Tim Boal, executive director of Go2 Ministries, the church-planting arm of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, issued a call to pray on Tuesday as he met with representatives of Grace Brethren districts from around the U.S. “We want to plant churches,” he said. “If we don’t get serious, we won’t have a part in a great commission harvest,” he added as he introduced the Circles of Grace program to the pastors. “The Lord is the Lord of the harvest,” he stressed. “He is the one who will make it happen.”
Circles of Grace has a goal of 500,000 people praying for the 1,765 metro areas, or circles of grace, in America. Boal encouraged the Grace Brethren pastors to begin thinking about church planting by praying for an area — that God would raise up a church planter to begin a work in that area, that funding would become available, and that people would come to know Christ as a result.
He said that everyone one could be involved in this process. “I don’t want any of our churches to think they can’t ‘pray the Lord of the harvest’ because they aren’t very big,” he stressed. “It’s about, ‘can your church pray?'”
The Summit ended Tuesday afternoon as the men gathered to consider how they could carry out the project in their own regions. Pastors came to the Orlando meeting location from as far away as Alaska and California, representing most regional districts in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.