1. We believe in pastoral leadership

We believe that God has instituted the 5-fold ministries of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher for the purpose of building up His Church.

Life Church is led by a point-man that is placed there by God as the Senior Pastor of the Church. He is the God-appointed person to seek, receive and cast the vision for this corporate Body. We believe that vision does not come out of consensus but if the vision is from God, it will bring consensus.

The role of the Pastoral Team and the Council is to help fulfill the vision of the Church. Apart from the built-in checks and balances in the infrastructure of the Church, the two other key factors that provide safety for the Body is for the Senior Pastors to maintain a close personal walk with God and the intentional practice of the plurality of leadership.

2. We believe in honour and mutual accountability

We believe that showing honour and maintaining mutual accountability to one another is the key to healthy biblical relationships.

Life Church seeks to walk under accountability at all levels. The Senior Pastors’ Office is accountable to an International Council who is given the authority to remove the Senior Pastor from his office when called for.

Ministry Directors and Ministry Leaders also work under clear accountability towards the Senior Pastors Office and the Council. In short, every office bearer is held accountable to someone else.

3. We believe in team ministry

We believe that in order to build a good church, we need a good pastor but to build a great church, we need a good team.

Although Life Church is led by a point-man, we also practice plurality of leadership in that all levels operate in teams like the Pastoral Team, the International Council, the Local Advisory Team (The Council) and the Ministry Leadership Team.

We believe that there is safety in the midst of many counsellors and there is wisdom in seeking counsel. We believe in pastoral leadership and therefore most ministry directions are initiated by the Pastoral Team but we fully recognise that there will not be strong mobilisation unless there is ownership from the congregation. The role of the Ministry Leadership Team is to help achieve strong ownership with each mobilisation.

4. We believe in discipleship through Life Groups

We believe that making disciples is the primary purpose of the Church. There is no better investment than to invest in the next generation.

As such, we intentionally seek to mentor the next generation through the concept of bridge-discipleship where the young draws from the wisdom of the old and the old benefits from the energy of the young.

This is a cell-based church so Life Groups are the main vehicle through which discipleship and pastoral care is achieved. The main purposes of our Life groups are ministry, mobilisation and multiplication.

For members of this Church, being a part of a Life Group is expected and not just encouraged. It is only by becoming a part of a Life Group that we will experience the life of the church.

5. We believe in putting people first

People are the core-business of the Church. So our main focus is people. Ministries are started and terminated on the basis of the needs of the people.

The purpose of all the ministries of the Church is to serve the people inside who are organised into Life Groups, the people outside in the community and the people beyond in our adopted nations.

6. We believe in the priesthood of all believers

We believe that every member is a minister. God has deposited gifts, passions and abilities in every believer that needs to be nurtured and released for the edification of the Body of Christ.

It is the role of the Church leadership to help every member fulfil their calling and destiny. And our individual calling is often tied up with the calling of the local church that God has planted us in.

7. We believe in the theology of gifting & stewardship

We believe in the theology of stewardship. There are some who are called to serve the Lord in the marketplaces of the world while others are called to serve as equippers to the Body of Christ. We must help people recognise their station and release them to serve there with their gifting.

We believe in the theology of gifting. Different believers are gifted in different ways. Square pegs must be put in square holes for maximum effectiveness. Gifting & stewardship helps us to achieve excellence which glorifies God and inspires man.

8. We believe in staffing for growth

As a local church, we will practice staffing the church for growth. In staffing, we believe that attitude is superior to ability; character must come before capability. Ultimately all the key pillars of this local church will be staffed with a full-time pulpit minister who can equip the Body to do the work of the ministry.

The optimum member-staff ratio will be 100: 1. The percentage of the church budget going towards staffing will be in the region of 50% – 60%. The optimum percentile will be 55%. Any figure lower than 50% or higher than 60% will be indicative of either an understaffing / underpaying or an overstaffing / overpaying situation.

9. We believe in planting churches and campuses

We believe that the local church is the hope of this lost world. Life Church is called to be an apostolic church with a mandate to build local congregations / campuses here in Sydney and in key cities around the world.

The mother church will seek to maintain an optimum size and continually raise and send out teams to plant campuses or churches in strategic locations. These satellite campuses and churches will have a common spiritual DNA and apostolic relationship with the mother church.

10. We believe in the Kingdom of God

We believe in the local church but at the same time we believe that the Kingdom of God is bigger than the local church. We seek to be Kingdom-minded people with a heart to release and to bless the wider Body of Christ.

We will be proactive to share our resources with the Kingdom and will take initiative or partner with others for projects that will advance the Kingdom of God in Sydney and beyond.