The landscape is changing. In the past, local churches were once caught up in comparative tactics and the keeping up with each other, only to miss the Greater Mission of the Church. That is: to reach out to those who are far from God, divorced from a relationship with Christ, and develop them into fully-devoted followers of Christ.
Churches once thought the heart of church growth for an Acts 2 biblically-functioning community was meant to be transfer growth (sheep swapping) from an existing pool of churched believers. Churches once saw a new church opening up in their area as a threat to their "mission field." They once thought they needed to match area churches brick for brick, event for event, staff for staff, and program for program. Pastors once believed they could only learn from churches more than fifty miles away, or be generous in spirit toward the growth of churches in other cities. However, be encouraged. The landscape is changing.
At Renewal Church in North Tonawanda, we just experienced #BoxesofLoveNT where 3 area churches of different denomination strains came together to share the love of Christ in a practical way to NINETY deserving families in the public school system. Why? Because we are #ONEfor14120. We believe that the Gospel of Christ can change the spiritual climate of this region. We see it happening before our very eyes!
At Randall Church in Williamsville, we are about to see the regional body of Christ unite in a profound way. There is now an open door for insight and encouragement at Randall from an additional voice, as the Randall Elders continue through the Lead Pastor search process. Knowing that the time would come in January 2016 where pulpit supply would be necessary, the Elders have been working together with Lead Pastor Dan Trippie from Restoration Church for number of months planning through what interdependency among churches, for a such a time as this, might look like.
During this transition, Pastor Dan and the Restoration Church pastoral teaching will be rotating in with our Church elders bi-weekly to cover the preaching and teaching responsibilities here, while the search process is in motion. What an answer to prayer! Church family, lean in close and listen, because this likely may not have happened in years past. The landscape is changing.
Since conversion growth, as opposed to transfer growth, is the goal, it doesn't matter whether a thousand new churches open their doors on our streets. It doesn't matter if fifty other churches have programming as good as ours. Since we are to be companions, not competitors, our mission is the same. Our ambitions are the same. Our resource pool for leadership is the same. For that I am thoroughly and wholeheartedly grateful! I look forward to serving in the coming year with you. It's sure nice to have friends!
Milo Wilson
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