[Seekers] [Write us] [Seeds
of Hope Mission Group]
A
Christian Community
In
the Tradition of the Church of the Saviour
_____________________________________________________
Committed and Covenanted
The small churches that have sprung from the Church
of the Saviour continue a commitment to smallness. While this is seemingly the opposite
of logical church growth strategy, it ensures that every member is truly a
minister. Members
serve as the governing body of the church, taking on the jobs performed by
deacons, elders, and pastors in traditional churches. Becoming a core member is essentially
an ordination — prospective members are required to take in-depth classes on
Christian belief and doctrine and to take on administrative and sacramental
duties in the church. “Our
commitment is to care about the whole church,” says Marjory Bankson of
The heart of that commitment is its mission groups, a
requirement of membership.
This is where true community is fostered, where members not only
band together toward common service and goals, but also where they form deep
friendships, pray for one another, and help one another through life’s
struggles. Each
weekly meeting, where attendance is mandatory except under exceptional
circumstances, involves worship, silence, sharing, prayer, and work on that
group’s mission, which could be anything from teaching in the Seekers’ School
of Christian Living to looking for a new location for the church. When the mission is
considered completed the group will disband and reformulate around another mission.
Paul Wilkes, Excellent Protestant
Congregations, pg
Introduction
Why We Named Ourselves the “
In
The variable that marks some periods as barren and
some as rich in prophetic vision is in the interest, the level of seeking, the
responsiveness of the hearers. It is seekers, then, who make
prophets, and the initiative of any one of us in searching for and responding
to the voice of contemporary prophets may mark the turning point in their growth
and service. (Greenleaf,
Servant Leadership, pg
Authority Within
In Seekers, as in all sister communities that grew
out of the Church of the Saviour, authority for the life of the community rests
with a group of core members.
In
The organization of Church of the Saviour and Seekers
flows from the Free Church tradition, where the final authority is the leading
of the Holy Spirit. The
traditions developed through our experience as part of the Church of the
Saviour provide guidance in discerning the movement of the Holy Spirit. For example, we
give priority attention to discerning and following God's call on us as
individuals and as a community, and to developing and offering our gifts in
service to others. We
make serious efforts to welcome and include in our fellowship people who come
from very different spiritual backgrounds. On the other hand, we expect those who
worship with
Seekers
In Seekers, the small mission group is the structure
for support and spiritual accountability for living out God's claim or call on
the life of each Seeker.
We sustain our worship life and enable our
Persons joining a mission group are expected to have
completed two classes in the
Leadership in
The Stewards have taken responsibility for the
continued life and health of
Coming into Stewardship is an ordination of the new
member to a position of leadership within the
Individual Seekers are called to Stewardship for
different reasons. Some
are primarily called to be servant leaders for the Seekers community, and live
out that call through Stewardship. The commitment to Stewardship brings
with it the responsibilities of establishing policies for how Seekers uses its
time, talent and financial resources. The Stewards serve many of the
functions expected of trustees, elders, wardens or deacons in a more
traditional Christian church.
-- The staff team works to enable Seekers
worship and other expressions of community life to embody the images, theology,
hopes, visions, pains and limitations of our life as God's people.
-- The staff team also works to encourage
and empower each person in the Seekers community to deepen his or her personal
spiritual life, live out his or her individual gifts and callings,
and offer them to the community and the world as expressions of the life of
Christ in them.
The tasks of the staff team to support the life of
The Stewards’ Commitment
Stewards of
I come today to make my commitment to the
We believe:
-- That the Creator -- father and mother to
us all, ground of being -- loves, sustains and calls
us;
-- That Jesus is the Christ, who for our
sake lived, was crucified, died, rose from the dead, and now bids us to a
ministry of love and justice;
-- That the Holy Spirit, as the empowering
presence and breath of God, confronts and inspires us to do God's work in the
world.
We believe that we are all ministers of the Church,
which is both universal, grace-filled body of Christ, and fragile earthen
vessel.
I commit:
-- To be a faithful witness to God's
presence among us;
-- To nurture my relationship with God and
Seekers through specific disciplines;
-- To foster justice and be in solidarity
with the poor;
-- To work for the ending of all war,
personal and public;
-- To share responsibility for the
spiritual growth of persons of all ages in my community;
-- To respond joyfully
with my life, as the grace of God gives me freedom.
When I move from this place
I will join another expression of Christ's Church.
[Seekers] [Write us] [Seeds
of Hope Mission Group]