the BI-MONTHLY NEWS from the CCCC IN THIS ISSUE: Holding the Rope, valuing ministry partnerships One church s successful transition to urban ministry

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1 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2017 e BI-MONTHLY NEWS from e CCCC CONSERVATIVE CONGREGATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE IN THIS ISSUE: FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK rd St Nor, SURVIVING Lke Elmo, MN STORMY TIMES E-mil: FORESEE/ Emil: commuictio@ ccccus.com BOARD OF DIRECTORS UPDATE Oe church s successful trsitio to urb miistry REGIONAL & MINISTRY NEWS Miistry i Beijig, Of Course AROUND THE WORLD: Holdig e Rope, vluig miistry prterships CHANGES & OPPORTUNITIES CCCC PUBLICATIONS TO ASSIST YOUR MINISTRY CM COMMENTS RON HAMILTON, CCCC CONFERENCE MINISTER WITH DAVID GRAINGE, PASTOR OF SNYDER AVE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH The Syder Ave Cogregtiol Church (SACCPhilly) i sou Phildelphi, PA hs bee member of e CCCC sice Rev. Herb Aderso served s Seior Pstor t e church from He reclls my of e erly dys of life i e Coferece, especilly e 1976 Aul Gerig t Cpe My Bible College i Cpe My, NJ. Herb served s e chir of e Locl Arrgemets Committee d he remembers ll e work ivolved i welcomig e CCCC delegtes to e Ester PA d NJ re. Tht meetig ws iterrupted by e pssig of Hurrice Belle t brushed e New Jersey cost d mde it impossible to strt e meetigs o time. The Syder Ave Church hs edured my stormy times s urb church. While umber of ier-city miistries were ot ble to survive e storms, is church dpted to chgig culture d is ow rivig i Phildelphi. SACCPhilly first welcomed Cmbodi church CM COMMENTS cot o pg 2

2 [ 2 ] September/October THE COMMUNION SERVICE WAS SPECIAL AS I WITNESSED PEOPLE FROM MANY NATIONS, TRIBES AND LANGUAGES GATHERED TOGETHER IN PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING FOR THE WORK OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. CM COMMENTS plt ito eir buildig i Tody e church is multi-eic, multi-cogregtiol, evgelicl church. I dditio to Eglish-spekig cogregtio, e church curretly hosts cogregtios of Burmese (Kre d Chi), Cetrl Americ, Cogolese (Afric), Loti, Nepli, d oer eic origis. Dvid Grige becme e pstor of e church whe Pstor Aderso retired lst yer. He sys is bout e church d its miistry: Our Sou Phildelphi eighborhood is woderfully diverse, cosistig of my eicities d cultures. SACCPhilly Syder Aveue Cogregtiol Church is bo church d multi-eic gerig of churches 6 i ll t serves e ewly rrived refugees d immigrts of our eighborhood. The Lord Jesus sid, I will build my church d we re skig him to build his church out of e tios t hve come to us. SACCPhilly is disciple-mkig church t teches e rich doctries of e fi while cretig pssio for God d love for our eighbors. Coferece Miister, Ro Hmilto, spoke t e church o Worldwide Commuio Sudy o October 1, All e cogregtios meetig t Syder Ave. Cogregtiol Church joied for worship t morig d shred t e Lord s Tble. Ech cogregtio prticipted wi specil music, Scripture redig d pryers. Ro shred from Gltis 3 4 wi Gltis 3:28 s e eme verse. There is eier Jew or Getile, eier slve or free, or is ere mle d femle, for you re ll oe i Christ Jesus. Pstor Hmilto reclls, I ws excited whe I received e ivittio to shre t SACC. I kew t I hd to pryerfully prepre for is service whe I ws told, The service will be i 5 differet lguges your messge will ot be trslted. It ws joy to shre wi is cogregtio d is ws oe of e most ecourgig experieces I ve hd s Coferece Miister. The commuio service ws specil s I witessed people from my tios, tribes d lguges gered togeer i prise d ksgivig for e work of our Lord Jesus Christ. NOTE: To receive e FORESEE UPDATE, mke certi we hve your correct emil ddress. Plese let e HomeOffice kow of y chges. If you re ot o our e-mil list, go to d fid e sig-up butto i e footer rd St Nor, Lke Elmo, MN homeoffice@ccccus.com ccccus.com

