet part of the litmus test of true worship is mission. Once we connect to God in worship we cannot help but receive his passion for a lost and suffering world. He gives us a new heart, and this new heart leads us into mission. People who worship God begin to care about what He cares about. We always embrace the interests of the people with whom we share our heart.

When we worship and engage in mission with other people, community is the natural result. We see this with soldiers in battle. Diverse men and women, who possibly would have never come together, become a band of brothers and sisters uniting around a mission. This is how God has wired us. And this is why we call people to realize that in a world where people are afflicted with loneliness, we do not encounter authentic community by looking for community; it is the result of encountering God and getting on mission – together. Don’t “go to church” looking for friends; go to church looking for God and mission, and you’ll always have friends. That’s why you can’t really “go” to church; you have to “be” the church.

And that is what makes Greenhouse tick. Only God can make things grow, but we provide an environment where he can work his wonders.

We are justified by grace through faith. And we are sanctified by grace through faith.

Perhaps the greatest theological contribution of the Protestant Reformation was the second of these two statements. And perhaps the greatest theological challenge of most believers is precisely this: although they believe that the grace of God is enough to justify, forgive, and pardon them, they functionally believe that future growth and progress will be the result of their hard work and striving. In other words, Jesus got this ball rolling, but I’ll have to take it from here.

Please don’t miss this, when we allow our sanctification(ongoing progress) to feed on our justification (finished work), we thrive. But when the opposite occurs, we base the stability of our justification on the instability of our sanctification, and we fall deeper into sin and despair. It was the unmerited favor and work of Jesus that saved us, and it is the unmerited favor and work of Jesus that grows us. This is why Paul said that all he talked about was Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). Apparently, every word of wisdom and moral exhortation was directly tied back to the Gospel of grace.

This means the key to growing in the Kingdom is the same key to getting in the Kingdom: a life-altering encounter with the amazing grace of God. Good news! It is the good news (about what Jesus has done andis doing), not the good advice (about what we do) or the bad news (about what we have or have not done). Our teaching will clearly involve moral imperatives and instruction, yet it must find its roots in the finished work of Jesus on the Cross, and the ongoing work of Jesus through His Spirit. Gospel freedom – not legalistic guilt – is the fuel for every call to obedience and mission.

Thus, we acknowledge that transformation is not the result of trying harder, but beholding more deeply the grace and person of Jesus. Just as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, when the people gazed upon it, they were changed. When we gaze upon Christ and Him crucified, we are transformed.

We do recognize that the Gospel of grace is a challenge for non-first-century people to comprehend. Substitutionary atonement is a Jewish concept. Words like propitiation, adoption, and covenant require explanation. Yet we affirm these truths, and consider the effort to explain them well worth the energy.

We need to be fluent in life-altering thoughts like these. Jesus took my place (substitution) and covered me (atonement) by exhausting all the wrath against me (propitiation). He lived the life I should have lived, and died the death I should have died. He took what I deserve, and now I get what He deserves. I never have to wonder what I did to deserve this; Jesus took what I deserve. Therefore, I am His.

If we will lead people to know who they are, they will increasingly act out of that identity.

Ministry for God without intimacy with God is a dead work. Mission to the world without a connection with the God who loves the world is a filthy rag. Anything of eternal consequence flows out of our relationship with Father. Far too much of the ministry being attempted today is deprived of the soul-morphing effect of an intimate encounter with God.

David said, “The intimate friendship of the Lord is reserved for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.” (Psalm 25:14) His response? “My eyes are ever towards the Lord.” (25:15) This fluency speaks to the need for intimacy with God.

This lack of intimacy is a fundamental problem for so many Christians in general and leaders in particular. It’s like a travel agent selling time shares for a property she’s never seen. Or a vegan waiter pushing meatloaf he’s never tasted. The pictures look good and the food smells great, but the experience is second-hand. Far too many believers are bored with their relationship with God. Like spiritual pornographers, they attend (and lead!) religious gatherings to watch other people encounter God, while they themselves are lifeless and dull, wearied by the “duties” associated with “serving” God.

Spiritual leaders must have first-hand experiences with God in order to lead people to have first-hand experiences with God. We intend to mobilize movements of people who will make the first commandment their first priority. We love God. And how does this manifest in the real world? We begin by seeking God.

