New Church Planning Meeting

2010-05-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to the video of our New Church Planning Meeting with Paul Nixon from May 18, 2010.
http://www.neumc.org/pages/detail/376

More Praying for New Churches

2010-05-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here are more responses from our requests for prayers:

I am willing to fully devote to this new mission. I agree with Mellissa ( I usually do) {ok on some issues} we need to create something new in NE and I feel that the group that was assembled has the will and compassion to do that. Count me in!!!!

I am committed to seeing this vision actualized in New England. I firmly believe that healthy local churches are vital to this mission -- and that it all needs to come out of a place of being in love with Jesus and wanting to share that love in our neighborhoods and communities.

I hope that at this upcoming annual conference we can really spread the word about church planting, new church starts, and ways of rethinking church as it relates to new church starts to help get the conversation going in a wider arena. The more people are thinking, talking, and praying about this, the better!

I believe that the work of church planting will ultimately allow many of our existing churches to catch new visions for what is possible. I know that we need to create new forms of church and new church plants and new church planters will have the most success on that journey. I am committed to learning about the new ways, supporting those who are committing their lives to making them a reality and bringing my own gifts of leadership and ministry to meeting some big hairy audacious goals. I appreciate Curtis and the Bishop as they challenge us to respond to God’s call.

this is so wonderfully encouraging -- God is moving, and it is so great to see it!

My earliest sense of call was empowered by my experience of Christ's healing, renewing, redemptive power in the midst of the gathered believers. God has placed many gifts among us, and called us to various specific ministries. Yet, our various gifts and ministries are for the nurturing and building of living faith in Christ with and among others.
My "church bureaucracy" ministry seeks to work the system in order to support and accomplish some of this. I remain committed to do whatever I can to further this vital ministry.

Helping to develop new churches and faith communities is exactly what each and every one of us is called to do when we follow Christ. I think this is a no-brainer. This is what we are called to do, So let’s just do!

As we are challenged to move forward with new churches and to re-development of our existing churches for the ministry of Jesus Christ. Let us not get in the away, it is very important that each and every one of us makes every effort to keep the system, bureaucracy, and our personal interests and likes out of the way of Jesus . With this said, I’m on board. I will help lead the way, plow the field push through the barriers and pray my heart out for the renewal to the New England states and to the United Methodist Church in New England.

I'm on board with this effort because of the great need that I see for revival and renewal and the fact that many keep missing the point of the church's existence -- to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

This effort at new church planting is happening at a time when in my pastorate, we are slowly beginning to think of ways of reaching out to the community and of new ways of being church.

It has been one of the greatest joys of my faith journey to be part of a new church start for the past two and a half years. It has energized, strengthened, and challenged me in some significant ways. I consider it a real privilege and joy to be part of a community that is reaching out to those who would likely otherwise not be part of a faith community. I am committed to continuing to use my gifts and energy to strengthen the ministry my local setting and doing all I can to do the same in my conference ministry context.

I have felt for some time that God was leading us in the direction of planting new churches in new places and in new ways. I am committed to doing all that I can to help this happen, and I pray that this message will grow as it is shared at annual conference!

Wow! I am just on fire reading these many comments! Could it be, with Pentecost just days away, that we are approaching our own Pentecost -- an outbreaking of the Holy Spirit that's pushing us beyond our comfort zones, beyond the barriers that have existed (and that we have, through action or inaction or inertia, helped to keep intact), and out into a world that's teeming with possibilities?

My deepest prayer is that as we move forward, we might keep the focus on envisioning new communities of faith, new pathways for approaching church, new ways of embodying Christ in our contexts, so that we are able to reach people who would never walk into most of the churches that currently exist in New England. I think particularly about people who are not seekers, who've never had any experience of Christian community (i.e. the vast majority of young adults in many of our communities), as well as those who've had a history of negative experiences of church who have written off church completely, who are carrying around baggage, but who might be willing to give church another try if it's different enough. These people are everywhere, and they need to be our focus if this is to be a faithful, fruitful venture.

