Purpose and Philosophy of ministry

The purpose of the Ecuador Team is to plant culturally relevant churches among the urban Ecuadorians by presenting the Gospel in a culturally understandable way with the desire of persuading and nurturing them to be committed followers of Jesus Christ, gathering and organizing them under Ecuadorian leadership for the purpose of:

1. Exaltation and worship of God,
2. Spiritual growth and nurture,
3. Equipping them to make disciples and plant churches.

In order to do this most effectively,
we are committed to:

A Team of Church Planters-

It is our desire to work together utilizing God given gifts, abilities and resources to plant churches giving emphasis to having Ecuadorians as coworkers so as not to do for them what they can and should do.

Identification-

We will strive to our physical, emotional, and spiritual limits to live, communicate, work and think at the level of the people with whom we work. We desire to avoid creating paternalism and dependence with our methods and life-style.

Development of Ecuadorian
Leadership and Ownership-

It is not our desire to do the work for the Ecuadorians but to work with them and equip them so they can carry on in our absence. We will work in such a way that they feel that the work is theirs in style, responsibility, and direction.

New Testament Christianity Today-

We are committed to teaching and practicing the Christianity taught in the New Testament, because we believe that the authority of the New Testament is the basis for unity among believers and that such unity is foundational for the evangelizing of the world.

Accountability-

As a team, working together, we must hold each other accountable. We recognize the need for accountability to be good stewards in our ministry and insure faithfulness to the truth of God. We will strive to practice this truth in a spirit of trust and love while recognizing the principle of freedom in nonessentials.

A Targeted Group-

We perceive that our emphasis of ministry should be to the Spanish-speaking middle-class of urban Ecuador, while yet aware that God may later open the door to other people groups for us or the Ecuadorian Christians to reach, so that all peoples may hear the Gospel.

Activities-

To fulfill this ministry we are committed to proficiency in Language Acquisition and using it as a bridge to the people and to activities that are reproducible by the people with whom we work. These activities will have as a direct major goal: evangelism, discipleship, and/or church planting. Activities of compassion/relief should not create dependence. The team recognizes that a wide range of activities may be used to develop relationships through which the Gospel may be shared.