Dedicated to faithful, thoughtful ministry.
Teleioteti (Τελειοτητι, te-ley-o-tey-tee)—meaning “unto maturity”—is dedicated to faithful, thoughtful ministry. We create resources for Christian discipleship, resources that address theological and pastoral concerns from a Biblical worldview. Our purpose is to see Christ’s Church mature in its understanding of God and His Word. We do this through the production of Gospel-centred materials that connect the Bible with the heads, hearts, and minds of Christians. We hope to enable Christians from all walks of life to better understand and glorify God through service in His Church.
Who Are We?
Teleioteti was created by J. Alexander Rutherford and involves all who will partner in seeing this vision fulfilled
I began Teleioteti several years ago as a way to share what God was teaching me through my undergraduate and graduate education. I am a passionate Christian, a thankful husband, and a father of two wonderful children. I have earned a bachelor’s degree in pastoral ministry and two master’s degrees, in biblical languages (MA, Hebrew focus) and Old Testament (ThM). As of 2021, I have written over 10 books and have several more in the works. It is my hope that Teleioteti would become a trusted resource for leaders in the local church, to learn from and use in teaching.
I am humbled by and thankful for the great support and help from my friends and colleagues. To learn how you can partner with Teleioteti, see our partner page.
If you want to know more about me (J. Alexander Rutherford) you can read a brief bio on this page.
Why Do We Exist?
We are dedicated to faithful, thoughtful ministry
Every website, every ministry, every endeavour seeks to address a problem. Teleioteti is no different. With all the web ministries, universities, and publishing houses that exist, you may be asking yourself, what does Teleioteti have to contribute? Why is it worth my time? Teleioteti was not created because there were no faithful ministries or thoughtful Christians—this is by no means the case! I created Teleioteti because there is a tension in the way many North American Christians define faithfulness and thoughtfulness, resulting in many ministries and churches rejecting one or the other in practice.
There are some Christians for whom “faithfulness,” total commitment to God as revealed in Scripture, implies the abandonment of thoughtful interaction with Scripture and the culture around them. This may manifest in a spirituality that prizes experience—especially supernatural experience—over careful thought. It may also manifest in a traditionalism that refuses to question what it has received and that gets caught up in the traditions of those who came before, sometimes falling into the trap of legalism and isolationism. That is, the traditions of men may become a binding law by which church and life must be governed and the church may become isolated from and unable to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to bear on the issues of the contemporary culture.
On the other hand, there are some Christians for whom “thoughtfulness,” thinking deeply about faith and the surrounding culture, subtly erodes faithfulness. This may manifest itself in church movements that so seek to appeal to the World that they become indistinguishable from it. It may also manifest in institutions and methods of thought that undermine the Scriptures they often claim to uphold.
I created Teleioteti because I do not believe that faithfulness and thoughtfulness are hopelessly contradictory. On the contrary, I am convinced that to be truly faithful we must be thoughtful, and to be truly thoughtful we must be faithful. To this end, Teleioteti is dedicated to faithful, thoughtful ministry. We are committed to producing resources that would equip leaders of all sorts to perform faithful and thoughtful ministry in the local church.
Faithful
to be loyal or committed to someone or something and act consistently with this commitment
We are committed to pursuing faithfulness towards God in every area of life. This means that we are committed to upholding in word and in deed the functional authority of Scripture. That is, we believe that Scripture is the final standard for everything it speaks to and must function as such in the life of a Christian. To this end, we seek to live under God’s authority by submitting every thought, every word, and every action to Him as He has spoken in Scripture.
Thoughtful
to be characterized as one who thinks and reflects deeply upon life or to be characterized as something thought about and reflected upon.
We are committed to living out our faith with rigorous thought, submitting every idea to God through His Word. This means thinking deeply about the Word of God and the culture in which we live. Among other things, being thoughtful and faithful means thinking deeply about the way in which we think and following the Bible in our thinking even when—especially when—it contradicts the canons of our culture.
Ministry
service performed towards others, especially serving others in the name of Christ in fulfilment of the Great Commission.
We are committed to living faithfully and thoughtfully in active ministry, seeking to serve the people of God through faithful service and rigorous thought. I am committed to service in the local church and pray that the resources offered through Teleioteti would be used for teaching and discipleship in this context.
If you want to know more about the beliefs that govern our vision, see our statement of beliefs.
What Do We Do?
We produce resources for Christian discipleship
To achieve this purpose, Teleioteti publishes online materials and books researched with academic rigor yet based upon biblical presuppositions. That is, we are neither academic nor lazy. We use methods, or epistemology, informed by the Bible along with the hard work usually associated with professional research and study. We produce resources directed towards all Christians, but most of our resources are directed towards students, pastors, and theologically inclined lay Christians.
The long-term vision for Teleioteti can be broken down into three phases.
Phase 1 – Publish
The first phase of Teleioteti is publishing. Teleioteti is committed to producing resources for Christian discipleship. The resources published by Teleioteti are intended to equip Christians, especially leaders in the church, for faithful, thoughtful ministry. To this end, we publish several different types of resources.
Our books are intended to address various subjects at great depth. Our papers are intended to present a coherent and thorough argument concerning a specific topic. Our articles are intended to teach or address an idea, movement, or event with biblically informed critical thinking. Our blog posts are intended to relate Biblical teaching to the Christian life and ministry. Our book reviews are intended to evaluate and recommend or criticize contemporary or important books so that the reader can evaluate the merit of the resource for their life and ministry or incorporate its insights.
Phase 2 – Serve
The second phase of Teleioteti’s ministry is serving. I am committed to serving the local church, particularly Christ City Kitsilano where my wife and I attend, and so engage in active service in the local church. I see this as an expression of my commitment to the mission of Teleioteti. All our resources are intended to equip leaders for the service in the local church, thus they have an emphasis on the Bible, contemporary culture, and the Church. I endeavour to use what I am learning through Teleioteti for service in the local church and pray that those who use these resources would do the same.
Phase 3 – Teach
The third phase of Teleioteti’s ministry is teaching. The long-term vision of Teleioteti is to create a curriculum and model of ministry training that would equip lay leaders and pastors for ministry in western culture and beyond. Many of the resources published in the first phase have this phase as their ultimate goal, intended to serve as resources for teaching various modules within such a training program. The local church presence established in the second phase of Teleioteti’s vision is essential to the ministry training I envision. I have begun to publish resources along these lines under the banner of the Teleioteti Training Initiative.
If you would like to get involved in Teleioteti and participate in our vision, see our partner page.