CHURCH PLANTING PLANNING MEETING
On Wednesday, April 2, the Congregational Missions and Ministry Team will be hosting a seminar designed to provide us with tools and information on leading a successful church planting movement here in ABC-MI. We have invited Rev. Gary Rohrmayer from the Baptist General Conference Midwest. Gary has been a successful church planter and now leads the church planting movement for BGC Midwest. The BGC has a success rate of over 80% when it comes to planting churches. We want to learn what they are doing right! Gary will be with us from 9am to 3pm on April 2nd at Covenant Baptist Church in W. Bloomfield to share his experience. To learn more about this movement and the agenda for the day, please continue reading...
For some time a few members of the Congregational Ministries and Missions Team of the ABC-MI Region have been praying about a dream they have for planting a new church within our Region. This dream fits with the New Life 2010 vision, birthed by Dr. Jeffrey A. Johnson, and supported by the denomination to reach 1,000,010 new disciples and plant 1,010 new churches by the year 2010. Recently God has begun to answer that prayer through an M. Div student at ETS who has responded to God's call upon his life to be a church planter. As a result, the CMMT has met to discuss how they and the Region can support this church plant and to help assure that it is successful.
For those who have been in our Region for some time, you know that it has been a long time since we made an attempt at planting a church. You are also probably aware that we do not have a very good track record when it comes to church planting, and that there has been some reluctance to make another effort. When the CMMT met to discuss this, the result was a desire to not just plant a new church, but to create a structure and vision for success. We also discerned that God was actually calling us to begin a church planting movement here in ABC-MI. As a result we decided that a few things needed to happen in order to have success:
That we need to do everything in our power to make sure that this time we are successful in church planting. This does not diminish the power of God to be at work, it simply indicates that we need to learn what we can about successful church planting models and to implement these models for our setting.
That we need to develop a vision for church planting, asking God to show us what he wants to accomplish through us and among us for this movement (the CMMT is meeting on March 12th to begin the process for discerning God's vision)
That this needs to be a movement, that we do not limit God to one church plant.
That we need to trust God as he leads us: to provide people resources, locations for the plants, financial resources, and local church prayer support
That we need to draw on the expertise of someone who has led successful church plants in the Midwest, and with a Baptist heritage.
That we need to do everything in our power to make sure that this time we are successful in church planting. This does not diminish the power of God to be at work, it simply indicates that we need to learn what we can about successful church planting models and to implement these models for our setting.
That we need to develop a vision for church planting, asking God to show us what he wants to accomplish through us and among us for this movement (the CMMT is meeting on March 12th to begin the process for discerning God's vision)
That this needs to be a movement, that we do not limit God to one church plant.
That we need to trust God as he leads us: to provide people resources, locations for the plants, financial resources, and local church prayer support
That we need to draw on the expertise of someone who has led successful church plants in the Midwest, and with a Baptist heritage.
To help us lead this movement successfully, we have scheduled this meeting with Rev. Rohrmayer with the following schedule:
8:30 - 9:00 Refreshments and Getting acquainted
9 - 10:30 Session #1 ? Igniting a New Movement of Churches
10:30 - 10:45 Break
10:45 - 12:15 Session #2 ? Capturing God's Assignment for Your Region
12:15 -1:00 Lunch ? catered by Covenant, cost $8/person
1:00 - 2:30 Session #3 ? Developing a Shared Vision and Healthy Systems
2:30 - 3:00 Session #4 ? Q & A
If you would like to join us on April 2nd, we need your R.S.V.P. by March 28 so we can plan appropriately for lunch and the materials to be distributed. The cost for lunch can be paid when you arrive on April 2nd when you pick up your materials.
The CMMT has asked the Consultant for Transitioning Ministries to provide initial leadership for the church planting movement. Therefore we ask that you send your R.S.V.P. to Rev. Tucker J. Gunneman at tgunneman@abc-mi.org. If you have questions about this meeting that you want answered before making a reservation, you can also reach Rev. Gunneman at 586.219.3392.
As we have been talking about this movement around the Region, we have been receiving a wonderful positive response! This is another sign that God is leading us in this direction. We have set the date of April 2nd to fit in with Dr. Williams' schedule to enable him to attend, and to provide an opportunity to meet the church planter.
We rejoice in seeing churches and pastors become healthier and more effective in building the Kingdom of God, and realize that he is at work in our midst. Church planting is just another means by which God is at work in our midst to build his kingdom. These are exciting days for ABC-MI. If you cannot join us, we ask that you continue to pray for our existing churches as well as a church planting movement.
CMMT