Our eternal position changes the moment we reorient our trust from our righteousness to Jesus’. We change. We are born from above. But we still have an ongoing need for this same kind of reorientation at the practical level. This involves our activity, attention, and energy. The human soul is a fickle thing. Nothing short of direct abiding in Jesus and allowing His words to abide in us will do the trick.

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

If we want to reflect our King, and represent our King, we must imitate our King. And before the sun had even risen, He would find a solitary place – a place to shut the door on distraction. To shut the door on temptation. To shut the door on all competitors for his attention. Because behind the shut door Father gets the monopoly. In fact, this is precisely how Jesus taught us to seek His face: go, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. (Matthew 6:6)

We challenge people to be extravagant in their devotion. We equip people to move from duty to delight. We expect every leader to spend the first fruit of their day in the Secret Place. We expect every pastor to commit two hours per day in the Secret Place. We call people to the place of encounter with God.

The role of Scripture cannot be overstated. One of Jesus’ very definitions of a disciple points directly to his word: “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

Disciples are people who abide in the Word of God. They prioritize hearing, reading, studying, meditating, memorizing, and applying the words of Scripture.

We affirm the Bible, including the 39 books of the Old Covenant and the 27 books of the New Covenant, as God’s written revelation to humanity. It is the indispensable and infallible record of God’s self-disclosure. The Bible is the authoritative and normative rule and guide for the Christian life, conduct, and doctrine. Greenhouse leaders are expected to rightly handle the word of truth.

At the concrete level, this means we encourage leaders, teachers, and students to be able to study Scripture with an inductive approach. We expect disciples to do faithful exegesis (what the Scriptures meant then and there) as well as hermeneutics

This begins with observation. Start with prayer. What is happening in this passage? Ask the who-what-when-where-how-why questions. Note key words, thoughts, etc.

Then move into interpretation. What does this passage mean? How does this line up with other scripture? Each book is to be studied diligently and handled faithfully, within both the immediate context and ultimate context. We are to always ask, what was the original human author’s intent in writing this?But then we recognize the invisible divine Author and ask, what is His intent in including this passage in Scripture? The idea is not to read our opinions and biases into the passage; what does the Holy Spirit mean?

In the end, we call people to a Jesus-center. If we read the Bible, but fail to arrive at Jesus, we have engaged in vain religion. We remember that this faith is not just a belief in a book, but a living trust in a Person. Thus we read the Scriptures with eyes for Jesus. We embrace a Christo-centric, redemptive-historical approach to Scripture. The Bible is not a just book full of teachings with stories thrown in to illustrate the points. It is one glorious story of redemption, with teachings and principles thrown in to tell the story.

Finally, we move into application. We recognize the danger of being “hearers only.” Therefore we approach the Scriptures with a heart to go deeply enough to put these words into practice. Jesus warned of the leaven of the “doctrine” of the Pharisees (Matt. 16:12). He would go on to claim that their preaching was right, but their practice was wrong (Matt. 23:3). According to Jesus, the doctrine that matters is the doctrine you actually put into practice. Hence, fueled by Gospel grace, with eyes for Jesus, every sermon, study, and teaching leads to response. We must always ask, what are we going to DO about this?

Greenhouse leaders are expected to be both biblically grounded and practically experienced in the workings of the Spirit.

The prophets said the sign of the end times was legitimate but widespread Holy Spirit activity (Joel 2). Jesus promised His ongoing work would be through the Person of the Spirit. The early church made decisions with statements like, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…” (Acts 15:28) Seemed? How could they make such a claim? Because, as Paul would say, they “kept in step” with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25). Paul would go so far as to say we “live by the Spirit.” While most Christians functionally minimize this to mean “living biblically”, the book of Acts presents a much richer experience.

And herein lies the fluency challenge: experience. Most cessationists (those who believe that the miraculous gifts and manifestations of the Spirit have ceased) argue that Spirit-filled believers base their theology on experience. While many do, the reality is that many cessationists base their theology on lack of experience. Thus, we begin with the Bible. We conclude that the gifts and power and presence and guidance of the Spirit is abundantly available in our day, and we draw this conclusion from Scripture. Not subjective and unbiblical mysticism. Every leader must be ready to teach and lead people in things of the Spirit. This will often mean asking good questions.

“Did you receive the Spirit when you believed?” (Acts 19:2) These were Paul’s opening words upon meeting a new group of disciples in the city of Ephesus. If the Gospel of grace was his first priority, one could make a strong case for the reality of the Spirit as his second. Why was this so? Because, if you read the first 18 chapters of the book, you find a church that seemed obsessed with a very direct and constant relationship with God the Holy Spirit.

