A Philosophy of Ministry Ministers Leadership Training
Terminal Objective:
The objective of this training is to empower and transform the student by effectively teaching and communicating the importance of having a proper philosophy of ministry, an understanding of spiritual authority, the importance of spiritual transference and having a proper understanding of, and attitude toward servanthood.
At the conclusion of this training the student will be able to:
1. Recognize the importance of a proper philosophy of ministry.
2. Describe the importance of understanding spiritual authority.
3. Describe the method and importance of spiritual transference.
4. Communicate a proper biblical understanding of servanthood.
5. Describe a proper attitude toward servanthood.
If you are going to be effective in ministry it is imperative that you have a clear biblical understanding of what ministry really is.
What is your Philosophy of Ministry? What is your analysis of the principles and underlying conduct that a leader should follow; what is your though or knowledge of the nature of ministry?
Have you as a leader (minister) taken the time to take a panoramic view (An unlimited view in all directions) of what leadership and ministry is all about?
Have you taken a continuous look into the ever-changing demands and requirements of leadership/ministry?
What is your Philosophy of Ministry?
1. Ministry is Commitment
2. Ministry is Commitment beyond your convenience
3. Ministry is faithfulness
4. Ministry is ministering beyond your circumstances John 11: 8 – 16
v If you are not willing to give yourself for the purpose of the Kingdom, you don’t qualify for leadership in the Kingdom.
1) The importance of a proper philosophy of ministry
As leaders and ministers in the Kingdom of God, you must establish priorities. The problem that we have in the church is that the leaders’ number one priority has been and continues to be self. When you are your number one priority, you are operating under a spirit of selfishness.
You are self-centered and not other centered! Kingdom ministry is other-centered not self-centered!
In order to have a mature church, you must have a unified body of leaders who’ve matured to the point of understanding that in order to grow up into Christ they must put aside their personal agendas and help fulfill the dreams and vision of another.
1 Cor. 3: 1 HOWEVER, BRETHREN, I could not talk to you as to spiritual [men], but as to nonspiritual [men of the flesh, in whom the carnal nature predominates], as to mere infants [in the new life] in Christ [unable to talk yet!] 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough [to be ready for it]; but even yet you are not strong enough [to be ready for it], 3 For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh [under the control of ordinary impulses]. For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men? 4 For when one says, I belong to Paul, and another, I belong to Apollos, are you not [proving yourselves] ordinary (unchanged) men?
1 Cor. 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
These scriptures speak toward spiritual maturity;
A spiritually immature believer cannot and will not be entrusted with the privileges and responsibilities of Kingdom Authority.
Abiding in God’s Presence Manifests His Power and Glory
What do you think when you hear someone talk about the Presence of God?
Being in God’s Presence and abiding in God’s presence is not the same.
What does it mean to abide in God’s Presence; and secondly; are you willing to do what’s necessary in order to experience the manifested Presence of God?
Living in the presence of God is the first step in the progression that’s required if you are going to experience His manifested Power and Glory.
Psalm 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. (Courts > enclosure; settled abode)
1) Outer Court -The Presence of God – God’s Face
2) Inner Court -The Power of God – The Authority of God
3) Holy of Holies – the Glory of God – The Weight of God
1. The Presence of God is one of the single most important attributes in a believer’s life.
2. A truly born again believer cannot live without the Presence of God. It’s important to take notice here that I said; a truly born again believer cannot live without the Presence.
3. You can exist without God’s Presence
(Message) Acts 17: 28 We live and move in him, can’t get away from him! One of your poets said it well: We’re the God-created.’29 Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?
(Amplified) Psalm 140: 13 Surely the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall give thanks to Your name; the upright shall dwell (remain) in Your presence (before Your very face).
The Presence of the Lord is very important but few believers really know what the Presence of God is. David understood the importance of God’s Presence to the degree that he cried out to God and begged Him not to remove His Presence.
Psalm 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy spirit from me.
(Message) Psalm 51: 11 Don’t throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me.
During these teachings, we will use several definitions to define the Presence of God.
Abiding in the Presence of God is:
1. Living in the consciousness (awareness) of God’s Presence, and in conscious communion with Him.
2. Constant, conscious companionship of God.
3. Living in the Presence of God is to walk with God. When you walk with God you are conscious of His Presence and the thought of God is constantly before you.
4. The Presence of God is the face of God.
5. The immediate vicinity of God
(Amplified)Genesis 5: 22 Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God after the birth of Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 And Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God; and he was not, for God took him [home with Him].
God is more concerned that you walk with Him than He is that you work for Him.
A heathen can work in and be a member of a church; a heathen, however, can not dwell in the Presence of God.
Psalm 10: 16; The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land
Psalm 68:2; As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
Ecclesiastes 8: 12 Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: 13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
The Presence of God is not a physical position, it’s a spiritual habitation
Spiritual Translation through Authentic Intimacy
Enoch was so in tuned with God spiritually that he transcended the limitations of this dimension, tapped into the true essence of God’s Presence and refused to come down.
(Amplified)Proverbs 20: 27, The spirit of man [that factor in human personality which proceeds immediately from God] is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.
- Physical actions aren’t a true indicator of what’s going on in a person spiritually.
(Message) Matthew 15: 8 These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn’t in it. 9 They act like they’re worshiping me, but they don’t mean it. They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy.”
- Being unclean before God has more to do with your spiritual position not your physical.