3 SEPT/OCT 2017 [ 3 ] OCKENGA FELLOWS PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS TRAVEL TO CHINA NE REGION BY SHEA FITZGIBBONS, ASSOCIATE PASTOR, FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF KINGSTON, NH DESTINATION: BEIJING The destitio? Beijig, Xi, d Shghi. The durtio? 12 dys i August The trvelers? Ockeg Fellows Progrm (OFP) prticipts (17 pstors d miistry leders from New Egld), GCTS Associte Professor of World Christiity d Asi Studies Dr. Xiyi Yo d two Christi Chiese tiols. The cost? $0. The experiece? Priceless! The Ockeg Fellows Progrm idetifies high-potetil, erly-creer pstors to prticipte s cohorts i two-yer progrm cosistig of seve, ree-dy retrets ( roud-tbles ) d oe study brod trip to Chi, ll t o cost to ech prticipt. Red more bout OFP t edu/ockeg/church-reewl/. I dditio to Dr. Yo, ctig s guides o our trip were Jck, ssocite pstor from house church d Huter, director of short-term Americ study tours for Chiese you. While our dvetures icluded fir shre of tourist ttrctios (Time Squre, The Gret Wll, Terrcott Wrrior Museum, et l.), e lstig vlue ws experieced rough shred mels, pryer d worship wi leders from e Church i Chi. Chris Duwy (ABC-VT/NH) i my Commuity Pstors Group recetly remrked i sermo, Bo Sudys of our trip we worshiped wi locl churches. Ad we did t uderstd word of wht ey were sigig, d we did t uderstd word of e sermos. But you kow wht? Stdig ere, wi ll ose believers sigig words we did t uderstd, but words we kew were directed to e sme God s ours, becme eve for us, joyful, worshipful experiece. The joy cme from e uity of e Spirit d e ters I persolly experieced while worshippig reflected e relity of God s Word: There is oe body d oe Spirit just s you were clled to e oe hope t belogs to your cll (Eph 4:4). Though oe of e leders we itercted wi re coected wi e CCCC, my of em re livig out umber of our guidig vlues: Dvid i Beijig is youg pstor kee o livig out shred life d missio s he remis depedet o believig pryer d itercessio to guide eir church rough ledership successio fter eir foudig pstor (curretly o sbbticl) recetly ouced he is ot returig. NE REGION cot o pg rd St Nor, Lke Elmo, MN homeoffice@ccccus.com ccccus.com

4 [ 4 ] September/October 2017 NE REGION Wedy, who tteds e church d works for Cmpus Crusde, is rechig urb studets d coectig em wi her hely disciple-mkig church. Pstors Jcob d April trveled 3 hours to meet wi us i Xi! They exhibited uprlleled grtitude for GCTS s olie resources s well s e ecourgemet we shred rough pryer d itercessio. Jcob shred stories of eir miistry to Muslim bckgroud believers i Lzhou, demostrtig e fruit of his church s shred life d missio midst diverse hrvest field. Bi-voctiol Pstor Rdy d his ssocites i Shghi s well s youg church leders Ye, Zheg, Ju d Lijig origilly from Wezhou ll relyed stories of dvcig e gospel i eir workplces. These Christis demostrte courgeous evgelism i society where it is illegl to proselytize. Though e govermet kows where prcticlly every uregistered house church meets, to keep low profile d rer cotiuig grow i oe loctio, ese urb churches typiclly plt ew churches fter rechig betwee members. Oe Sturdy eveig over hely bowl of oodles, I sked Joshu, youg deco of Shghi house church who works s desiger, Do you tlk bout Jesus wi your co-workers? d wiout hesittio he replied, Of course! He expouded, describig i his curret positio which he beg oe yer go how he immeditely told co-workers he ws Christi. Over time, Joshu s ssocites curious to ler more bout Christiity beg skig him questios d evetully ccepted his ivittio to tted church. After seeig e surprised fces of my collegue d me, he sked us, Do Americs tlk bout Jesus i eir workplces? Our swers were sigifictly less emphtic, d mbiguous t best. Wiout word, our tble ws dumbfouded wi iroy, best described by Chiese church leder cited