Positionally, we know that every believer has the Spirit living in them. Yet every believer is not always “filled” with and encountering the Spirit. There truly are experiences with God subsequent to salvation. It’s not that Jesus is not enough; it’s that we need to go all the way with the Jesus who is enough. We agree with Martin Lloyd Jones: “There is nothing, I am convinced, that so ‘quenches’ the Spirit as the teaching which identifies the baptism of the Holy Ghost with regeneration … Got it all? Well, if you have ‘got it all’, I simply ask in the Name of God, why are you as you are? If you have ‘got it all’, why are you so unlike the Apostles, why are you so unlike the New Testament Christians?”

Thus, we call our people to both understand the blessed reality of being eternally sealed with the Spirit, while being called to continually be filled with the Spirit. In practical terms we “ask for the Spirit” in prayer, “earnestly desire” spiritual gifts in our gatherings, and make room for such a reality. We then “test the spirits” (1 John 4:1) and “weigh what is said.” (1 Cor 14:29) 1 Corinthians 14 is a gold mine for biblical order.

We make disciples. Not religious services. Not song lists. Not interesting sermons. This is the Great Commission. On the day of judgment, we will stand before God and give an account for this command. Are we bringing disciples with us into eternity? It is beyond tragic that the average Christian has never “made” one disciple.

The church does not move forward without an intense commitment to discipleship. This was Jesus’ final command – to go and make disciples. There is no such thing as a discipleship formula, but the fundamental components Jesus gave us to make disciples can be summed up in these two mandates: baptizing them and teaching them to observe. (Matthew 28:19-20)

We also recognize biblical stages of faith and expect leaders to develop a fluency in identifying a disciple’s level of maturity. 1 John seems to indicate that people progress from being “little children” to “young men” and finally “grown men”.

It is vital to understand that, according to Jesus, leading people to faith and going all in through baptism is one part of the discipleship process. He did not separate evangelism and discipleship, like most Christians do today. That said, we will discuss evangelism in a fluency all its own. You might say that discipleship requires two types of immersion; the first is in water. But the second is in one another’s lives.

Yet the Word is key. “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” (John 8:31) Disciple makers are shooting for Word-abiding. Accountability to train is absolutely vital: reading, study, memorization, preaching, meditation are all pivotal ingredients.

Discipleship requires face time, real relationships, and life lived together. We need leaders who are living lives worth imitating and who then allow others to live life with them in a way that affords them opportunities to imitate what they see. “Follow me as I follow Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1 ) This is the crux of teaching them to obey, because the doctrine that matters is the doctrine you do. It takes a doer of the Word to reproduce a doer of the Word. We are not looking for Bible trivia, but lives centered on and transformed by the Word and Spirit of God… and the best way to have that take place is to first see that lived out by others. Intimate imitation is key to cultivating a culture of disciples who make disciples.

As leaders, multiplication must be at the core of everything we do; discipleship, apprenticeship, microchurch, macrochurch, teaching, family life, etc. The entire movement stops if our leaders do not understand, fully embrace, and live out this call to multiply themselves at every level. We are not spiritual mules; we take seriously the call to be fruitful and multiply and expect our leaders to give themselves to this endeavor.

Part of multiplication is the result of simply being. Like reproduces like. Fire will not produce ice, and distracted Christians will not produce focused disciples. Thus we need to live a life that is truly worth following since so much of what we reproduce will be done accidentally. God will not be mocked, a man will reap what he sows. If we sow seeds in prayer and generosity, for example, we will reap a harvest of prayer and generosity.

Once we live a life worth following, we must embrace the with-factor. People must be invited to be WITH us to varying degrees. Much of our discipleship is the result of people being consistently exposed to the intangibles of our lives. Herein lies the fluency challenge. Most Christian ministry seems to expect multiplication to be the result of good, solid Bible teaching. Indeed the apostle Paul included this in his approach with Timothy: “You, however, have followed my teaching…” But notice that he did not stop there: and also “my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me…” (2 Timothy 3:10-11) Timothy got to see how Paul responded to victory, or defeat, or infirmity. He was able to observe what would thrill the soul of Paul. He got to hear him pray and watch him wait.

Sages have pointed out that we can teach what we know, but we reproduce who we are. Yet this only happens if we become intentional. Thus, we must invite people into our lives and cast a vision of multiplication. Multiplication is the result of an intentional pursuit to reproduce yourself as a leader, even desiring your apprentice to do greater works than you. Sounds like Jesus.

