OUR METHODS
|
| Our method for ministry follows the pattern that God has set in the
covenant: |
| Ministry through the family structure. |
| Every covenant that God has made with mankind has always been made
with the head of a family and includes the family. Even national covenants were
family covenants. |
| Old Testament Pattern |
| Israel was not seen as a collection of individuals, but a collection
of families in their civic focus. Therefore, only the head of household was
numbered in the Old Testament, since he represented the whole family. |
| New Testament Pattern |
| The same pattern is found in the New Testament (e.g., Acts 4:4). The
Great Commission is advanced so that "all the families of the earth shall be
blessed" (Acts 3:25). |
| Pattern in Baptism |
| Baptism was ordinarily applied to families (Acts 2:38-39; 3:25; 10:48;
11:14-18; 16:15,31-34; 18:8; 1 Cor. 1:16; Gal. 3:26-4:1). |
| Pattern in Communion |
| Communion meals were administered by household to those who had
faith (In the Old Era - Ex. 10:9; 12:3-4; Deut. 12:6-7,11-12,17-18; 14:26,29;
26:11-12; in the New Era -Ps. 22:26-31; Zech. 14:16-17; 1 Cor. 11:1-16 in context
of chapters 10-11) |
| A Pattern of Respecting Family Integrity |
| Ministry was seen as a family affair (1 Cor. 16:15). We believe that
the family is the most fundamental unit of society, and that church and state must
not erode the family's integrity. |
| By way of analogy, just as the states originally retained all powers not
granted to the federal government in the Constitution, similarly, Dominion Covenant Church
believes that the family retains all powers and all ministries that are not
explicitly granted by the Scriptures to either the state or the church. "God sets
the solitary in families" (Ps. 68:6), and we too want to minister to singles and
make them welcome. |
