Leadership Ministry
Equipping Servants. Preaching Truth. Reaching All People.
The Ministerial Body serves as a spiritual pillar of the church, helping to preach, teach, lead, and serve according to the Word of God. Ministers, elders, pastors, and bishops carry a sacred responsibility to represent Christ with humility, integrity, compassion, wisdom, and faithfulness.
The purpose of the Ministerial Body is not position, title, education, or status. It is service. Those called to ministry must be prepared to reach all people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A minister should be able to preach to the wealthy and the poor, the healthy and the unhealthy, the educated and the uneducated, the young and the old, the saved and the unsaved, the confident and the broken, the respected and the rejected.
The Gospel must be preached in a way that reaches across the many contrasts of life. Ministry must be able to speak to the person in the pew and the person in the street, the person with resources and the person with nothing left, the person raised in church and the person who feels too far gone to come near one. The message of Jesus Christ is for every background, every condition, every family, every community, and every soul.
We believe ministers should never see themselves as above correction or above reproach. They are called to be servants first, excellent teachers, faithful preachers, and examples of holiness before the people of God. As our late Presider, Bishop Edward Smith, said, preaching should “provoke thought and bring forth conviction.” The goal is to present the Word of God in a way that is truthful, Spirit-led, relatable, and able to reach the hearts of all people invoking a new revelation when the word is spoken.
The Ministerial Body must also help the church grow from spiritual infancy into maturity. The Word should not only comfort, but also challenge and develop the believer. As saints grow, they must be taught to move beyond the milk of the Word and become able to receive the meat of the Word, gaining greater understanding, deeper conviction, and stronger spiritual discernment.
This area of leadership also focuses on training and developing aspiring ministers, ministers, elders, pastors, and bishops so they may continue to grow in their calling and serve the church with excellence. Above all, the goal of ministry is to save souls, strengthen the saints, teach sound doctrine, mature the body of Christ, and point all people to Jesus Christ.