In microchurches this starts from Day 1. If there is not a vision for multiplication from the very beginning, then it will not happen. Leaders need to have 2 Timothy 2:2 eyes to see spiritual giftings, leadership potential, and disciple-making ability in everyone around him/her. We do not want one-generation leaders; we want exponential disciple-makers who are looking to leave lasting discipleship legacies that continue from generation to generation.

Leaders need to own discipleship and see it in others. But it cannot stop with the person in front of you; exponential leaders look and see multiple generations of disciples coming from a single person and do what it takes to make that a reality.

Taking our cue from the early church, we embrace a both/and approach to Church. In the book of Acts we encounter a community of disciples who met together in both the large group gathering (e.g. “in the temple”) and in the small group gathering (“from house to house”). “Church” was both organized and scheduled as well as fluid and spontaneous. It was not limited to weekends in a building. Discipleship was not limited to once a week in a home. This happened every time believers came together in the name and power of Jesus. It is vital to recognize that these first believers gathered constantly and made use of any and every environment to do so.

While we have been heavily influenced by the house church and organic church movements, we do not share their disregard for the large-group gathering. Thus, we utilize large groups to bring the apostle’s teaching, clarify vision, stir faith, build culture, worship passionately, tell our stories, etc. Yet we recognize that there are so many parts of discipleship that will never occur within the macrochurch alone. We need the microchurch expression.

Microchurches are where we gather intimately and equip more specifically to do the work of the ministry and “be” the Church. Microchurches are where people are personally pastored. There are many gifts that do not have as much place in a macrochurch gathering, but are vital and essential for the church to be fully expressed in a microchurch setting. There are many prayers to be prayed, specific needs to be met, burdens to be carried, questions to be asked, and homes to be opened – all of which require the microchurch expression.

One of the stunning teachings of the New Testament is found in Ephesians 4. Paul claims that the Church will build itself up in love when every part contributes. The context is explicit (and subversive to modern readers) as it specifically refers to five gifts or roles to be played: apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. It is our experience that when a microchurch has each of these roles represented, that becomes a healthy group. Greenhouse leaders need to be fluent and competent in looking for, identifying, and releasing for ministry each of these gifts.

From a leadership standpoint, we have to be honest: not everyone is called to lead to 50, 100, 1,000 or 10,000 people. But there are many followers of Jesus who are called to lead smaller expressions of 5, 10, or 30. Our brothers and sisters in the Chinese and South Korean churches have tapped into this truth, as they have seen hundreds of thousands of microchurch expressions multiply and flourish in the past century.

We do not consider our “Church” to simply be a gathering of individuals. Greenhouse is a family of microchurches.

We absolutely expect harvest. In the book of Acts the Lord added to their numbers regularly those who were being saved. We expect nothing less. We must make disciples who understand that soul-winning is the normal Christian lifestyle.

The first part of discipleship is baptizing. We are to lead people across the line of faith. We fully recognize that salvation is of the Lord, and yet we know that He uses vessels. While there is nothing wrong in leading people to repent in prayer, the clear pivotal moment for the early church (as seen in Acts) was baptism. Baptism is clear: there is an outward response to an inward reality, and that inward reality is this: I am all-in. I repent from my sin and repent toward my Savior. It is on Jesus’s terms not mine. His righteousness, not mine. I trust Jesus.

We do not believe that the joy of harvest is reserved for the select minority of Christians with a talent in persuasion. While everybody is not an evangelist, every Christian can and should be evangelistic. In God’s sovereignty every believer has a unique network of relationships and neighbors that nobody else will ever be able to touch. We believe every disciple has certain evangelism “styles” that should be discovered and practiced. But we must teach people that we never get good at things we do not practice. Thus, we call all believers to begin like this: intercede, invest, and invite. We start with intercession (prayer). We invest in the relationship. And we look for the opportunity to invite the loved one to an appropriate God setting (dinner, activity, church).

He who wins souls is wise. Therefore, it requires a measure of wisdom to set up our ministry in ways conducive toward soul-winning. Our corporate gatherings (whether macrochurch, house church, or microchurch), for example, must be places to build up the faith family. Yet, just like any godly family, we open our home to people outside the family. Then we practice hospitality while they are with us. This means that we are forever mindful of the outsiders among us and communicate in ways so that they do not feel left out. Our teachers are to communicate as if there are lost people in the room. If we will, eventually there will be. We also encourage our pastors and leaders to regularly speak and listen to unchurched voices to be able to effectively answer questions real people are asking.

