The Administrative Council (Ad Council) of the CGGC met last week on Tuesday March 12th through Wednesday the 13th. After each Ad Council, we try to give a debrief of whats happening broadly across the denomination.
Executive Director Lance Finley began the General Conference report by speaking about two common themes he’s seeing across the body. The top two are fear and distrust: “It’s difficult to accomplish anything without establishing trust", Lance said. "And we need to continue to earn and steward the trust of our brothers and sisters if we’re going to be able to lead them where they don’t want to go (change of any kind).”
Perhaps the chief way to battle the kind of division of fear and distrust is by practicing a fearless trust of one another. We’re excited then about the level of cooperation we see across regions and organizations. It’s cliché when we say, “We’re better together”, but it turns out that it’s really true, and it’s truly necessary.
Let’s dive into some of the partnerships we see flourishing; the partnerships which are making new ministry possible.
One of Winebrenner Seminary’s strategic priorities is collaboration, and they are putting that priority into practice by partnering with organizations to bring high quality theological education to people around the globe. By working with Global Reach, the Great Lakes Foundation, and our Kenya churches, Winebrenner is bringing theological training to pastors halfway across the planet, at no cost to them. In February, Great Lakes pastors taught courses in Kenya and 7 Kenya pastors took courses in both Church History and Ministry Technology, preparing them to understand the past and the future of the church.
Winebrenner is also partnering with other CGGC regions too, like the Allegheny Region, Midwest Region, and Western Region to provide low cost theological institute courses to help with discipleship. Our regions have come together to split the cost, and provide more students to fill a whole cohort. What’s brilliant about this is that many of the students aren’t pastors, but people who are considering ministry as a calling. Being able to take theological training course without committing to a full master’s degree helps equip people who may be excellent Christian leaders but who aren’t called to the pastorate.
Pastor Victor Glover of the Southeast Region and director of Fathers on the Move is partnering with churches all across the body of the CGGC to teach them about what it takes to get into prison ministry and how to do it well. In particular, Remnant Church (previously Firehouse Community Church) in Moore, OK, is gearing up to enter local prisons in June of 2025.
The Great Lakes Regional Conference (GLC) announced key partnerships with local city organizations to help start new churches in county seats and they’ve connected with Revive Ohio, an evangelistic group that “has a vision to share the gospel with every person in Ohio”. The GLC has also been a key contributor to Global Reaches Mission work, sending pastors to many of our international fields to help teach and encourage our field leaders.
Lance conclude his director’s report saying, “on the wall outside the media auditorium we’ve printed some of [John] Winebrenner’s last recorded words: “In the event I depart, preach Jesus. O, the glory of preaching Jesus! Tell the brethren to stick together. Stand up for Jesus! Stand up for Jesus!” I feel the weight of these words more heavily today than ever before. “Tell the brethren to stick together.” There are a thousand ways pulling us apart these days and the challenge of helping the brethren stick together has become an increasingly difficult task. Obviously, there’s the political polarization and The Church and our churches are not immune from its impact. We’re prone to separate over a multitude of minor theological convictions. We’re prone to separate over matters of polity and church structure. Sticking together is hard.
“Winebrenner’s call to “preach Jesus and tell the brethren to stick together” is just as needed today as it was as he faced the challenges of leading a church divided over what to do with slavery. We need to keep our focus on Jesus and His kingdom and his mission of making disciples and we desperately need to stick together rather than let a myriad of things pull us apart. The enemy wants to divide and conquer.”
By partnering together for ministry, we build trust laterally across our churches, regions, schools, and other organizations. The easy, comfortable, and culturally normal thing for us to do is to work more insularly. Continentally cutting off anyone who we might have a disagreement with about philosophy, theology, or ministry practices until we are left isolated, working alone. But God is calling all of us to help build His kingdom by working together, with many parts of the body of Christ moving in one direction. And that's precisely what the Ad Council is doing.
CGGC eNews—Vol. 19, No. 12
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