In obedience to the command of our Lord to "go make disciples of all nations...teaching them to observe all things that he commands...(Matt 28:19-20), FTM is committed to the seeing the Gospel demonstrated in the Greater Dayton area. Abandoning the man-made methods currently being practiced by much of today's institutional church, we are endeavoring to rediscover the teachings, patterns, and practices given to us by the "apostolic fathers" of the church.
By "apostolic fathers" we reference the apostle of the Lord who were responsible along with the prophets (Eph 2:20) to lay the foundations of the NT church of which we read in the book of Acts. We hold that there were specific "teachings" handed down to them from Jesus which they in turn handed down to the disciples they made, thus establishing the biblical pattern. Around the 3rd century A.D. these teachings (traditions) along with the foundational teachings of the Lord concerning the Kingdom of God began to be replaced by the traditions of men. This led the church into what is known as the "dark ages".
We witness throughout church history that God has always had a people who held true at least in part to the practices of 1st century Christianity. At different points in time God has raised up various men and women who committing themselves to the furtherance of the Kingdom of God and the "present truth", brought great light and understanding to their generation. We call these periods or movements "Restorations or Reformations".
We affirm that God has again began a restorational/reformational work in the church concerning it's foundations in order to mature the saints to the "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13). While we do not believe that we are a select and exclusive work in the Ohio area, we do acknowledge a mandate from the Lord to implement a work according to the present truth that we have received, a NT assembly in the greater Dayton area.
Simply put, our vision is be a part of the restoration of the church in accordance with New Testament biblical foundations.