By Josh Huseby
Pastor, Missio Church – Bismarck, North Dakota
Just last month, a group of church leaders gathered in Bismarck, North Dakota, for the second meeting of what we are calling the Movement Cohort. The big idea behind this cohort was to get church planters and sending church leaders in the same room to share ideas, pray together, and dream about how God might be moving in our specific contexts with Kingdom multiplication.
The first meeting was in October of 2023. We met in Folsom, California, hosted by Disciples Church. We spent a couple days sharing stories and being inspired, while also asking ourselves what next steps we each need to take in faith. We were reminded that it’s Jesus’s church and he will build it and the gates of hell will not overcome it!
This most recent gathering last month focused more on collaboration and making space to “workshop” what God is leading each of us to do. I know I was personally encouraged and challenged at the same time. It was a healthy reminder that the church is global, God is a sending God, and multiplication is not a fad or idea we came up with. God’s desire is for the Gospel of Jesus to spread, and we get to be a part of that mission. Being surrounded with like-minded leaders sharpened my own leadership and renewed a passion to see multiplication happen from our church plant in the near future.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to participate in this multiplication initiative and for John Cassidy’s leadership through the process. I am also thankful for new friends and ministry partners across the US and Canada!
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If you are interested in church multiplication, either as a church planter or as a sending church, you can find out more on at the link below. You can also reach out directly to Stu Streeter, VP of Ministry Advancement & Church Multiplication.
By Wayne Stapleton
VP of Cross-Cultural Engagement & Emerging Leader Engagement
When I was a local pastor in Warren, Michigan, I felt a need to invest in the young men in my church. I invited several of them to a breakfast meeting, where we chatted about life and what God was doing in their lives. We developed regular meetings. I called them my Blokes, and for several months we met over breakfast and talked about life.
Ministry across generations is as important as it has ever been. We have seen massive generational shifts and changes over the past decade or more. The Gospel, of course, never changes, but old methods of engagement can miss new cultural developments. As faithful participants in the Great Commission, we must prayerfully innovate.
As a conference, the NAB has consistently sought to lean into God’s desire for us as a church to be witnesses to our neighbors about who he is. This has been our vision, which we have described as being a sign, servant, and foretaste of the Kingdom of God. For over a decade now, the NAB has intentionally developed and delivered spaces for training, discussion, and spiritual growth to this end. Our strategy has included Blue Ocean, Discovery, and Ethos, each of which involve training leaders and members of NAB churches, helping them to live into this vision for their communities.
In a desire to continue to extend this vision into and through our churches, members of the NAB Executive Team are planning a cohort uniquely designed to reach emerging leaders, those twenty- and thirty-something women and men who are active leaders of our churches and who will continue to serve NAB churches for the decades to come. . . .