2012 Summit Update: Tuesday
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Tuesday morning opened with a brief worship time followed by devotions led by Larry Griswald who brought a word about encouragement. He shared from Acts 11 focusing on Barnabas and his ministry of encouraging the saints and said the attributes of encouragement demonstrated by Barnabas included: giving, advocating and a willingness to defer to other’s success.
First Morning Session
Morning sessions featured Dan Mucci, senior pastor of Abundant Life Church (ALC) in Glen Burnie, Maryland.
Dan’s opening session featured ‘The Seven Languages of Culture”: church, business, politics/government, education, family, arts & entertainment and media. He shared different ways his church ‘spoke’ these languages within the culture of their geographic region.
For example:
- Re: ‘Business”…ALC made an impact among the business community by joining the local chamber of commerce – and the only church to have done so.
- Re: Politics/Government….ALC went to a state Senator and offered to do a community project for their area. That resulted in recruiting 90 people from the church to paint a local school – in four hours. Volunteers from the church worked alongside community leaders outside the church giving them a chance to build relationships.
- Re: Media….Looked for creative ways to build media into their culture. Those included adding ‘giving ‘ kiosks to their lobby in order for people to give online, and also kiosks for posting on social media sites like Facebook.
Dan encouraged us to ‘listen to the concepts but to put it into individual contexts.” Also to ‘let things simmer and give them time to work.”
In transitioning from this session to the next Terry Hoggard said, “Be thankful for who’s in the house; then think who’s not and what you can do to get them there.”
For Dan’s complete powerpoint presentation of the first morning session click here: Session 1 – Dan
Second Morning Session
Dan’s second morning session was entitled, ‘Beyond The Four Walls’
Concepts Dan shared that helped his church take the mission beyond the walls of the church were:
Casting The Vision
Being ‘Others’ Minded
Unity on the Basics
Team Based
Worship That Calls on a Big God
Action-Oriented Leadership
Relevance to the Community
Discipleship based on enjoyment
Dan shared that it’s important for the church to understand the unchurched so that we can better relate to them and communicate with them. Assumptions he shared concerning the un-churched and how to reach them include:
God loves lost people
Most people don’t like church
Requires evangelism to be a value not a program
Church is boring (predictable)
Being outward focused is not normal
Requires resolute purpose
Requires unusually large emphasis on evangelism
Discipleship must be outward focused
Dan recommended a book called ‘Unlearning Church’ by Mike Slaughter.
Quote from Dan:
“We can create environments that are most conducive to discipling people at the various stages of spiritual formation:”
To the unchurched: positive Christian witness
To the curious: authentic hospitality
To the committed: small group discipleship
To the seasoned: one-on-one discipleship
To the sold out: Permission-giving ministry
Quote from Dan:
“We must make church simple.
If church isn’t do-able they won’t do it.”
Four Things We Do:
Worship God
Introduce Jesus
Love one another
Develop people who reproduce Christ in others.
For the complete powerpoint notes click here: Session 2 – Dan
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5:30 Session – Terry Hoggard
FEIC started with 10-12 churches. This year we should hit 51.
We don’t recruit, but we do welcome.
I-Youth Camp
Steve Gray shared about I-Youth Camp 2013 to be held in Austria.
More info at: https://www.facebook.com/iyouthrocks or here: www.iyouthcamp.org
Women’s Bible Studies
Caterina Chardome, in charge of Women’s Bible Studies at Brussels Christian Center, shared her testimony of finding God through Bible studies. Today she leads multiple Bible studies in Brussels and has a passion to see Europeans read and understand the treasures of God’s word. She expressed her willingness to come to fellow FEIC churches and help inspire other leaders to do the same in their churches and cities. Resources Caterina shared include:
Beth Moore:
www.lproof.org
Stonecroft Ministries Bible Studies: www.stonecroft.org/elithica2/bible_studies.php
To contact Caterina for more information e-mail her at: [email protected]
Kids Ministry Network
Larry Blakeslee shared about his children’s ministry initiative: Kids Ministry Network..
Shared core values:
Promote relationships among European Children’s workers
Identify and solve European children’s ministry issues
Share expertise to enhance creative ministry issues
Motivate and develop volunteers.
Provide regional on-site training
Create and share copyright-free curriculum
Train workers for local children’s outreaches
Utilize the website for media distribution and connection
Larry is encouraging children’s pastors/ministers throughtout the network to connect relationally and for training opportunities. For more information about his network see: www.firststepministries.net
or e-mail [email protected]
Evening Session
Worship led by Chapa Ginder and team from Vienna.
Pastor Tony spoke using the scripture: Romans 8
“Our God Is The God Who Is Able To Change Our Obvious Destinies”
Tony shared his testimony of God radically changing this destiny from an angry young man to a called minister of the Gospel.
Quote from Tony:
“If God changed Jacob’s destiny he can change ours.”
Spoke of Jabez whose name meant ‘pain’ and ‘trouble-maker’. “But God “– Jabez called on the God of Israel and prayed. ‘Lord that you would extend my borders…”
Spoke of Biblical truths being taken away by European theologians who explained away miracles and power of God. God taught him how to pray for people to deliver them. People are trying to find the answer. We have the answer and the authority.
Quote from Tony:
“The church in Europe must be a church of power.”
