Advancing the Kingdom by Discipling the Nations 
 

The Dual Role of the Pastor
A Perspective on Leadership
To Serve and to Lead

This document was produced to answer a specific question in a local church, but we consider this helpful for all congregations. It has been left exactly as it was tabled in that church.

The purpose of this document (written by the Pastor and adopted by the leadership of His People Community Church at the Advisory Board on Wednesday 3^rd December, 2003) is to consider the function of the Senior Pastor, particularly as it relates to the Elders, the Advisory Board and/or the leadership of His People Community Church. It's purpose is to define and describes that function more extensively that the constitution permits. Although the issues addressed here are spoken of specifically in the context of this local congregation, the principles are, we believe, universal with application to the wider Body of Christ as well. It is the intention of this document to . . .

• introduce the subject of pastoral leadership with some general considerations
• explore the role of the pastor from a biblical perspective
• look at what is stated in our Constitution and By-Laws
• discuss practically how this plays out in the context of His People Community Church
• understand some of the implications of the abuse or neglect of the pastoral roles in this regard.
• lastly start to put something of a big-picture vision before us as a leadership for our prayerful consideration. I have called this big-picture "Vision 2020"

What, then, is the role of the Senior Pastor in a congregation generally, or at His People Community Church specifically? It is to lead and to serve. It is my conviction that the pastor cannot lead the congregation if he will not serve them, and that he does not serve them well if he will not lead them. This is true both for pastors as well as for anyone else in any sort of leadership function or structure within the Body of Christ. I would go further to say that this is true for every believer as well.

At first the terms ‘to lead’ and ‘to serve’ may appear to be mutually exclusive. After all, is it not true that a servant does what others tell him to do and a leader tells others what to do? Perhaps that is true in common misperceptions about leadership - but certainly not in the biblical sense of the word. As Christians there should not be any conflicts between leadership and humility, while there may indeed appear to be some between leadership and servanthood. While the concept of the pastor being called to serve and to lead may be filled with challenges and misunderstandings, it is not an oxymoron. Our Lord demonstrated how these two sides of the coin richly combine to become something of tremendous value.

Why, then, is it fraught with challenges and misunderstandings? Sometimes these issues stem from pastors, and other times they stem from leaders around the pastors or the congregations that they serve. Typically, most people want the pastor to be a leader until he makes a decision or moves in a direction that they do not agree with - then they want him to serve. Many pastors want to serve their congregations until the congregations display some sort of hostility or challenge to them, then they tend to become self serving.

The strength of any leadership role is found in the dynamic balance of leading and serving.

There is a caution that may be appropriate here. Serving is not a transactional way or gaining the permission of people to lead them. It is not another way of saying, "I will care for you, visit you, make you feel important and good about yourself - and in exchange you must let me exercise leadership over you." If that were what we are about, serving would simply be manipulation concealed in the deception of false spirituality and deliberate hypocrisy. As such, it would be self-serving and very unbiblical. Serving is not the mechanism to gain the credibility and political clout to make hard decisions.

When Jesus wrapped the towel around His waist and washed the disciples’ feet, He was not gaining credibility, softening what He wanted to tell them or simply modeling what we should do. He was literally serving them - no agenda - no other motive whatsoever. The biblical injunction is to serve because he who serves is the greatest and he who is last will be first. Again, this is not some manipulative ploy to get us to be nice, or some swing around effect that says if we stay at the back and the bottom long enough, somehow we will get to be in front and on top. It is a call to serve.

The message is simply this - if we want to be great then we must learn to serve.

Serving is not giving attention to the person that screams the loudest or whoever appears to be the most demanding - it is tending to the need of the greater congregation, not the greatest need that a person within the body has. That is neither good leading nor good serving.

While this discussion does not pretend to be either complete (in content or extent) or final (in that it presumes to be the last biblical word on the subject), it is designed to share my current thinking on some of the issues at hand, as well as to provide some initial foundation and direction to the discussion we are having. My prayer is that we will all continue to be a ‘work in progress’ malleable in the hands of the Master Craftsman

Right up front I want to lay out two clear premises that I recognize impact what I am going to say in a significant way.

• Firstly, I believe that the Bible is unambiguous about this dual role of the Senior Pastor - he is to lead in the full sense of the word, and he is to serve, also in the full sense of the word.
• Secondly, there are many areas in my ministry at His People Community Church where I have failed to fulfill one or both of these roles effectively. I therefore want to make it clear that I speak as a student of the whole subject of leadership, and not as a master in the area.

