Non-Member Workers Policy

General Non-Member Policies for Children’s & Youth Workers   (7/20/2006)

Grace Bible Church, Wappingers Falls, NY

1) Non- members of Grace Bible Church may assist as workers with various ministries, but they may not hold a teaching position in any ministry. Each non-member worker will be knowledgeable with and follow the GBC Children’s / Youth Worker Policies and will complete and sign the Participation Covenant and be approved by the Director of the particular ministry prior to beginning any work with the children. They will knowledgeable of and agree to follow any particular polices of the ministry in which they are involved. They must also agree to and abide by the Abbreviated Doctrinal Statement attached below.

2) All workers are to arrive a minimum of five minutes prior to the starting time in order to make sure that final preparations of both themselves and the room are completed and they are ready to receive and welcome the students.

3) All workers are to participate in the meetings called for them by the Director of the particular ministry.

4) All workers are to take an active interest in the lives of their students which will include at minimum regular prayer for each student.

5) All workers are encouraged to notify and make prior arrangements as early as possible with the teacher they are assisting and / or the Director of the particular ministry for any planned absence. If an absence will be due to illness or other emergency the teacher they are assisting and / or the Ministry Director should be notified as soon as possible so that other arrangements can be made.

6) "The Two Worker Policy" - Any worker with only one student but no other worker present will join in with another class until there is an additional worker or student.

7) Discipline. Workers should assist the teacher with children that disrupt. A child that disrupts is given up to three warnings. On the second warning they are to be isolated to a chair separate from the rest of the group for the remainder of the class time. The parent is to be notified after class. On the third warning the child is sent to the Ministry Director and the matter will be discussed with the parent / guardian. A child that is habitually disruptive may be asked to refrain from participation for a month by the teacher in consultation with the Director of the particular ministry.

Abbreviated Doctrinal Statement

Grace Bible Church, Wappingers Falls, NY

The full doctrinal statement is available in the literature rack in the back of the church. This abbreviated statement has simplified some of the doctrines for conciseness and removed secondary issues. These statements express what must be believed in order to work at Grace Bible Church. At the end of the statement is a section which lists doctrines which may not be contradicted by those helping in a GBC ministry though they are not required to be believed.

SECTION A. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

We believe the Holy Scriptures, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, to be the verbally and plenary inspired Word of God, His only special Rev. to man, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God-breathed (John 16:12-13; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Psalm 119:89; Isa. 40:8; Matt. 5:18).

SECTION B: THE TRUE GOD

THE TRINITY: We believe there is one and only one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, co-equal in every divine perfection, and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption. Among the attributes of the Triune God: He is infinite, immutable, all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere present, inexpressibly glorious in holiness. He is worthy of all possible honor, confidence and love (Gen. 1:26; Deut. 6:4; Isa. 45:21-22; 48:16; 64:8; Psalm 90:2; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Chron. 29:11-12; Rom. 11:33-36; Malachi 3:6; James 1:17; Jer. 32:27; Matt. 19:26; Psalm 147:5; 1 John 3:20; Psalm 139:7-10; Psalm 29:2; Deut. 6:5; Rev. 4:11).

1. GOD THE FATHER. We believe in God the Father, an infinite Spirit, the Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth, and the Recipient of all our prayers (John 1:18; Col. 1:15; 1 Cor. 2:11-12; Matt. 6:6-13; Phil. 4:6).

2. GOD THE SON.

a. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men (John 1:1-2,14; Luke 1:26-35).

b. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our eternal redemption through the shedding of His blood in death on the cross as our representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice, and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Rom. 3:24-25; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 2:24; Eph. 1:7; 1 Cor. 15:3-4).

c. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of representative, intercessor, and advocate (Acts 1:9-10; Heb. 9:24; 7:25; Rom. 8:34; 1 John 2:1-2).

3. GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT.

SECTION C. THE SATAN (THE DEVIL).

We believe in the reality and personality of Satan (the Devil), that he was created by God as an angel, but through pride and rebellion became the declared enemy of his Creator and man, the accuser of the brethren, the unholy god of this age, the ruler of all the powers of darkness; that he is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire (Isa. 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:11-19; Matt. 4:1-11; 2 Cor. 4:4; Rev. 12:7-12; 20:10).

SECTION D. THE CREATION AND FALL OF MAN.

1. We believe the Biblical account of the creation of the physical universe, angels, and man; that man was created by a direct work of God and not from previously existing forms of life; and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, the first parents of the entire human race (Gen. 1;2; Col. 1:16-17; John 1:3).

2. We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God under the law of his Maker, but, by voluntary transgression, Adam fell from his innocent state and that all men are sinners by nature and by conduct and, therefore, are under just condemnation without defense or excuse and are, of themselves, utterly unable to remedy their lost condition (Gen. 1:26-27; 3:1-6; Rom. 1:18,32; 3:10-23; 5:12,19; Eph. 2:1-3,12).

SECTION E. THE GRACE OF GOD

1. We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. Once a person is saved, he is a new creation in Christ Jesus: This new birth is instantaneous and not a process (Eph. 2:8-10; John 1:12; Eph. 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19).

2. We believe that justification is that judicial act of God whereby He declares the believer righteous upon the basis of the imputed righteousness of Christ, and that it is bestowed, not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done, but solely through faith in the Redeemer's shed blood (Rom. 3:24; 4:5; 5:1,9; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9).

