Structural Essentials

  1. Seek First the Kingdom and His Righteousness.
    1. Little picture makes way for the bigger picture.
    2. We are part of the bigger picture of the church in the city and across the nations, both through the mechanism of an apostolic/prophetic team called NCMI and through relationships across the city.
  2. One Heart and One Mind.
    1. Preserving the unity of the Spirit, not at the expense of kingdom or righteousness.
    2. There is a sense that a consensus in the Spirit is required. This cannot be a lowest common denominator.
  3. A Mature Functioning Priesthood.
    1. Authority is vested in the priesthood – discipline, doctrine, direction.
    2. Leaders are those that have emerged from among the priesthood by virtue of being full of the Spirit and wisdom.
    3. We don’t buy into titles because we are all brothers – the greatest among is our servant.
    4. Leadership emerges from among the priesthood – if it doesn’t then we end up with leaders that don’t know how to function as priests.
  4. Leadership by Example.
    1. There can be no other form of leadership.
    2. The broader body is called to consider, to give attention to, leaders in order to model themselves on, or mimic leader’s lifestyles and so reap the same benefit.
  5. The wineskin serves the wine but the wine is lost if there is no wineskin.
    1. If there is no wine there is no point in having a wineskin.
    2. The simple reality is that new wine requires a new wineskin.
  6. The Centrality of Communion.
    1. Remembering the cross.
  7. The Priority on Prayer.
    1. Prayer is the engine room of what we do.
  8. One-by-one.
    1. We never lose the essential truth that everyone comes through to maturity, one by one.
    2. Even when we embrace programs with the intent of multiplying the impact into many lives, the reality is still the same – people change one by one.
  9. House-to-house.
    1. The overflow of life carried over into ‘dining room table’ Christianity – lots of eating and talking together.
  10. Corporate Celebrations.
    1. The early church met both in the temple courts and house to house. Both are critical to the ongoing health of the church.