Camden Uniting Church - Philosophy of Ministry

Camden Uniting - a family community growing in faith

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PHILOSOPHY OF MINISTRY

We believe that Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God and the Saviour of the world.

We believe that Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has dealt with the problem of sin and empowers us through the Holy Spirit to live a different quality of life now. This demonstrates the love of God for us. The whole ministry of our church is aimed at the proclamation of this truth and at helping people discover the wonder of God's love for them.
We are a Uniting Church and adhere to the Basis of Union of the Uniting Church in Australia. We are an evangelical church that is open to the ministry of the Holy Spirit amongst us. In that sense we are a Charismatic church - we believe that God will be present in power each time we meet together. We humbly submit ourselves to the Bible as the Living Word of God to guide our teaching and mission. Our beliefs are further outlined in our Belief Statement.

We are a Church that places a high priority on worship.

We are a church that puts a high priority on meeting together to worship God. (1 Peter 2:4-5) We believe that worship is something that happens as much outside the church through obedience and discipleship as it does inside that church. (Romans 12:1-2)

We are a church that values worship through music.
We value excellence in music as a sign of our desire to honour God with the best that we have to offer (Psalm 33:3) We aim to provide relevant music which will help us to joyfully express the depth of our love for God. Through our music we aim to create an atmosphere in which the Holy Spirit is invited to move in power through our lives. The role of the worship leader is not to preach, but to bring people into the presence of God through song and short exhortations. All musicians are expected to seek the anointing of God on their lives and ministry. They must be team players and remain teachable.

We are a church that values excellence in preaching.
We believe that the preached word changes lives and we expect our preachers to be diligent in their preparation of sermons, which are engaging, creative and biblically based.

We are a church, which values the ministry of prayer.
We will pray in the power of the spirit on all occasions with every kind of prayer. (Ephesians 6:18) Prayer is an integral part of our life and worship. We encourage one another to be faithful in prayer in their personal devotional life. We value the faithfulness of those who meet together regularly to pray for the church and the world. Prayer in an important part of our corporate worship. We believe that the power of God is more fully released when the church gathers to pray. Corporate adoration, confession, thanksgiving and intercession will regularly be part of our worship together. We give high priority to prayer for the other churches of Camden as sign of our commitment to Christian unity. The invitation will always be given during and at the end of worship services for people to receive prayer ministry. It is important that people are given the opportunity to respond to the preaching of the Word and for the Body of Christ to show its care for one another by praying for each other. Each of our worship services is under the pastoral oversight of one of our pastors. That pastor has the right to intervene at anytime in the service.

We are a church committed to making disciples.

We seek to provide opportunities to train and equip ourselves better as disciples of Jesus Christ. To this end we are a church that encourages all members to grow in Bible knowledge through personal study and small group involvement, and to develop their gifts of services through programs designed for that purpose. We are a church strongly committed to evangelism. We urge one another to be ready to share that good news with unchurched people, as part of our call to witness and fulfil the great commission (1 Peter 2:9; Matthew 28:19-20) We seek to provide training to enable members to do this with increasing confidence. We recognise and affirm that the Gospel is shared by both our words and actions, and to this end we encourage our people to minister sacrificially in the name of Jesus, and to be active in the pursuit of justice and peace for all.

We are a church that is empowered by the Holy Spirit.

We are a church that seeks the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We believe that the Holy Spirit empowers people for mission (Acts 1:8), leads them into truth (John 16:5-15), gives gifts to them for ministry (1 Corinthians 12) and develops in his people the fruit of God's character (Galatians 5:22,23). We will seek to help people discern and affirm their gifts for ministry. Because we expect the Holy Spirit to be present in power in all our worship services, we will always give the opportunity for people to respond to the preached Word or to seek prayer for healing and wholeness in each service.

We are a lay ministry church with strong pastoral team leadership.

God likes the people of Camden and has chosen them to do his work. We are committed to the biblical principle that the ultimate work of the church is done by the whole people of God, not by the professional clergy or a few select lay people. Spiritual gifts exist to equip God's people for ministry, for the building up of the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12) God wants the Church to be a Team that helps people discover the love of God in their lives rather than a self-seeking "Holy Club" where people retreat from the world.

