Source One

Source One

ESSENCE THE EXPERIENCE THE V TURE THE VISION THE STRUCTU THE NEED THE RESOURCES TH

ON

ED

Sou�ce One

CONTENTS

4 8 12 16 20 21 The Need

The Essence The Vision The Experience The Structure The Resources

The Essence

The Essence INTRODUCTION

II TIMOTHY 3 v. 10

Principles

Doctrine

Philosophy

Manner of Life

Purpose

Purpose

Program

Faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance v. 14

The Disciple

v. 16

“Scriptu�e is given by inspiration o� God”

Making Process

Principle

“And is p�ofitable �or doctrine, �or �ep�oof, �or cor�ection,

Philosophy

�or inst�uction in righteousness” v. 17

Knowing your goals and putting a plan

Purpose and Program

into place to work toward your goals –

SOURCE ONE

Biblical Principles God the source The w�ong things to base your minist�� on: 1. Example – We see what someone else, maybe another church is doing and we want to build on that.

2. Experience – Experience says: “Well, we’ve done it this way for years and so we know this way. Why would we change?”

3. Emotion – Emotion leads us to say: Regardless of what God’s word says we should do, I just feel like we should do this!

Biblical Principles that Olympians we�e �ounded on: 1. Quiet Time 2. Scripture Memory 3. Bible Study 4. Service 5. Faithfulness to the Local Church 6. Personal Accountability

SOURCE ONE

Biblical Philosophy Our Response to Biblical Principles 1. Reject - License.

2. Regulate - Legalism.

3. Receive - Liberty.

Biblical Purpose Your Philosophy Explained Wo�d o� Li�e Local Chu�ch Ministries exists to se��e local chu�ches in the development o� disciple-making youth ministries.

Biblical Program

Biblical People

?

Have you ever tried to create something completely from scratch, where you start with nothing and you have no instructions? Maybe you can bake a cake this way. Who needs a box mix or even a recipe, you just need a kitchen full of ingredients and you can create a masterpiece. To do so, there are certain ingredients that are absolutely necessary. You might say, they are the essence of your cake!

What is the essence of Olympians? That is a

Now look at verse 14

great question! Let me say, what we are

“But you must continue in the

going to cover in this session is not just the essence of Olympians, it is the essence of all

things which you have learned and

that we do at Word of Life. It is our process

been assu�ed of, knowing ��om

of building a ministry.

whom you have learned them”

SOURCE ONE

The Essence This is the disciple-making process. We learn from someone and then we continue in the things we have learned while teaching someone else.

Finally, let’s look at verses 16-17

“All Scriptu�e is given by inspiration o� God, and is It starts with Biblical Principles, which leads to a Biblical Philosophy and a Biblical Purpose. This is put into practice through a

p�ofitable �or doctrine, �or �ep�oof, �or cor�ection, �or inst�uction in

Biblical Program and the goal is Biblical

righteousness, 17 that the man o�

People. Look at what II Timothy 3:10 has to

God may be complete, tho�oughly

say about this.

equipped �or eve�� good wo�k.”

“ But you have ca�e�ully �ollowed my

“Scripture is given by inspiration of God” –

doctrine, manner o� li�e, purpose,

this is principle.

�aith, longsu��ering, love,

“And is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for

perseverance.”

Look at the words here: Doctrine – that’s principles Manner of Life – philosophy Purpose – purpose Faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance – this is program. It is how you live your life.

correction, for instruction in righteousness” this is philosophy Verse 17 describes purpose and program which is simply knowing your goals and putting a plan into place to work toward your goals.

4

The Essence SOURCE ONE

So, what does this look like? With children’s

Here are some of the Biblical Principles that

ministry as our test case, let’s look at how

we founded Olympians on:

Olympians was created and let you in on why

1. Personal Time with God – Word of Life

we do what we do. We need to start with our

calls this Quiet Time

foundation.

Our foundation, also called Biblical Principles - Has God as The Source.

Your children’s ministry should be founded

3. Bible Study 4. Service

on God’s Word. He is the Source.

5. Faithfulness to the Local Church

Many times our programs and ministries are

6. spiritual Accountability

based on things other than principles.