3. We believe that sanctification is the divine setting-apart of the believer unto God, accomplished in a threefold manner: first, an eternal act of God, based upon redemption in Christ, establishing the believer in a position of holiness at the moment he trusts the Savior; second, a continuing process in the saint as the Holy Spirit applies the Word of God to the life; and, third, the final accomplishment of this process at the Lord's return (Heb. 10:10-14; John 17:17; 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 5:25-27; 1 Thess. 4:3-4; 5:23-24; 1 John 3:2; Jude 24-25).

4. We believe that all claims to the eradication of sin in this life are unscriptural (Rom. 6:13; 8:12-13; Gal. 5:16-25; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:10; 1 Peter 1:14-16; 1 John 3:5-9).

5. We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God's power and are thus secure in Christ forever (John 6:37-40; 10:27-29; Rom. 8:38-39; 1 Cor. 1:4-8; 1 Peter 1:5).

6. We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's Word; however, Scripture clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh (Rom. 13:13-14; Gal. 5:13; Titus 2:11-15).

SECTION F. THE CHURCH.

1. We believe that the Church, which is the body and the espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up entirely of born-again people of this present age. The Lord Jesus Christ, Who is glorified in Heaven, is its Head, and the Holy Spirit on earth is the active agent of the God-Head, Who seeks to bring about within the church obedience to the Word of God and the Will of God. This one body unites believers to each other, and all to Christ, and its chief purpose of existence is to glorify God through the evangelization of the world and the building up of its members into maturity and Christ-likeness (Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; Acts 2; 15:14; Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 12:12-18; Eph. 1:22-23; 5:23,27; 2 Cor. 11:2; Matt. 28:18-20; Eph. 4:11-16).

2. We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures (Acts 14:27; 20:17,28-32; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11).

    ORDINANCES:

    MINISTRY AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS:

    SEPARATION:

We believe that the Scriptures clearly teach non-conformity to the world for every believer; that born-again people should be separated from the world unto Christ; that it is clearly commanded by God that all believers should live separated from all religious apostasy, worldly and sinful practices; and should be holy as He is holy (John 17:9-20; Rom. 6-8; 1 Cor. 6:11,19-20; 2 Cor. 3:18; 6:14-17; 7:1; Gal. 5:16-26; Eph. 5:25-27; Col. 1:13; 3:1-4; Titus 2:11-12,14; Heb. 10:14; 1 Peter 1:14-16).

SECTION G. THE RETURN OF JESUS

We believe in the pre-millennial and bodily return of Christ, (1 Thess. 4:13-17; 1 Cor. 15:42-44, 51-54; Phil. 3:20-21).

SECTION H. ISRAEL

We believe in the sovereign selection of Israel as God's eternal covenant people, (Gen. 13:14-17; Rom. 11:1-32; Ezekiel 37).

SECTION I. THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED

We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and wicked; that only such as are justified through faith in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and sanctified by the Spirit of our God, are truly righteous in His esteem while all who continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked and under the curse and, therefore, stand condemned before God. This distinction holds among men both in and after death, in the everlasting blessedness of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost (Malachi 3:18; Gen. 18:23; Rom. 6:17-18; Proverbs 11:31; Rom. 1:17-18; 1 Cor. 15:22; Acts 10:34-35; 1 John 2:29; Rom. 6:16; Gal. 3:10; Rom. 6:23; Proverbs 14:32; Luke 16:25; Matt. 25:34,41; Matt. 7:13-14).

SECTION J. THE RESURRECTION

We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men: the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. The souls of the redeemed at death are absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul and body are reunited to be forever glorified with the Lord. The souls of the unbelievers, after death, remain in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with spirit, soul and body reunited they shall appear before the Great White Throne Judgment and shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting, conscious punishment (Luke 16:19-26; Matt. 25:46; John 5:28-29; 11:25-26; Phil. 1:23; 3:21; 2 Cor. 5:8,10; 1 Thess. 4:16-17; Rev. 20:4-6, 12-13).

Doctrines that do not have to be believed, but may not be contradicted while working in a GBC ministry or to its people. (See full Statement of Faith for Scripture References).

*We believe the account of creation in Genesis 1 & 2 is neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate, creative acts of God in six solar days without any evolutionary process.

*We believe that all men sinned in Adam’s fall. The consequences of this act are that all men are totally depraved and are partakers of Adam's fallen nature

*We believe that every saved person possesses two natures, with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

*We believe in the autonomy of the local church, free of any external authority or control

*We believe that speaking in tongues and the working of sign-miracles gradually ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed and their authority became established .

*We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interests and good order of human society, and that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored, and obeyed, except in those things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the only Lord of the conscience, and the coming King of Kings.

*We believe that the return of Jesus for His church is imminent and that at that moment the dead in Christ shall be raised first and then those still alive in Christ will be transformed and all of them shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before the 70^th week of Daniel (the tribulation period). We believe that the 70^th week of Daniel 9 will be culminated by the return of Christ in power and great glory to sit upon the throne of David and to establish the millennial kingdom.

*We believe that Israel is now dispersed because of her disobedience and rejection of Christ, that she will be regathered in the Holy Land and, after the completion of the church, will be saved as a nation at the second advent of Christ .

Agreement for Non-Member Children’s & Youth Workers

Grace Bible Church, Wappingers Falls, NY

I have read and understand the General Non-Member Policies for Children’s & Youth Workers above and agree to abide by them when working with the children or youth of Grace Bible Church, participating in any event sponsored by Grace Bible Church and while on Church property.

I agree with the above abbreviated Doctrinal Statement of Grace Bible Church and agree not to teach contrary to the doctrines listed on this page regardless of my personal beliefs while I am helping at a ministry of Grace Bible Church or when working with its people.

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