God has called Symphony Ministries, together with one voice, to herald the Gospel of salvation, healing, and deliverance. The strongest bonds should be Gospel bonds. At Symphony Ministries, we share the same passion for an identity in the Gospel.
A symphony is “anything distinguished by a harmonious composition.” In the Bible, the Greek word sumphoneo means “together with one voice.” Sumphoneo is “a concord of voices as to be used for agreement in the deeper and more inward sense.”
Symphony Ministries refers to that stream of the Church flowing out of the Reformation that emphasizes the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of life. As heirs of the Reformation, we live out our Christian lives in view of the biblical pillars of faith or the five solas which we believe are Scripture Alone, by Grace Alone, through Faith Alone, in Christ Alone, and to the Glory of God Alone. All the pillars of the Christian faith stand on the sovereignty of God. God reigns over all things. God especially demonstrated His sovereignty when He saved us from His wrath against our sins. He saved us completely, from beginning to end, showing us the greatness of His sovereign love. All the pillars of our faith point to and stand on the sovereign love of God for us.
Symphony Ministries affirms the Apostles Creed of the historic Church, and we believe it to be an accurate summary of the Apostolic faith. We believe this contains a carefully worded summary of the contents of sacred Scripture. Throughout Church history, there have been several confessions of faith that are truly based on God’s Word, the Bible.
The Apostles Creed portrays a theology and dynamic that defines Symphony Ministries as catholic (universal), historic evangelical, and Spirit-filled. Therefore, we concur with the statement, “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”
Symphony Ministries recognizes that God’s Word does not address every matter of life. Our position is that if God’s Word has spoken to a matter, we must follow God’s Word on that matter. But where God’s Word is silent, there can be liberty regarding that matter if it is without sin, not contrary to Holy Scripture, and there is responsibility for the sake of proclaiming the Gospel to the world.
Our theology is “catholic” because it reaffirms the doctrines of historic Christian orthodoxy such as those defined by the Apostles Creed. These teachings include such affirmations as the Virgin birth, the deity of Christ, the atonement of Christ, and other doctrines that are integral to historic Christianity.
Our theology is “Historic Evangelical” because it affirms with historic Christianity that the Bible, as the authoritative, inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God, is the sole written revelation that rules the faith and practice of the Christian community and alone can bind the conscience. This faith refers to the doctrine of justification by faith alone whereby the believer is justified before God by the free grace of God by which he is declared righteous, and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to the believer (Rom. 5:18-19). The sole ground of our justification is the merit of Jesus, imputed to all who put their trust in Him. However, good works flow necessarily and immediately from all justified persons, these works are not the meritorious grounds of our justification (Eph. 2:8-10).
Our theology is “Spirit-filled” because we believe in the baptism with the Holy Spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit, or operating in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, according to the Scriptures. This was the normal experience of the entire early Christian Church. We believe baptism with the Holy Spirit is the clothing of power from on high for power and service. The Holy Spirit sovereignly bestows spiritual gifts upon believers for the work of ministry.
Our ethos is Pentecostal. It is one of power, peace, and joy. “Power” is for service; “peace” means we trust in God alone, and “joy” is a fruit of the Spirit-filled life. “Peace with God” is basic and comes with becoming a Christian through repentance, faith, and baptism. (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:9, Luke 3:16; 24:49; Acts 1:8, 2:4, 2:38-39, 8:12-17, 10:44-46, 11:14-16, 15:7-9; 19:1-10; 1 Corinthians 12:4-10, 13 & 28, 14:1-19.)
The Leadership of the Ecclesia (Church) are:
Bishops, Elders and Deacons
Our form of leadership is biblical eldership. The Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ established leadership in the Body of Christ, the Church, with a ministry of bishops, elders, and deacons.
Episkopos is the Greek word meaning, “an overseer, supervisor, ruler, especially used with reference to the supervising function exercised by an elder/presbyter of a congregation.” Overseeing elders or bishops, operating in the power of the Holy Spirit are set in place to lead the Body of Christ, His Church. They are in place to equip, to build up, to establish unity in the faith, to aid in the growth toward Christian maturity, to aid in the transformation into Christ likeness, and to guard and protect the Apostolic doctrine once delivered unto the Saints from the enemy of our souls. (Acts 14:23; 20:17-28; Ephesians 4:11; Philippians 1:1)
Presbyteros is the Greek word meaning, “elder.” Paul emphasized a plurality of elders in the early church (Titus 1:5; Acts 20:17). An elder is a biblically qualified man or woman who has been nominated, trained, examined, and ordained to oversee specific affairs of the church. The Bible gives explicit qualifications for elders (1 Tim. 3:1-7).
Diakonos means, “one who executes the commands of another, especially of a master, a servant, attendant, minister, specifically a teacher or pastor; the office assigned by the church, caring for widows and the poor; one who has charge of and distributes the money collected for their use.” A deacon is a biblically qualified man or woman who has been nominated, trained, examined, and ordained to minister to the physical needs of the church. We view a deacon and their ministry to that like St. Stephen’s. This man was full of the Holy Spirit, he knew God’s Word, preached the Gospel, and spoke in the demonstration of the authority and power of the Holy Spirit! The Apostles appointed the first deacons so that the Apostles could better attend to prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6). The Bible gives explicit qualifications for deacons (1 Tim. 3:8-13).
Symphony Ministries 