The Renovation of the Church When we let go of our visions of what success looks like, and if we are able to face ourselves and our own woundedness, there is great potential for God to move in our lives and in our ministries. As co-pastors of Oak Hills Church in Folsom, California, Kent Carlson…

In stressful times, everyone wishes for a silver bullet: one simple way out of a difficult mess, one thing to do to resolve interlocking problems. Every parent of a troubled teen searches desperately for one mentor or one school that will get the beloved child back on track. In troubled marriages, the couple often searches…

In this short video from the 2014 Gathering, Michael Homan introduces Katherine Alsdorf and her talk “The Church Scattered: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work.” And asks what does it look like for a community shaped in reformed theology to be the church not only gathered but scattered into the work?

In this short video from the 2014 Gathering, Michael Homan introduces Katherine Alsdorf and her talk “The Church Scattered: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work.” And asks what does it look like for a community shaped in reformed theology to be the church not only gathered but scattered into the work?  

“Connecting Your Work to God’s Work” Katherine Alsdorf unpacks how a faith and work ministry will help you and your church move forward in the values that ECO and the Fellowship put forth. She lines out three reason why your church should make a major commitment to faith and work ministry regardless of the size…

“Shaped By Shared Leadership” True community empowers every member to embrace his or her role. Instead of a single leader assuming responsibility, Ephesians 4 offers a model of what greater ministry engagement and impact looks like when everyone gets in the game. Alan Hirsch explains why the reformed church should be continually reforming according to…

“Creative in Community” What are the five key elements in creating biblical community? Most church leaders have a general understanding of community, but few understand how the church, in a desire to be effective, has actually inoculated itself against community. The “solution has become the problem” for many North American congregations. Discover the “secret sauce”…

Pastor Covenant Groups As pastors, elders, staff, and congregational leaders, what are we consuming or being consumed by that affects our call to follow Jesus and lead others? Anna Kent, Jim Singleton and others look at the overall health of pastor and church leaders and explore practical ways to nourish our continued growth as leaders of…

“Shaped by Challenge” True community is steeped in mission, not comfort. When our churches seek the comfort of community first, we end up not taking risks. But when we make mission primary, we ultimately gain far deeper community by banding together through the bumps and challenges of staying on-mission. Alan Hirsch speaks at the 2014…

“Moving Toward the Mess” If the “business” of ministry was all we had to worry about, life would be much simpler. Gospel ministry always involves people who are in real need; however, the call to gospel ministry will take us places we never dreamed we would go. The Triune God goes with us: Father, Son,…

One of the highlights of summer vacation is the opportunity to experience the body of Christ at worship; I’m always energized by the sense that I’m part of the family, even though I don’t know a soul.   I shared this experience with my parents one Sunday on a recent family vacation. We arrived 20 minutes…

God called Abraham from a family of idol worshippers to be a blessing to the nations, yet he and his wife were unlikely candidates for this extraordinary task! The Creator God always establishes his missional plan through unlikely people and unlikely circumstances. In this video from the 2014 National Gathering in Houston, Carol Kaminski unpacks the beginning of the mission of God in Genesis.

Aspen trees grow in groves… birthed from a single seedling. Their roots are deep, and their reach is so large that new trees will often appear great distances away. Individual aspen trees may live up to 150 years, but when one tree dies, the grove lives on by sending up new shoots. This is an…

In May, leaders of The Fellowship of Presbyterians and Presbyterians for Renewal (PFR) unanimously approved a new and exciting vision—to combine the strengths of both existing organizations into one new ministry that will continue and promote a faithful, evangelical witness within the PC(USA) and reach across denominational lines to form a community of disciples of…

True community follows and imitates the character of Jesus. When Jesus Christ is the center of our lives and making disciples is the center of our church mission, community stops being about us and starts being a movement. During the 2014 National Gathering Alan Hirsch talks about being re-calibrated to being shaped by Jesus. Do we need another reformation or a refounding? Let the Founder, Jesus, define us fundamentally once again.

One of the founding values of both the Fellowship and ECO is to support the health of congregations through Mission Affinity Groups (MAGs). Explore the impact of MAGs and how congregations are being transformed through these relationships. In this video from the 2014 National Gathering Anna Kent explores the health of the community and the…

One of the challenges of our day is that the relationship of the culture and the church is changing almost monthly. Is there a new picture we need for a new day? As we talk about moving from “Consumerism to Community” during the National Gathering Jim Singleton challenges us about our approach to changes. Where is God moving you?

We’ve taken Jim Singleton’s workshop from the National Gathering titled “What Game Are We Playing?” on the health of the community and leaders and made it into a downloadable pdf file for you.

We believe Jesus Christ must be at the center of our lives and making disciples of Jesus at the core of our ministry. …yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom…

by Jeff J. Meyers Our New Members class at North Avenue Presbyterian Church has always presented a bit of a challenge to our staff. How do we turn church shoppers – folks who have been going from church to church comparing the quality of children’s programs, rating the pastor’s preaching style, evaluating the ease of…