Core Values

Set forth for EquipThem Ministries by Apostle Wes Schoel

1. We value being Biblically faithful.
1. We seek the “rhema” (Spirit-breathed Word of God).
2. We seek to understand the “logos” (written Word of God).
3. Our teaching is centered upon the whole truth of the Word of God.
2. We value the kingdom of God
   1. Seeking it
   2. Helping to establish it
   3. Dedicated to the expansion of it in all we do
   1. We influence the communities around us with the gospel of the kingdom of God.
   2. We work together with other Christ centered congregations for the furtherance of the kingdom of God.
   3. We are dedicated to the cause of interdenominational and worldwide evangelism.
   4. We plant indigenous reproducing ministries around the world.

3. We value prayer and fasting
1. Corporate prayer and fasting.
2. Individual prayer and fasting.
3. We believe in the power of prayer to accomplish the work of God.
4. We value experiential, supernatural communion with the Holy Trinity. (The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)
5. We value worship in all of its individual and corporate expressions.
1. Loving others
2. Music and song
3. The arts, i.e. dance, drama, painting, etc.
4. Preaching and teaching of the Word of God
5. Giving and stewardship
6. Discipleship
7. Through the use of the gifts of the Spirit.
8. We invite the habitation of God through the high praises of His people and their worship.
6. We value the five-fold ministry offices as described in Eph. 4:11-12.
1. We are apostolically founded and prophetically motivated.
2. We are servant leaders.
3. We seek to do greater works than Jesus did (John 14).
7. We value the purpose and destiny assigned to us by God both in the corporate sense and in the personal sense.
1. We seek discipleship and discipline to promote corporate and personal purpose and destiny.
2. We seek to equip the believer to do the work of the ministry.
3. We seek to release the believer into the ministry, purpose and destiny God has for them as it relates to the corporate body and the community.
8. We value grace and believe that as it is received from God it should be given by us to others.
1. Because we value grace we are relationally centered.
2. As we seek to be grace driven, we will remain Biblically accurate.
9. We value Family.
1. We are a family first.
2. We seek to be multi-generational.
3. We seek to adopt newcomers through relationship.
4. We are a generous people.
5. We seek to meet the needs of those in need.
1. Spiritually
2. Emotionally
3. Physically
10. We value increase
1. We believe God has given us a kingdom mandate
2. We are people with authority to pray for and establish the kingdom of God.
3. Our original purpose was to take dominion over the earth. (Gen 1:26)
4. Jesus re-established that purpose in His redemption of the human race. (Rom 5:17)
5. We believe the kingdom must have financing and that God gave us the ability to create wealth.
6. We believe it is God’s will that we increase in every area if our lives and that we use that increase to establish His kingdom.
11. We value oneness
1. We are committed to being a congregation in pursuit of the oneness our Lord prayed for in John 17:20-21.
2. We advance the understanding of oneness in the body of Christ.
3. We are dedicated to being a congregation of diversity.
1. Multi-generational
2. Multi-ethnic
3. Represented by people from all economic stratum.
4. Interdenominational in spirit.
12. We value local ministries that are river, not lake, oriented.
1. That is we value ministries that have a “catch and release” philosophy.
2. We value people in progress (River Church not Lake Church).
3. A lake church is primarily concerned with the growth of the church body.
4. In a lake church you will not be driven by the current but caught up by the lake. (This is not a catch and release philosophy.)
5. In a lake church you will be encouraged to bring others in for a swim but you will get out at the same place you got in.
6. A River church is a church where progress of the believer is primary.
7. Recognizing the average believer stays in a local church less than 7 years, the leadership here believes they must make an impact on anyone who becomes part of the local ministry regardless of the length of their stay.
8. This means that when you get into this ministry, the current will take you somewhere, you will grow (progress).
9. In a river church individual spiritual growth is important and corporate spiritual growth is primary.
10. In a river church numerical growth is secondary.
11. Nonetheless, these ministries should be numerically growing and prospering and be made up of spiritually growing and prospering people.