District Members Attend the Church Planting Conference
The Church of the Brethren gathered this past spring for the Church Planting Conference entitled “New and Renew: Revitalize, Plant and Grow.” (See picture.) Here are a few comments from some who were in attendance:
“I became more aware of how willing church planters are to risk their comfort to move into new neighborhoods that are not just down the street but rather on the opposite side of the country without any guarantee of success. Their willingness to follow a call in this manner is a great example to those of us in established congregations to risk our comfort to meet our neighbors next door and on the opposite side of our community.” —Kevin Kessler, District Executive and Pastor of Canton Church of the Brethren
“It was great to be together with people and church planters from across the U.S. and to especially attend with so many members from the Illinois Wisconsin, District.” —LaDonna Nkosi, Convening Pastor of The Gathering Chicago, TheGatheringChicago.org.
“Revitalize and Grow were the words that caught my attention! The workshop that helped me most was “Decoding Your Community” by Ryan Braught. For the last two years I had been going out into the community around our church, which is - Freeport Church of the Brethren in Illinois, to spread God’s Word but met with little success. But this workshop really moved me into action and gave me insight and tools as to how we as a church can try and successfully do God’s work in our community. Now I have a vision and a plan to work with our Commissions and together we will go all out to fulfill the Great Commission." —Pastor Christina Singh, Freeport Church of the Brethren
“I still so admire our church planters who are willing to start churches that might not look or seem very traditional to any of us but are meeting the needs of showing Jesus to today’s hurting world. As a pastor with several years of traditional church history, I am excited to be “moving into the neighborhood” to let others also share in the richness we have had all these years inside the church walls. I have learned all about how to lead the Polo COB through attending the planting conferences.” —Leslie Lake, Pastor of Polo Church of the Brethren
“It was great to be together with people and church planters from across the U.S. and to especially attend with so many members from the Illinois Wisconsin, District.” —LaDonna Nkosi, Convening Pastor of The Gathering Chicago, TheGatheringChicago.org.
“Revitalize and Grow were the words that caught my attention! The workshop that helped me most was “Decoding Your Community” by Ryan Braught. For the last two years I had been going out into the community around our church, which is - Freeport Church of the Brethren in Illinois, to spread God’s Word but met with little success. But this workshop really moved me into action and gave me insight and tools as to how we as a church can try and successfully do God’s work in our community. Now I have a vision and a plan to work with our Commissions and together we will go all out to fulfill the Great Commission." —Pastor Christina Singh, Freeport Church of the Brethren
“I still so admire our church planters who are willing to start churches that might not look or seem very traditional to any of us but are meeting the needs of showing Jesus to today’s hurting world. As a pastor with several years of traditional church history, I am excited to be “moving into the neighborhood” to let others also share in the richness we have had all these years inside the church walls. I have learned all about how to lead the Polo COB through attending the planting conferences.” —Leslie Lake, Pastor of Polo Church of the Brethren
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