by
LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
<Month Date, Year Submitted>
CHMN 360-001
Foundations in Ministry Programming
Submitted to Dr. Richardson
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
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What is a Philosophy of Ministry?
Primary Purpose
The primary purpose of your philosophy of ministry is one of the most important parts. It
should answer the questions of why it exists, and why it does what it does. Furthermore, it should
offer both a mission and vision for the ministry. The primary purpose is the backbone of the
entire ministry, and it will only ever be as strong as the primary purpose is. It is the foundation of
the entire philosophy.
The primary purpose is the first component of four, and it defines what the mission and
vision statements of the ministry are. The mission of the ministry is a broad statement about what
the ministry wants to accomplish. It deals with the short-term goals and the day-to-day tasks that
the ministry wants to complete. The mission of any ministry should include discipleship,
spiritual maturity, and the pursuit of the goals of the church of Christ.
The vision of the ministry is different in that it looks at a picture of the future of the
ministry. A ministry that is believable, that can and must be. The vision should be clear and
compelling, not yet a reality, but attainable. This way it can stir up the passion of the people and
make them truly believe in the ministry. The vision is where the mission becomes a reality, and it
helps the ministry to understand the “who” and “what.”
Perceptions of People
The second component consists of the target audience of the ministry. It should answer
the questions of “who” and “what.” It is imperative to know who it is that you are ministering to.
Your geographic, demographics, and psychographics will drastically affect your ministry. The
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first step should be to identify the target audience (who) and then proceed towards their primary
needs (what).
Three questions to ponder when considering your target audience are their geographic
location, the demographic, and the psychographics of the people. When choosing a place for
ministry it is important to ask yourself how far you are from the community and to discern how
far you want to reach out. After that is established, you want to know what type of people you
want to minister to. What are the age ranges of the community, the level of education, average
income, and so on. Knowing these details will help the ministry relate with the community and
present them with help and services that are helpful, which in turn, will make the community
more willing to engage with the ministry. Finally, determining the psychographic, or how the
people think, is the final step. What is their culture like? What do they value and what are their
priorities? Knowing how the people attending your ministry live their lives is crucial to a healthy
and successful ministry, it helps you develop impactful strategies and plans.
The second step is to identify the primary needs of your audience. The goal of identifying
the primary needs is to be able to know how to bridge the gap that separates the felt emotional,
physical, and true spiritual needs. The felt emotional and physical needs arise from the
demographic and psychographic analysis respectively. It is important to know these needs
because the way we view them will change the way that we minister to community. The true
spiritual needs are generally the same for everyone, no matter the location. These needs are
separated into four major categories, the unreached, the seeker, the believer, and the spiritually
mature. Within these four categories there are five components that addresses them all. The first
one being the need to be converted. This need targets the unreached and the seeker within the
ministry and focuses on building relationships and evangelism. The second is to address the need
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of being churched. This targets the seeker and the believer. The Bible commands us believers to
meet regularly, (Hebrews 10:25), and we do so at church. The third is the need of craving God’s
Word. This targets the believer, someone that is already being churched but still wants to know
more about the Bible. The fourth is the need of having compassion for the lost, which is targeted
towards the believer and the spiritually mature. Once the believer knows more about the Bible,
they are to go out and spread the Gospel towards others and make more disciples. The final
component is consecration, which targets the spiritually mature. This is a process that will occur
throughout the entirety of the lives of Christian.
Focus
The third component contains the information about what the ministry will focus on and
what makes it unique among other ministries. This is where the mission of the ministry becomes
more specific and differentiated from other ones.
Both external and internal factors will help make the ministry unique. External factors
stem from identifying secular differences. Why would people want to attend your ministry
instead of going out to do something else on the weekend? Internal factors are the differences
that differentiate your ministry from other similar ministries. As a leader, your spiritual gifts,
heart, abilities, personality, and experiences will heavily impact your ministry and its uniqueness.
Practices
The last component are the practices that your ministry will execute. The practices should
answer the questions of where the work of ministry is being done and how do these practices
accomplish and fulfill the philosophy of ministry that was developed. It should outline the
ministry process.
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There are five levels of ministry programming, the first one being relationship building.
