Ecclesia Network NE Region Summer Update
Bob Hyatt
June 4, 2012

Ecclesia pastors, leaders and friends of the Network,

Summer is upon us which, of course, can be great in some ways, but as pastors and church planters, can also be difficult in others. In an attempt to stay connected, I wanted to keep you informed about what is happening within the Ecclesia Network as well as offer a few resources and points of encouragement.

A few years ago, a pastor-friend of mine said, “Summer is the church’s winter.” For pastors, ministry can seem to be a slow season – attendance is spotty, relationships can feel disconnected due to travel schedules, giving can be down, momentum can be hard to generate and the calendar of church events activities can feel lighter. For years I felt great angst over the summer and tried hard to fight it. Recently I began to see this slow time as a gift to rest. Sure, I worked, but I took it down a gear and spent time dreaming, praying and preparing for the fall (when things go up a few notches). My encouragement to you: make sure you are resting and slowing the pace down over the summer months as you prepare to ramp up for the fall.

Here are [4] practical ways to rest, dream, prepare and enjoy the next few months:

[1] Think about visiting other Ecclesia churches – or meet up for lunch or coffee – some time this summer.
There is a list of churches on the Ecclesia website here. Feel free to join one of them for a service/gathering. Maybe consider bringing some of your leaders and having lunch with other church planter in the region to ask them questions and pick their brains. It’s a good time to learn from and with other churches in the region.

[2] Join us for a day away in prayer.
Every few months, a few pastors and leaders spend the day on silent retreat and prayer together. This is a time to refresh, get away in silence and stillness, hear from God and just “be.” We find it be a healthy part of our rhythm. On Wednesday June 20th a group of us will be heading to Daylesford Abbey on the Main Line in Philly for a day away in prayer from 9am to around 430pm. There is no agenda and is a very informal but purposeful time. The cost is $5 (lunch is not included). If you (or anyone from your church) would like to join us, let Doug Moister know by emailing him at dougmoister@gmail.com

[3] Listen to this podcast.
Geoff and Cyd Holsclaw, Ecclesia church planters in the Chicago area, talk about what ministry is like in their context on the most recent installment of the Ecclesia podcast.

[4] Mark your calendar for these future Ecclesia events.
Part of the vision of Ecclesia is to provide relational connection and support among churches and church plants, as well as to equip and train people (pastors, staff and lay leaders). These events are designed to do both.

Our next Ecclesia Regional Meet-up will be September 13 from 10am to lunch. We will meet again at Church on the Mall (Plymouth Meeting, PA). Topic TBD. Feel free to stick around and join us for lunch in the various locations in the area.
Saturday October 13th Ecclesia will be hosting an all-day training at The Well (an Ecclesia church in Feasterville, PA) with author, church planting coach and Ecclesia church planter JR Woodward based on his new book Creating a Missional Culture . This event is will explore the APEPT model (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastor and Teacher) based on Ephesians 4. This is designed to equip both pastors and lay leaders. This would be a great opportunity to bring elders and leaders from your church. (More information to come).

As always, these emails and events are open to anyone interested in connecting with other missional church planters, pastors and churches in the Northeast Region of the country. Feel free to pass this along to anyone else who may be interested in being involved in Ecclesia events and relationships in our region of the country.

If I can be of help to you this summer in any way, let me know.
I’d be glad to help.

Grace and peace,

J.R. Briggs
Ecclesia Network Northeast Regional Coordinator
c: 215.833.4424
jrbriggsis@gmail.com

P.S. Ecclesia church planter Bryan Long and his wife Molly welcomed their first child, Mia, into the world this week. All are doing well. The Longs will be in Boston for the summer and officially move to Rochester, NY to plant a church starting in the fall.

By Bob Hyatt September 15, 2025
A New Ecclesia Network Benefit! 
By By Jim Pace September 15, 2025
In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s shooting, social media has been filled with perspectives, as is typically the case. I am reluctant to add mine as there seems to be no lack one way or the other. To be clear, this is not just about Charlie Kirk, this is about violence across the board. I did not feel led to write this because it was Charlie Kirk specifically, but rather another in a long and winding line of acts of violence, that my ministering at Va. Tech gives me a bit of personal experience with. But as I have just finished teaching two classes on Christian Ethics, and as I was encountering again the spread of responses from my Christian sisters and brothers, I felt led to look at this event through that lens. Ethics, at its base, seeks to answer the question, “What is better or worse? Good or bad?” As a follower of Jesus, this is what seems right to me… 1. We never celebrate harm. Whatever our disagreements, rejoicing at a shooting violates the bedrock claim that every person bears the imago Dei (Gen 1:27). Scripture is explicit: “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls” (Prov 24:17); “Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44); “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:21). I don’t love blasting verses like this, but you cannot get away from them if you are reading the scriptures. 2. Moral responsibility sits with the shooter—full stop . Saying “his rhetoric got him shot” smuggles in a just-world logic that excuses violence. As a contextual theologian, I have an enormous amount of respect for the impact our various narratives have in shaping our understandings of the world around us. They are inescapable. But that is not what I am talking about here. Ideas can be wrong, harmful, or worth opposing vigorously, but vigilante ‘payback’ is never a Christian category. My primary gig is that of a consultant for churches and non-profits. Today, in my meetings and among friends, I have heard some variation of “He got what he deserved,” and “I vote for some very public justice for the shooter.” Both of these views speak of revenge; the follower of Jesus is called to lay these down as our Messiah did. Not asked to, told to. 3. Grief and outrage about gun violence are legitimate; schadenfreude is not . Channel the pain toward nonviolent, concrete action (policy advocacy, community intervention, survivor support), not dehumanization. Here are four thinkers who have had a profound impact on the Christian ethic I try to work out in this world. As I share them, three things are worthy of mention. One, I certainly do not claim to follow their guidance perfectly, and at times I do not even do it well, but they have all given me what seems like a Jesus-centered and faith-filled direction to move in. Second, I do not claim to speak for them in this particular matter; I am merely showing how my ethical lens has been formed. Third, clearly I am not dealing with all the components of our response to these types of violence, this is not a comprehensive treatment, merely the reflections in the moment. Stanley Hauerwas : “Christian nonviolence is not a strategy to rid the world of violence.” It’s part of following Jesus, not a tactic we drop when it’s inconvenient. Stanley Hauerwas, Walking with God in a Fragile World, by James Langford, editor, Leroy S. Rouner, editor N. T. Wright : “The call of the gospel is for the church to implement the victory of God in the world through suffering love.” Simply Good News: Why the Gospel Is News and What Makes It Good. In other words, we answer evil without mirroring it. David Fitch : Our culture runs on an “enemy-making” dynamic; even “the political rally… depends on the making of an enemy. Don’t let that train your soul.” The Church of Us vs. Them. Sarah Coakley : Contemplation forms resistance, not passivity. For Coakley, sustained prayer trains perception and courage so Christians can resist abuse and give voice against violence (it’s not quietism). “Contemplation, if it is working aright, is precisely that which gives courage to resist abuse, to give voice against violence.” Sarah Coakley, God, Sexuality, and the Self. Coakley would say that far too often we react before we reflect. This is the problem that Fitch is getting at in much of his writing, that our culture actually runs on antagonisms, the conflict between us. We need to find a better way.