Philosophy Of Ministry
The philosophy of Ministry in Metanoia Church of Arad is based on the New Testament teachings related to the organizing and functioning of the Christian church.
- All teaching, practices and ministries of Metanoia Church of Arad are based on the apostles and prophets’ teaching and practices (Ephes. 2:20), and are evaluated against Christ’s priciples, Him being the Head of The Church. (Ephes.5)
- All church activities are selected based on the church needs and the social and cultural characteristics of the contemporary context we live in (Acts 2). The church depatments involved in serving are desingned to serve these criteria.
- Church workers (staff) and church members function within the church according to their call, spiritual gifts and personal experience and expertize (1Cor.12). Volunteers serving in our different departments are chosen based on the above mentioned criteria, in accordance with the principles from 1Tim.3
- Each and every church member is given the oportunity and encouraged to serve and be involved in all church activities, according to the New Testament teachings (Ephes.4:16).
- God has given clear functions to the church (see examples in Ephes.4, Acts 2:42), and these have always been embaded in paterns and forms relavant to the social and cultural context where the church was serving. That is why in Metanoia church of Arad form will serve function, in search of relevance and efectiveness of our ministry to the context in which God has called us to serve.
- The New Testament church model was a dynamic one, based on dialog (see the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15), and fundamented on the principle of unity in diversity (considering both differences and unity within the churches in Antioch and Jerusalem). That is why in Metanoia Chirch of Arad we will always strive for dynamism, dialog and unity in diversity.
- Romans 14 teaches us to look peace, both theologically and relationally, with all believers for whom Christ died. Therefore, in Metanoia, the hermeneutical principle that lies at the basis of the theological and relational discernment, afirms diversity while looking for unity at the level of absolutes, respect at that of personal belives and freedom at that of tradition. We clearly delimitate ourselves from the liberals (those who deny God’s absolutes: Acts 17), as well as the legalists (those who overstate or impose their opinisons as absolutes, Gal.1).
- The New Testament Church served the specific needs of their generation (1Cor.9), that is why Metanoia values the idea of ministry focused on winning, edifying and serving the contemporary generation.
- Our Lord Jesus Christ evaluated His apostles’ serving, after they had been in ministry for a while. In view of this principle, we will periodically evaluate our church workers/staff.
- Being constantly aware of the spiritial warfare all Metanoia members are engaged in (Ephes.6), we, at Metanoia, encourage “being keepers of one another” by creating a healthy environment for accountability (through a small group and/or another accountability group). This is even more a requirement for the employees/staff/workers with positions of responsibility in ministry.
- Being constantly aware that the purpose of our ministry is that stated by Apostle Paul in Col. 2, that of “presenting every believer perfect in Christ” (Col.2), we, at Metanoia, intentionally strive for an environment to favor spiritual growth of every beliver, that being done through small groups. Therefore, all our participants, and especilly our members are encouraged to attend a small group. This small group will meet weekly for prayer, Bible study, worship, accountability, relational time, serving and evangelizing.
- Our Lord’s call to be salt and light (Mat.5) has helped us understand that our mission is to be the tools to win and transform the world for Christ. That is why we intentionally look fro opportunities to interact with non- believers, through healthy relationships, through our direct envolvment in the needs of our community, or through any other relevant means/methods of reaching out to them with the Gospel, so that they could understand it “on their own language”.
