We recognize that we desperately need the person and power of the Holy Spirit to minister effectively to our generation. Changed lives are not the product of men’s wisdom, but in the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit as modeled in the New Testament church (I Cor. 2:2-5, John 15:5). We believe it is essential for every believer to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and to pursue spiritual gifts (II Cor. 13:14, John 4:23-24).
All decisions need to be made by listening to the Holy Spirit as we make prayer a priority and learn to be worshipers. Worship helps us focus on the Lord and allows us to more clearly hear His voice.
We recognize that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against demonic forces. Jesus Christ is our Lord, our Savior, our Healer and our Deliverer (Eph. 6:12, I John 3:8).
We are committed to helping fulfill the Great Commission through prayer and fasting, evangelism, discipleship, and church planting locally, nationally, and internationally reaching both Jew and Gentile (Matt. 28:19-20, Matt. 6:5-18, Acts 1:8).
We are called to support others who are called as co-laborers, as churches are planted throughout the world. The Great Commission is fulfilled through tearing down spiritual strongholds of darkness and church planting (I Cor. 3:6-9, Matt. 11:12, II Cor. 10:3-4, Acts 14:21-23).
We are also called to proclaim the gospel through the arts, publications, and the media and will continue to believe God to raise up other resources and ministries to assist us in building the church (I Cor. 9:19-22).
It is our belief that marriage and family are instituted by God, and healthy, stable families are essential for the church to be effective in fulfilling its mission. Parents are called by God to walk in the character of Christ and to train their children in the nurture and loving discipline of the Lord Christ (Mark 10:6-8, Eph. 5:22; 6:4).
The Lord is calling His people to walk in the fear of the Lord and in a biblical standard of holiness and purity. Marriage covenants are ordained by God and need to be honored and kept (Prov. 16:6, Mark 10:9, I Thess. 4:3-8, I Cor. 6:18-20).
Believing that our God is turning the hearts of the fathers and mothers to the sons and daughters in our day, we are committed to spiritual parenting on every level of church and ministry life (Mal. 4:5-6, I Cor. 4:15-17).
Participation in a life group is a fundamental commitment to the DOVE family. The life group is a small group of believers and/or families who are committed to one another and to reaching others for Christ. We believe the Lord desires to raise up spiritual families in many levels including life groups, congregations, apostolic movements and the kingdom of God (I Cor. 12:18, Eph. 4:16).
We believe each spiritual family needs to share common values, vision, goals, and a commitment to build together, with the need to receive ongoing training in these areas (Ps. 133, II Pet. 1:12-13, II Tim. 2:2).
We are committed to reaching, training and releasing young people as co-laborers for the harvest, as the young and the old labor together (Acts 2:17, Jer. 31:13).
Multiplication is expected and encouraged in every sphere of church life. Life groups should multiply into new life groups and churches should multiply into new churches. Church planting must be a long term goal of every congregation (Acts 9:31, Mark 4:20).
The DOVE family of churches will be made up of many new regional families of churches as apostolic fathers and mothers are released in the nations of the world (Acts 11:19-30, Acts 13-15).
Serving others and building trust and relationships is a desired experience in every area of church life. We believe the best place to begin to serve and experience trust and relationship is in the small group (Acts 2:42-47, Eph. 4:16, Gal. 5:13).
We are joined together primarily by God-given family relationships, not by organization, hierarchy, or bureaucracy (I Peter 2:5).
According to the scriptures, every Christian is a priest who needs to hear from the Lord personally (Rev. 1:5-6).
Every believer is called of God to minister to others and needs to be equipped for this work with the home as a center for ministry. Fivefold ministers are the Lord’s gifts to His church. He uses fivefold persons to help equip each believer to become an effective minister in order to build up the body of Christ (I Pet. 4:9, Eph. 4:11-12).
We need to be constantly handing the work of ministry over to those we are serving so they can fulfill their call from the Lord (Titus 1:5, I Tim 4:12-14).
