{"id":8482,"date":"2014-05-20T00:00:54","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T00:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=8482"},"modified":"2018-11-03T20:22:28","modified_gmt":"2018-11-03T20:22:28","slug":"planting-conference-looks-to-intercultural-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2014\/planting-conference-looks-to-intercultural-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Planting Conference Looks Toward an Intercultural Church"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A painting by Dave Weiss illustrates the theme of the church planting conference.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Church of the Brethren planters and those interested in church planting gathered for the 2014 conference, \u201cPlant Generously, Reap Bountifully–Toward an Intercultural Future.\u201d The conference is offered every two years, sponsored by Congregational Life Ministries and the New Church Development Advisory Committee.<\/p>\n

Held May 15-17 in Richmond, Ind., with hosting from Bethany Theological Seminary, the gathering used Rev. 7:9 as a focus for conversation about developing church plants and revitalizing existing congregations to reflect the intercultural nature of the vision of Revelation.<\/p>\n

Find a photo album from the conference at www.bluemelon.com\/churchofthebrethren\/2014churchplantingconference<\/a> . The Twitter conversation from the event is found via the hashtag #cobplant .<\/p>\n

Speakers point to the multicultural environment<\/strong><\/p>\n

The two keynote speakers, Efrem Smith and Alejandro (Alex) Mandes, spoke from their own experience as church planters. Smith is president and CEO of World Impact, an urban missions organization committed to the empowerment of the urban poor through the facilitation of church planting movements and leadership development, and previously was superintendent of the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church. Mandes is director of Hispanic Ministries for the Evangelical Free Church of America, and has planted three churches.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/small>
Efrem Smith speaks at the 2014 church planting conference.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Smith called for work to prepare the church for the kingdom of God. Referencing images from parables told by Jesus in the gospel of Matthew, he recalled the story of bridesmaids waiting for the groom to come to the wedding, who must keep their oil lamps full and burning. He compared church planters to bridesmaids whose job is to prepare the bride–that is the church–for the coming of the kingdom of God. \u201cWe must have a kingdom passion and a kingdom urgency,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Church planting also can be compared to the slaves in another parables, whose master gave them money to care for and invest in his absence, Smith said. God is investing in us as \u201ckingdom capital,\u201d he told the gathering. Every time someone is saved, or helped, by the church, that \u201ckingdom capital\u201d is growing. Church plants need to be expanding the work of the kingdom of God, which is marked by compassion and justice, he emphasized.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what will really lead to healthy church planting,\u201d Smith said, \u201cwhen the whole gospel is embraced…. When it\u2019s about helping the hurting, blessing the broken, liberating the enslaved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, in an evening message, Smith explicitly called churches and new church plants to be about the work of \u201cdeveloping missional ministries of compassion.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/small>
Alejandro (Alex) Mandes shares a sense of urgency about the need for the church \u201cto be able to see like Jesus sees\u201d and to see the treasure, creativity, and power that God is bringing through people from many different backgrounds.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mandes expressed a similar sense of urgency. Speaking out of the context of Hispanic America, and the immigrant population in the United States, he shared his concern that the church has a \u201cspiritual blindness\u201d to the new people\u00a0populating the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have learned to love the differences in the body of Christ,\u201d Mandes said, as he urged new church planters and pastors of existing congregations to look around them for the opportunities offered by the changing dynamics of the nation. \u201cWe have to really get this, because otherwise it will be our undoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retelling John\u2019s story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well, he pointed to her ability to bring her whole community to meet Jesus, and the disciples\u2019 inability to see her gifts, much less to see her as a person. He compared her to the people from many different parts of the world who are\u00a0living in\u00a0the United States. They deserve regard as individuals, and the church is called to welcome them and their gifts. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t the disciples see?\u201d he asked. \u201cWhy aren\u2019t we seeing? Why aren\u2019t our churches seeing? Why don\u2019t we see the Samaritans around us?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something very special that God is doing today\u201d in the United States, Mandes said, referring to the many different people who are being brought together in this country. \u201cBut our denominations are missing it…. Are we also falling into the trap of not seeing it?\u201d America has a history of trying to get rid of people who are inconvenient, he noted, but \u201cI think there is a treasure in that new group.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bedrock of the biblical foundation, he reminded the conference, is \u201cto be able to see like Jesus sees\u201d and to see the treasure, creativity, and power that God is bringing to our shores. \u201cWe can be one church of 31 flavors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worship, Bible study, workshops round out a packed schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/small>
A prayer circle at one of the church planting conferences that are sponsored by Congregational Life Ministries.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Worship services, a Bible study of Revelation, and a plethora of in-depth workshops and short \u201cMustard Seed\u201d presentations by a number of different presenters rounded out the packed schedule. Also a highlight was a service of blessing for church planters and prospective planters.<\/p>\n

A Bible study presentation on the book of Revelation, as background for the intercultural ministries theme scripture text Rev. 7:9, was given by Dan Ulrich, Bethany Seminary\u2019s Wieand Professor of New Testament Studies. His review of the book laid bare much of the symbolism of the Lamb and the Tree of Life that closes the Bible on a note of hope for all nations and peoples.<\/p>\n

Annual Conference moderator Nancy Sollenberger Heishman gave the message for the opening worship. A panel of three spoke for the closing worship: Congregational Life Ministries executive Jonathan Shively, former Annual Conference moderator and Harrisburg (Pa.) First Church of the Brethren pastor Belita Mitchell, and Joel Pena, pastor of Alpha and Omega Church of the Brethren in Lancaster, Pa.<\/p>\n

Communion was part of the opening worship, and the sharing of prayers was part of closing worship. At the end of the last worship service of the conference, participants each wrote down a prayer request on a card. The cards were then handed out to other participants to take home and pray over in coming days.<\/p>\n

For more about the church planting movement in the Church of the Brethren, and the work of the New Church Development Advisory Committee, go to www.brethren.org\/churchplanting<\/a> . The movement has made a commitment to cultivate networks and infrastructure to support 250 new church starts by 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Church of the Brethren planters and those interested in church planting gathered for the 2014 conference, \u201cPlant Generously, Reap Bountifully–Toward an Intercultural Future.\u201d The conference is offered every two years, sponsored by Congregational Life Ministries and the New Church Development Advisory Committee. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1268,1271,806,1274],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-8482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bethany-seminary","tag-church-planting","tag-congregational-life-ministries","tag-intercultural"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8482"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8487,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8482\/revisions\/8487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8482"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=8482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}