These two premises do not detract either from my recognition of the legitimacy of this dual role of the Pastor, or my commitment to work at those areas of my own short comings for the health and well-being of the body at His People, and for the glory of God.

Although the local church is not a secular organization, it needs to be organized, to some degree, in order to carry out its mission. It is also true that just as leadership styles differ vastly in secular organizations, so, too, in churches, different pastors lead in different ways. Clearly, different churches are best served by different styles of leadership at different phases of their growth. The style of leadership that is effective in a large church may be ineffective in a smaller church, and the style needed for a church plant may not work in a well-established church. Although there are certain elements that should be present in all leadership styles, there is not one right style that all churches ought to be lead by. Pastors need to avoid the danger of being pressurized either by their own thinking or that of others into a style that they are not gifted for or comfortable with. We must surely believe that God matches the needs of the congregation with the calling of the pastor and the gifts He gives him. Through the process and in the outworking both the pastor and the congregation are intended to become more Christ-like. For the leadership to be effective, it has to provide what the congregation needs, as well as be in keeping with the gifting and calling of the pastor. The only way to standardize the style of leadership in churches is to a clone all pastors and congregations - but that appear to still be a long way off.

Pastors have to avoid the two extremes of being dictators doing simply what they think is best, and being hirelings, avoiding decisions because they are difficult or unpopular, choosing the path of least resistance. Somewhere in between these two extremes is a fine but strong balance that must be sought. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of self centeredness amongst either clergy or laity - and such self centeredness will always undermine the potential and faithfulness of churches and their leadership. Both pastors and congregations ought always to examine their motives and their agendas.

Jerry R. Young, speaking of visible saints with hidden agendas writes in Grace Theological Journal, "The hidden agendas for pastoral duties found in many churches are a result of a misunderstanding of the pastoral function in the local church. The pastor may function as an elder and/or a bishop, but his primary responsibilities in the local church are to provide leadership and to teach (as did Timothy and Titus). God especially equips the pastor to fulfill these duties. If the hidden agendas are renounced in favor of the NT directives, the twentieth century church will receive the benefit."

A vital part of any leadership structure is the process of decision making. That is, I believe, the heart of one of the questions we are asking ourselves. In a normal healthy situation in a mature church the process for decision making is not that complicated.

As leadership, we get together.

• We pray and talk and listen to each other,
• We make a decision,
• We form a plan
• and we then proceed to implementation.

Somewhere we need to establish the integrity of the process of decision making. It is not that we are never wrong in our decisions, or that new light will never bring us to the place where we it would be wise to rethink a decision we have made. But when we have prayed about and collectively come to a decision - we need to honor that. If we do not, the entire process of decision making is without integrity, and the taking of minutes more or less meaningless. After a decision has been made, we may gain some new insights or perspectives from our meditation, but the decision still stands. Did we ask God to lead us before the decision was made? Did we have the right to not make the decision at that time? I hope than in almost all instances the answer will be yes. If we chose to make the decision - it is a decision we made waiting upon God. Therefore, it is our decision. It is where we stand on the issue. If, through the process of evaluation, I come to the place where I question the wisdom of a decision, I certainly ought to bring it back to the table, but simply by way of added insight. Unless the leadership chooses to reverse the decision, it stands and it does so with our unified support. I surrender the right to choose or communicate anything less than agreement with that decision.

What's the real, nitty-gritty bottom line to all that? Teamwork! What is teamwork? It is submitting to one another’s strengths, and protecting one another from their weaknesses. It is believing that our way is better for the people we are leading than my way. It is surrendering the personal right to be right for the greater value of being part of a team. That is not to say that we do not have convictions or strong feelings about things. Rather, it is recognizing that collectively we are wiser than we are individually, and that together we generally see things more clearly than we do by ourselves. Such ‘corporateness’ is not without boundaries and nor is such surrendering of self to a point of compromise on essentials. As it has been so well said before by others, in matters of preference, compromise. In matters of principle, conviction. In all things, charity.

With that, and to maximize the effectiveness of our leadership team and harness it’s potential there are a few elements we all need that are, I believe, essential if we are to be effective. They are . . .

• A recognition that God has called me to be a part of the team to help accomplish what He is doing here
• A common vision of where we are going, and a commitment to effectively help make that happen.
• A clear-cut definition of responsibility, authority and accountability
• A charitable environment that fosters trust and commitment
• A teachable spirit demonstrated by a willingness to learn from each other in matters of life and doctrine.
• A personal commitment to honor one another above ourselves recognizing that we are the guardians of one another's reputations, and the custodians of each other's character.
• A deep understanding of the needs of the congregation
• A spiritual sensitivity to what the Holy Spirit is saying and is wanting to accomplish in our midst.
• A surrendering of personal preferences for the sake of unity and the call of God.

