Ecclesia People

Bill Cummings is the director of Lemonade International, a nonprofit organization based in Raleigh, NC. Educating and empowering people in the largest urban slum in Central America – La Limonada in Guatemala City. http://www.lemonadeinternational.org

Last year (2010) was my first Ecclesia Network National Gathering. It was different than any other church/ministry/leadership conference I had ever been to. In a good way.I couldn’t begin to count or even recall all the conferences I have been to over the years. It’s almost embarrassing to think of all the money spent on sitting among hundreds (and in many cases thousands) of peers from all over the country who gathered in mostly non-relational settings to listen to elite-level leaders who had achieved more “success” in ministry than most in the room could ever imagine.

I know a lot of pastors who attend 3-4 of these conferences a year. They are so engaged in leading their local churches and attending conferences to learn to lead better that I often wonder if they understand much of real life outside of the context of leading a local church.

After years of doing that myself I was “conferenced out”. It had been a few years since I attended a conference. But at the invitation of Todd Hiestand, I decided to give the Ecclesia Network National Gathering a shot. Todd told me it was different. He said it was real, relational and relevant (he sounded like Rick Warren when he said it though… using the three “Rs” and all).

Even after Todd’s invitation I was reluctant to attend because I’m not currently local church leader nor a church planter. That was my past life. I now lead a nonprofit organization called Lemonade International (@lemonadeintl on twitter) that serves people living in an urban slum community in Guatemala City. I wasn’t sure how the Ecclesia Network gathering would fit in the context of what I do. But Todd assured me that it would be a great fit. He was right. And I wasn’t disappointed.

Here are some things that stood out to me:

• The setting for the conference was so casual and the facilitators and speakers were regular people, who shared rich insights and honest challenges from their life and ministry journey.
• There was a deep sense of community among the attendees. So many spoke of it feeling like a family reunion. For me it felt like a new family I was in the process of being adopted into.
• Every speaker shared about challenges they had experienced or were experiencing at the time. None of them came across as self-proclaimed experts who had it all figured out and were there so we could figure it out too.
• The conversations and connections made outside of the official sessions were just as meaningful, if not more at times, than what happened during the scheduled time.
• The attendees and speakers were passionate about following Jesus and leading others to follow him in the context of community.
• It was clear that there were very different theological positions represented by the members of the network, but it was also clear that the relationships the members have and their commitment to live and lead as followers of Jesus run much deeper than those positions.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am really excited that John Perkins will be a featured speaker at this year’s National Gathering, but I had made my decision to return long before I learned that. I am returning this year because I am looking forward to strengthening relationships, learning from peers and from those who’ve walked this path longer than I have, and sharing in the passion of God’s call for the church to function as centers of reconciliation.I hope to see you at the gathering.

You can find more information and register for the national gathering here.

Ben Sternke is a pastor in Fort Wayne, IN at Christ Church. 

Since the inception of our church plant, we have been part of a remarkable group of people and churches called The Ecclesia Network. This year our national gathering will be held March 5-7, 2012 near Washington, D.C. The focus this time is on how our churches can function as centers of reconciliation, where we learn through the power of the Spirit to live as one reconciled family of God across racial, economic, and generational lines. John Perkins, Ivy Beckwith, AJ Swoboda and others will join us for three days of conversation, learning, discussion, and prayer.

I’ll be attending the gathering again this year (with my 14-year-old son!), but not out of a sense of obligation because we belong to a network. I’ll be going because this isn’t like other conferences I’ve been to. There is a passionate desire among the organizers and attendees to simply equip people to join God in what he’s doing in their respective local contexts, and that comes through every single year.