i Diel Hederso s, Old Ps New Power (Moody, 2016): We believe we re hdlig our persecutio better you re hdlig your prosperity. While Chi remis officilly eist, e Commuist Prty cot purge from e Chiese soul wht is pli to em: Tht God exists d He is sovereig. So my respod to e gospel becuse it fills e logig of eir herts. Ad e result? They tell eir fmily, frieds, ssocites, d eighbors bout Jesus. Ad e Lord dded to eir umber dy by dy ose who were beig sved (Acts 2:47b). Persolly d miisterilly, is trip ws refreshig to me. Aprt from e CCCC Aul Gerig i Pittsburgh, I hd t tke brek from my locl miistry cotext for retret or vctio sice December As result of is excursio I ws ispired, chlleged, d humbled by e fiful work of our broers d sisters i Chi. I retured to New Hmpshire determied to equip e flock uto e ed t, if sked wheer ey tlk bout Jesus wherever ey go, e swer will be, Of Course! CCCC PRINT RESOURCES AVAILABLE FROM THE HOME OFFICE Overprit copies of bo e Mody Pryer Guide d e CCCC Miistry flyer re vilble* t cost (+shippig) from e Home Office. Mody Pryer Guides - $10 per 50 (icludes shippig)- $15/100 Miistry Flyers - $8 per 50 (icludes shippig)- $10/100. Self-prit files of bo items re lso vilble o e website. Go to: *While supplies lst, order yours tody! rd St Nor, Lke Elmo, MN homeoffice@ccccus.com ccccus.com

5 SEPT/OCT 2017 CCCC NEWS MATT MILLIGAN, CCCC PRESIDENT BOARD OF DIRECTORS UPDATE The Bord of Directors met o October 17 vi web coferece. It mrked e first meetig sice e July Aul Gerig, wi ewly elected members i plce d e full Bord preset. Some of e followig highlights from e meetig idicte ree key res t re emergig s strtegic poits of focus is yer. Ficil freedom to crry out our God-give missio The Coferece expeses re curretly trckig wi budget, d while e icome is sittig below t, e lrgest mos of members support re expected to come wi e fil qurter of e yer. Auditors hve lso pproved e relese of $39,000 which ws previously restricted. The stff re highly egged i developig cler process vilble for churches i trsitio who wt to cretively fid wys to support locl church missio wii e Coferece. Commuictio of visio d miistry The Stewrdship Committee reported t ey re workig towrd better commuictio of e visio d work of e CCCC. The Aul Gerig Committee is lredy hrd t work towrd our 2018 gerig t Gordo College i Wehm, MA where we will be gettig to celebrte d highlight much of wht God is doig mog e Coferece. Processes t promote e missio Triig for use of Nturl Church Developmet resources i our churches, e Turig Poit process, d e developmet of olie optios for equippig our Commuity Pstors re some of e wys our stff is workig towrd cler systems t directly promote miistry i our Coferece. My e me of Jesus Christ lwys be prised rough e CCCC d to e eds of e er. [ 5 ] CHRIS JOHNSON, ASSOCIATE PASTOR, POQUONOCK COMMUNITY CHURCH, WINDSOR, CT WHY FACEBOOK IS IMPORTANT FOR YOUR CHURCH Fcebook is fd. It will come d go just like oer commuictio meods before it. It will be replced by oer form of socil medi fter it. Those sttemets my soud like justifictio for dismissig Fcebook s o-essetil to our miistries, but e tru is e church cot igore its importce. If our churches gol is e dvcemet of God s Kigdom by eggig e most people we c for e gospel, to serve our surroudig commuities, d to brig people to slvtio; e ultimtely, we wt people to leve Fcebook d hve rel coverstios d develop rel reltioships ot virtul oes. We wt people to egge wi our churches, ot Fcebook. As leders of e church, we c t igore t over 2 billio people worldwide ot oly use Fcebook, but do so o verge 20 miutes dy. The most sigifict ge brcket of users is betwee e ges of mkig up to 30% of e totl users of Fcebook. 