The overall purpose of Christ’s church both corporately and individually is to glorify God. At Fellowship Bible Church we believe that God is glorified as His church carries out five biblical purposes. These five purposes of Christ’s church are the God-given mission and reason why we exist.
These purposes set the direction of the entire ministry and are the underlying motivation of all that is done at Fellowship Bible Church. Everything we do is centered around and targeted at one or more of these purposes. They set the standard by which we measure the health and effectiveness of our church. These five purposes are as follows:
| Deuteronomy 6:5 | 1 Corinthians 6:20; 10:31 | ||||||||||
| Psalm 34:3; 69:30; 119:175 | 2 Corinthians 5:9 | ||||||||||
| Matthew 4:10; 22:37-38 | Ephesians 1:6,12,14; 3:21 | ||||||||||
| John 4:23-24 | Colossians 3:17 | ||||||||||
| Acts 2: 47 | Hebrews 12:28; 13:15 | ||||||||||
| Romans 12:1; 15:6 | 1 Peter 4:11 |
| Leviticus 19:18 | Ephesians 2:19; 4:15 | ||||||||||
| Matthew 18:15-18; 22:39 | 1 Thessalonians 5:11 | ||||||||||
| John 13:14,34-35; 15:12-13,17 | 1 Timothy 1:5 | ||||||||||
| Acts 2:42,44-46 | Hebrews 10:24-25; 13:1-2 | ||||||||||
| Romans 13:10 | 1 John 2:10; 3:14-18; | ||||||||||
| Galatians 5:13-14; 6:1-2,10 | 1 John 4:7-8,11-12,20-21 |
| Ezra 7:10 | Colossians 1:28-29 | ||||||||||||||
| Psalm 19:7-14; 119 | Colossians 2:6-7 | ||||||||||||||
| Matthew 28:20 | 2 Timothy 3: 16-17 | ||||||||||||||
| John 15:8; 17:17 | Hebrews 5:14 | ||||||||||||||
| Acts 2:42; 5:42 | James 1:22-25 | ||||||||||||||
| Romans 8:28-29; 12:1-2 | 1 Peter 2:1-3 | ||||||||||||||
| 1 Corinthians 11:1 | 2 Peter 1:3 | ||||||||||||||
| Ephesians 4:12-15 | 1 John 2:12-14 |
| Matthew 9:37-38; 25:14-29; | Matthew 28:19 | ||||||
| John 15:7-8 | Ephesians 2:10; 4:12,16 | ||||||
| Romans 12:3-8 | 2 Timothy 2:2 | ||||||
| 1 Corinthians 4:2; 12:1-31 | 1 Peter 4:10 |
| Isaiah 6:8 | Acts 1:8; 2:47 | ||||||||
| Matthew 5:13-16; 28:19 | Acts 4:12; 6:7; 9:31 | ||||||||
| Mark 2:17; 16:15 | Romans 10:14-15 | ||||||||
| Luke 19:10; 24:46-47 | 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 | ||||||||
| John 3: 16-18; 20:21 | 1 Peter 3:15 |
These five purposes have been incorporated into the following Fellowship Bible Church Mission Statement:
We exist to glorify God by exalting Christ’s name supremely; encouraging people by loving them and caring for their needs; establishing believers in God’s Word and Christ-like maturity; equipping them for service in the church and in the world; and evangelizing unbelievers for Christ locally and around the world.
The core values of Fellowship Bible Church are the constant, passionate and biblical core beliefs that drive the ministry and help us to most effectively accomplish our mission. These core values are:
Since Jesus Christ is the Head of His church, we will strive to submit ourselves, and all our activities, to His will and good pleasure (Eph. 1: 22-23)
Since the Word of God is authoritative and sufficient as our only rule of faith and practice, we will strive to preach and teach the whole Bible so that unbeliever’s may come to Christ and believers may mature in Him (2 Tim. 3: 16-17).
Since God is of supreme value and worth just because of who He is, we will strive to praise and exalt the supremacy of God in our personal lives and in the corporate worship of His church with both head and heart (Jn. 4:23-24).
Since nothing of eternal significance is ever accomplished apart from prayer, we will strive to practice continual dependence on the enabling and empowering of the Holy Spirit through personal and corporate prayer for all the ministries and activities of His church (Ps. 127:1; Zech. 4:6; Jn. 15: 1-5; Eph. 5: 18; 1 Thess. 5:17).
