When the Commitment to Common Mission document was developed at the Charis international encounter in Germany the summer of 2008, it then fell to each of the continental representatives to introduce it and promote it among the churches of their region of the world. In the United States, among the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches (FGBC), the document has been examined, discussed, and endorsed by the Fellowship Council and a framework has been developed to implement it, called the Enduring Visionary Leadership Community, or EVLC. Three point persons have been appointed to oversee and implement over the next decade the three emphasis areas of church planting and evangelism, leadership development, and integrated (holistic) ministries.
Church Planting and Evangelism
Dave Guiles, executive director of Grace Brethren International Missions in Winona Lake, Ind., is leading the church planting and evangelism area. According to Guiles, his group’s purpose statement is that, by 2020, “our network of churches is known primarily by the quantity, fruitfulness, and diversity of the churches we are planting.”
The leadership group serving with Guiles includes Tim Boal of Go2 Church Planting, Nathan Bryant from GBC Canada, Neil Cole of Church Multiplication Associates, and Tony Webb of Vision Ohio.
The group’s strategy, according to Guiles, includes telling “stories that celebrate and affirm the full spectrum of gifts and ministries that Jesus is giving to His church and thus establish new, biblical standards of faithfulness and success.”
The group is calling upon the FGBC to consider ways in which the current statement of faith might be phrased to demonstrate the values we have in common with the global evangelical movement. They also strongly support the work of the task force on leadership training in their e?orts to create church-based learning communities.
They also support the task force on integrated ministries in affirming the need for a practical theology of presence and proclamation that leads to constructive engagement with the world. And they are especially excited about reaching out to a generation of emerging leaders. Recently they held a by-invitation-only encounter to cast vision, to network, and to equip a new generation of leaders who share the vision of church planting.
Guiles asks that people pray that the group models what it teaches. He envisions a covenant group of leaders championing church planting who will connect regularly, pray for one another, speak well of one another, and enjoy time with one another.
“Pray that we serve the Great Commission community and the FGBC well,” Guiles asks.
Leadership Development
Tom Julien, former executive director of Grace Brethren International Missions and now one of the pastors at the Winona Lake, Ind., Grace Brethren Church, is leading the leadership training group. That leadership development team’s purpose, according to Julien, is “to infuse an equipping culture into the churches of the FGBC, offering every member of our churches the possibility of rising to his or her spiritual potential through training that mobilizes for ministry, leading to spiritual maturity (Eph. 4:11-16).” An equipping church, Julien further points out, is not just a church where leaders do ministry, but one where ministry leaders equip others to do ministry.
Members of the team working with Julien include Mike Yoder, recently called to pastor the Worthington, Ohio, church; Dave Lawson from the Wooster, Ohio, church; Keith Shearer of the Myerstown, Pa., church; and Pastor Randy Smith from the Sebring, Fla., church. Julien anticipates adding about ?ve additional members during the coming year. The group’s long-range goal is to have 60 churches throughout the FGBC committed to being a part of the Grace Brethren E-Net (Network of Equipping Churches) in the next ten years.
Several strategies will be employed to reach that goal. Six churches will be recruited by autumn 2011 to be pilot churches for the E-Net format. They will seek to infuse and implement an equipping culture in each church, will seek to develop meaningful relationships between area churches and equippers, and will provide adequate training for equippers. The goal is to increase this number of equipping churches by six each year. Each E-Net church will ?nd a coordinator who will create a team to oversee the training ministry, will develop a core curriculum built on the principles of 2 Timothy 1:13-14 and 2:2, and will commit to collaborating with other churches and leaders.
Julien requests prayer that God will instill into the churches of the FGBC a vision of the glory of the church as re?ected in Ephesians 4:9-16. Further, he asks prayer for guidance of the coordinators of the six pilot ENet churches, and that there will be effective teamwork between coordinators of various E-Net churches. And ?nally, he requests prayer that there will be effective networking between the pilot E-Net churches and other churches of their areas, resulting in an exchange of equippers and learners.
Integrated Ministries
The third area, integrated ministries, is being led by Clancy Cruise, pastor of the Marysville, Ohio, Grace Brethren Church. This team’s purpose, according to Cruise, includes developing a basic de?nition and biblical rationale for integrated ministries, developing a practical theology of “presence” and “proclamation” that leads to constructive and redemptive engagement with the world, identifying ministries that bridge the gap between churches and their communities, and developing ways for people to share ideas and resources in helping get the gospel to their communities. Cruise’s initial leadership team, which also anticipates adding new members soon, includes Dan O’Deens of Parkesburg, Pa.; Stephen Joyce of Washington, D.C.; and Jay Bell, who serves with Grace Brethren International Missions and is on the pastoral staff of the Winona Lake, Ind., Grace Brethren Church. Cruise is focusing current recruitment efforts on additional people–particularly younger leaders–to join the team. Cruise says the long-range goal is “a transfer of DNA from churches who have found ways to bridge the divide between their people and their city to churches that want to bridge that gap.” He envisions helping churches and people connect with others who are likeminded. Cruise believes the FGBC has some very innovative ministries and he desires to share stories and ideas from those ministries with others.
The strategy of the integrated ministries group includes helping each church discover the needs they can meet, and then helping them strategize on how best to implement that ministry. “Connect those doing it well with those who wish to do it” is how Cruise describes the strategy. Cruise asks prayer that God would give to everyone the heart of compassion Christ had for those who are “harassed, like sheep without a shepherd.” He also asks prayer for “the younger set” who want to start churches utilizing integrated ministries. “They need our experience and w e need them,” he says. And ?nally, Cruise asks prayer for honest, mature dialogue on the issue of integrated ministries at the upcoming Wooster conference. He says, “I am looking forward to conference as a place to engage in tough discussion about being salt and light.”