Philosophy of Ministry
Way of Salvation Church started in July 2017. We are missional and looking forward to turning Masaka and the whole world for Christ. It is our prayer always that we plant healthy, thriving churches and preach the gospel in its fullness, both in Masaka and wherever the Lord leads us to plant churches.
Psalm 127:1 teaches us that, “unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” Scriptures in the New Testament make it clear that Christ is to be the head and the foundation of His church. We believe that as believers, we are members of the church and laborers for His church. We thank God for the growth of the ministry. Because of that growth, we have developed the need to have some structure and organization to keep the focus and vision clear. We believe that it is good to maintain our diversity and yet keep ourselves united within the body. These guidelines should not hinder our fellowship but rather enhance it. This Philosophy of Ministry is simply helping us to move in a direction, not reach a destination.
Our People
At Way of Salvation Church, we believe that the ultimate work of the church in the world is to be accomplished by plain, ordinary Christians (the believers) and not by professional clergy or a few chosen laymen. We believe that the purpose of the church is revealed in Ephesians 4:12, which is equipping the saints for the work of service and for the building up of the church.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, convicts the world of sin, righteousness judgment. Through the proclamation of the gospel, He persuades men to repent of their sins and confess Jesus as Lord. By the same Spirit a person is led to trust in divine mercy. The Holy Spirit unites believers to Jesus Christ in faith, brings about the new birth and dwells within the regenerate. The Holy Spirit has come to glorify the Son who in turn came to glorify the Father. He will lead the church into a right understanding and rich application of the truth of God’s Word. He is to be respected, honored and worshipped as God the Third Person of the Trinity.
Church Leadership
We desire to involve as many people in the process of ministry as possible. We train people to do the work of ministry. We believe in the biblical leadership of qualified men as the elders or shepherds of the local church. We also have deacons who serve in different ministries as called and gifted by God. Therefore, we allow people the opportunity to minister and learn from mistakes, rather than requiring people to be “professional” before they can minister. We give people in ministry a level of trust rather than demand absolute control.
Ministry
We believe God’s imperfect people do God’s perfect work, and because of that, we do not beat our heads against a wall trying to get people to fill a certain need. We realize we are not the only church in this city. We cannot be the whole body of Christ; we are only part of that body. Jesus Christ is the Lord of His church and He is the only one who can empower us to serve Him.
Money
Knowing that money can become a major focus of any ministry, we have established some strong beliefs regarding money in this ministry. We believe that God’s people should give willingly to support God’s work and that they should not have to give grudgingly or out of pressure and necessity. We talk about giving at our church, but according to the direction of the scriptures. We don’t believe in forcing and manipulating people to give in the shadow of scriptures. Our members should give freely and willingly out of the thankfulness of their hearts.
Family and Marriage
We believe that the family is instituted by God and that it is God-ordained. Therefore, we seek to see families honoring God and used as the primary source for sharing the gospel and reaching out to the lost people in our community. We also look to Christian families as the foundation of a healthy church. If the families and marriages of our members are devoted to the study of the scriptures, then we shall see the growth of a God-fearing generation. While we design activities that help families grow spiritually, our main focus is on the development of the family as a unit. And that is why we do not schedule too many activities that would tear families apart. This also allows our members time to be engaged in community activities so that we can be salt and light in the area.
Spiritual Growth
At Way of Salvation Church, we honor the word of God more than any other thing and believe that through preaching, reading God’s Word and fellowshipping together, that our members can grow spiritually and deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ. We do not measure spiritual growth by the serving of spiritual gifts but by the bearing of the Spiritual fruit and maturity of Christian character. We believe that spiritual growth is intentional (Philippians 2:12), and practical, and takes time. We believe that the right way of teaching and studying of God’s word can grow the lives of believers. Therefore, at Way of Salvation Church, we do expositional preaching.
Evangelism
Evangelism is teaching the gospel with the aim to persuade. Evangelism is teaching (heralding, proclaiming, preaching) the gospel (the message from God that leads us to salvation) with the aim (hope, desire, goal) to persuade (convince, convert).
In the Great Commission, at the end of Matthew’s Gospel (28:19-20), Jesus commanded His disciples to, “(g)o therefore to all nations and make them my disciples; baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.” From this, we can see that making disciples and then discipling them is the goal to be pursued.
We evangelize because it is a means to the end, which is God’s glorious rescue of His people to know Him truly, worship Him purely, enjoy Him fully, and glorify Him eternally. In evangelism, we teach the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes [Romans1:16].
Evangelism glorifies God by exposing man’s sin and subsequent need for forgiveness and inability to obtain it on his own. Paul said this to the Ephesian church (Ephesians 2:1,2,4,5)