These may seem high and lofty in some sense, or even out of reach from where we sit. It is my conviction that they form the basis for the effective team that will accomplish all that God has for us as His People Community Church. Make no mistake, the road ahead is not going to be an easy one. That is because working on a team with leaders is not the same as working with a team of followers. If one treats leaders like followers, one may just as well attempt to herd cats. It is not going to happen. We will only function as a team when we surrender our individual rights to be right, and choose rather to be one.

Let’s come now to the matters before us - the issues on the table are, I believe, as much about leadership skills as they are about leadership style. They arise as much of out the effectiveness (or otherwise) of my recent leadership as they do out of our theology of biblical leadership. Over this past year my leadership as Senior Pastor of His People Community Church has delivered us into a corridor of crisis at both leadership as well as at congregational level. Whatever else we may be tempted to say, I recognize clearly that it was during my watch and at my direction that we now find ourselves where we are. For that I must take full responsibility and I offer my deepest and sincerest apologies. The sobering reality of those consequences way more heavily upon my shoulders than I am able to express in this format. How true it is that with hindsight we see our mistakes with such clarity that our errors are almost inexcusable. I have seriously and prayerfully considered whether these errors should effectively result in my resignation or not. What has kept me from doing that is the recognition of the call of God upon my life to be here - and the commitment to be a part of leading this congregation back to a place of health and strength.

Having said that, then, let’s look at what the Bible has to say on the subject of the role of the pastor.

The role or ministry of anybody in the Body of Christ flows out of their calling, their gifting and their special God given abilities. Although no one person is more important than any other person, all have differing responsibilities and different functions. The issue is not one of personal value or significance, but of role and responsibility. In other words, it is not a qualitative difference we are looking at - it is a functional one. Simply because the husband is the head of the home does not make him better than his wife. It rather entrusts him with a particular function to fulfill. And with the function, God also entrusts him with the commensurate authority as well as everything else that he needs to be completely faithful.

Throughout the Old Testament God used individuals to lead His children. From Noah to Abraham, from Moses to Joshua, from Gideon to Samuel, from Elijah to Elisha, from David to Solomon, from Isaiah to Jeremiah, from Hosea to Malachi - God has always purposed to lead His people or segments of His person through individuals. It is not that these individuals lead without the effective participation and shared wisdom of others, and it is not as if their leadership responsibilities made them more important than others. They had a ministry to fulfill amongst the children of God. They were called, equipped and sent out to accomplish certain tasks. With that calling they had the gifts, the authority, the responsibility and the accountability to effectively fulfill what God had given them to do. It is my conviction that God similarly calls and equips pastors to lead churches. They, too, have the gifts, the authority, the responsibility and the accountability to effectively fulfill what God has given them to do. It is only as this leadership is wisely developed and humbly provided that the church finds it place of faithfulness and reaches it’s potential.

Peter Wagner, a Fuller Theological Seminary church growth expert tells us that "Research has indicated that the potential for church growth increases as the leadership role of the pastor increases and the leadership role of the congregation decreases."

What do we find in the New Testament? We find the same principles illustrated - but with more teaching and with some new insights being offered.

The term that is translated ‘pastor’ is the Greek word for ‘shepherd.’ The pastor is the shepherd of the sheep. He is the under shepherd under the Good Shepherd. He ought to, if he wants to be biblical, establish an effective ministry of Elders and Deacons and other leadership bodies to provide godly counsel, to share the load and to help lead the congregation. He will, if he is wise, hear the counsel of godly men and women in the congregation. However, at the end of the day, one of his greatest and most awesome privileges is that of leading the congregation. He does that as a servant leader with a towel around his waist - that is he leads and he serves. His leadership ought to be humble, sensitive, caring and loving. It ought to be inclusive, responsible, accountable and scrutinizable. Nevertheless - it is still leadership - and it has the God given commensurate authority to accomplish the task.

The pastor is to the leadership (or eldership) what the elders are to the congregation and what the father is to the family. How can the elders expect the congregation to submit to them if they will not choose to be in submission to the pastor. How can wives expect the children to submit to and honor them if they will not submit to and honor their husbands? Every company or business needs a leader, somebody who at the end of the day is empowered with the responsibility, authority and accountability to do the task. This is true in any sphere where things get done well. Every family needs a leader. No bus is driven by the collective desires of the passengers or even by a representative group telling the driver what to do. The driver is responsible for the bus. The captain is responsible for the ship, the pilot for the plane, the principal for the school, the producer for the film, the husband for the family, the pastor for the church etc. etc. Everything in the universe functions out of it’s God given order. Order is what keeps the world we live in from chaos. Again, it is not that those who fulfill these functions have no accountability, or are not under authority themselves. However, the authority they are under does not come from the people they are meant to lead. The principle is true - unless we are under authority we have no authority.