1 i 5 of ll iteret pges used i e Uited Sttes re Fcebook webpges. (Source zephori.com) If you wt to rech people where ere re for e ske of Jesus Christ, ccordig to e umbers, Fcebook is ctive virtul missio field t c t be igored. So, how do people lep from beig fed by eir Fcebook feed to beig fed by e Word of God i commuity wi oer believers? The church eeds to be preset o Fcebook s much s ey should be preset i o-virtul commuities (i.e., e rel world). First, you must hve bsic kowledge of how Fcebook works. Fcebook d oer socil medi hve built-i lgorims to brig posts t re egged by e gretest umbers of people to e top of user s ewsfeed. I oer words, e more people egge wi your church Fcebook pge or group; e more oers will see your cotet. FACEBOOK cot o pg rd St Nor, Lke Elmo, MN homeoffice@ccccus.com ccccus.com

6 [ 6 ] September/October 2017 AROUND THE WORLD DEAN AND KATHIE CARLSON ARE CCCC INTERNATIONAL WORKERS SERVING WITH ONE CHALLENGE INTERNATIONAL www. oechllege.org HOLDING THE ROPE We love rope-holders!...the cocept of rope-holders is 200 yers old. We lered it from Willim Crey kow s e fer of moder missios. Whe Crey ws bordig e ship to Idi, he tured to his frieds d compred missios to perso beig lowered ito cve o rescue missio. Crey mde hertfelt ppel: I will go where you wo t go, but plese hold e rope. His frieds took up e chllege d pryed, ssisted, d supported Crey for yers. Their rope-holdig effort ebled Crey to be powerfully used of e Lord to brig positive chge to Idi. We shred is story wi frieds i 1989 s we vetured ito Afric, d hve bee humbled by ose e Lord hs rised up s our persol rope-holders i missio. We re wed t ose who hve pryerfully supported our miistry from e begiig, d re deeply grteful for ose who hve tke hold of e rope log e wy. Workig togeer, God hs used our temwork to dvce e Gret Commissio i Afric d roud e world. Oe of our beloved rope-holders ws 99-yer-old wom who d held our rope for erly 25 yers. She d her husbd loved e Lord d pssiotely worked to shre hope i Jesus roud e world. Whe he pssed, she cotiued to firmly hold e rope, cotributig stoudig [moly mout] to our miistry. It s mzig to look bck d see how e Lord used her fifuless to expd e miistry. She s ow beig rewrded for life of joyful geerosity. Our rope-holders hve ebled us to rech deep, drem big, d go fr i ctlyzig church pltig movemets, mobilizig missiories from e Globl Sou, equippig wome, buildig prterships, d developig missio-mided leders t every level. We re followig e Lord forwrd i very fruitful seso of miistry. As presidet of Oe Chllege, I hve e joy of ledig some 300 U.S.-set workers d ifluecig 718 Globl Allice workers impctig 103 tios. Committed to led by exmple, we re resposible to rise ll e support ecessry for our ledership resposibilities, miistry trvel, d slry. The pssig of such mjor supporter presets us wi ew opportuity to trust God for his provisio. Would you pry wi us for God to rise up ew rope-holders to tke her plce? It could be t e Lord would move e herts of curret prters to strege eir grip rough icresed pryer d moly support. If you sese e Lord s promptig, we d be hppy to coect persolly if you d like to explore possibilities. We love e promise i Zephih 2:11 BY DEAN AND KATHIE CARLSON Distt tios will bow dow to him, ll of em i eir ow lds. Togeer, s we seek God s hoor d serve e globl church, is is comig true before our very eyes. Thks for your strog grip! rd St Nor, Lke Elmo, MN homeoffice@ccccus.com ccccus.com

7 SEPT/OCT 2017 CCCC NEWS PASTORAL CHANGES Kigsto, MA Myflower Church * (Prt-time You Pstor)- Reube Sdovl Elgi, ND Hope Coservtive Cog Ch Ed Zimmerm Chrdo, OH Hmbde Cogregtiol Church * Kyle A. Booe Superior, WI Hope Church * Jeremy Skggs* PASTORAL OPPORTUNITIES Beue, CO Hope Cogregtiol Church * Greeley, CO St. Pul s Cogregtiol Ch * (Prt-time Ass t Pstor) Hebro, CT Hebro Church of Hope * Slem, CT Cog Ch (Idepedet) (Prt-time You Pstor) Shro, CT Shro Cogregtiol Church (Idepedet) Sherm, CT Sherm Cogregtiol Ch * (Prt-time You Pstor) Prkersburg, IA First Cogregtiol Ch * (Techig & Missios Pstor) LSlle, IL LSlle Cogregtiol