THE ASPIRING PREACHERS GUILD
Purpose and Goals
The purpose of the Aspiring Preachers Guild is to fill the pulpits of Canada with competent, godly men who will faithfully and effectively preach God’s Word.
The goals of the Guild are twofold:
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To become a known and trusted resource that churches and denominations look to when trying to identify their next pastor.
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To become a seedbed where aspiring preachers can hone and sharpen their skill as expositors.
Organization & Responsibilities
The Guild operates under the umbrella of Maple Avenue Baptist Church in Georgetown, Ontario, but it exists to serve all Word-loving churches and denominations.
The leaders are:
o Jim McDonald, Director
o Jake Stewart, Convener
o Steve Kroeker, Convener
The Convener’s role is to choose the book, identify homiletical areas of focus, select the preachers, facilitate the meeting, and to invest in the preachers by providing helpful and pointed feedback.
The Director’s role is to promote the Guild through networking and an active web presence, to organize all details for the Guild’s regular operations, to connect with and mentor the men involved, and to assist and advise the Convener.
Meetings
There are three sessions each year: Fall (September-December), Winter (January-March) and Spring (April-June).
Meetings take place on a weekday evening from 7:00 to 9:45 p.m. Exact dates will be published as a blog post ahead of each session. Meetings are held at Maple Avenue Baptist Church in Georgetown, Ontario.
Meeting 1 – Group work on the book chosen for that session; teaching on homiletical area of focus for that session. The areas of focus are topics like sermon introductions, use of illustrations or preaching narrative.
Meetings 2-3 – Three men preach for 15 minutes on an assigned passage and each receives 25 minutes of feedback from the group but especially from the Conveners. The meetings also include instruction on the homiletical area of focus.
There will be three preachers selected for each session. They will each be given two preaching assignments during the session and are expected to treat their sermons with the utmost seriousness. Others are welcome to attend provided they meet the prerequisites. Attendance increases the likelihood of being selected as preacher at a future session.
The preachers for each session are selected based on experience, capability, and commitment to the Guild.
Prerequisites
Anyone who aspires to preach is welcome to attend and participate in Guild meetings provided they meet the following three standards:
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They must be committed to attending all 3 meetings of the session.
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They must be supported by their local church. This includes the Senior Pastor affirming their aspiration to preach and their involvement in the Guild. It also means they must be serving in their local church.
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They must affirm both the Doctrinal Statement and the three Doctrinal Distinctives of the Guild.
Doctrinal Commitments
We ask all attendees to affirm the Doctrinal Statement of the World Evangelical Alliance. Additionally, we ask them to affirm three Doctrinal Distinctives.
Doctrinal Statement (WEA)
I believe in:
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The Holy Scriptures as originally given by God, divinely inspired, infallible, entirely trustworthy; and the supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct,
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One God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
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Our Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, His virgin birth, His sinless human life, His divine miracles, His vicarious and atoning death, His bodily resurrection, His ascension, His mediatorial work, and His Personal return in power and glory,
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The Salvation of lost and sinful man through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith apart from works, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit,
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The Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the believer is enabled to live a holy life, to witness and work for the Lord Jesus Christ,
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The Unity of the Spirit of all true believers, the Church, the Body of Christ,
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The Resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life, they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
Doctrinal Distinctives
I believe:
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The Holy Scriptures ought to govern both the pulpit and all areas of church life. Jesus is the head of the church, and he rules his church through the Scriptures. Since the Scriptures govern the pulpit, preaching should faithfully exegete and apply passages of Scripture. Since the Scriptures govern the church, all areas of church life should be carefully and deliberately built upon the Scripture’s teachings.
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God created male and female as equal yet distinct. As part of that distinction, God has called on men to be the heads of their home and to hold the headship office within the church.
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God created sex and sexuality as good. His design for sexual expression is between one man and one woman in the context of marriage. In God’s plan, male and female are binary categories and correspond to one’s biology. Any deviation from this is sin.
CONTACT ASPIRING PREACHERS GUILD
Maple Avenue Baptist Church
177 Maple Avenue
Georgetown ON L7G 1X6
(905) 873-9211
jim.elm@gmail.com (Jim McDonald, Director)
Referrals
When a church or denomination requests that we refer someone to them, all such requests for referral will go through the Director. He will communicate with the Convener and the attendee’s Senior Pastor. Recommendations will only be made when all three agree that the man in question is ready to take on the role being considered.
News and Notices
“My endeavor is to bring out of Scripture what is there, and not to thrust in what I think might be there. I have a great jealousy on this head; never to speak more or less than I believe to be the mind of the Spirit in the passage I am expounding.”
Charles Simeon