petesutton.net

Leading family oriented movements of adults and young people toward lives and communities that touch people like Jesus.

Philosophy of Ministry

There are two core theologies that form the foundation of my ministry; the Trinity and the Incarnation of Christ.

Within the concept of the Trinity we find perfect community and oneness as well as distinction in person, role and ministry.  Because of the Trinity, concepts of family, community and church are made more clear.  In fact, among the very few Biblical analogies of the trinity we find both the family and the church (Ephesians 5-6).

Therefore, what we understand and know to be true of the Trinity we should seek to apply to both the church and family. 

We were created for community.  Since the Godhead is revealed as Father, Son and Spirit, foundational to all community is the family.  Adam was not complete without Eve.  God called Noah and his family.  Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and so many others were blessed through the family.  The prophets continually called the hearts of the fathers to the children and children to the fathers.  Whole families came to Christ and were baptized in the book of Acts.  Even the reunion of Christ and the church is symbolized in revelation by the great wedding of Christ to his Bride.  If the church is going to reclaim creation and culture we must focus first on reclaiming and building strong families.

We were created in the image of God or Jesus Christ.  Since Jesus came to serve and give His life as a ransom for humanity, so must we.  Each person created in the image of God has a unique fit and ministry and is most fulfilled when living into the divine nature within.  We live into the divine nature when we act as Jesus did in love, humility, holiness and service.  When nonbelievers exercise this divine nature, the law and image of God written in their hearts becomes more real and the Holy Spirit is enabled to do His work.

In order to understand and live out this truth, we must examine fully the life and ministry of Jesus Christ through the incarnation.  Our lives should be guided by the teaching, examples and models that Jesus lived while here on Earth. 

The life of Jesus contains in it models for evangelism, discipleship, teaching, counseling, confrontation, restoration and so much more.  While the whole Word of God is “inspired by God and useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking and training,” the life of Jesus is the Word made flesh.  Modeling our churches after the examples of Jesus will bring about strong, growing, God-honoring churches.