You can read my reflections from the gatherings in 2010 and 2011 to get a feel for what they’ve been like in the past, but here are a few reasons I’ll be attending again this year:

• There really are no superstars (even when Dallas Willard was there). There is a remarkable lack of insecure posturing on the part of the leaders who attend, and the special speakers we invite in are always very accessible for conversations (which is part of the reason we cap gathering attendance). It always feels like an extended conversation with friends and allies in kingdom mission.
• I always learn something. We’re not simply gathering to affirm what all of us already know. There is in the atmosphere of the gathering a genuine desire to grow and learn.
• It always kind of feels like a family reunion. It’s a relationalnetwork, and this shines through at the national gathering.
• Robust missional ecclesiology is combined with rooted incarnational expression in a way I’ve not seen before. As my friendJR Rozko said, “I’ve never experienced an event or a group of people that is so capable of engaging in serious theological discourse without losing sight of its irrelevance apart from incarnational expression.”
• The value of men and women co-laboring in all aspects of ministry is expressed concretely and consistently. This is one of the things I love most about the Ecclesia Network generally.
• There is a precious openness to the activity of the Holy Spiritthat is starting to bear very good fruit in the network.

So that’s why I’ll be there. Maybe you want to come too! You can register here, and if you plan to come, let me know so I can meet you while we’re there together.

I used to be a conference junkie. Straight out of college and anxious (though I never would have admitted it) to be the next big thing, I though that if I hit enough conferences, rubbed shoulders with big-shot speakers, and played my cards right, I’d be well on my way. What can I say, I was 22 and still naive enough to believe that personal ambition, so long as it was “for God,” was a noble quality as opposed to a liability.

I’m not 22 anymore – I’m 32. And while there are plenty of 32-year-olds out there still nursing a desire for “their time to come,” I am grateful for the people and circumstances God has used over the last 10 years of education and ministry to heal me of the selfish ambition I had previously baptized in my own mind. I’ve simply become much more enthusiastic about the advancement of God’s kingdom than mine – trust me, it’s way less stressful! So now, whenever I am presented with the opportunity to attend or participate in a conference, rather than asking, “Will being there contribute to my own advancement?” I try to ask, “Do I have a passion for how this conference is seeking to contribute to God’s kingdom work in the world?”

This is the central reason that I’ll be at the upcoming Ecclesia National Gathering – because it’s an event that oozes authentic passion for God’s kingdom work rather perpetuates the cult-of-personality tenor of much of current Christian conferencing.

Besides that overarching reason, I’ll be there for a few additional important reasons as well…

I’ll be there because I love the down-to-earth, in-the-trenches, church planters and pastors who attend and focus on encouraging and supporting one another rather than engendering a spirit of competition.

I’ll be there because, in word and action, Ecclesia holds up the value of men and women co-laboring in all aspects of ministry.

I’ll be there because humble submission to God’s mission and not fine doctrinal points is what unites us as a group.

I’ll be there because I’ve never experienced an event or a group of people that is so capable of engaging in serious theological discourse without losing sight of its irrelevance apart from incarnational expression.

In short, I’ll be there because I think God is mightily at work in and through this group of people and this event is central to facilitating and furthering that work. Hope you’ll consider joining us!

The heart of Ecclesia is, of course, the people of Ecclesia. Here are some of the Ecclesia Network bloggers. If we missed you or someone you know, leave a comment and a link and we’ll add it to the list.

• Ben Sternke
• Bob Hyatt
• David Fitch
• Doug Paul
• Dustin Bagby
• Gary Alloway
• Jim Pace
• J.R. Briggs
• J.R. Rozko
• JR Woodward
• John Chandler
• Matt Tebbe
• Todd Hiestand
• Winn Collier
• Geoff Holsclaw

Again, we know we are probably missing some people. Who are they?

by Tracy Commons

Currently, I am working full-time and finishing up my last semester at Temple University. It’s been stressful trying to balance everything, trying to have it “together” – and continuing to build relationships with others. Even though I know this is my last semester and graduation is so near- I still get “ants in my pants” and sometimes feel like life is moving so quickly and there is so much to do…

So, the messages on the Kingdom have been inspiring to me and have really encouraged me! But even though I feel encouraged – I also feel frustrated and doubtful at times, like there is so much on my plate for this season – and thinking “how am I living out the Kingdom in my everyday busy/rushed life? Especially when the people I work with can be so moody, discouraging and frustrating – and school/work life is so stressful?”

