The Mercy Seat Church is a body of believers who seek to bring God all his Glory from what He accomplished at Calvary. We are made up of people, young and old, who understand the brokenness of our humanity and our inability to save ourselves. It is only through the grace and mercy of our loving Savior, Jesus Christ, that we can be saved.

The believers in this body also want to demonstrate that same grace and mercy to the community through living the same  life of love which God has shown in Jesus Christ . Through allowing the Holy Spirit to fill us with this love, lives are transformed. As followers of Christ, we are called to show this love to the hungry, to the hurting, the helpless and the hopeless . (Matt. 25: 34-40).

We are a people who seek to serve a starving world a savior who can save and sanctify (separate) people from their sins and can satisfy them who surrender to His Lordship!

Philosophy of Ministry

Every church has a unique identity, a DNA if you will, which is formed by the interaction of theology, philosophy and practice. It all starts with theology as a church’s understanding of God and His Scriptures. This theology affects the philosophy of ministry, which each church operates by and within. Finally, this philosophy, founded upon the theological beliefs, affects the practical outworking of a local body.

We will be careful in attempting to explain the church's identity because that is difficult to define. We must understand that anything growing or developing is changing!  A movement must not be too premature in defining identity. That would be like asking a five-year-old to explain who he is at an adolescent stage of development! The Bible puts it like this: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” 1 John 3:2-3(KJV)

The Varied Descriptions of the Church

In a context dealing with the purpose and ministry of the church in the world, Peter addresses his readers as: (1) living stones who were being built up for a spiritual house, (2) a holy and royal priesthood, (3) a people belonging only to God, and (4) aliens and strangers (1 Pet. 2:5, 9, 11). These are similes of identification which call attention to who and what the people of God are, but there is another purpose as well. Peter also wants us to reflect on what the people of God ought to be doing. We are to be engaged in building up this spiritual house, offering spiritual sacrifices in the worship of God, proclaiming the excellencies of God to a world lost in darkness, and abstaining from fleshly lusts so that we can keep our behavior, our manner of life, and our testimony excellent before an unbelieving world, lest we ignore and discredit our witness.

Throughout the New Testament, the writers employed numerous descriptive terms to call our attention to the nature and identity of the church. It is defined by a variety of literal terms and portrayed by one rich analogy after another. The church is likened to salt, light, sheep, a bride, a spiritual temple, a household, members of Christ’s body, branches in the vine, athletes, soldiers, and heavenly lights. Its people are called children of God, adopted sons, priests, servants, bond slaves, stewards, and partners with Christ, just to name a few. One author estimates that there are over eighty images or figures of the church.

The Purposes of the Varied Descriptions

We might well ask the question, why such a variety of descriptions? Notice that most of these pictures imply action and ministry. They describe the character, conduct, and calling of the church. Undoubtedly, God has painted such pictures in Scripture in order to challenge, motivate, and charge us into action. It is absolutely imperative that we grasp this vision of who we are as God’s people, where we are, and why we are here—God’s representatives in an alien country. And the hope is that we become gripped by this truth or we will fail to see and respond to the purpose for our existence.

Two Models of the Church Compared and Their Products

The Two Models Compared

The Two Products

Quite obviously the Biblical model leads to a healthy, ministering church whereas the traditional model leads to a sterile, ineffective church where the affliction of “spectatoritis,” the rust of institutionalism, and the self-indulgence of consumerism has all but reduced the church to invalid status. Rather than the picture of a well-trained soldier or athlete, the church today looks more like a patient dependent on a host of life support systems.
This naturally leads us to what the church ought to be doing in the light of who it is.