Every disciple should be taught to share their testimony. They should know the basics of the Gospel and practice sharing this message with the people in their lives.

We do not believe somebody “making a decision” saves a person; Jesus does. It is the work of God. And yet we recognize the mandate to call people to faith. Upon hearing Peter preach, the hearers asked, “What shall we do?” Peter did not say, well there is nothing you can do; that would be works-salvation. He told them to repent and be baptized. We “proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins” (Luke 24:47). The only way to follow up with a new believer is to know who is a new believer. Thus, trusting God’s sovereignty to call people to Himself, we invite people to act on the grace of God.

Suggested books: Becoming a Contagious Christian, Reason For God, Mere Christianity

Leaders must become fluent in working toward the vision of a diverse, integrated and interdependent church. Jesus’ mandate goes like this: on earth as it is in heaven. What is it like in heaven? “Worthy are You … for You were slain, by Your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign…” (Rev. 5:9-10) Different tribes. Varied languages. Diverse peoples.

This fluency requires great wisdom. We do not call people to cease being who they are. We do not command people to give up their culture to be like another earthly culture; we call them to submit their culture to the kingdom of Jesus. We resist the temptation to lean politically left or right, understanding that each perspective comes with both insights and blind spots. We admit the temptation to believe that “they” are all the same, but “we” are unique. We recognize that all dark people, light people, eastern people, western people, old people, young people do not think the same. We cannot approximate their viewpoint. There is a diversity and fullness even among culturally similar people. We think through preferences (like music). We think carefully about the sensitivity of our language. And we prepare to repent regularly.

Diversity is not easy. It is not natural. But it is absolutely glorious when it occurs. Jesus goes so far as to pray, “that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.” (John 17:21) There is a direct correlation between our fluency in unity and our mission to this world.

Here is the fluency challenge: Part of “the world” system is a gravitational pull toward homogeneity(sameness). While we are in the world, we are not of the world. Social scientists tell us that we tend to like people who are like us. We are naturally attracted to people with similar attitudes, customs, backgrounds, and preferences. Churches are particularly prone to becoming gatherings of people who do little more than reinforce our personal status quo. And yet the Church is God’s challenge to the status quo.

Because we have been given the ministry of reconciliation, we are to regularly communicate the call to build churches and microchurches of unity in diversity. We recognize and verbalize the truth that the “kingdom” presented in Scripture is made up of a very diverse group. Multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-national, multi-lingual, multi-generational. The greater the diversity, the greater the ability to manifest this kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. It is like a sign and a wonder in the hands of God. It is also a tool through which God reveals parts of His kingdom that do not manifest through one culture or perspective by itself.

We acknowledge that there is a 100% chance that we will be offensive, and we will be offended. We expect it, and choose this path anyway.

Ultimately we realize the temptation to exaggerate our differences and ignore our commonalities. And here is our supreme commonality: Jesus. We adore and seek and experience Jesus. Together.

It’s not enough to be good; we need to be wise. It’s not enough to seek God; we need to mobilize people to seek God. It’s not enough to do the works of the ministry; we need to equip the saints to do the work of ministry. This requires leadership.

Max DePree describes it well. “The first job of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. And in between the two the leader becomes a servant.”

Defining reality requires vision. What is vision? Bill Hybels describes it as a picture of the future that produces passion. Martin Luther King described a future where children of different races would run around and play together as equals. JFK spoke of a future when humans would walk on the moon. While leaders come in many shapes, sizes, and personalities, what the great ones have in common is this: they define reality.

For the Greenhouse leader, vision is not just about what could be; it is a matter of what should be. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint.” This is huge, because without direction, people lose heart. But not just any direction will do. We recognize the “prophetic” nature of the vision required. We take our cues from God. What has He said in His Word? What is He saying through His Spirit?

Once the vision is clear, it must be communicated. And then re-communicated. Because we are all like sheep; we go astray. Vision leaks. Our leaders are to set priorities, clarify direction, and hold us accountable to live up to our vision, purpose, and values, as they are also accountable. As the vision becomes reality, it is then the job of a leader to speak like Jesus: Well done. “Thank you.” The leader is to encourage, inspire, and connect the dots back to the church’s efforts and the vision presented.

