Category: Church Development

In an article on the GCI website, GCI president Joseph Tkach addresses our shared mission and vision as churches journeying together by the Spirit in Grace Communion International. The article begins with this statement:

Though churches must embrace certain business practices, the biblical model for leading the church is that of a shepherd or farmer rather than a business executive. This does not mean that we are called to sit back and do nothing. However, it explains why my approach is not to cast a vision but to gather a vision.

To read the full article, go to http://www.gci.org/aboutus/mission2.

Each issue of the new digital version of Equipper has several articles linked in the right-hand column of each page. Here are the articles in the current (March) issue—click on the link to read each one:

• Keys for renewal in our churches (from Greg Williams)
• Ministry rhythms that lead to renewal (from Heber Ticas)
• Recommended discipleship resource (from Calvin Simon)
• Here’s what renewal looks like (from Rick Shallenberger)
• Sermon summary: Forget being forgotten (from Lance McKinnon)
• Announcement: using the new Equipper (from Ted Johnston)

Here is a video update on GCI’s Intern Program from program coordinator Jeff McSwain:

On YouTube at http://youtu.be/J7to2leIFRA

The calling to serve the body of Christ as a pastor brings with it a call to high ethical standards that flow from the New Testament exhortations to pastors/elders/overseers—see, for example, 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9.

It is common (and appropriate) for Christian institutions and denominations to follow these biblical instructions in publishing a code of ethics for elders. The National Association of Evangelicals has done so in a code of ethics for pastors (http://nae.net/code-of-ethics-for-pastors/) as has Grace Communion International in a code of ethics for elders (http://www.gci.org/church/ministry/codeethics).

Candidates for ordination as elders and for appointment as pastors, pastoral team members and fellowship group facilitators within GCI in the U.S. complete an application that includes affirmation that their behavior aligns with and will continue to align with GCI’s code of ethics for elders.

Our thanks to these men and women for their commitment to live and minister in this way. In doing so, they lead us by example in the way of Jesus. Let us all pray for them in this great responsibility.

After being published for over 10 years as an email publication, Equipper has “gone digital”—now being published online at http://equipper.gci.org/. Each issue of this monthly ezine has multiple articles on a variety of topics related to equipping pastors, ministry leaders and ministry workers for their service with Christ in and through his body on earth, the church.

Three 2016 issues of Equipper are now posted at the new online site:

• The January issue addressing our 2016 theme of congregational renewal
• The February issue addressing renewal in our fellowship groups
• The March issue addressing renewal in our chartered churches

If you did not recently receive from CAD an email notifying you that the March issue of Equipper had been published, you may subscribe to that email notification service by emailing Equipper editor Ted Johnston at Ted.Johnston@gci.org (note that you wish to be subscribed to Equipper).

You may, of course, read Equipper any time online at http://equipper.gci.org/. The new issue is posted there on the first day of each month (or the Monday following).

Anthony Mullins, national coordinator for GCI’s Generations Ministries, announced that GenMin has published its teaching curriculum to be used in its 2016 camps. The curriculum, written by GCI’s Intern Program national coordinator Jeff McSwain, is titled Celebrate the Grip.

This curriculum provides material that is readily adaptable in developing a sermon or discipleship series. Anthony comments:

Talk about some good preaching material! I encourage our pastors and other preachers to use the 2016 camp curriculum for sermon ideas before and after the camp in your area. Why not make the sermon theme Celebrate the Grip in your church during the month when your local camp falls? Invite the campers and those who serve on the volunteer staff to share their camp stories at your church. It’s another way to show the symbiotic relationship between church and camp.

To download the Celebrate the Grip curriculum, click here.

With recent developments in biblical studies and science, pastors and others are often wanting to address the topic of integrating modern science and Scripture. Is it even possible? This is a large topic, but the video below, produced by BioLogos, provides a helpful narrative structure to guide the discussion.

On YouTube at http://youtu.be/ZqgnJ1GR8ms

The presenter on the video is Leonard J. Vander Zee a leader in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) of North America. He is editor in chief for Faith Alive Christian Resources. He previously pastored churches in Indiana, Michigan, Iowa and New York. He is the author of “In Life and In Death: A Pastoral Guide for Funerals” (CRC Publications, 1992) and “More Than Words: Prayer as a Way of Life, a Leader’s Guide” (CRC Publications, 1995). His articles have appeared in The Banner, Reformed Worship, Perspectives and Christianity Today.

There are many articles on the GCI website that address the topic of the Bible and science. See for example the article at http://www.gci.org/science/choose. The subject is also addressed on The Surprising God blog in these posts:

• http://thesurprisinggodblog.gci.org/2009/04/trinitarian-theology-and-theistic.html
• http://thesurprisinggodblog.gci.org/2014/09/examining-origins-debate.html
• http://thesurprisinggodblog.gci.org/2014/09/examining-origins-debate-part-2.html
• http://thesurprisinggodblog.gci.org/2014/10/examining-origins-debate-part-3.html
• http://thesurprisinggodblog.gci.org/2014/10/examining-origins-debate-part-4.html
• http://thesurprisinggodblog.gci.org/2014/10/examining-origins-debate-part-5.html
• http://thesurprisinggodblog.gci.org/2014/11/examining-origins-debate-part-6.html
• http://thesurprisinggodblog.gci.org/2014/11/examining-origins-debate-part-7.html
• http://thesurprisinggodblog.gci.org/2014/11/examining-origins-debate-part-8.html
• http://thesurprisinggodblog.gci.org/2014/11/god-and-evolution.html

God has richly blessed GCI with hundreds of faithful pastoral leaders. For them we give thanks! And we also thank God for their spouses—the wives and husbands who make great sacrifices, bearing significant burdens to support their spouses’ ministries. In honor of our ministry spouses (most of whom are women), wanting us all to be aware of the challenges they face, and wanting to extend encouragement to those spouses themselves, we recommend reading these two articles:

• “The Pastor’s Wife: The Forgotten Church Member” by Tricia Reyes
• “Six Ways Ministry Spouses Get Hurt” by Thom Rainer

According to Christian author and teacher Mike Breen, “The reason the missional movement may fail is because most people/communities in the Western church are pretty bad at making disciples.”

According to Breen, while it’s laudable to have a passion for mission (and thus to be “missional” in outlook), it’s a mistake to overlook the “engine of mission,” which is discipleship—making disciples in accordance with Jesus’ command (Matthew 28:18-20) and the example set by Jesus’ apostles and their companions as they followed the Holy Spirit throughout the Roman Empire, multiplying disciples of Jesus as they went.

• To read more from Breen on this important topic, click here.
• For resources that help churches participate with Jesus in his disciplemaking ministry, click here.

February in the U.S. is Black History Month, which celebrates the substantial contributions that African Americans have made to the nation’s development. For a letter from Joseph Tkach on how “historically black churches” have contributed significantly to “the continuity of the Christian faith,” click here. For other resources to aid congregations in celebrating Black History Month, click here and here.