We’re setting aside the last weekend in May (29-31st) for for church pastors and growers interested in joining us here on the Central Coast to talk ministry.

With some regularity we get people asking about the ministries of EV (formally Central Coast Evangelical Church) – what we are doing and why and how. People have a particular interest in the matrix structure we run and how we have staffed for specialist ministry areas rather than just establishing congregational pastors, but they also ask about everything from evangelism processes, through to children’s ministries.

We’ve been wondering what to do with this interest and have decided to set aside the last weekend in May (29-31st) for anyone interested to join us here on the Central Coast to talk ministry. We’ve put together a program that covers everything from evangelism programs, through incorporating new people and believers, maturing and discipling believers, building ministry participation (the volunteer revolution) through to tailoring services for different audiences (we presently run 5 different services). The program will also include time on focus ministries like children’s, youth, men and women’s work.

It probably doesn’t need to be said, but we’ll say it anyway! We are very far from being the experts and are aware of our particular situation and context that God has used to grow the work here. We are not the only way to grow churches! But there may be something of value if you are interested.

And ultimately, the only reason we decided to take this step and make a weekend of it is that we believe it might mean a group may gather (already a number have indicated they will be coming) that will want to talk more broadly about growing churches in our Australian context and might be able to use EV as a starting point for that discussion .

To that end, we’ve invited leaders from other churches similar to ours to provide some input.

We expect it will be a useful time for chewing over how to ground churches in strong theology and yet still grow them in culturally relevant ways.

The draft program below indicates the breadth of areas we will cover. You can choose to focus in on areas you are particularly interested in.

We can happily organise billeting or provide information on hotel accommodation. The Central Coast is a beautiful place to hang out!

If this is of interest to you, please email Tony Mitchell. He  can send you further info or answer any queries.

For the name of Christ,
Andrew Heard

Draft Program:

Consider theology, principles, strategies of ministry practice – and how they developed.

Saturday
Sat 11am to 12:30pm: Welcome, overview and set scene. Andrew Heard.
Sat 12:30pm to 1pm:  Lunch.
Sat 1pm to 2pm: Reaching the lost – mission strategy, practice.
Sat 2pm to 3pm: The public face – church services.
Sat 3pm to 4pm:  Incorporating people into church.
Sat 4pm to 5pm: Developing Mature believers.
Free time to attend SatEV service and dinner – then break? Further discussion?

Sunday
Sunday Morning:  Attend 8.30 and/or 10.30 service.
Sun 12pm to 1pm: Lunch.
Sun 1pm to 2pm:  Congregational Focus..
Sun 2pm to 3pm:  Review the Admin engine of church. Consider all things admin. Budgeting, pay structures, processes…
Sun 3pm to 4pm:  Growing people into ministry; building ministry teams and keeping them.
Sun 4pm to 5pm:   Youth and Children.
Sun 5pm to 6pm:    BBQ Tea.
Free time to attend night service and/or visit with a staff member to pursue further thoughts, issues?

Monday
Mon 8:30am to 10:30am:   Debrief and Q & A with the staff.

~ by Saturday EV on May 7, 2010 in

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