This is a serious call. Leaders and teachers will receive a stricter judgment, which is why we are very committed to “knowing those who labor among us.”

“Leadership, as understood in modern western popular culture, is not reflected with any real definition in the New Testament; it is not a New Testament word. There are clearly leaders who function as prophets, apostles, teachers, deacons, elders, etc., but none who fit the present-day secular model marked by a combination of individualism, self-dependence, task-orientation, supposed objectivity and personal ambition. We have therefore a significant problem. How can we develop leaders who are going to be rooted in biblical revelation unphased by the requirements of popular western culture?” (Viv Thomas) It’s all about following the example of the servant King Himself. Humility.

We are not running a business; we are servants – toilet cleaners – in the Lord’s church. We are tired of watching people enter church leadership full of passion and humility, only to come out standardized and prideful. Jesus was so different. Oh, He had power, but He only used it to serve. Never to strut. Never to boast. Never for personal gain. If you are considering leadership in Greenhouse you are not being invited to a place of power, you are being invited to be crucified with Christ and serve. What an honor.

We are a movement of generosity.

Therefore every microchurch and local church should adopt an open-handed extravagance approach from day one. We recognize the subversive nature of extravagant generosity in a culture of greed. The average American church member gives 2.58% of their income. Once it makes it into the hands of churches, only about 2% makes it to missions and poor. That means Christians are only giving about two percent of two percent.

Our goal is for 50% of our funds to go to missions and the poor. This requires faith.

But we are also a movement of wisdom. We give first, save second, and spend third. We avoid debt, and do not spend the money we do not have. We are willing to wait for the provision of the Lord, and lead our churches to learn how to function in times of plenty or times of less.

When choosing how to give and where to partner, good intentions are not enough. We recognize that it is possible to have good intentions about helping people, relieving the afflicted, sending out missionaries – but if it is not done in wisdom – we harm the very people we want to help. What does this missional wisdom look like?

We begin by praying through and identifying the actual needs of an individual or community before moving into the realm of helping. A misdiagnosis of the problems related to poverty or brokenness results in remedies that are ineffectual and sometimes even harmful.

Next, we strive to partner with people, and not do for them what they are capable of doing for themselves. This avoids the danger of creating dependence and exacerbating feelings of inadequacy and shame to those in need.

Finally, we embrace a holistic approach to missions. Justice without Jesus is never true liberation. We desire to reach out to the whole person, meeting both spiritual and physical needs, and then connect that person to the local church so they can continue to grow as a disciple.

Here are the questions we ask in identifying the ministry we undertake and with whom we partner:

• Is this ministry prayer saturated?
• Is this work sustainable and reproducible?
• Does this “remember the poor”?
• Does this reach the lesser reached and unreached?
• Does this include indigenous partnership?

We long for people to be whole, in spirit, soul, and body.

Central to wholeness is a passion for integrity. We are to recognize the pitfalls of spiritual leadership. Leaders are particularly vulnerable to pride. This is why we are reminded not to place people into leadership too quickly. It is extremely possible to be more gifted than godly – and this is a dangerous reality. We are to remember the long list of gifted men and women who possessed great ability with faulty character. Their ministries came tumbling down.

Hence, we call for leaders who are greater on the inside than on the outside. We take our cue from the apostle Paul: “Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) Because a leader’s strengths will automatically be on public display, it requires intentionality to honestly communicate weakness and vulnerability. This demands courage and inner strength to help foster a culture where people can come just as they are, without being judged.

Authenticity, however, is not enough. Jesus did not come to make us real; He came to save His people from their sin.

Wholeness also demands holiness. We must be fluent in dealing with darkness in biblically effective ways. We will not gloss over the seriousness of sin or the constant temptation to religious pride. This means we deal with both legalistic self-righteousness and lawless unrighteousness. This means we look at fruits, but we deal with roots. We follow the fruit trail to the bottom of a pile where we find our idols. We ask questions about our sin: Why are we lying? Why are we giving into sexual immorality? Why do we overwork for money? We recognize that all sin problems are worship problems, as we set up some functional lord and savior instead of the true Lord and Savior Jesus.

Thus, leaders must live lives of wholeness, and then be able to effectively lead others to do the same. Ongoing wholeness will ultimately be the result of beholding and abiding in Jesus.