Timothy and Titus are good examples of New Testament pastors and the authority and responsibilities that a pastor has.

For instance, Paul charges Timothy to instruct certain men (who were teaches or elders in the church) what to teach and what to refrain from teaching (1 Tim. 1:3-4) and tells Titus that the reason he left him in Crete was to appoint elders (Titus 1:5). Timothy and Titus clearly, by the tasks they were given, exercised authority over the elders in these local congregations.

Paul goes on to tell us that all the elders are worthy of honor, especially those whose labor over preaching and teaching (the pastors) (1 Tim. 5:17).

His charge to Timothy also included reproving, rebuking, exhorting and instructing. By definition these require a certain amount of authority to accomplish. (See 2 Tim. 4:1-5).

In Romans 12:8 Paul instructs leaders to lead with all diligence. The word for diligence means haste, effectiveness, commitment.

In Ephesians 4:11 Paul gives us a clear authority structure in the Body of Christ. There are first Apostles, then Prophets, then Evangelists, then Pastors/Teachers. I believe that the remaining three offices are Elders, Deacons and Priests (the entire rest of the Body of Christ.) All are to serve, and all are to build up, edify. All exercise their ministry in humility and all have the commensurate authority and accountability that always go with responsibility. A similar order is reflected in 1 Corinthians 12:28-29 where one of the emphases is on structural order. It is in this passage that Paul actually gives us something of a structural hierarchy telling us who submits to whom.

As the Teacher (Pastor/Teacher) is placed fourth in the Ephesians 4:11 passage (third in the 1 Corinthians 12:28-29 passage) and as the Pastor/Elder is the one who is described as ‘laboring over preaching and teaching’ and is therefore worthy of double honor in the 1 Timothy 5:17, and as Paul charge the two pastors Timothy and Titus with responsibilities that would require some authority over the Elders, and because of the general implication of the derived term ‘shepherd’ that is used at the heart of the Greek word for ‘pastor,’ it seems to me to be consistent both with biblical teaching as well as with the dynamics of effective leadership to deduce from that that there is a certain amount of authority entrusted to and vested in the Pastor of a congregation that is commensurate with his calling, and that is necessary in the fulfillment of his ministry that entrusts to him the right and privilege of overall responsibility and leadership of the congregation. He is an ‘under shepherd’ ultimately serving the Good Shepherd and fulfilling the call that He has placed upon his life.

So then, let’s look at how that is reflected in our Constitution and By-Laws.

It seems quite clear to me from our documentation that the role of the Senior Pastor as described therein is consistent with what the Bible has to say. While the function of Elders, and to a lesser degree Deacons, is vested with significant authority and responsibility, such vestments fall within the context and parameters of Pastoral leadership.

Let’s turn our attention now to how this all ought to impact the life and ministry of His People Community Church.

The Challenge of Building Team at His People

It is my heart to consistently and effectively function in an environment of teamwork at His People Community Church. I believe the congregation is served best when it is served by us collectively. Decision making at leadership level ought, as a matter of course, to be a team effort. This collective decision making is not an attempt to somehow get a ‘consensus’ or ‘working average’ of key people’s opinions. Rather, it is a vehicle to collectively determine the mind of Christ. Although each person on leadership ought to have a particular area of responsibility or oversight within the ministry of His People Community Church, we do not function in any way as constituent delegates giving the congregation a ‘fair representation’ at leadership level. Our collective deliberation is to seek the heart of God and His alone.

Nor are we there to somehow appease our own personal theological perspectives or to ensure that our particular persuasion has a voice at some significant decision making level. Even at leadership level we have to prayerfully find a biblical wholesomeness as we fight the unfortunate tendency we have in the West to autonomy, self government, self determination and individualism. This tendency surfaces in our homes, our places of work, our churches, our schools and almost every other facet of our lives. We must ensure that we do not move from the purity of spiritual leadership to the quagmire of personal agendas. Authentic biblical community will only be hurt if we do not check such tendencies.