It's energizing to feel a groundswell of prayer, support, and enthusiasm! It's exciting to imagine the possibilities! It's a blessing to be part of the movement! Come, Holy Spirit, come!

New Church planting is essential to our growth and maturity as the Body of Christ. After prayer, I want to be a part of making this happen in our Annual Conference area. We need to Re-Think church planting just as much as Re-Thinking Church. I was excited by what we discussed last Tuesday and sense the move of the Holy Spirit in our midst to move forward with this enthusiastically and faithfully. The more prayer that we devote to this movement the better . . . since it seems to me that the Holy Spirit will be the deciding factor in how to do what GOD wants done. We see in the book of Acts how dramatically the church grew without hardly any committees or detailed plans in advance - just people in love with Jesus helping others to find freedom and salvation in Christ ! Let's ask God to show us what God wants us to do - and make sure we are not just making plans and asking God to bless OUR plans! Let's discern GOD'S plan and get with the program GOD has in mind !

I think God is telling me to also trust in obedience rather than natural skill. (I Cor 2:3-5) I have to try to remember that principle whenever I get asked to participate in (or even to lead) things that I don't feel qualified to be a part of, or when it seems counter to what I think I can do / who I think I am. It's not about what we can do but what God can do!

I too am excited and totally on board about the prospects of evangelistic outreach and new church plants in New England. All over the Global South, especially in Africa, Christianity is growing in leaps and bounds. The United Methodist Church in Nigeria alone has grown by over 400,000 in 15 years. My father (not a UM) planted 15 churches that are all large and flourishing and spawning more than a hundred and fifty churches in a 25 year period. As a lay Christian I started three churches in Nigeria and two in Russia. The pattern is roughly similar – proclaim the law and the gospel, allow the Holy Spirit to convict the sinner of his/her separation from God, offer Jesus Christ as the savior and bring the person to a point of decision regarding the person and work of Jesus Christ. This model works best for the unchurched than for the already churched. New Christians are often more enthusiastic about sharing their new found freedom and experience in Jesus Christ than are “older” Christians who may have lost their first joy and replaced it with the routines of religion. New converts have more non-Christian friends and the changes in their lives are often most visible to these friends who sometimes want to know what their friend has found. That is why new churches based on new converts grow quickly.

I’ve believed for a long time now that we need new communities of faith to reach that vast population of people who don’t know Jesus as savior and friend. I’ve struggled to know how best to support that effort—mobilize local congregations to engage new communities with new ministries, start new churches, support new churches by offering time and energy to support and equip new church work? Both Allen and Abraham have reminded us of the vast group of people who will probably not come to us in our existing churches—we need to go to them, tell them about who we are because of our life with Jesus, and help them become deeply committed Christians, too. Some of that might happen in existing churches, but I’m convinced that much of that work needs to be done in new communities where faithfulness trumps religiosity, and the experience of a community of love, acceptance, and transformation grounded in a growing relationship with Christ is assumed to be the norm for everyone. I’ll give myself to this effort wherever I can be most useful—at least in the short term, moving into a new appointment, I think God is calling me to support and encourage starting new churches while helping find resources in our existing congregations (take that as volunteering for "structural, institutional, connectional" work, as well as any hands-on, personal support I can provide).

Good Morning, friends. I have appreciated the thoughtful, prayerful responses we have been sharing this week. I, too, am committed to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ through new church starts in New England. We have much to be excited about as followers of Christ and, as Christ calls us, much work to do in our communities. I am grateful for the invitation to join all of you in this good work and look forward to all that we will learn together.

I am so thankful for all of the prayer, conversation and Spirit-filled response to last week's summit, for more reasons than I can name. My family and I are in. Let's go!

Praying for New Churches

2010-05-19T08:17:00.000-07:00

We've invited people from all over our New England Conference to be in prayer about their own commitment and investment in New Church planting. We've asked them to pray using the imagery from Luke 14:

²⁸"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? ²⁹For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him,³⁰saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

What is God calling you to do about our efforts in starting new churches that reach new people in new ways in New England?

New England New Churches

New Church Planning Meeting

More Praying for New Churches

Praying for New Churches