Together In 2020
Have you set any goals for 2020? I’ll admit I’m not much for new year’s resolutions, but I do like setting goals. Goals help me direct my time and attention towards specific outcomes that honor God. Goals help the Passion for Planting team direct our energy towards a common purpose so we can do more together than we can on our own. Goals can help your church multiply the work of God’s Kingdom in your community.
The theme of Exponential 2020 is: Together: Pursuing the Great Collaboration. Join over 5,000 church planters and network leaders for a time of inspiration, encouragement, and equipping as we consider how God’s people can do more together than alone.
It’s all happening March 2-5, 2020 in Orlando, FL. We’ll be there hosting a pre-conference learning lab and workshop track. If you attend the conference, we’d love to connect with you in person either at one of our workshops or at our Passion for Planting booth. If you can’t make it to Exponential in person you can tune in live via their webcast.
We believe God has big plans for you in 2020 and we’d love to help you accomplish your ministry goals. We’re also excited to unveil some new and improved resources we’ve developed to help church planters stay focused on mission. Stay tuned for those, but for now enjoy this month’s newsletter and keep dreaming about what God’s wanting to do in and through you in 2020.
-Dale Spaulding, Director
January 2020 – Contents
- Building Momentum
- Reaching Your City Together
- Foundations
- Understanding Your Context
Building Momentum
At Passion for Planting, we tell church planters that one of their main roles as a leader is to allocate finite resources to the critical growth path. That’s how they can build momentum within and through their organization. In doing so, the team stays on mission heading in the same direction together.
One tool we’ve seen church leaders use to get their people heading in the same direction together is Will Mancini’s Vision Frame. He describes its form and function in his book Church Unique, which we believe is a must-read for church leaders. While we do highly recommend reading the whole book, we know you’re busy, so here’s where you can access a free visual summary of the book: Church Unique Visual Summary. Develop your Vision Frame and start building momentum within your church today!
Reaching Your City Together
Have you ever thought what it would take to reach your city for Jesus? Might all the resources you need already exist? Perhaps they do. Just imagine if every church in your city worked together to expand God’s Kingdom in your region. Seem like a pipe dream? According to the leaders at Exponential, it’s not. It’s doable and is central to the effectiveness of our witness as ambassadors of Christ.
Want to be a part of winning your city for Jesus? Leaders like Dave Ferguson, Sherry Surratt, Brian Bloye, along with others want to share with you how they see this happening through Exponential’s Together Training Kit. Access this free resource today and start dreaming about how you can collaborate in your community to give every man, woman, and child repeated opportunities to hear, see, and experience the good news of Jesus.
Foundations
Proverbs 15:22 reminds us, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed,” (NIV). If you are sensing God’s call to plant a church, don’t pursue that calling alone. Seek wise counsel at every stage of your journey, whether you’re still wrestling with your calling or find yourself in the throes of planting. At every stage of the game, a church planter must be growing as a leader and learning from others who have gone before them.
If you’re looking for a training opportunity to help develop yourself and your church planting toolbox, consider taking advantage of Foundations. It’s Passion for Planting’s one-day virtual training experience geared to introduce leaders to foundational practices and principles of church planting. The next one will be streaming live on April 28, 2020. For more information and to register visit: Foundations.
A Changing Culture
Our world is changing. Every day the global population increases by 220,000 and by the year 2050 experts predict that there will no longer be a majority race in the United States. As our world changes, we must be ready minister to this changing world.
Like the Apostle Paul did in Athens in Acts 17, church planters must analyze their target area so they can contextualize their ministry to fit their unique community. (For a definition of contextualize see Tim Keller’s from Center Church). As a way to help church planters start new churches that their communities need (not just the church that’s in their head) we offer several tools and resources. Among these tools are free demographic reports that are future predicting along with a Community Profile Worksheet and an Average Target Family Worksheet to help planters analyze and contextualize their target area.