We oversee or shepherd the flock because God has made us overseers. Ours is the responsibility to feed, to weed and to lead. We guide, we guard, we govern. Who dares speak for God? As leaders and as teachers, we do - indeed, we dare not do anything else. It is not the only way the congregation will hear from God, and it is not without fault or the danger of self deception that we endeavor to represent Him. But we are called to a high and a holy place - we are to lead the church of God.

We all recognize that there is more to leadership than simply marrying, burying and visiting the flock. If we are to lead, we are to lead well. We are to serve well. I believe I possibly feel this sense of responsibility in an even greater way than anybody else on leadership. These last few months have highlighted some of my convictions and weaknesses in an even greater way, especially to me. And I have come to an even firmer conviction that this is where God wants me. If every other leader walks away, I may not, I must not, I cannot. I do not have another job or secular responsibility. For the last 18 years I have pretty much done nothing with my life but this. It does not make me better than anybody else, or necessarily more mature than anybody else. But I believe the burden of leadership falls more heavily on me than on anybody else, and thus the responsibility for where we are falls more heavily on me as well.

George Barna defines leadership as "the process of motivating, mobilizing, resourcing, and directing people to passionately and strategically pursue a vision from God that a group jointly embraces." I believe the vision for His People needs to come from God through me. It ought to be strengthened and honed by the constructive input of the leadership, and the pursuit and implementation of the vision should be strategized and effectively determined by the leadership - but unless the vision come from God through me, it will be hard for me to throw the rest of my life into accomplishing it. 

The challenge before each one of us, if we believe God has called us here (or even if we want to explore that possibility) is to take who we are and what we have and together lay hold of that to which God has laid hold of us.

We will not succeed if we somehow try to become holy multi-taskers and we will not succeed if we try to chase down a host of visions. We must find what God has called us to do, and then pursue it with all our heart. The decision then, for the rest of the leadership, is simply this, "Has God called me to participate in accomplishing this vision?" I will introduce the vision at the end of this document. It comes after much soul searching and cleansing, and much prayer and fasting.

Having said that, the initial summit we must conquer at leadership level is not the vision for the church, but the challenge of discovering again the thrill and unity of being on the same team. The gap we are going to have to learn to bridge is the breakdown in trust that has occurred in some places. Without that - we will never find the blessing of unity or the effective dynamics of teamwork. Until we trust each other, we will not commit to each others as people or as leaders, and nor will we truly respect each other. If we do not have respect, we do not have the basis to work together and we do not have ‘team.’ Until we earn and learn trust, we will continue to question one another’s motives, second-guess one another’s decisions and see more fault than is wise in one another’s thinking. I do not believe that this obstacle is insurmountable, but I also recognize that it is not going to go away without being intentionally addressed. Where does trust come from? "We make our money the old fashioned way," the Smith-Barney company once declared in its commercials. "We earn it!" Similarly, we gain trust the old fashioned way: we earn it. It cannot be demanded and neither can it be assumed. It is always given, never taken.

Just as trust will build us into a team that can be a powerful tool in the hands of God, distrust will be used by satan to steal the potential God has given us.

Gordon MacDonald, writing for Leadership, a world class quarterly journal addressed this issue of trust. I believe there is a whole lot of wisdom in his thinking. He wrote: -

• Trust builds with consistency.
• Trust builds with dependability.
• Trust builds with openness.
• Trust builds with a reputation for hard work.
• Trust builds with . . .impartial[ity].
• Trust builds with longevity.
• Trust builds with an ever-deepening spirit."

To earn trust we must strive for relational integrity. I have included a copy of our ’Relational Covenant’ on the next page for our consideration. I believe it holds some of the keys that we need if we are going to commit to trust and relational integrity.

There are a number of things that would be very helpful (if not critical) for each one of us personally to bring to the table: -

• a submission and accountability to the Relationship Covenant
• a charitable assumption that predisposes us toward being gracious toward one another
• a willingness to learn from and be changed because of one another
• an expectation that God is wanting to do something bigger than ourselves
• a choice to foster a climate of mutual appreciation and concern
• a personal commitment to spiritual learning and growth

These things are, I believe, necessary ingredients if we are to move ahead successfully. If we are going to learn the refined art of teamwork, and operate out of the fine balance between leading and serving together, we are going to have to wrestle with these issues. It is my understanding that these things are not only functionally necessary, they are also biblically commanded.

Allow me now, if you will, to comment very briefly and simply on some of the pitfalls associated with an over focus either on leading or on serving within the context of biblical leadership.

The Abuse or Neglect of the Pastoral Roles in this Regard

I am addressing this subject not necessarily out of a particular concern about where we are, but because this document almost seems incomplete without at least raising some of the issues at stake. Besides, refreshing our thinking on these things can only serve to sharpen us anyway.