Church Plesoto, KS First Christi Church (Idepedet) Billeric, MA Commuity Cogregtiol * Bosto, MA Prk Street Church * (Seior Pstor) Esto, MA Free Evgelicl Fellowship (Id) N Brookfield, MA Nor Brookfield Cogregtiol* Sugus, MA Cliftodle Cogregtiol Church * Wilmigto, MA Wilmigto Cogregtiol Church (Ev. Free) New Hve, MI First Cogregtiol Church * Gle Ulli, ND Evgelicl Cog Church * Mitchell, NE Federted Church * Grfto, NH Millbrook Christi Fellowship * Gleville, NY Est Gleville Commuity Church * Lkeview, NY Lkeview Commuity Church * Lisle, NY Ceter Lisle Cogregtiol Church (UCC) Vermillio, OH Vermillio E & R C * (Prt-time music director/keybordist) Welligto, OH Uited Church of Hutigto * (Prt-time you pstor) Xei, OH Mt. Zio Church * Chicor, PA St. Pul s Commuity Church * McClure, PA Mt. Beel Church * Wrfordsburg, PA Whips Cove Church (Id, prt-time) Chepchet, RI Chepchet Uio Church Follett, TX St Joh s Cogregtiol* (prt-time) Spoke, WA Plymou Cogregtiol Church * Wilto, WI Fi Cogregtiol Church * FACEBOOK [ 7 ] My smll church i e suburbs of Hrtford, CT hs bout 70 members d regulr ttedees, but our Fcebook pge hs over 200 members. So, every time we post evet, picture, or updte o our miistry, potetilly 130 people who re ot prt of our fellowship re gettig updtes bout our church. I e pst, we ve pid for rticles i e ewspper, but tody, we use less moey by dvertisig our church evets o Fcebook. We c trget dvertisemets towrd certi demogrphic depedig o e type of evet. Our free Ester Egg Hut lst sprig, met to bless fmilies i our commuity, sw over 100 childre ttedig simply by spedig $50 o trgeted Fcebook Ad. There re my free optios o Fcebook s well. Shrig your posts d evets o Tow Groups c just s effective. Beyod wht your church c post to commuicte e gospel, curret treds show t people church shop i perso fr less ey oce did. They d rer mke eir decisio bsed o your Fcebook pge d website before ey eve come ito your church buildig. We recetly hd couple move to tow who kew ll bout us s church log before we kew who ey were becuse ey hd studied our website d Fcebook pge to determie we were e church em. Fcebook is tool. You my ot hve e time or e expertise to egge people wi it, but fid someoe from your church who does d prter wi em. The hope is t someoe scrollig eir Fcebook pge my egge wi your church d ultimtely wi e gospel of Jesus CONNECT WITH US! * = Coferece member + = Idepedet Check for moly Plcemet updtes t rd St Nor, Lke Elmo, MN homeoffice@ccccus.com ccccus.com

8 [8 ] e foresee Get redy for e ew yer wi ew Bible redig y Pe strtegy Mfrom o t ht U Aily BiBle readig D A LigCCCC. ch to pproa L ight A A tive is September/October 2017 A L of e Alle Go to e CCCC Georg to e stte l ered d liber or, Rev splte s u rs er tr The ye oship gld Next pge fter testep Et l relti New, where rso igto led to pe Wsh s. st w ety Chri r, he vri Resources Jesus for more psto ers i ted e Lord fift y y ped irrig r fo wi d e te velo s serv t st ly de iformtio bout He h s ew tr y is ed i sh ie bli us m iistr est cmp red of m y, y, ti it tr re u cou oer d mm mistry ts co is d frm t es. rv f retire hrd-h s, civil se osed o ollr comp blue-c cdemici e ly e m rg s y, l e f rsit resources. uit y full o ee ecouter uive comm h s b tow d d c lly wi s ee histori d isl ologic e eople egis ry, e e p hich b milit ed i tio st of od, w is o tu G m si R g t ch ible. e d to e livi I e e B i e to se be trce i w m r co rd te wo h s urch c ecou ritte eorge ch His w itio, G meric ible. wi er A m f e B e mod l deo dig o f t o liber rs ess de e u v d ti c ieffe ledge f k ow lck o Uto My P A A o Ach t ppro DA ily B ibl e g re A Diby Alle eorge Rev. G es esou rc tep R NextS veue Sou A s, M N epoli i M rces.com sresou www. CCCC mterils vilble t sresources.com or cll: (book)2665 POSTAGE CONSERVATIVE CONGREGATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE rd St Nor, Lke Elmo, MN 55042