Since every individual is of eternal value and matters to God, we will strive to continually express Christ’s sacrificial love and care for each other, our guests, our neighbors and our community with the desire to cultivate deep, authentic relationships both inside and outside the church family (Rom. 13: 10)
Since Christ chooses to lead His church through godly men, we will strive to have only qualified men for our Elders and Deacons who model Christ’s example of servant leadership (1 Tim. 3: 1-13; Tit. 1: 5-9)
Since every Christian has a responsibility to sensitively share the gospel of Christ with unbelievers, we will strive to assist believers to continually be “salt and light” in the world to lead unbelievers to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ locally and around the world (Lk. 19:10; 1 Pet. 3:15).
Since life transformation and spiritual maturity is God’s desire for every believer, we will strive to fulfill Christ’s command to “make disciples” (Matt. 28:19) and help believers grow in personal holiness and Christlike character in all areas of Christian living (Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:28-29)
Since every believer is spiritually gifted to be a minister and the primary responsibility of the pastor(s) is to “equip the saints for the work of service” (Eph. 4:12), we will strive to place as much of the church ministry as possible into the hands of the people (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:1-31; 1 Pet. 4:10).
Since God is a God of grace, we will strive to encourage our people to serve Christ from hearts of love and gratitude rather than guilt and condemnation (Rom. 5:20; 6: 14).
Since relational conflict among Christians is inevitable in this fallen world, we will strive to follow only a biblical process that involves courageous and loving confrontation, justice for all involved and wholehearted forgiveness with the goal of restoration (Prov. 27:6; Matt. 18:15-17; Gal. 6:1-2).
Since the family is God’s first institution, we will strive to assist in the building of strong marriages and helping parents to bring their children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 5:22-6:4; Col. 3:18-21; 2 Tim. 1:5).
Since God gave His very best when He gave His only Son (Rom. 8:32), we will strive to honor Him by maintaining a high standard of excellence in all our ministries and activities to the glory of God. While His message is timeless, our methods must adapt to minister effectively to those we are here to serve (1 Chron. 12:32; 1 Cor. 3:13; 6:20; 10:31; Gal. 6:4; Eph. 6:7; Col. 3: 23-24).
Since the church consists of people of all ages, we will strive to develop a church that ministers to the whole person and offers ministries from nursery age to senior adults (Lk. 2:52).
Since balance is the key to a biblical and healthy church, we will strive to be balanced in the five purposes of our church mission. No one purpose of the church should be emphasized to the exclusion of the others (Matt. 22: 37-40; 28: 19-20; Acts 2:42-47).
Our vision of ministry is a clear and challenging picture of what we believe God has placed into our hearts for what Fellowship Bible Church should uniquely be and do in the future to accomplish our mission. The church vision is as follows:
Exalting Christ: We envision being:
- A worshiping church where believers of every age are finding their full and lasting joy in loving and enjoying God; declaring His infinite worth, glory and majesty through God-honoring praise, the hearing of God’s Word, and obediently living out the supremacy of Christ in all of life.
- A praying church where all believers are living in complete dependence upon the Holy Spirit through continual prayer both corporately and individually as a church family.
Encouraging People: We envision being:
- A family church that shows that it is truly a biblical community of believers by reaching out to all people inside and outside the church with the sacrificial love of Christ.
- A restoring church where believers truly care enough about one another and obeying God’s Word to loving and honestly confront, forgive and restore those who have stumbled into sin.
Establishing Believers: We envision being:
- A teaching church where believers of every age hear the whole Bible being taught and preached.
- A discipling church where all believers are being established and built up to spiritual maturity to become joyfully devoted followers of Christ.
Equipping Servants: We envision being:
- A training church that adequately equips all believers to become effective servants of the Lord by assisting them in discovering and developing their unique divine design and spiritual gifts and then helping them find a place of service.
- A resource church that is used of God to help other like-minded churches in any way possible minister more effectively to their own church family and community.
Evangelizing Unbelievers: We envision being:
- A witnessing church where the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ is not only shared from the pulpit, special services and outreach events, but where all believers are actively sharing their faith in Christ with unbelievers where they live, work and play.
- A sending church with a vision for the world where believers are participating in world missions by praying, giving, and going on short-term missions trips with some being sent out as career missionaries and church workers all over the world.
- A reproducing church that is committed to planting other new churches locally and globally.
| Family-oriented | ||
| Bible-centered | ||
| Christ-commissioned |