Servanthood is about character and leadership is about role and influence. These dynamics are true in any Christian context. A good father is both a servant and a leader. A good mother is both a servant and a leader. A good counselor is both a servant and a leader. Similarly, it is true for good Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers, Elders, Deacons, etc.

The good shepherd both serves and leads. However, when serving becomes the over riding focus of the pastoral role, the Pastor is in danger of being caught up in what people want, and may lose sight of the need to lead. A good shepherd never abandons the essential function of leading the sheep to their destination in order to minister exclusively to the immediate need of one particular sheep. He recognizes the need to minister individually to a sheep or even corporately to a need the sheep all have but always does so with the destiny in mind.

Similarly, this is true in the context of the pastoral role. It is, without question, important that the immediate needs of the sheep are attended to. It is also important that sheep individually have a sense of belonging and value. The primary needs of sheep, that are addressed in Psalm 23, are the need for significance, sufficiency, stability and security. These same primary are also experiences by every person that has ever lived. We have the added primary need for spirituality. And a healthy church is one where such needs are considered sufficiently important to be catered for.

However, that must never be done at the expense of fulfilling the big-picture vision. For a shepherd to stop and care for the specific needs of an individual sheep to such a degree that the herd does not make the sheep-pen by nightfall would be both unwise and negligent. In a similar way, an exclusive or overly weighted preoccupation with ‘serving’ does not help the congregation.

Conversely, nor does an exclusive or overly weighted preoccupation with ‘leading’ help the congregation. The local church is, in the richest senses, a voluntary conglomeration of uniquely gifted and specifically individualistic people. They are not there because they have to be - they are there because they choose to be. They could be at the church down the road. As a matter of fact, most people drive past many churches each Sunday morning on their way to ‘their’ church. Why? Because they choose to. While it may or may not be helpful at this stage to discuss all the specific or typical reasons for their choices, it is apropos to remind ourselves that most people, if they do not feel loved and cared for in a church, will choose to make some changes in order to have those needs addressed.

John Maxwell said it so well when he said, "People will not care how much you know until they know how much you care." A preoccupation with leadership to the degree that the congregation’s sense of value is questioned is a very damaging and unhealthy thing.

In summary, a pastor or leader who overly focuses on leadership at the expense of serving will find, at the end of the day, that he is leading nobody, and the pastor or leader who overly focuses on serving at the expense of leading will find, at the end of the day, that he is going nowhere.

With all of these (12 pages of) comments in mind, I want to share the vision of what I believe God has called us to pursue. It is not in a complete or thorough form yet, but rather tabled for discussion and input.

Vision 2010 and Vision 2020

After much prayer and soul searching, I believe our vision statement and our mission statement, as recorded in our documentation is still very much where God wants us to go. The 5 primary expressions of authentic New Testament community and the Core Values that we have documented are still what we are all about. I imagine they would be the same even if someone transplanted us and put us on another planet. Why do I believe the vision has not changed? Well, to the best of my knowledge the things that God gave us to do and to be have not yet been accomplished by us . . . and to the best of my knowledge they have not yet been rescinded by God. Therefore, it seems reasonable and appropriate to me that they are still before us. I have included a copy of those statements at the end of this document under the heading - "The Vision We Have." Although the wording in these statements may need a little tweaking from time to time, the concepts and the principles are as real today as they were the day the Lord gave them to us. However, two things are missing. Firstly, we do not have a picture or ‘vision’ of what it will look like when what God has given us has been accomplished. Secondly, we do not yet have a handle on what we need to do to effectively get from where we are to there. This section is an initial attempt to provide the first of those two ingredients. All of what I see for the future is spoken of here is in the context of the things God has already shown us as listed above in this paragraph, and posted below under "The Vision We Have" and it rather boldly looks both to a seven year vision (Vision 2010) as well as to a seventeen year vision (Vision 2020).

I believe God has called us to build a dynamic ministry that effectively impacts and accomplishes authentic New Testament community in the particular context of Asheville, North Carolina and its environs, and that specifically maximizes the gifts and talents that He has, in His grace and according to His wisdom, entrusted to me.