This list of biblical principles is certainly not

Here are a few things we mistakenly base

exhaustive but are what the Olympian

our programs on:

ministry is founded on. We expound on these

1. Example – We see what someone else, 5

2. Scripture Memory

more in a later session.

maybe another church is doing and we

Let’s talk next about a Biblical Philosophy.

want to build on that.

Our philosophy has a lot to do with how we

2. Experience – Experience says: “Well, we’ve done it this way for years and so we know this way. Why would we change?”

3. Emotion – Emotion leads us to say: Regardless of what God’s word says we should do, I just feel like we should do this!

Is there anything wrong with example, experience or emotion? No! However, if they

handle the biblical principles we just talked about. Philosophy is a big word that simply put means; “what we think about stuff”.

Our philosophy in Word of Life is: Reaching youth whose needs constantly change with the Word of God that never changes.

Our response to biblical principles is important.

trump biblical principles we are headed

One response could be to reject them. This is

down the wrong path.

license and is where much of the world we are in today lives. Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha are growing up in a post-Christian society which rejects the notion of absolute truth. The

The Essence We have talked about Biblical Principles

child has an open mind then they are in

and Biblical Philosophy. Let’s look at

having a moral standard. License is a very

Biblical Purpose.

common reaction in our culture.

Your purpose is your philosophy explained.

As the pendulum swings the other way,

It is the goal of your philosophy. Here is our

another response to biblical principles

purpose statement:

could be to regulate them. This is

Wo�d o� Li�e Local Chu�ch Ministries exists to se��e local chu�ches in the development o� disciple-making youth ministries.

legalism. While rules are necessary and right, pushed out of balance they become error. Regulating, simply put is behavior modification. If we operate our ministry in this way we will see kids performing out of duty and not love for Christ and ultimately this produces people who live out of performance and not principles.

We believe a biblical philosophy is to be

Let’s use an example. We identified several

received. This is liberty and produces

biblical principles. Let’s say the principle you

freedom in the lives of believers. Biblical

want to focus on is daily devotions, we call it

principles can become a part of a child’s life, not just a ritual. Liberty exalts the Lord, considers the sinner and seeks to crucify the flesh. When we talk about something being received, it is more than just the action of receiving something but it also implies the attitude by which it is received. An individual can take on the challenge of doing daily devotions but that does not guarantee they will grow in the process. Either from the beginning or at some point in the process there needs to be the right attitude or growth will not take place.

Quiet Time.

According to I Peter 2 and many other scripture passages, we agree that having a daily Quiet Time is a great biblical principle to hold to in our children’s ministry. Our philosophy will determine how we handle this principle. We could reject it and say it is not important for our kids. We could regulate it and try to force all of our kids to do it. Or, we can receive it and in doing so, recognize that it is a biblical principle and we want to help make it a part of our kid’s lives.

SOURCE ONE

culture of today is more concerned that a

6

The Essence SOURCE ONE

We could make a philosophy statement like this: “Since, II Peter 2:2 makes it clear that we are to desire the Word and to grow in it, then our ministry is going to encourage

The peak of the triangle is biblical people

leaders and children to have a daily quiet

As we seek to follow God’s plan in ministry

time with the Lord that includes bible

we believe the result will be godly people!

reading, application and prayer.”

You certainly cannot guarantee anything

That is a great philosophy statement about quiet time. Your purpose is going to outline your philosophy more specifically. You might have purpose statements or goals like these: Our desire is to help children develop the habit of a daily quiet time.

Our desire is that our leaders will lead by example and develop the habit of a daily 5

Discipleship and Leadership Training.

quiet time.

These are great purpose statements.

The fourth step in building a ministry is a biblical program.

Program is actually where most people start.

Maybe even you, as you were looking to improve the children’s ministry in your church, looked first for a new program. Our lives are full of programs. Olympians is a program. However, a program is not where we should start. We must start with biblical principles.

At Word of Life, we focus on 3 things as we seek to make disciples. Evangelism,

when it comes to how people turn out spiritually speaking but there are biblical and proven ways to help people grow in the Lord.

Our prayer is that the principles in Olympians will help you see a result of godly young people.

The Vision

WWW.WOL.ORG United States PO Box 600 Schroon Lake, NY 12870 518-494-6000 Talk@wol.org Canada RR#8 617796 Grey Road 18 Owen Sound ON N4K 5W4 1-800-461-3503 Lcm@wol.ca

THE E THE STRUCT