I was really encouraged as God spoke through J.R. Briggs this week and reminded me that “everyday life is the place where the kingdom is most powerful and has the most potential. Every day of the week matters.” So, I wrote that down in my journal and tucked it away for further thought – along with other notes..

Well, this past week I had to write a post for one of my online nursing courses – and it was about “What is the human role on this earth? Who am I? What is my purpose, my function, and my destiny? What imprints would I like to set for humanity?”

As I wrote the post – my first thought was “give the easiest comment and be done” but the other part of me said “this is a great opportunity to share Jesus.” So of course I had to share. I was not sure how people would respond or if anyone would respond. But there were three responses which led to ongoing conversations with other nursing students that felt as though they were lacking something in their lives and looking for more.

Needless to say, this opened up a beautiful opportunity to share the Lord and at the same time God humbled and reminded me that His Kingdom is at work – even in our busy lives – even though sometimes we don’t realize it. Sometimes I think my online classes are pointless – Jesus showed me wrong – and I was brought to my knees.  So, even in my doubt Jesus still made it known that He is in charge and working in the mist of it all!

Tracy Commons is a pastor at the Renew Community in Lansdale, PA

by Eric Phillips

“The true Christian leader is one who walks with others, leading them to a place where he himself has already been.”

This is an idea that recently has been on the forefront of my mind. Recently I have wrestled with the fact that there seems to be so little power in my ministry, very little true and lasting transformation within our church, and that there seems to be more and more information available yet with such little evidence of the transformative power of the Holy Spirit.

These questions that have passed through my mind for years have become more of a pressing reality, or crisis as you will, as I seek to establish East End Ecclesia. On a daily basis I encounter individuals wrestling with crack addiction, beat down by the cycle of poverty and violence, people who are at the edge of suicide. I face individuals that have been abused and called a F*&% up since they were children, unable to believe that God loves and accepts them. Worst of all I face arrogant young hipsters that in their “self justification through relevance and selective justice”, have no interest in a just God unless His justice remains confined within their superior moral definition.

So in other words I have found myself trying to convey information while realizing that information alone could never free an addict from addiction, convince an abused child that they are loved, or convince a self righteous hipster of their need for forgiveness from a righteous and just God. Within this personal struggle I’ve been continually reminded of passages that I so regularly dance around, passages concerning the our dependence upon the power of the Holy Spirit, passages in calling us to not seek to build the church by words alone, but by the power of God. I have spent much time wrestling with the fact that no matter how great my ability to convey information might be, man cannot be saved by information alone.

Yet in the midst of my intellectual wrestling God has opened my eyes to a reality that I have so greatly neglected. I have been studying many of the great men of faith from times past, some of authentic moves of God that brought true transformation within the society at large, and the first great move of God through the church which was recorded within the book of Acts.

The thing that I found in common within all that I have studied is that God has worked in mighty ways through men and women who have been consumed with a deep, passionate, obsessive, pursuit of true communion with their God. God seems to mightily use those who proclaim not what they have heard about but what they have encountered, lived, and experienced. I’m so challenged as I read what was stated concerning Peter and John as they were before the Jewish leaders “they were common uneducated men, but it was apparent that these men had been with Jesus.”

I believe this is important for us today; it is not our superior education, our relevance, our charisma, or anything else that will have the greatest impact on those around us. It is the intangible reality that the outside world may not be able to pinpoint. It is the man or woman who had clearly “been with Jesus”.

So, closing up the thought I began with: The true Christian leader leads others to a place he himself has already been.

As communicators we are to speak to the church that which we have first heard from our God, as shepherds we disciple as ones who have walked with Christ, and as evangelists we proclaim a loving, powerful, awesome God that we have not just heard about but deeply know. For too long the role of the pastor has been as one giving directions from a map to a location he has not yet been, instead of acting as a guide to a mountain top that he himself has frequently visited.

But on a very real and personal level, I have for too long been consumed with a desire to learn about God, teach about God, and be on mission for Him without first and foremost being one obsessed with spending time with my God, Hearing from my God, and allowing my God to first do within me that which He desires to do within my world.

Eric Phillips is the lead pastor at East End Ecclesia in Pittsburgh, PA.