Our paid Pastoral Team are more than teachers and shepherds of the congregation. The Church needs a "Team Leader" who will help it move forward in mission. It does not need someone to be the personal chaplain to each member of the "Holy Club". We affirm that the task of the church's Pastoral Team includes
- exercising leadership by seeking God's direction for our church, maintaining the "big picture" view,
- keeping our core values before the people,
- casting the vision and encouraging the church to rise up and meet the challenge of its calling,
- giving regular attention to strategic planning for the future,
- investing in the development of new leaders for the future ministry of the church, and
- exercising pastoral care to those in voluntary leadership positions.

While considerable decision making power is given to individual leaders through our overall structure, including Mission Teams and smaller ministry groups, all decisions of significance are oversighted by the Church Council, and ultimately the congregational meeting. The Church Council exists to oversee the whole mission of the church, including the pastoral care and nurture of members. The way we make decisions should reflect our commitment to helping people discover the love of God for them in Jesus.

We are a church that seeks to care for one another.
The pastoral care of members is the responsibility of the whole church. The primary focus of our care for each other is our Home groups. We supplement the care provided through the home groups by regular contact by phone through Telecare and personal visitation through teams of visitors to hospitals and nursing homes.

We are a church with high expectations of our people

Membership is not viewed as an end in itself, but is a pilgrimage that leads towards unreserved discipleship and higher levels of Christian maturity. We expect members to
- fulfil the Biblical call and meet together regularly at church services to encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25)
- Give diligent attention to developing personal spiritual life by Scripture reading, prayer and other spiritual disciplines
- Give generously to support the work of the church
- Know their spiritual gifts and exercise them on behalf of the Body of Christ. Each person will find fulfilment in Christ as they use their abilities and interests to help others find their own wholeness in Christ.

Although our expectations are high of our people we also recognise that people are allowed to make mistakes and God never gives up on us. God knows our potential. As we open ourselves to the empowering of the Holy Spirit, God helps us to reach our potential.

We believe that Home/Cell groups are very important.

We encourage all members to belong to a Home Cell group for encouragement, accountability, and to seek guidance in finding areas of ministry in which they can contribute. All people are encouraged to join a cell group, because it is there that we can experience Christian fellowship, love and care for each other. It is also a place where we can encourage each other as we try to live out our Christian faith. Our Cell groups will be different. Some will share meals together, or coffee & dessert, before tackling a bible study and spending time sharing in prayer. Others simply meet for their study time. Social justice issues will often be dealt with in some groups. Groups can be intergenerational or for a specific stage in life. We value Cell Group structures as the basic building block of our church.

It is our expectation that all those involved in leadership will be part of a Cell Group

We are a regional church, not a small neighbourhood church

We are a regional church drawing on the area bounded by Leppington to Oakdale, Austral to Picton and Campbelltown to Warragamba. We are not a small neighbourhood church. As a regional church we must provide programs to a variety of age groupings and life needs. Multiple services cater for diverse needs. We do not expect everyone to know everyone else, but supportive relationships are nurtured in home groups and fellowship activities. Our Pastors are not able to know everyone, but are responsible to make sure that the ship is on course, that provision is made for the various needs and that a climate of mutual ministry grows. We are not a church where "I must be looked after" is a core value. We are a church where we look after each other.

We are a community church.

We are committed to being involved with the local community. We make our facilities available for community groups to use. We also seek ways in which we can service the Camden community. We seek to touch human hurts and hopes of Camden in practical and effective ways. We seek to be a prophetic voice in our local community against areas of injustice and in standing for those who are marginalised. We do this both as a corporate body but more importantly by the involvement of our members in personal community service.

We are a dynamic church, not a traditional church

The words "we have always done it that way" are not in our phrase book. We recognise that our mission takes place in a dynamic and changing world. For that reason we will seek to be a dynamic and changing church. We continually evaluate our areas and methods of ministry and seek to discover more effective ways to communicate and live out our faith. We value the heritage of our church's origin, recognising that we do have roots and a strong heritage that enables us to move forward. Even so, the Bible, not tradition, is our authority in all matters of faith and practice.