Wholeness also demands freedom. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. Scripture presents a description of our problems that go beyond mere sin struggles. There are bondages to overcome. The Lord’s prayer teaches us to pray for deliverance from the evil one. Demons cannot “possess” a child of God, but a child of God can surely have demonic problems in need of freedom. And the Gospel is good news for those in need of liberty. Disciples are to recognize the sobering reality that, until the Lord returns, we have a spiritual battle on our hands. Demons are like rats; sin and soul darkness are like trash. Thus, disciples must be alert and competent to regularly “take out the trash” as well as “dealing with the rats.”

The Hebrew word for “justice,” mishpat, occurs more than 200 times in the Old Testament in various forms. The repeated theme of justice clearly denotes its significance in Scripture. Because justice matters to God, it needs to matter to us. 

Finally, we recognize that justice without Jesus can never bring true freedom. We partner in the work of social justice in our communities, but never want to lose sight of the Great Commission. The justice-driven church must by necessity also be soul-driven. What good is it to meet material needs without offering eternal salvation? Thus, biblical justice is always evangelistic, as it reveals the character of the good and true judge, Jesus. True justice leads to lives reconciled to Jesus and eternally transformed.

Standards of social justice may vary in their acceptance or relevance in a particular culture, but biblical justice is clear and unchanging. The church cannot waver in its pursuit of justice, mercy and humility. Justice should not be pursued because of its popularity in society, but it should also not be abandoned or disqualified on the basis of what values society chooses to embrace. God’s standard for justice never changes.

We do justice when we give all human beings their due as image bearers of God. Doing justice includes not only the righting of wrongs, but also generosity and social concern, especially toward the poor and vulnerable. The combination of justice and righteousness that God demonstrates is a selfless way of life in which people do everything they can to ensure that others are treated equitably and injustices are fixed.

While humans may naturally tend more towards social concern or moral living, the way of Jesus always demands both. The Psalms teach that justice and righteousness are the foundation of God’s throne, and throughout Scripture, God has required His followers to be ruled by both.

Justice occurs when a human, regardless of their social status, is treated in a way that acknowledges the image of God in their life. Throughout history, there have always been vulnerable groups of people who are more susceptible to mistreatment. Why should we be concerned about the vulnerable? According to the biblical justice that God sets forth, all humans are equal, all humans are created in His image, and all humans deserve to be treated with fairness and justice.

The call to righteousness is inarguable. If we want to be faithful to all of the scripture, then the call to justice is just as inescapable. “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8b).

Suggested books: Generous Justice, The Locust Effect, Just Mercy, Welcoming Justice: God’s Movement Towards Beloved Community

We believe the church functions best when apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers are moving in their gifts. The local body needs to be a collaborative Kingdom effort where all of these positions are represented in order for the church to thrive. We set a priority not only on the recognition of these gifts but also the foresight of leaders to ensure they are activated and functioning as they should within the local body.

We organize around APEST.

Although this is only specifically spelled out in detail in Ephesians 4, we recognize Paul’s intrinsic attachment of the APEST gifts with the maturity of the body of Christ. Based on Scripture and our experience, we believe that this is one of the most helpful ways for the church to be structured. The APEST gifts are the building blocks of a strong, mature, properly functioning expression of God’s people. This is true in discipleship, microchurch, house church, and macrochurch settings.

We refuse to buy into the post-enlightenment lie that followers of Jesus will grow if they consume enough preaching and podcasts. You don’t grow from teachings alone. You grow when the APEST is present in your life. The secret to growth is not more knowledge; it is the full expression of the church manifested through the APEST.

“When He ascended on high, He took many captives and gave gifts to His people… So Christ Himself gave… “ (Eph 4:8,11)

• Apostles – to pioneer, plant, and innovate to ensure the church expands to places that it has not been.
• Prophets – to discern spiritual realities, challenge the status quo, and encourage the church to radically pursue Jesus.
• Evangelists – to gather, win souls, and keep the church’s eyes on its mission to the lost.
• Shepherds – to care for, cover, love, and fiercely protect God’s people from wolves.
• Teachers – to communicate, systematize, and reveal the wisdom of God and His Word.

It is easy to exalt one’s own APEST position over others. Yet we believe that one role is not better than another. The APEST gifts are interdependent and there is powerful synergy when all positions work together. We want disciples who know their APEST call and are unafraid to be fully what God has called them to be. When leaders and disciples know their APEST, they are the most helpful and can unite to manifest the fullest expression of the church.

Suggested books: 5Q, The Permanent Revolution