“Be Witnesses”

“Be Witnesses”

Dec 19, 2013

“Be Witnesses”

Association to host Church Planting Conference

by Pastor Kenneth Chroniger

Alfred Station, N.Y.

 

Tim Keller, founder and pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, wrote the following thoughts:

“The vigorous, continual planting of new churches is the single most crucial strategy for 1) the numerical growth of the Body of Christ in any city, and 2) the continual corporate renewal and revival of existing churches in any city. Nothing else—not crusades, outreach programs, parachurch ministries, growing mega-churches, congregational consulting or renewal process—will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting. This is an eyebrow raising statement. But to those who have done any study at all, it is not even controversial.” 1

 

The Invitation

Seventh Day Baptists vocalize a commitment to church planting. We seem to have a mental assent to Tim Keller’s thoughts. Yet some questions echo in our ears. As a people, is church planting a heart’s desire? As a people, do we experience church planting as what God is doing and ask the question; “How do we join Him?”

The Allegheny Association of Seventh Day Baptist Churches believes that it is time to move Church Planting to the front burner of our congregational life.  You are invited to be a participant in the “Be Witnesses” Church Planting Conference in Alfred Station, N.Y. from Monday, April 28 – Sabbath May 3, 2014.

 

The Presenter

The presenter, Jared Siebert, currently serves as the National Director for Church Development for the Free Methodist Church in Canada. His main responsibility is to prepare the denomination to respond to the massive cultural change that churches are facing.

He hopes to accomplish this through the planting of new kinds of churches. He also wants to develop sustained health and contextual conversations at the local church level that are designed to bring churches face to face with their mission in their neighborhood or region.

Jared began ministry in 1998 with his wife, Katherine, in Kingston, Ontario, in a church plant called the “Next Church.” He currently lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan with his wife Katherine and his two boys, Soren and Nathan.

 

The Schedule

April 28

-Evening reception: Participants and greater church audience

April 29

-Theology of Culture and Change

-Discerning Your Team’s Provisional Ideas

-Team Consultations with Trainer, Jared Siebert

April 30

-Church Planting Tools and Case Studies

-Community Walking Analysis; Afternoon Trip to Local Community

-Debriefing and Further Team Consultations

May 1

-Telling Your Discipleship Story

-Managing, Measuring and Multiplying

-Tying Together Loose Ends

May 2

-Setting Up Covenants of Accountability

-Social Media Communication

-Follow-Up Web Conference Schedule

May 3 Sabbath

Celebrating with Allegheny Association

-Jared Siebert, Sabbath Speaker

-Honoring and Consecrating Our Work

 

The Philosophy

The Missionary Evangelism Committee of the Allegheny Association of Seventh Day Baptists has accepted a five-stage model of change and applied it to church planting. There are those who have never thought about it, those who are thinking about it, those who are preparing for it, those who are planting, and those who are evaluating where they are in their Church Plant. The Committee believes that whatever stage of change you are in, this conference is for you.

 

Registration and cost

Yes, it will cost something. It will cost transportation, time, putting assumptions about church planting on the shelf, and a financial cost of $75. You will find the registration form in the Sabbath Recorder next month.

Would you join in being a part of a church planting movement? “You have a Church Planting Movement when it’s growing so fast you can’t count it. It’s growing so fast that your systems can’t cope.” 2

1 Tim Keller, http://metropuritan.blogspot.com/2009/12/church-planting-quote.html  November 13, 2012.

2 Bob Roberts,  http://seelifedifferently.blogspot.com/2006/05/church-planting-quotes.html, November 2013.

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