Apply for Year of Equipping: Year 2

For over a decade now, the NAB has intentionally developed and delivered spaces for training, discussion, and spiritual growth. 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 a missional and formational vision for their communities.

For the past year, a group of twenty- and thirty-something leaders from across the NAB have been gathering monthly as part of the inaugural Year of Equipping cohort. (You can read their reflections from the Vancouver, Detroit, and Chicago in-person gatherings.) They have shared how much they have appreciated the conversations and the readings and how their experiences in the Year of Equipping have shaped their ministries. Great friendships have formed, connections that will season and guide their ministries in the NAB in the years and decades to come.

The time has come for us to begin putting together the Year 2 cohort of emerging leaders within the NAB, those individuals in their twenties and thirties who hold some position of ministry leadership in the church, or even in a parachurch organization.

The Year of Equipping consists of three, three-month modules, each reflecting the three modules in Blue Ocean.

The first will address questions of who God is and what he is up to; we want to bring revitalization and a fresh biblical vision about the nature and character of the God who wants to reach the world with his mercy and love.

The second module takes on the topic of spiritual formation, as we will discuss how we are (re-)formed in God’s image; if God truly desires his people to be conformed to the character of Christ, then it is incumbent upon us as his people to really process what this means for us and those we are reaching with his good news.

Module three addresses how Christian community flows from the first two; we will discuss what we are to do in light of who God is and how we are formed.

Each module will have multiple components: a book pertaining to the subject matter, Zoom discussions, and one in-person meeting. The goal of this experience is to develop and enrich the relationships of our emerging leaders, to provide instruction and conversation about the movement of God in the world and how we participate, and to deepen the preparation of our emerging leaders for the future of the NAB.

The application deadline is June 20, 2025.

Apply for Year of Equipping: Year 2