INTRODUCTION
The church of Jesus Christ is living an era of spiritual and Biblical fulfillment wherein the church has become desolate due to the degree of love people have for God in a negative sense and the knowledge also they have concerning God. The desolation of the church of Jesus Christ can be attributed to several factors. The factors outlined in this paper are not conclusive. The desolation of the church is the result of Biblical prophecies fulfillment wherein Paul said to young Timothy that in the last day, people will be lover of pleasure than lover of God and he concluded that people will want to listen to messages that suit their desires. People will leave the church because they are living in sin and God’s word is being preached against the very thing that they are living; as a result, they don’t feel comfortable being in the church; therefore, they will find a church that is compromising in term of preaching God’s word and living it. People also join churches also based on the kind of social, ethnic, and spiritual strata. When I speak of strata, I speak of the layers of things that bring about a solid foundation; therefore, the word strata can not be divorced from a makeup of things, because it forms the composition of structures. The kingdom of God is a body which comprises of layers. By definition, the kingdom of God is God’s sovereign rule over creation. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus said “Your kingdom comes down and let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus told his disciples to ask the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers into the harvest field (Matt. 9:37). This is the field of evangelism that is used to win souls for Christ. It is the place where God takes the sinners from and has them incorporated into the church that comprises of strata or makeup. In conjunction with the makeup, this document discusses or delineates the mission, social, ethnic, and spiritual makeup of the congregation of the Praise Assembly of Charlotte of the Praise Ministries International.
THE MISSION
Praise Ministries International is a cross-continental church based ministry whose mission is to evangelize the world for Christ. In order to accomplish this goal, the mission is sub-divided into three streams or areas as documented in the mission or vision statement. These areas of concerns include evangelism, church planting, and education. These areas of institutions operate under the didactic and holistic ministries of the Great Commission. Evangelism and church planting are didactic while education is holistic. The holistic and didactic views are explained on the following page:
Holistic View. For every divine intervention, there should be human involvement. Jesus on earth did minister to people physical needs in order to enhance the kingdom of God. This is all the holistic ministry is concerned with. This Ministry has a non-governmental organization that will be used for holistic mission. The Macy Developmental Program to Help the Needy so called is a physical auxiliary arm created under this Ministry to enhance the holistic aspect of the ministry.
Didactic View. After the ascension of Jesus into heaven, he gave gifts unto men (church) for the purpose of equipping the saints for the works of the ministry and edifying the saints of the body of Christ so that the believers reach to the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and no longer be children carried by all kinds of wind doctrines. This ministry practically teaches the word of God and lives an exemplary life demonstrating the power of God in a realistic spiritual environment to advance the kingdom of God on planet earth.
PMI’s mission focuses on evangelism, church planting, and education. The areas are discussed below.
Evangelism: PMI is committed to the Great Commission mandated in Matthew 28:18-20. We have the passion to evangelize the world for Christ. To accomplish this in charlotte region, PMI is planning to establish cell groups or house churches to promulgate the Good News to unreached people groups of Charlotte and the world at large.
Church planting: After souls have been worn to Jesus through crusade or local church evangelism, the next step is to organize those souls using a particular venue to have them taught the Bible. These sessions turn out to become church called the Praise Assembly of the Praise Ministries International. After the planting of the church, pastors are placed to overseer the churches being established as the result of evangelism.
Education: PMI has the passion for education. At present, Praise Ministries International is undertaking an education project in Liberia to help build school in Lofa County, where hundred of children do not have access to education. Where do we get the funding to build this school? I the visionary do not know, but God will provide the avenue as the church does its part. Our responsibility becomes God’s ability. The wall of Jericho could not fall until Joshua and his leadership matched around the wall seven times. This education project is a wall. The church wants to help, but our resources are inadequate to meet the desire needs of our people in Africa.
SOCIAL / ETHNIC MAKEUP
The Praise Assembly of Charlotte of the Praise Ministries International comprises of adults and children who are placed in the socioeconomic groups, age ranging for adults from 18-45, for children 4-12, teen agers, 13-17, low income class, education, mostly high school and below; however, one or two graduate students in Accounting and Nursing are part of the leadership. Our congregation comprises African-American born in the United States of America and African-American who are citizens by naturalization. We are new church in Charlotte about six months old as a church group. During the year from 2007 to 2010, we existed in my premise as a prayer group.
SPIRITUAL MAKEUP
According to our organizational structure, PMI has two structures. One structure is called the physical arm while the other structure is called the spiritual arm. These arms function interdependently to enhance the smooth operation of the church. I will discuss the spiritual structure of the local church assembly of Charlotte. The spiritual structure include the Pastor, who chairs the church leadership, the Assistant Pastor, who assists the pastor in running the prayer meeting and conduct Bible studies, the Director for Christian Education, who is responsible for Sunday School and training, the Music Director, who controls the choir or praise and worship and the Director for Evangelism, who directs local church evangelism in the Ministry.
CONCLUSION
In order to function effectively as a church ministry, PMI has structured itself taking into account demographics as to enable her carry out her mission to affect a realistic spiritual environment; as such, the social, ethnic, and spiritual structure have been discussed in this document focusing mainly on its mission of evangelism, church planting, and education.
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