Shiloh Bible Church's Philosophy of Ministry

The church today is filled with man-centered, culture driven, and tradition laden philosophy. Many in our "religious" culture are aptly described by the Apostle Paul in Colossians where he warns believers about being, "taken captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to the human tradition... which things have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and ascetism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh." (Col. 2:8, 23) This type of religion may have an appearance of godliness but in the end it is devoid of any divine enablement (II Tim. 3:5).

In contrast to this approach, it is the philosophy of this ministry to trumpet God over men; Christ over culture; and the Word over tradition.

• A God enthralled ministry seeks to magnify His work and not its own. Thus, we will never triumph in our ability but glory solely in the cross of Christ (Gal. 6:14). God is accomplishing an unstopable work. We are priviledged to be a part of this work as mere "clay pots!"


• A Christ-centered ministry is impelled to look to Jesus and not culturewhen seeking to define spirituality (Col. 2:1-5). Often we are either "reactionary or anti-culture" (defining our spirituality as the opposite of culture) or "cultrually infused" (accepting culture blindly desiring to reach more people). In either position, our stake is placed firmly in the heart of culture -- which is always in flux! As opposed to tying our spirituality to the great pendulum of culture, letting it swing from one side to the other, we ought stake our trust in the person of Christ. When He becomes our source and driving philosophy of ministry we will transcend culture and see people "from every tribe and language and people and nation (Rev. 5:9)" come to worship our Heavenly Father.


• God's word transcends our traditions (Col. 2:8-15). It is this word that the Spirit will use to transform our hearts and eventually our lives. When we merely advance our tradition, we may be successful in "conforming" people to our outward desires, but will never see radical life transformation. Each aspect of the ministry must then be text-based (II Tim. 3:15-17). God's word is our final "court of appeals".