OUR DISTINCTIVES
Every church has its own
distinct flavor, form, and function. What we are building may be unique in some respects,
but we are
certainly not alone. There are other churches like ours and those
who have come to the same conclusions we have about building
life-giving churches. In fact, this material has been compiled has from a wide range of
sources where I have read and heard what others have discovered
about planting churches that really work. We will attempt to apply
what we have learned, as God leads.
Those
of you who join us from other denominational backgrounds will
naturally want to bring your own preferences, practices, and
perspectives with you. However, we want to build a different kind of
church, which most of us have not been a part of before. It will
require that we all re-think how church works and be willing to
pursue a new course.
Many
of our people have come from a Mennonite backgrounds and we encourage
them to remain grateful for the good and godly aspects of their
heritage. We want those who are part of WellSpring to appreciate all
the values of the early Anabaptists, such as boldness in public
evangelism, a deep sense of caring for their own, a sense of
brotherhood, of servant leadership, of believer’s baptism in
contrast to infant baptism, and a commitment to getting back to the
kind of spiritual life we see in the Book of Acts. At the same time,
it is clear to us that we will never be a Mennonite church. We see
being Anabaptist as a choice, which comes out of a radical belief
system that affects our way of life, whereas being Mennonite usually
pertains to a cultural background that not everyone in our target
area will have grown up with.
WellSpring is a Bible-believing evangelical church, built upon
Anabaptist values and Apostolic vision.
We
are charismatic in expression, but conservative in our
beliefs. By this we mean that we will not quickly embrace all the latest
teaching and trends that “come down the pike”, until we can see
where they can add life to our lives. We want to raise up a people who will continually
ask, “Where is this in the Bible?” We also feel a God-given
responsibility to be a bridge to those coming from
various denominational backgrounds who want to experience the
Spirit-filled life. For this reason, we want to avoid the
extremes and tangents that can so often distract us from the
priorities of the Holy Spirit.