Together: May-June 2009 events

Together, May-June 2009

Church Multiplication Ministries 2009 Planning Meeting

The Church Multiplication Ministries team gathered on January 8-9 in Memphis, TN, for its annual planning meeting (right). Dan Rogers, Superintendent of U.S. Ministers, and Ted Johnston, Generations Ministries director, joined the CMM team comprised of Glen Weber, Randy Bloom (CMM director), and Ken Williams. Lorenzo Arroyo is also part of the team but was unable to attend.

After reviewing the CMM vision, mission and faith goals, the team discussed its key strategies and plans for casting a vision for church multiplication, helping congregations develop environments that lead to church multiplication, and providing church leaders with resources for starting new churches.

The vision for church multiplication includes the creation of Christ-centered congregational environments which "naturally and supernaturally" lead to the multiplication of ministry leaders who start new churches. Church Administration and Development and CMM envision starting new kinds of churches, for all kinds of people, in all kinds of places. This is a "God-sized" vision, but it is a vision that is validated by scripture and the work of the Holy Spirit through the church throughout history.

On March 15 youth from Worldwide Grace Fellowship enjoyed cooking a Southern Sunday supper of ham and side dishes in the kitchen of the new Salvation Army Homeless Shelter in Clarksville, TN. Preparing supper for the 30 residents in the new, spacious kitchen was not only easy but fun for Keribeth Williams (starting left and going around the table), Christopher Davis, Pastor Doug Tomes, Will Peters, Ed Peters, Mathew Davis, Mariel Tomes, and Kayla Williams.

On March 7, the New Covenant Fellowship church in Tyler, TX, held their annual Women for Christ Retreat. This year’s theme was "The Bride of Christ." The program for the day included worship and praise music, prayer and fellowship. Messages included "Do You Take Jesus" by Tricia Owens, "It’s All About You" by Sue Berger, "Love One Another" by Amy Brady, and "Communion Foreshadows the Wedding Supper," by Marcia Demarest. Guests were from Tyler and surrounding areas. — Janalee Swisher

CMM faith goals include:

• Planting 12 or more new churches each year

• 45 assessors comprising 15 assessment teams

• 4 church plant leadership training teams

• 12 or more ministry coaches for church planters

• 20 district church planting networks

At this time CMM has trained:

• 22 assessors (3-5 assessment teams)

• 1 church plant leadership training team

• 5 ministry coaches for church planters

CMM plans for 2009 include:

• Inviting experienced church planters to speak at the nine regional conferences. These speakers will join Randy Bloom in addressing the conference plenary sessions. They will also participate in the breakout workshops.

• Conducting Church-Next Training – a 5-day training session for pastors and other ministry leaders who want to learn how to plant a church (dates to be announced).

• Producing a training resource manual for the Church-Next Training program.

• Developing a process for recruiting church planters.

• Adding the church planter recruitment process to the CMM website (cmm.wcg.org) and beginning to recruit church planters from outside our fellowship.

• Working with district pastoral leaders to begin to develop district church multiplication networks.

• Presenting a church multiplication workshop at the Wisconsin Dells festival.

• Conducting church multiplication workshops for district networks and congregations. (To schedule a workshop contact Randy Bloom at Randy.Bloom@gci.org)

Please continue to pray that the Spirit will continue to lead us - pastors, congregations and denominational leaders – that we may discern his will and follow his direction for starting new churches. Please ask the Lord to provide the ministry leaders and resources we need to participate in his mission to the world by planting new churches.

Thank you for your ongoing prayers for the ministry of planting new churches. Those of us in Church Administration and CMM are grateful for your passion and participation in this ministry. God bless you all as you continue to experience the life and love of Jesus.

Randy Bloom

Growing Deeper in Louisiana

About 70 pastors, ministry leaders and members from Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana met in late January in Tickfaw, LA, for Growing Deeper—the second intensive of Servants Passage. The gathering was coordinated by the Tickfaw congregation under the leadership of Mike Horchak, district pastoral leader, and his wife Pam. The group was led by Ted Johnston, director of Generations Ministries.

Servants Passage is a two-year-long journey of exploration and learning that helps believers of all ages understand and grow in ministry with Jesus as we journey together. The journey includes three weekend intensives with local-church-based, small-group learning between intensives.

At the first intensive, Join the Journey, participants explore their personal and group "divine design"—the composite picture of the spiritual gifts, interests, life journey, relationship styles and other factors granted by God to us individually and collectively so that we may participate actively with Jesus in his ministry. The insights gained from this exploration lead to a "life development plan," which identifies goals and means for growing in this ministry in ways that are faithful to who God has made us.

At the second intensive, Growing Deeper, participants are helped to understand more fully the nature of Jesus’ ministry on earth and their current level of development related to that ministry. Ministry development strategies and tools are examined, leading to formation of local "learning communities" where growing in ministry and doing ministry are brought together in the context of our local church-based living and loving with Jesus.

If your congregation or district pastoral network would like to begin a Servants Passage journey in your area, see additional information at genmin.wcg.org/leadershipministries.htm or request additional information from Ted Johnston by e-mailing ted.johnston@gci.org.

Youth Discovery Weekend in Myrtle Beach, SC

Our youth event was held on Martin Luther King Holiday Weekend (Jan. 17-19). We provided worship services, basketball, bowling, a talent show, and a dance. Several of our youth gave testimonies of how Jesus Christ has worked in their life in recent times.

Because all the congregations that normally attend were unable to do so, I almost canceled the camp. However, we took the matter to Jesus!

We needed to show to our youth we shouldn’t quit in the midst of difficulties. So we made the weekend an evangelistic event. I challenged our youth to invite every unchurched youth that they knew to the camp. The church then paid half of their camp cost. We had eight unchurched youth from the community as well as 16 youths from our local congregation.

We had a great Spirit- and fun-filled weekend. A few of the new youth have already attended our church worship services. Including our adults, we had 34 people at the camp. Many of our adults and youth said that although they missed the fellowship with the youth from the other church areas, it was one of the best camps yet. The moral of this story is never quit! No matter how bad it looks, Jesus is faithful.

Howard Blakeney

Making News in Rhode Island

Good News Today, a Christian newspaper in Rhode Island, had an article about the ministry of Grace Family Church in West Warwick, RI. Ralph Davis writes,

"This month my editor asked me to check out some pasta and a pastor in Arctic [the downtown section of West Warwick] to see if there was a story there. A spaghetti supper was to be held to raise funds to help…Grace Family Church.…

"The gathering was a huge success with over 200 people attending and all proceeds were given to the church.… The Arctic Mission paid for all of the ingredients and the group did all of the planning, preparation, serving, and cleanup.

"There was no charge for the supper; it called for a ‘free will’ offering. There were about fifty very hungry people who had no money and yet ate until they were content.… Pastor Luiciano Cozzi of Grace Family Church is happier to know that the guests received nourishment than collect more donations. There were visitors from other churches donating to the cause as well, enjoying the fare and the company of the Grace Family Church members."