We believe every sphere of leadership needs to include a clear servant-leader called by God and a team who is called to walk with him. The leader has the anointing and responsibility to discern the mind of the Lord that is expressed through the leadership team (II Cor. 10:13-16, Num. 27:16, I Peter 5:1-4).
Leaders are called to listen to what the Lord is saying through those whom they serve as they model servant-leadership. They are called to walk in humility, integrity, in the fruit of the Spirit, and in the fear of the Lord (Acts 6:2-6, Acts 15, Matt. 20:26, Gal. 5:22-23).
We believe God raises up both apostolic overseers and partner church elders to direct, protect, correct and discipline the church. These leaders must model the biblical qualifications for leadership (Acts 15, Acts 6:1-4, I Tim. 3, Titus 1).
Those with other spiritual gifts including administrative gifts (ministry of helps) need to be released to fulfill the Lord’s vision on each level of church life (I Cor. 12).
In every area of church life we believe we need to submit to those who rule over us in the Lord and esteem them highly in love for their work’s sake (Heb. 13:17, I Thess. 5:12-13).
Biblical prosperity is God’s plan to help fulfill the Great Commission. The principle of the tithe is part of God’s plan to honor and provide substance for those He has placed over us in spiritual authority. Those who are over us in the Lord are responsible for the proper distribution of the tithe and offerings (III John 2, Matt. 23:23, Heb. 7:4-7, Mal. 3:8-11, Acts 11:29-30).
We believe in generously giving offerings to support ministries, churches, and individuals both inside and outside of the DOVE family, and emphasize giving to people as a priority. We encourage individuals, small groups, congregations, and ministries to support fivefold ministers and missionaries in both prayer and finances (II Cor. 8:1-7, Gal. 6:6, Phil. 4:15-17).
We believe that every area of ministry and church life needs to be responsible financially and accountable to those giving them oversight in order to maintain a high standard of integrity. Spiritual leaders receiving a salary from the church are discouraged from setting their own salary level (Gal. 6:5, Rom. 15:14, I Thess. 5:22, II Cor. 8:20-21).
Jesus instructs us to take the gospel to the ends of the earth to those who have never heard. Our mission is to reach the unreached areas of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ by sending trained missionaries and through church planting. Together we can join with the body of Christ to reach the unreached (Matt. 24:14, Acts 1:8, Acts 13:1-4, II Cor. 10:15-16).
We are also called to help the poor and needy, those in prison, orphans and widows. This includes our reaching out to the poor locally, nationally and internationally. When we help the poor, both materially and spiritually, we are lending to the Lord (Deut. 14:28, 29, Deut. 26: 10-12, Matt. 25:31-46, James 1:27, Prov. 19:17).
Our focus is on the kingdom of God, recognizing our small group, our local church, and DOVE Christian Fellowship International is just one small part of God’s kingdom. We are called to link together with other groups in the body of Christ and pursue unity in His church as we reach the world together (Matt. 6:33, Eph. 4:1-6, John 17, Ps. 133).
We wish to see God’s kingdom come not just in and through the church, but in all areas of life. We are, therefore, called to minister in the church, the family, government, the arts, education, business, the media, so that all such spheres come under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and reflect the values of His kingdom. (Matt. 6:10).
We believe in utilizing and sharing the resources of people and materials the Lord has blessed us with. This includes the fivefold ministry, missions, leadership training, and other resources the Lord has entrusted to us (I Cor. 12, Acts 2:44-45).
Our unifying focus is on Christ, His Word and the Great Commission, and we believe we should not be distracted by minor differences (Romans 14:5).
We subscribe to the Lausanne Covenant as our basic statement of faith and Christian values. The scriptures serve as a light to guide us and the Lausanne Covenant along with these values and guiding principles unite us as Partner churches as we walk together in the grace of God (Matt. 28:19-20, Amos 3:3, I Cor. 1:10, I Cor. 15:10).