1) Abiding in the love of the Father - Abiding in the constant love of God our Father is the foundation of loving Jesus, loving the leadership of His Holy Spirit, loving His word, loving His community, loving His mercy and justice, and loving His global mission.

 

2) Relationships of Prayer before Vision - We trust God to grow His vision for 24/7 prayer, justice, and mission through a network of deepening friendships. He will give strategy and provision for night and day, city-wide, corporate prayer and worship as we commit to long term relationships of trust.

 

3) Character before gifts - God values character, competence, and charisma, but growing Christ-like character shown by the fruit of the Spirit comes first.

 

4) Urgency of the Hour - The Biblical signs of the times require our serious commitment to living as a generation prepared to witness the return of Jesus. Understanding our climactic season in history is critical to the way we live.

 

5) Openness to the Voice, Supernatural work, and leadership of the Holy Spirit - Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit to lead, teach, and empower the church through Biblically defined prophetic activity.  We listen for and treat prophetic words with respect.

 

6) Honor for the Body of Christ - Competition, jealousy, political maneuvering, gossip, and slander are from the Accuser.  The Bride of Christ transcends organizational, economic, ethnic, and cultural lines in every region. We maintain the unity of the church and honor others in our speech, attitude, and actions.

 

7) Developing Prayer Friendly Cultures - The activity of group prayer involves various styles, philosophies, theologies, and practices that can be difficult to navigate on a practical level.  We develop leaders and strategies to build and preserve the power of agreement in prayer across diverse cultures.

 

8) Lifestyles of Radical Humility and Courageous Love - We cannot change our generation by living a self centered value system.  Sermon on the Mount values of radical humility and bold love for God and others dethrone the false gods of our day.

 

9) Modeling Biblical Community through Multi-ethnic ministry, Sexual Purity, and Racial Reconciliation - The people of God in Birmingham as a city and Alabama as a state have a destiny to spearhead Biblical justice and righteousness in Jesus name to a new generation.  We are for Biblically defined Human dignity that includes all people as image bearers of God.  We are for marriage between one man and one woman in lifelong covenant.  We are for daily living in racially reconciling, multiethnic, sexually honoring, Spirit filled communites of grace and truth.

 

10) Building Family Altars of Worship - We model Christ-centered family lifestyles of worship and prayer as the foundation for a fatherless generation to encounter the love of God and change their world.  We equip the next generation to shine with bright righteousness in a dark world to hasten the Day of the Lord.

 

 

Our Beliefs

 

1)  We believe the Bible to be the inspired, only infallible, authoritative word of God.

 

2)  We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

 

3)  We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, and in His personal return in power and glory.

 

4)  We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

 

5)  We believe that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

 

6)  We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

 

7)  We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

 

8)  We believe in the spiritual unity of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

Kingdom Forerunners statement on hiring, leadership standards, and approved practices in light of the US Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v Hodges of June 26, 2015

 

August 24, 2015 Addition to Organizational By Laws

 

As a parachurch Christian organization, Kingdom Forerunners affirms the value and worth of every human being as well as our desire to comply with the laws of our country.  Affirming human dignity does not, however, mean affirming human beliefs or laws that are in direct conflict with religious conviction, tradition, and practice.  There are Biblical standards of sexual purity and conduct that we as a Kingdom Forerunners Board will not compromise when it comes to hiring staff, training and supervising leaders, or approving ministry practices.

 

The Obergefell v Hodges decision by the US Supreme Court requires every State to permit same sex marriages as well as marriage between a man and woman.  Historically, marriage has been honored by secular and religious communities as between a man and woman.  The Obergefell v Hodges decision represents a major shift that pits secular values of sexual entitlement rights against moral and religious values of sexual righteousness.  The Obergefell decision does not settle the issue once and for all.   Some Supreme Court decisions such as the Dred Scott v Sandford case of March 6, 1857 are later found to be morally repugnant and reversed by a new generation of lawmakers.  

 

Kingdom Forerunners is protected by the First Amendment right of religious freedom and free speech.  Nothing in Obergefell v Hodges overturns our right (born of Biblical conviction) to only hire staff and affirm leaders who agree to teach and model fidelity in marriage as a sacred covenent before God between one man and one woman.  

 

We further hold that respectfully opposing same sex marriage from a natural, philosophic, and religious view is not hate speech as defined by the power brokers of political correctness.  It should be obvious that efforts to censor or punish all dissent concerning same sex marriage is in itself unconstitutional.  Calling all God's children to Biblically defined sexual righteousness is a privilege for every generation of responsible followers of Christ.  It is love, not hate, for our fellow man that compells us to speak out.  The health and well being of our society at large for generations is at stake. In recognition of government attempts to label basic Biblical teaching as hate speech, we humbly disagree and will not be silent for the sake of God's love toward all.