Every church has its various ministries and emphases. However, each congregation functions around five basic areas of ministry as found in the scriptures. They are fellowship, worship, missions, teaching and mercy. While each church involves itself in each of these ministries, a given church may well emphasize some areas over others. It's helpful to prioritize these areas to identify resources which are often limited and focus which can easily be lost. Although there should not be a great distance between any area of ministry, Freedom From Chains has ranked them in the following order making us essentially a worship and teaching church.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19;20)
Jesus has left His Church with a Great Commission to "go and make disciples of all nations." (Matthew 28:19) He has left us with the words of eternal life (John 5:24). If the Church does not declare the Good News of salvation in Christ, no one will. Therefore, we believe at Freedom From Chains that we have a solemn duty and holy privilege of taking the message of redemption found only in Christ Jesus, to every corner of the world. We continually pray in our gatherings for the lost to be saved. We encourage our people to look for opportunities to tell others what Christ has done for them. Our efforts are to be in accordance with the awesome blessing and responsibility that come from being honored with the title of "ambassadors for Christ." As Christ's ambassadors, we to be devoted to the act of entreating others towards godly repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10,11). We are too beg on behalf of Christ that men everywhere be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 19 “You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:18-21)
In a day such as ours when truth is considered to be relative, an objective standard for truth is needed more than ever before. At Freedom From Chains we believe that objective standard is the Bible, the Word of God. We not only acknowledge this to be so theologically and intellectually but practically as well. It is the Bible which drives our lifestyles, our thoughts and our ministries as an organization which in turn, translates into ministry that is God centered and not man centric. Therefore, we encourage everyone to conform our lives according to the teachings of the Bible. We place great emphasis upon the faithful exposition of the scriptures. The central, but not the sole, activity of our ministries is to first show the Gospel of Christ in loving action and then too teach the word with vigor. We focus on this to that men everywhere will come to know what God's will is for them so they may know and seek what is good, pleasing, and perfect in the eyes of God (Romans 12:2).
"For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations," says the LORD of hosts." (Malachi 1:11)
""My holy name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel." (Ezekiel 39:7)
God has created us to worship Him. Throughout the Bible this is the essential activity that binds God's people together as one. The scriptures indicate that worship is the only activity of this life which will continue in the life that is yet to come in Christ. That places an unusual emphasis on worship. Therefore, at Freedom From Chains we take the worship of God very seriously. We seek to make our worship as pleasing to the Lord as possible. As Creator of all creation (Isaiah 40:26), God alone has the authority to make law and the right to decide what pleases Him. Therefore, we seek to follow as closely as possible the commands and teachings found within in the Bible so that all we do may result in glory for God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)
"this is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." (James 1:27)
"Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke? “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh? (Isaiah 58:6;7)
Over and over in the Bible the Church is exhorted to care for the poor, the indigent, and the oppressed. Freedom From Chaina seeks to remove or aliviate the hardships that arise from the chains of povery, homelessness, hunger, illness, and other social and personal vices. We endeavor to provide food, shelter, clothing, medical care, education, and economic opporunity to those in need whenever possible. We do this because it is the command of Christ and the constant word of the prophets. In Matthew 25 Jesus welcomes into the kingdom of God those who fed the hungry and sheltered the homeless and condemns to punishment those who failed to. John says that the love of God does not abide in those who do not help the needy (1 John 3:16-18). James says that caring for the widow and orphan is the essence of true religion (James 1:27). Isaiah prophesies that the true fast desired by God is feeding the hungry and caring for the homeless (Isaiah 58:6-7). The Apostle John wrote, "Anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:20). We recognize that this obligation to help the poor applies not only to fellow Christians, to whom we have a special responsibility, but to all who are poor, even our enemies (Luke 6:35).
"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love;" (Romans 12:10a)
"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35)
The scripture says, "Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." (Proverbs 27:17). At Freedom From Chains we believe this spiritual "sharpening" occurs best in times of Christian fellowship. The Church of Jesus Christ is a Covenant community which makes it a spiritual family. As such, we encourage each believer to spend time with one another as members of that family. Because each peoples group has different values, customs, and the laws of their nation differ from one another; we defer to the wisdom local church leaders to decide how to best go about doing this. We do however, encourage all native churches that we work with and plant to the seek fellowship in small group meets as often as possible. These "small groups" typically consist of a study time followed by sharing and prayer for each other and are usually led by an Elder of the church. We also encourage regular fellowship meals and a monthly regional congregational get-together organized by local native churches. Our goal should be too love spending time together thereby showing all men, that we disciples of Jesus Christ. (John 13:35)
