Philosophy of Ministry: Statement #4

"Every ministry is given life, accountability and support based on Central's mission, vision, values and philosophy of ministry."

There was a playground in a local community that was very popular for the children to play games of all sorts. It was bounded by a tall fence. Some of the people in the neighborhood thought the fence was unfriendly and an unnecessary hindrance to the children's play. They petitioned the city and had it removed. The next day, and every day after that, the children who came would only play in the middle of the playground, and they would play with caution rather than abandon. Without the fence, balls would now roll into the street, there was fear that younger children might accidentally run into traffic, and now other people were walking through the middle of their play rather than walking around the old fence. The city put the fence back up.

Carefully set boundaries are good and helpful things. Here at Central, we have boundaries. Not only the wall and fence around our playground, but boundaries of mission and purpose. God has a call upon the life of Central Presbyterian Church. In most respects it is similar to other churches, but there are distinctions as well. Who we are called to be is set down for all to see in some of our key documents. They are found in the front of our Annual Report, and have been published several times in News & Views - one is even found written on the largest wall of the church concourse. These are our Mission, Core Values and Philosophy of Ministry.

The 4th point in our Philosophy of Ministry makes a simple point. We cannot and should not do everything. We must put limits - practical, biblical, principled limits - on what we do. These boundaries are broad, but they are clear. They tell us where we are headed as a church, what our purpose is. They tell us our non-negotiable values as we move toward our goal. They tell us how we will organize ourselves to accomplish the tasks God has given us. They give us the boundaries of our ministry playground.

These boundaries bring freedom, and abandonment in ministry. The result is that ANYTHING that fits within the broad limits of our church standards is not only tolerated, but encouraged and applauded!

A ministry is given new or continued life as a ministry of Central as it fits into our mission. It is also supported. We do not want to just wind up a ministry and ignore it. There is a relationship the church as a whole has with every ministry. Support comes in the form of ministry coordination, equipping, church resources (communication, space, finances, etc) and people to work with the ministry. In addition, there is accountability to agreed upon goals and standards. This is not to somehow hold control over people in ministry, but to make sure we are each living up to our commitments to each other so we can all move forward in mission and ministry confidently.

By Pastor Jerry Cooper