By Ted Johnston
By Ted Johnston
SOMERSET, New Jersey—In Ephesians 4, Paul rejoices that the ascended Christ sends to his church a rich assortment of leadership gifts to equip the church for greater effectiveness in its disciplemaking mission.
Those gifts were evident at the Northeast regional conference conducted the weekend of May 21 to 23 in Somerset. About 240 WCG members and friends attended all or part of the conference.
The conference began Friday with a presentation from James Roberts, president of the Center for Church Based Training. Mr. Roberts gave a compelling presentation concerning the need for discipleship training in congregations and the usefulness of the Discovery course for that purpose. Church Administration is making this course available to WCG congregations (see July WCG News).
Dan Rogers, superintendent of U.S. ministers, then presented a session titled “Creating a Disciple-making Environment in Your Church.” He noted that congregational leaders and workers have the responsibility and challenge to see that the environment in the congregation is conducive to the development of disciples of Jesus. Such an environment is produced through use of four essential devotions: Word, Worship, Fellowship and Prayer.
Friday evening, Pastor General Joseph Tkach addressed the conference with a presentation on developments within our denomination. He pointed to the many advantages of membership in our denomination, including the exciting things God is doing in our midst. He pointed to the rich array of great commission work being accomplished through our congregations around the world.
On Saturday, Mr. Rogers conducted a seminar titled “Growing a Healthy Church: Balance” that focused on balanced disciplemaking ministries within our congregations. Balance is achieved by a full disciplemaking strategy including winning the lost, building the believer and equipping the worker.
The seminar was highly interactive with participants often huddled in groups from individual congregations—talking and praying together about the issues presented.
On Saturday evening, Ron Kelly, church controller, addressed pastors concerning the new financial system. Mr. Kelly urged all pastors to prepare for the new system.
Mr. Kelly also addressed pastors employed by the WCG to brief them concerning the pension plan for current WCG employees.
On Sunday morning several breakout sessions were offered by various presenters including Mr. Kelly on advisory councils; Baltimore, Maryland, members on ministry to children; Greg Williams, Mid-Atlantic district youth ministry coordinator, on ministry to teens; Baltimore and Frederick, Maryland, members on ministry to women; and Pam Morgan, WCG Computer Information Systems department, on the new financial system.
After the breakout sessions the main conference concluded with a worship service. Several provided ministry in song, prayer and dance. Dr. Tkach gave the sermon. Ted Johnston, Northeast district superintendent, led the group in communion.
After the worship service, several members attended a seminar on financial stewardship provided by Design for Ministry.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2004