By the end of 2010 - Vision 2010

• I see a worship center significantly impacting the lives of 400 people who gather corporately for worship on a weekly basis in a dynamic interactive worship/ teaching meeting and in CITH groups where people learn to love our Triune God and to honor His name and His Word with their lives.
• I see a discipleship ministry with no less than 100 men and women are being discipled on a regular basis.
• I see as prayer ministry that includes many different expressions of prayer and that touches many lives in and outside the congregation with the supernatural manifestation of the power of God.
• I see us networking and partnering with other like-minded churches in the community with strong evangelistic outreach into Asheville. I see at least three souls being saved every single day of the year directly through the ministries and the people of HPCC.
• I see an internal ministry track for young people to commit a year or two of their lives to full time ministry, being accommodated, trained by and serving through the specific opportunities of HPCC
• I see a congregation with a heart for missions sending out teams each year on short term missions to assist career missionaries that have been called and trained through the ministries of HPCC.
• I see an annual crusade that brings in key note speakers in keeping with the vision of HPCC that builds the Christian community that makes up HPCC and the greater Asheville area, releasing back into this larger geographic area spiritual blessing and authority.
• I see a home for single and unwed mothers who have been abandoned by their families who are nurtured through their pregnancy into the first two or three years of their child’s life, or through the adoption of their child if that is what they choose.
• I see an active ministry where men and women are trained with marketable skills, and where employment opportunities are provided that both empower financial independence as well as refund the ministry.
• I see a wonderful congregation of people called of God to be a part of ‘Meeting needs, Touching Hearts - Sharing Christ, Changing Lives.

By the end of 2020 - Vision 2020

• I see a worship center significantly impacting the lives of 1500 people who gather corporately for worship on a weekly basis in a dynamic interactive worship/ teaching meeting and in CITH groups where people learn to love our Triune God and to honor His name and His Word with their lives.
• I see a discipleship ministry with no less than 1000 men and women are being discipled on a regular basis.
• I see as prayer ministry that includes many different expressions of prayer and that touches many lives in and outside the congregation with the supernatural manifestation of the power of God.
• I see us networking and partnering with other like-minded churches in the community with strong evangelistic outreach into Asheville. I see at least one soul being saved every single day of the year directly through the ministries and the people of HPCC.
• I see an internal ministry track for young people to commit a year or two of their lives to full time ministry, being accommodated, trained by and serving through the specific opportunities of HPCC
• I see a congregation with a heart for missions sending out teams each year on short term missions to assist career missionaries that have been called and trained through the ministries of HPCC.
• I see a ministerial training school where people of all ages and from different denominations come to be equipped for the work of the ministry - where the focus is on training the Head (academic), the Heart (character) and the Hand (skills) who are able to graduate with a degree in ministry.
• I see an annual crusade that brings in key note speakers in keeping with the vision of HPCC that builds the Christian community that makes up HPCC and the greater Asheville area, releasing back into this larger geographic area spiritual blessing and authority.
• I see a home for unwed mothers who have been abandoned by their families who are nurtured through their pregnancy into the first two or three years of their child’s life, or through the adoption of their child if that is what they choose.
• I see a home for single mothers where they too, with the love and support of their church family, can bring up their children avoiding some of the financial and practical difficulties that single mothers face today.
• I see a training facility where men and women are trained with marketable skills, and where employment opportunities are provided that both empower financial independence as well as refund the ministry.
• I see a wonderful congregation of people called of God to be a part of ‘Meeting needs, Touching Hearts - Sharing Christ, Changing Lives.

Folks, this I believe to be the call of God upon our lives. This is a vision I can spend the rest of my life pursuing. This is a vision I am willing to die accomplishing.

As I do this - I need the effective participation, the costly commitment and the spiritual wisdom of anointed men and women who are divinely called to partner with me at leadership level as together we sense not only the will of God, but the ways of God as well.

Therefore, with a burning sense of excitement, I invite you to pray through whether this is something you believe God wants you to partner with. Please take all the thoughts expressed in this document and look at the rudimentary Vision 2010 and 2020 tabled above. Ask God if this is also His call upon your life.

For I am convinced now more than ever that this is His call upon my life. I suspect the abstractness of the written medium and the limitations of language may not communicate the sense of thrill or anticipation that I feel.

I believe that if God calls you to partner with this Vision, you will have one of the greatest spiritual journeys of your life, and have the thrill of hearing the accolade of heaven one day particularly with regard to these things, "Well done My good and faithful servant. You have been FAITHFUL with little, receive the MUCH that I have prepared for you. I love you."

