Leadership
Shepherds, not celebrities
The people who carry this house, what they are responsible for, and who holds them accountable.
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Apostle Innocent
Lead Minister, FHCC
The lead minister
Apostle Innocent
He would tell you himself that there is nothing remarkable about him, and that this is precisely the point. God has always preferred to build His house out of material the world would have left in the yard.
Apostle Innocent serves as the lead minister of Father’s House Christian Church. The work began with a prayer meeting he did not advertise, in a room that was not his, with people who had no reason to stay. They stayed. Nine years later the same convictions run the house: teach the Bible without dilution, keep the altar burning, and make room for the person everybody else has given up on.
His teaching is direct and unhurried. He preaches through books of the Bible rather than around them, he refuses to use the pulpit to settle personal matters, and he has a standing rule in this church that no sermon may ask for money it has not first modelled in generosity.
Outside the pulpit his time goes to three things: raising leaders who can carry real weight, sitting with families in trouble, and the slow work of sending people out. He is married, and he and his wife have made their home a place where young ministers are fed, corrected and prayed for.
InnocentApostle and Lead Minister, Father’s House Christian Church
Provisional biography written for this concept. Apostle Innocent should review, correct and approve every line before publication, and supply a photograph to replace the placeholder portrait.
A letter to the house
“Keep the door wide”
To the church at Father’s House, and to whoever is reading this from a distance,
I want to say one thing to you, and I want to say it plainly. This house is not mine. It was never mine. I have watched God take a room with fifteen people in it and fill it with families I could not have recruited, from nations I have never visited, speaking a language I had to learn to greet them in. If a man could do that, someone would have sold the method by now.
So hear me: keep the door wide. The day this church becomes comfortable is the day it starts to die. A father’s house is measured by who is allowed to walk in, sit down and eat. If the addict, the divorced, the newly arrived, the doubting and the disgraced cannot find a chair in this place, then whatever we are running on Sunday, it is not the Father’s house.
And keep the Book open. Feelings will not hold you when the season turns. I have buried people I prayed for. I have watched money run out with a building half finished. What held us was not a good confession and it was not my preaching. It was the word of God, which does not shift when we do.
Finally, carry each other. Not in words. In practical, inconvenient, costly ways. Somebody in this congregation this week cannot pay a bill. Somebody is sitting in a hospital corridor alone. Find them. That is the sermon that gets preached loudest.
He has been good to us. Let us not become people who forget it.
InnocentApostle and Lead Minister
This letter is sample copy prepared for the layout. It reflects no actual statement by Apostle Innocent and must be replaced with his own words.
The team
Those who carry the weight with him
Roles are confirmed. Names, photographs and biographies are still to be supplied by the church office, so each card below shows the shape of the final content rather than the content itself.
Associate Pastor
Name to be confirmed
Carries the preaching rota, the membership class and the pastoral care of the first service.
Women’s Ministry
Name to be confirmed
Leads the women of the house, the marriage and family counselling team, and the hospitality rota.
Youth Pastor
Name to be confirmed
Responsible for Rooted Youth, the student ministry and the Saturday discipleship groups.
Worship Director
Name to be confirmed
Oversees the worship team, the musicians, the sound and media desk and the Thursday rehearsal.
Elder, Missions
Name to be confirmed
Holds the Nations Desk, the French congregation and the two church plants in preparation.
Deacon, Administration
Name to be confirmed
Runs the church office, the giving records, the building and the volunteer screening process.
Accountability
Who holds the leaders
A church that will not answer questions about power and money has already told you something. Here is how this house is governed.
An eldership, not one man
Major decisions require the agreement of the eldership. The lead minister carries a voice, not a veto.
Money is counted in twos
Offerings are counted by two unrelated people, recorded, and reported to the congregation twice a year.
Safeguarding
Every volunteer working with children is screened, trained and never alone with a child in a closed room.
A way to complain
Any member can raise a concern about a leader directly with the eldership, in writing, and expect a written answer.
Provisional governance summary. The eldership should confirm that each statement matches the constitution of the church before it is published.
Called to serve in this house?
Leadership here starts with carrying chairs, not with a title. Tell us where you would like to help and someone will meet you.