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Top 10 Priorities of Truth Bible Church:
(Matthew 22:37, 28:19-20, Acts 2:42)
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Pursuit of Love and intimate relationships – 1 Cor. 13:1-13
- Worship – We aim to Love God supremely (The Great Commandment part a – Matthew 22:37, Deuteronomy 6:5, 6:13, Matthew 4:10, Luke 4:8) every day, every moment, and everyway (Col. 1:10) with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength so that he is pleased (Eph. 5:10) and glorified (Romans 15:6, 1 Cor. 10:31, Col. 3:7, 1 Peter 4:11).
- Fellowship – We aim to Love God’s People sincerely, deeply, and fervently (The Great Commandment part b - Matthew 22:39) so that the “one anothers” throughout the Scriptures are truly taking place. Regardless of the size of the church, we must be a church that obeys Jesus’ commands to love one another in a manner that is fervent, from the heart, and in actions and in truth (John 13:34-35, 15:12-27, Romans 13:8, 1 Thessalonians 3:12, 4:9, 2 Thessalonians 1:3, 1 Peter 1:22, 4:8, 1 John 3:11, 3:23, 4:7, 4:11-12, 2 John 1:5). This is why we believe in a church planting philosophy – and do not aspire to become a mega church.
- Evangelism – We aim to Love the Lost urgently by proclaiming the gospel regularly and working hard to make disciples (The Great Commission - Matthew 28:19-20). We want to mobilized every member (Col. 1:28) to reach their sphere of influence for Christ – neighbors, friends, relatives, and co-workers (Col. 4:5) so that each one is going (Mark 16:16, Romans 10:14-15), striving (Philippians 1:27, Acts 5), and praying (1 Timothy 2:1-6, Romans 10:1) to reach one person/make one disciple every year. The church as a whole aims to focus on reaching the immediate area around where it meets (Acts 1:8, Luke 24:47), plant churches in the surrounding areas (Acts 14:21), and send missionaries to the ends of the earth (Romans 10:18, Col. 1:23). To do this, everyone must be challenged, trained (prayer/evangelism methods), and held accountable to fulfill the Great Commission because that is one of our purpose on earth.
- Pursuit of the Truth solely through the Word of God – Our goal is to be Biblicists (2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16, 4:2) that provide excellent expository preaching, careful grammatical-historical interpretation of the Scripture that is in context and true to the panoply/whole of Scripture (Mt. 22:29), and faithful application in applying what we know (Mt. 7:24, Phil. 4:9, 1 Timothy 5:4, James 1:22-23).
- Pursuit of Obedience through the Ordinances – We offer baptism (immediate and upon request & training - Acts 2:41) and communion (weekly and meaningful remembrance of our Lord’s sacrifice on the cross that is not rushed or routine - 1 Corinthians 11:20-34).
- Pursuit of Faith, Hope, Wisdom and Power through Prayer – We pursue regular times of individual, groups, and congregational prayer (Acts 2:42, Romans 12:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 1 Timothy 2:8).
- Pursuit of Godly Leadership by truly Biblically qualified Elders/Pastors - We will train and develop our own leaders and ensure that they are Biblically qualified, the true spiritual pace setters in the church, and leading by example (1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, 1 Peter 5:1-4, Acts 20:17-38).
- Pursuit of Holiness through Discipleship – We will strive for Christ-likeness and seek to shepherd (loving, knowing, and discipling) all our people/sheep towards maturity/Christ-likeness (Ephesians 4:12, Col. 1:28-29, Hebrews 6:1). Spiritual maturity is only achieved by spending lots of TIME with the sheep (Acts 20:18-20). The Elders/Pastors aim to know not just facts about people as acquaintances but the heart condition of each member as beloved friends. Through small groups, 1-to-1 discipleship, and home visits they will pursue intimate relationships that 1) knows people’s heart - assurance of salvation 2) knows people’s growth areas – discipleship/counseling that trains, mentors, and helps the putting on of truth/obedience and putting off of lies/sin, 3) knows people’s sin areas - confronting weaknesses and correcting/rebuking unconfessed/ongoing sin, 4) knows people’s strengths and helps them fully utilize their spiritual gifts to build the kingdom, and 5) knows people’s physical needs – assisting/providing food and covering (1 Timothy 6:8). Thus, small groups, each led by an Elder or leader in training will meet during the week so that everyone is under an Elder for accountability (1 Peter 5:5, Hebrews 13:17). This focus on discipleship will include a multi-faceted approach: 1-to-1 discipleship (older/mature mentoring younger/immature, women to women, men to men), small groups, and father’s discipling their wives and children as the spiritual head of their families. Everyone has their “point A” spiritually where they are currently at and their “point B” spiritually of where they need to go and grow. Thus the whole church has a passion to become mature and more Christ-like by knowing more than just facts and saying “ hi” and “bye” to each other on Sundays, but knowing and loving one another where the Biblical one anothers are not just talked about, but practiced so that we know each others heart, spiritual condition, and theology/doctrine.
- Pursuit of a Committed Body of Believers that are faithful, humble, and submissive. This body is recognized and functions as an assembly of “called out ones” through Membership - The Elders/Pastors will commitment to disciple each member and each member will subject themselves/submit/rank themselves under the Elders/Pastors. Our motto: “membership has its privileges” so that members will be prioritized as far as: the Elder’s/Pastor’s time (discipleship, counseling, home visits), resources (free Bible study materials, tracts, Bibles), free once a year family retreat/camp-out, leadership positions to members only, members only voting rights, and yearly coalition gatherings (Truth Association).
- Pursuit of Multiplication and Building the Local Church through Leadership Development and Church Planting - We aim to plant daughter churches and multiply as soon as leaders, resources, and a need area become available and are confirmed by the Spirit’s leading through prayer and fasting. Our goal is not to become a mega church where it can be hard to fully utilize your spiritual gifts and where there is often a lack of fellowship, intimacy, and Elder/Pastoral care. We don’t want TBC to become so large that we don’t know our sheep, the Biblical one anothers aren’t taking place, and where people feel they are just faces in a crowd without anyone really knowing or shepherding them. This will require a strong focus on leadership development where the Elders/Pastors pour their lives into reliable men who will be able to train others (2 Timothy 2:2). We will constantly be identifying, training, evaluating, and providing leadership and ministry opportunities for future leaders. In this way we want to create the mindset and atmosphere that the whole church is always thinking or praying about planting more churches. Thus, we are seeking to raise up leaders to replace us if existing leaders go to a church plant or preparing others to be sent by always striving to fully utilize everyone’s spiritual gifts.
- Pursuit of Worldwide Outreach and winning every nation for Christ through Missions - We seek to impassion our people about missions by supporting missionaries with at least 10% of our budget and by training and sending our own missionaries on short or long term missions that reach out to the utter most parts of the earth with the gospel (Matthew 24:14, 28:19, Mark 13:10,16:15, Luke 24:47, John 17:21, Romans 1:8, 10:18, 16:26, Gal. 3:8, Col. 1:6).
- Pursuit of Good Deeds that meet the needs of others that also are evidence of true faith, love, and Lordship of Christ - We want to be mindful of people’s practical needs so that through our benevolence ministry there is genuine love, service, and outreach with the love of Christ. We will prioritize the physical needs within our congregation first, but also reach out to the poor, widows, and orphans in our community (1 John 3:17, 1 Cor. 16:15, 1 Timothy 5:10, Titus 3:1-2, Ephesians 2:10, James 1:27).
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