Hopewell Christian Fellowship
Hopewell Christian Fellowship
- We will maintain our unity around a strong Christ-centered focus and common Kingdom values.
- We will attempt to address relevant issues of our day without becoming issues oriented.
2. Anointed kingdom ministry flows through leaders and ministries empowered by the Holy Spirit.
- We will faithfully teach the truth of being baptized in the Holy Spirit to each generation. We will embrace the fruit, gifts, and fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
- We will by the grace of God walk in balance, attempting to avoid extremism and empty tradition.
3. God places the mantle of primary leadership on the senior pastor and raises up a team of elders to discern and lead with him in the local church.
- We will develop strong Senior Pastors and Elder Teams based on a New Testament theocratic style of church government.
- We will guard against dictatorial styles that oppress, and also democratic styles that undermine prophetic leadership.
4. We see small groups as the primary means for pastoral care.
- We will provide pastoral care, discipleship, and avenues of outreach through small groups.
- We will seek to avoid the idea that the pastor is the only qualified caregiver. We will also seek to avoid ingrown churches and small groups with no vision for outreach.
5. We believe every Christian needs to be equipped for kingdom ministry.
- We will encourage the priesthood of all believers wherein every Christian is considered a minister with spiritual gifts.
- We will seek to avoid the concept that ministry is done best by professional leaders.
6. Prophetic worship flowing out of the present move of God propels the church into God's generational purpose and anointing.
- We will promote worship that focuses on Jesus, the character of God, and reflects God's present move in our midst. We embrace hymns of faith as well as contemporary songs.
- We will guard against a spirit of performance in our worship.
7. A common vision and commitment to a set of values enables us to build the kingdom effectively.
- We will promote a guide for Bylaws and church government and a statement of faith that unites us in our mission and vision. We allow for variation and flexibility consistent with our basic vision and values.
- We will seek to avoid complicated structures and conflicting vision.
8. Committed fellowship and support of pastors and churches is vital to the success and growth of the Network.
- We will commit ourselves to network meetings. We will provide apostolic oversight for vision, personal growth, accountability, and protection.
- We will seek to avoid developing isolated and independent leaders and churches.
9. Absolute faith and trust in the inspiration of Scripture is basic to the gospel of the kingdom and Spirit-filled ministry.
- We will unite together around a faith-filled approach to the inspiration of the entire Scripture.
- We will strive to avoid both a legalistic and a higher-criticism approach to Scripture.
10. God is calling us to prepare the next generation and unite with them in fulfilling His purpose in these last days.
- We will promote ministry-based youth groups that equip young people to move in the power and vision of the Holy Spirit.
- We will seek to avoid models of youth ministry that put their primary emphasis on entertainment.
11. God has called us to be evangelistic, both in our local communities and in foreign missions.
- We will affiliate with other networks and encourage our churches to participate in regional efforts to reach the harvest.
- We will keep evangelism a priority in our churches and seek to work together with other groups to fulfill the great commission.
- We will strive not to become ingrown and exclusive in our ministries.
12. Reproducing and training leaders is vital to the growth of God's kingdom.
- We will provide leadership training opportunities within our fellowship of churches to raise up and place leaders in our network.
- We will avoid calling leaders into ministry who are ill-equipped in Scripture and ministry skills.
13. The network will grow through church planting.
- We will have a sponsoring church for each church plant. Church planters must be willing to work under the guidelines of the network.
- We will avoid having churches become financially dependent on network finances.
14. The primary leadership of the network is the Hopewell Network Leadership Team that gives oversight to the senior pastors.
- We will work as a team representing various ministry gifts. Each church will have a primary overseer who will work with the pastor and elders. Each of the team gifts is available to the churches through the coordination of the primary overseer.
- We will avoid being only an administrative board, but rather, a visionary team with apostolic anointing to move the network forward into new dimensions.
15. God has called us to a ministry of healing broken and hurting people within the body of Christ.
- We will promote an atmosphere of acceptance, and embrace the gentle ministry of the Holy Spirit.
-
We will avoid the extreme of intolerance and the extreme of no standards. We will avoid hyper-spirituality and sensationalism but embrace humility and genuineness.