Equipped for the Future
Bob Hyatt
January 23, 2020

I’ve been involved in the Ecclesia Network for about 11 or so years now. Something that sometimes happens is that I’ll meet someone who tells me something I taught at a Genesis training, or in one of the Spiritual Formation days I’ve done, or written in a book, a blog or an article really contributed to their ministry or their personal formation in a significant way. I hear this as more of a statement about the value of belonging to a network of leaders that contribute to one another more than as a statement about the value of what I personally bring. Throughout the last 11 years I was focused on planting and growing a church in Portland, OR. But beyond that, because of Ecclesia , I’ve had the opportunity to impact people and places across the nation. As the saying goes, because of Ecclesia relationships, “my fruit has grown on other people’s trees.”

Over this last season, I’ve been heartened to see how many people are leaning in with our network, not just to take part, but to actively contribute to the lives and ministries of others. It’s the goal of our Network to partner with, equip and multiply missional church communities and leaders. And much like a local church community, what this doesn’t mean is that it’s the job of the staff to partner with, equip and multiply… What it does mean is that everyone , every community that’s a part of this network has a role to play. YOU have a role to play.

As our network continues to expand and grow, my personal dream as Director of Equipping and Spiritual Formation is not just that we’ll be able to offer more and more avenues to equip leaders within (and beyond!) Ecclesia, but that more and more of you would grab hold of the opportunities inherent in a relational network and find the joy of not only following God in your local ministry context, but also what it means to walk alongside others in our network and own the task of partnering, equipping and multiplying.

To that end, here are some of the big dreams I sense God forming for the next season in our network:

Big Dream #1: Equipping for more stages of ministry life

We’ve done, I think, a pretty phenomenal job of making sure that someone who is in their first 3 years of church planting and pastoring has access to some amazing equipping, coaching and more. We know what it looks like for pastors and churches in year 3… but what about year 5? Year 10? Year 15. Over this next season we need to be thinking and praying about what it looks like to partner with and equip leaders and churches in those seasons of life and beyond.

Big Dream #2: Broader and deeper connections

Our Leaders Circles continue to be one of the best ways for people in our network to connect with one another- whether it’s new church planters, more seasoned leaders, spouses of church planters, worship leaders- we’re continuing to push out broader and broader in the numbers and kinds of leaders we are able to connect relationally. We’d love to see that continue to expand to cover those engaged in various kinds of ministry in our network churches- children and youth, discipleship/formation, associate pastors, those leading men’s/women’s ministry. Wherever there would be benefit in leaders supporting each other and sharing resources and encouragement, we want to work (for you and with you) toward that.

Big Dream #3: Walking with YOU, come what may

5 years, 10 years, 15 years in… Ecclesia isn’t just for those in the initial stages of planting. As J.R. said in his update- ministry can be lonely and it can be hard, regardless of what stage you find yourself in. We know you desire for your church community to be a “family on mission” together. We dream of our network being that same thing- leaders and communities, one relational family, on mission together over the span of years and years. Praying for one another, encouraging one another, cheering each other on, and contributing in significant ways to what God is doing in each others’ lives and contexts.

Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

Tithe.ly is Partnering with Ecclesia!

By Bob Hyatt • September 15, 2025
A New Ecclesia Network Benefit! 

An Ethical Response to Violence

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.