Six Distinctives
MISSION Leading People to Know God – The Gathering Place Network Mission Statement is our most significant distinctive. We believe that God created man to enjoy a personal intimate relationship with Him. The Christian life should be more than just a list of religious things to do. The first way we want to lead people to know God is by introducing them to Jesus Christ as Savior (John 17:3). Following salvation, we believe God will also use us to lead believers to know him in a progressively more intimate way. We promote intimate moments with God where we learn to discern His will, obey it, and get to know Him through obedience (Philippians 3:10 AMP).
John 17:3
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Philippians 3:10a (AMP)
10 And this, so that I may know Him [experientially, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with Him, understanding the remarkable wonders of His Person more completely] …
MOTIVATION 1) The Grace of God for salvation and after salvation, and 2) the beauty of God’s character that we discover as we obey Him, provide the internal, heart-felt motivation we need to drive us to his mission.
Titus 2:11-14
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
God will not only make us blameless by his grace, but he will keep us blameless by his grace.
MESSAGE : The Gospel of Jesus Christ is our message. We were all dead as a result of our own decisions to become masters of our own lives. We all followed our own way. But God offered us salvation through the shed blood of Christ. His blood has atoned for the sins of mankind. This atonement and the resulting righteousness are offered as a free gift to all who would believe.
1 Corinthians 2:1-2
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
METHODS The Gathering Place Network desires to plant churche that literally belong to God. We are believers who have been born of God and who have made our life goal to do his will in all things. As a result, we seek his will in all things. This includes all matters of personal and corporate practice. The elders and congregation are constantly before the Lord, asking for him to give us wisdom in regard to ministry methods. Some of those typical methods include:
Elder Leadership - . We believe the elder-led model is true to Scripture as described in our Guiding Documents. The Fellowship of Elders and the Pastor have equal authority at TGPN churches. They manage the business affairs of the church, oversee all matters concerning the conduct of public worship, and are responsible for assuring the best measures for promoting
the spiritual growth and evangelistic witness of the congregation. They are the decision making body of the church. They are presented, affirmed, and held accountable by the membership of the churches. Though some major decisions are brought to the membership by the elders for a vote of affirmation, i.e., the choosing of a pastor, major expenditures, or annual budget approval, the Fellowship of Elders make the majority of the church’s decisions internally.
Spirit-Led We have been led by God to create an environment where the Holy Spirit has freedom to work. This means our worship services and programs will not be held to a predetermined agenda. We enjoy a contemporary style of worship and strong biblical teachings with practical application. Each member has the freedom to sit, stand, bow, or raise their hands with no pressure to conform to anyone but the Holy Spirit. Our services are exciting and energetic and God moves. Our programs will only be maintained as the Spirit continues to lead them. There will be no hesitation to change programming as the Spirit leads.
Knowledge of God by Experience – In order to support our mission to lead people to know God we have a major emphasis at TGP on hearing and obeying God. Through extensive study and sharing of testimonies we will help all members understand how God communicates with man. We believe that God will speak to you and give you guidance and direction for every decision in life. God wants to guide your daily life and we want to help you understand how that works. Our commitment as a church is to hear what God says and do it. Our elders and leaders are committed to keeping our structure flexible to God’s leading. RESOURCE: The Abiding Cycle: Knowing God by Experience Through Obedience
Personal Relationship Through Disciplines - We believe that God desires for us to relate to Him as a person, not as an inanimate being. We will help our members learn how to grow in their understanding of the person of God. We will promote personal, daily, intimate times of devotional reading and prayer. We will help our members learn that obedience to God’s will allows us to experience the person of God in daily life.
RESOURCE: The Abiding Cycle: Knowing God by Experience Through Obedience
Life Groups / House Churches - We believe the Bible has set a precedent for small group discipleship and ministry. Our church is committed to developing Life Groups that will provide ministry, discussions about biblical application, and fellowship for every member. Our Life Groups are the care-giving arm of the church. These groups help our church minister effectively. Among other things, they provide meals when your family is sick, support in times of crisis, and companionship as you walk together in community. RESOURCE: Letters to the Church by Francis Chan
Evangelism - We believe that God’s design for evangelizing the world involves every believer. We are committed to lead our members to develop relationships with non-believers in the community for the purpose of expressing love to them, praying for them, spending time with them, listening to them, eating with them, caring for their families, and finally, leading
them to know Jesus Christ as personal Savior. We provide opportunities through our small groups for relationship building in a nonthreatening environment.
RESOURCE: eBook – 5 Ways to B.L.E.S.S. Your Neighbors by Dave Ferguson
MINISTRY We believe God is leading us to be a church that ministers outside the four walls. In addition to giving a percentage of our tithes and offerings to the ministries sponsored by organizations as the Spirit leads, we are committed to working in our community and designating
an increasing percentage of our funds toward this work. We will always be prayerfully considering opportunities for service to people in our area. All ministries are grass-roots ministries, conceived by God, given to the membership, confirmed by the elders, and empowered through the body.
MULTIPLICATION We believe God is leading us to be a church that multiplies. In order to be effective in carrying out this distinctive, all of our leaders and members need to help to create a missional culture. We are a sending church and it is in our DNA to plant new churches. This includes house churches, local congregations, regional churches, and churches on foreign fields. This means we will always be asking God to call some of our members to new works. It is our dream that one day God will call entire Life Groups to relocate and start churches together. This distinctive also calls us to spend larger portions of budget planting new churches.