Welcome to February 2023 edition of Together, the online newsletter for The Fellowship Community.
I recently read a shocking statistic about the church from Thom S. Rainer, one of our National Gathering speakers last year.
“In a church with 100 in attendance, an additional 32 attendees would have to be added [each year] to stay even, and they would have to attend every Sunday. If they attend every other Sunday, the church would need an additional 64 attendees.”
Why? The rate of death, church transfers, moving out of the area, and infrequent attendance. You can read more here.
The diligent and hard work of evangelism, serving the community, discipleship, and gathering for worship is perhaps harder than ever and the need for healthy, resilient, Spirit-led leaders is more essential than ever.
That’s why we are encouraging elders and pastors to join us for our 2023 National Gathering. Our theme Renewing Hearts for Leadership is designed to inspire and equip each other in the leadership of the church for the sake of Christ. Speakers, worship, fellowship, exhibitors, and meals will provide the rhythm and content for a rich time together.
For the same reason, we are gathering leaders in regions. If you would like to connect for support, mission, or friendship with colleagues in ministry, please send us an email and we’ll get you in touch with a board member or regional rep in your area.
Please let us know how we can support you and your ministry. And hope to see you in May!
Together in Christ, |
Mike McClenahan, Board President |
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May 2023 National Gathering |
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The Fellowship Community's 2022 National Gathering was an outstanding time in Washington DC-- full of fellowship, teaching, fun and worship....so let's DO IT AGAIN! May 2-4, 2023 we'll gather just outside Dallas in Plano, TX. It's a challenging time to be a leader in the Church, and we all need time, space and practices that equip and fill us up for ministry. Our theme is "Renewing Hearts for Leadership." Click below to register now!
We'll be gradually announcing our full line-up of speakers, men and women from around the country, but here's a teaser: |
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 | Steve Cuss is a pastor, podcaster, and the author of Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs and the founder of www.capablelife.me, an online community helping you to function as a calm, aware, present human in the workplace and home place. |
| | | Drew Hyun spearheads Leadership Development for Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, a movement that is dedicated to transforming church culture through the multiplication of deeply changed leaders and disciples. He is also the Founder and Pastor of Hope Church NYC and the Co-Founder of the New City Network, a network of urban churches that value multi-ethnicity, Spirit-filled ministry, emotional health, and mission. |
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Early Bird Registration: $250 through February 28, 2023. Special discounted rates for spouses, seminary students, and small church leaders! Click above for more details. |
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Fridays are one of my favorite days. I plan my week so that my main Friday task is the study, prayer and imagining work for Sunday’s sermon. I get started earlier in the week, but the bulk of study time before writing happens Friday. If I’m preaching from a New Testament text, I always start by trying to translate from the Greek. Note that I said “trying.” Despite all those hours and weeks and months and years in seminary of memorizing, parsing and diagramming, my skills are very weak– I’m not sure they were ever strong, but they have definitely atrophied over the years. So I sit with my Greek New Testament, and an English version right next to it and rough out my own translation. The most important thing this does is force me to slow down and consider every single word of a text, look at every phrase.
Dan Baumgartner encourages us to re-up our commitment to our calling and our love for the Lord. |
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New Board Member Spotlight |
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Eric Hoey serves as pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Henderson in Henderson, KY. He has been roasting his own coffee for over 26 years and is always searching for “The Perfect Cup,” which is coffee expertly roasted to enhance the country’s unique taste profile, ground and brewed to absolute perfection.
Tell about a time you felt lonely or discouraged in ministry and how the community of believers lifted you up:
After I was fired by the Presbyterian Mission Agency, I felt very lonely while working at Starbucks and discerning my sense of call. However, when I was unemployed, my Covenant Group paid my way to their annual meeting to gather around me and lift me up through a difficult time of my life.
What excites you most about the future of TFC?
After choosing to stay in the PC(USA), I want to be surrounded with like-minded colleagues to traverse our changing world and denomination together both regionally and nationally.
Welcome, Eric! Thank you for serving TFC! |
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TFC is committed to helping churches find compatible leaders - and vice versa! To that end, we invite you to check out the "Find a Call" page on our website, where you can see a variety of open positions throughout the country. We have received quite a few new postings recently, so be sure to stay connected!
We are also looking for ways to improve this feature, so please think about how we might serve best in this area and send us any ideas or feedback. |
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Loving Father, As you prepare us for our next National Gathering, our world seems to be changing faster than we would ever imagine. Sustain my sisters and brothers in Christ so that we can all anticipate entering into your presence together worshiping our unchanging Lord and Savior. Thank you, Jesus, for being our firm foundation and our cornerstone in these unstable times. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Contributed by Eric Hoey |
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Do you have an idea for a future story? Are you involved in a ministry others need to know about? Let us know, and we'll include it in a future month's Together!
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