This practice is one that targets the unreached, as discussed in the last component. The goal is to
establish a friendship and a foundation so that conversion may take place. The second level is
outreach which targets the seeker. This has the goal of seeing conversion occurring. These
practices should be evangelistic with a clear design of openly presenting the gospel. The third
level is growth, and it targets the believer. This practice seeks to make the believer to be
churched and to crave the Word of God. It seeks to see believer to be discipled, allowing them to
become spiritually mature. The fourth level is ministry, and it targets the spiritually mature in
hopes of seeing compassion for the lost developed in their lives. These practices tend to be more
works and service-oriented allowing believers to fulfill their commitment towards the gospel.
The final level is reproduction, and it also targets the spiritually mature with the goal of seeing
consecration take place. These practices are more focused on leadership and responsibilities. It is
designed to give the chance to mature believers to share their faith in the lives of other people.
My Personal Philosophy of Ministry
Mission and Vision
What I would like to minister full time in is camp. I have grown up in camp my entire life
in camp and was even saved at one and would like nothing better than to be able give the same
opportunity to the youth.
The mission statement would be, “To create disciples of Jesus Christ, that will seek the
Word of God and impact the community.” The type of ministry I want to lead is a camp that
works with under privileged kids, specifically in my hometown in Brazil. A large part of the
community is extremely poor, and I would like to create a camp that these kids can attend and
have fun, but more importantly, have a presentation of the gospel. These kids can than go back to
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their community and present the gospel to the rest of their friends and family. The camp would
be partnered with the local church, allowing for the kids to continue to have weekly access to the
Bible even after they leave the camp.
The vision statement would be, “To have a third of the campers plugged into and actively
participating in the local church and community.” The goal behind camp ministry is to introduce
and develop Christian youth to the Bible, not to replace the church. I want my ministry to be a
catalyst in the lives of the local youth, and from there, plug the youth into the surrounding
churches and have those churches develop them even further.
Target Audience & Primary Needs
The geographic location of the ministry would be located in Atibaia, Brazil. There is a
property on the outskirts of the community, making it an easy place for the people to reach.
There is also a bus stop right next to the property, making it easier to reach.
The demographic of the people that the ministry is trying to reach are predominantly the
youth, from 10 to 18 years old. Brazil already suffers a lot economically, and this place is no
exception. Many of the parents struggle with finding jobs and providing for their families, even
so, the majority of the families are very tight and united. Due to this, many families struggle to
send their children to school making the average education level very low.
The common values and priorities of the community, but especially of the youth that the
ministry is trying to reach is unique. Due to the lack of schooling, most of the youth spends their
free time out on the streets playing soccer or, unfortunately, doing drugs. Even though many
parents try their best to provide for their children, there are a few that show little to no care to
them. These are the ones that typically get involved with drugs and other illegal substances. And
since so many other kids have no education and spend most of their time on the streets, they get
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easily influenced by the other youth with drugs. Even so, family is highly regarded in most
people, making the community, even though economically poor, an extremely inviting and
loving place.
In terms of both felt emotional and physical needs, there are several. The physical needs
for the youth are most importantly, schooling. The youth sadly lack an education, with several
teenagers not being able to neither read nor write properly. Many of them also lack food, eating
only twice or sometimes once a day.
The biggest emotional need would be to feel belonged and heard. Much of the youth tend
to act out and cause big scenes just so that they can be heard and seen. It is important to create a
ministry that assures them that they are loved, heard, and seen. Giving them opportunities to
demonstrate their own abilities and unique aspects.
Finally, the spiritual needs are those of being converted, which will then lead to them
being churched. Wh
Unique Focus
Several aspects of the ministry would make it unique and stand out from other ones.
Some external factors that the ministry will focus on during non-summer months is the educating
of the community. While the camp is in its “off season” there will be programs that the local
youth go attend for free that will allow them to learn how to read, write, and give them lunch.
The positives about this are that since the camp is located very close to the community, they can
walk there. While it will never replace an actual school, it provides an opportunity for the youth
to have a place where they can still have some type of education. There will also be other
activities throughout the year such as a soccer team, choir, and more. These activities give the
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youth a reason to leave the streets and nurture their talents and abilities, all the while being
poured into with the Bible.
Some internal factors that make it stand out are the fact that it is a camp in a country that
camping ministry is not very prevalent. While it is growing in Brazil, it is still a new type of
ministry. What makes this ministry unique, however, is that it will be a lot cheaper than the other
options available. Most camps in Brazil are extremely expensive to go to, making it only a
possibility for a select number of people. The goal of this ministry is to share the gospel to the
local community, which is an extremely underprivileged one.
Process
Bibliography
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