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Storehouse as a KChWE ChurchStorehouse (“Spichlerz”) Church was established according to the Church Statute by the act of Pastors’ Council on 28.20.2000. It was entered in the MSWiA (Internal Affairs Office) register of Churches and Other Denomination Organizations in the Department of Denominations in the section A, position 25. It possesses a status of artificial person of legal entity and acts on the area of Poland and outside the country on the basis of proper regulations and international rules. The church office is in Warsaw and the church has a legal personality as an autonomous church of the KChWE Alliance.
The main goals of Storehouse Church is to influence the lives of those who find themselves in a difficult situation and cannot get back to normal functioning in the society on their own. It refers not only to people who are from the so-called margin but also to every person deprived off help in troubles. The church is focused on preaching the good news that Jesus is alive and he acts and heals just like he did 2000 years ago to change the live of every person that invited Him into his or her heart.
The goals are listed in Statute and the main are as follows:
- Preaching the Good News of the Bible
- Fulfilling the spiritual functions towards the members of the church and other people under the protection of the church
- Taking part in the educational and charity activities especially in the branch of dealing with social pathology
- Popularising the idea of family and Christian upbringing of children on the basis of the universal principles of Christian morality
- Shaping the social attitude on the basis of Christian ethics.
Thanks to the possibility of creating missions, agencies, foundations and different institutes the church has wide range of opportunities to work and develop.
The legal body of the church is the Council represented by the Pastor.
The structure of management, church’s activity and financing.
The church employs currently three people – pastors – who take care of the pastoral, spiritual and administrative side of the church’s life. Senior pastor and the second pastor are responsible for the schedule of the Church activities, contacts with the members and sympathizers of the church and they also represent the Church publicly. Clearly administrative duties are performed by one person who is also responsible for all the matters concerned with functioning in the society as an organization. However, due to the number of the members – around 250 people – and other regularly visiting people, the organization cannot properly function on the basis of merely three people. In fact, the whole church activity is based on the voluntary work of its members and their selfless commitment. The structure of the church consists of the management organ, which is the Spiritual Council of the Church led by the Senior Pastor, and the group of leaders watching over the separate activities.
Inside the church there is a so-called system of twelves (similar to the popular in the world G12) which is based on creating the groups of 12 people under a specific leader. It allows on forming better relationships among the members. People cease to be invisible, everyone can have a committed leader and a group of friends where he/she is recognized.
It also leads to a greater differentiation, each group can set its own goals and tend towards its realization. Each leader is responsible for a specific service or a group of people and tries to help with their development. Because the aim of every living church is to reach the greatest number of people in every social group, the members of twelves should also build their own G12. It allows on stirring the people’s potential into action, directing it not only towards the realization of person’s own desires and passions (playing, singing in church, acting, etc.) but on the work for other people as well.
The everyday life of the church is determined by the normal pace of life of its members. In effect most of the activities during the week take part in the evenings. The already existing ministries in the Storehouse Church are for example prayer for the sick, worship, intercession, rehabilitation for homeless and addicted people, youth, children’s, drama… Each of these groups has meetings in church and every person interested is invited to come and see if the ministry suits him/her.
As can be seen, all those activities demand systematic commitment of at least one person who performing the duties of a leader can run the specific ministry. In case the work with addicted or homeless people is concerned, the responsibility is very high as the life of a person is on stake. Usually, such activities involve greater number of people (for instance the whole group of twelve) and the organization of more serious events (like evening meetings for older an lonely people when about 100 people from the outside often come) involve the participation of whole church.
Additionally in the church’s café different meetings take place – for older and lonely people, seminaries for married couples, for parents, for engaged couples, for men and women
Every Tuesday, usually at homes, the meetings of the groups of 12 take place. Often a particular twelve is responsible for a specific ministry or activity of the Church. Working together in a close team they are able to organize different events. People also meet each other, try to be in touch with everyone and help in other people’s problems if they may. People which lead those services are very committed and full of empathy, especially as they work for free.
The financial means for the church activities, according to the Statute, can come from:
- offerings and contributions
- inheritance, bequest, donation from Poland and different countries
- profits from events and through public fund-raising
- subsidy, grant and offering from institutions and enterprises
- income from services performed by organizational entities and business units
- income from an own business activity of organizational entities
So far, the whole financial burden of running the church lies on its members. The activities develop due their voluntary offerings. There are no membership fees in church and it functions thanks to the generosity of the donators.
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