Several leaders from GCI-USA recently attended a meeting in Dallas, Texas of the Church Planting Leadership Fellowship (CPLF). These meetings are hosted twice a year by LifeWay to advance church planting in North America and beyond.
Here are excerpts from a meeting report by LifeWay leader and meeting host, Ed Stetzer:
What could happen if we gathered together a large room full of the most significant and influential church planting leaders in the country? That was the question I asked myself a few years ago. It occurred to me that leaders who lead church planting efforts at the denominational and network level do not have a peer learning community. There is not a safe place for them to gather together, learn from one another, be friends with each other, and seek ways to see the gospel advanced as churches are planted.
Our topic for [the recent gathering] was Church Planting Networks. We wanted to understand what made the most effective networks function so well. What systems were in place to help them prosper? What theologies and ideologies undergirded their success? How was their leadership structured and what vision did they share? These and a number of other questions were answered by some of the great church planting leaders of our day.
Presenters included several leaders with extensive experience in leading church planting networks: Dave Fergusen (at right in the picture with host Ed Stetzer), Matt Chandler, James MacDonald and Bob Roberts. GCI participants were GCI Church Multiplication Ministries coordinator Heber Ticas; and GCI-USA regional pastors Randy Bloom, Mike Rasmussen and Ted Johnston.
The CPLF meeting was of particular significance for GCI in that we are actively forming church planting networks in the United States. As shown in the diagram at right, these networks are made up of several GCI churches that partner to support church planting within their area and beyond through providing prayer, encouragement, financial support, assessment, coaching and training.
To learn more about GCI’s church planting networks, click here, and watch this video:
On YouTube at http://youtu.be/8bD_FaBbh2g.