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Our Constitution

3. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

3.2 His People recognizes that its primary spiritual purpose is to celebrate the triune God and to participate in establishing His Kingdom in the greater Asheville area. We believe this can best be accomplished by facilitating the growth and spread of New Testament communities that experience and express individually and corporately the love and life of Jesus Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The five primary expressions of true New Testament community can be seen in extravagant love, effective prayer, individual discipleship, intentional evangelism and expressive worship.

a. Extravagant Love - the hallmark of community is the ability to esteem one another as better than ourselves, to seek the other’s good instead of ourselves, and to sacrificially minister so as to meet each other’s needs from our hearts.

b. Effective Prayer - the ability to approach the throne of God with confidence and boldness, to pray prayers of faith that move the arm of Almighty God. Prayer is a lifestyle of two way communication with God during which we express our love for and need of Him and experience His love and direction for our lives.

c. Individual Discipleship - the essential partner to evangelism as stated in the Great Commission. Each believer shares a common responsibility to partner with one another in seeking spiritual growth unto maturity and Christlikeness.

d. Intentional Evangelism - the heartbeat of advancing the Kingdom of God in the earth. Scripture is very clear that our personal and corporate mission must prioritize our participation in the spread of the gospel. The purpose of such participation is reconciliation between man and God through Jesus Christ. This is one of the purest demonstrations of our love for the world.

e. Expressive Worship - whether in a private or corporate setting, worship is an intimate expression of adoration and surrender before an audience of One. It is an outward demonstration of our heart’s devotion to God. By reaching to God we touch His heart for He seeks those who worship Him in spirit and in truth. His People Community Church encourages an environment of free expression within the guidelines of Scripture.

4. CORE VALUES

The context of His People shall be a Christ Centered, Spirit Filled, Word Based, New Testament Community, Non-Denominational, Contemporary, Family Church.

4.1 Christ Centered

Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord of His People and His will and glory shall direct all we do. In all things we do we shall seek experience and express the love and life of Jesus Christ.

4.2 Spirit Filled

The Holy Spirit is the agent of God through Whom we receive the love and life of Jesus Christ. We recognize our need to not only be saved by His regenerational work, but also to be baptized into Him receiving the gifts of the Spirit as He determines. The gifts of the Spirit are to ministry what the fruit of the Spirit is to character.

4.3 Word Based

The teaching of Scripture is the highest court of appeal and defines all matters relating to our life and ministry collectively as a congregation as well as individually.

4.4 New Testament Community

The principles that governed the New Testament community as described in Acts 2 are the most complete expressions of the love and life of Christ, and the purest outworking of the indwelling Spirit. Authentic New Testament community must be one of the highest ideals of His People.

4.5 Non-Denominational

Whereas, God has and continues to wonderfully bless the ministries of the various denominations, it is our conviction that denominations tend to detach the Body of Christ in an unhealthy way. We will seek to simply be recognized as a New Testament church. Likewise, we are non-racial and non-political, affording all people equal opportunities to experience and express the love and life of Christ in our midst.

4.6 Contemporary

While the principles of truth are timeless, we believe that the church has a responsibility to express them in relevant terms. As David served the purposes of God in His generation (Acts 13:36), we want to be relevant to the lost world in which we are called to shine with the light of Christ. Our structure, content and style will all recognize the need to provide an attractive environment for contemporary seekers while, at the same time, facilitating the spiritual growth and discipleship of those who are already In Fellowship.

4.7 Missions Minded

As the heart of God is essentially a ‘missions’ heart, missions shall be one of our key ministry areas. Missions shall be defined as any endeavor to communicate the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to non-Christians (Intentional Evangelism) outside our own cultural (Gal. 2:7-9) and/or immediate geographic location (Mark 16:15) and that relates to the whole need of man, first spiritual and then physical. The purpose of such endeavors shall be to make disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, baptizing them, preaching and teaching the Word and establishing them in Fellowship in evangelical congregations and in partnership with like minded believers.

4.8 Family Church

We will seek to provide relevant ministry and participation for all believers at the various stages of spiritual development. We will also seek to minister to the entire family unit and will seek to guard against making church life so ‘busy’ that the integrity of families is compromised.

7. THE TWO PRIMARY EXPRESSIONS OF MINISTRY

Although there are many ministries and functions that are vital to the health of His People, our ministry shall find expression in the two primary and equally important forms of Celebration and Community. The purpose of both Celebration and Community shall be to experience and express the love and life of Jesus Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Celebration refers to the corporate Sunday morning gathering where the emphasis is on congregational growth and ministry. Community refers to the small group environment where the emphasis is on individual growth and ministry.

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While I realize this document is way, way longer than I intended, I believe the issues addressed here are all significant and I commend them to your attention with much conviction.

I thank you also for the time you have taken to go through this material.

As always,

Compelled by His love and inspired by His grace

Emile

Send mail to Emile@TheGAPMinistry.com with questions or comments about this web site.
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Last modified: 07/16/08