Dear Friends,
Welcome! This is the March 2024 edition of Together, the online newsletter of The Fellowship Community.
On behalf of the Board, we are glad that you are part of the TFC family. The Fellowship Community is a network of churches and leaders called together to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ by growing in Christ’s likeness, living by God’s word, and joining in God’s mission in the world.
To facilitate that mission, we are excited to gather more than 230 participants and over a dozen exhibitors April 23-25, 2024 at the National Gathering at First Presbyterian Church of Nashville. Our plenary speakers Andy, Dwight, and Alycia will provide challenging, encouraging and timely messages, and our breakouts, meals, and fellowship time will provide much-needed connections and insights into the next faithful steps in ministry.
I want you to know that the Board is praying for you as a board--for the gathering and for your ministry. We meet monthly and appreciate you adding us to your prayer list. These are important times for building up the church and demonstrating God's Kingdom in the world, and we pray that "You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich… And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others." (2 Corinthians 8 and 9 NLT)
In Christ, |
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Mike McClenahan, TFC Board President |
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April 2024 National Gathering |
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Join us April 23-25 in Nashville! In stressful times, it’s restorative and uplifting to remember the big picture of who we are as God’s people in the world. And it’s refreshing to be with friends in faith! Since the earliest days of the Church, Jesus followers have been called to engage the culture around them and to distinguish themselves from the culture, all for the sake of the Gospel. Join the Fellowship Community to talk, pray, and dream together about how we can best live into this biblical vision in our own contexts. (Nashville will be a fun and interesting place to have these conversations, too!)
We will continue to announce our full line-up of speakers, men and women from around the country, but here's a teaser: |
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Andrew Root is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, USA. He writes and researches in areas of theology, ministry, culture and younger generations. |
| Dwight Radcliff Is the Academic Dean for the William Pannell Center for Black Church Studies at Fuller Seminary, and Assistant Professor of Mission, Theology and Culture. |
| Alycia Wood has spent over nine years doing full-time apologetics ministry where she travels and speaks on various topics relevant to our culture. She is currently with Apologetics, Inc. in Tampa. |
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Regular registration is $300. Special rates ($100) for spouses and seminary students. Leaders from churches with 100 members or less are welcome to attend at no charge. |
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Regional Connections Opportunities to Connect with TFC and our Partner Organizations |
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Zoom Gathering Third Thursday of each month Next one - March 21 11:00 to 12:00pm eastern |
| Zoom Gathering for DFW area leaders Third Thursday of each month Next one - March 21 2:00 pm central |
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If your region is not listed, we are working on plans for something in your area. If you'd like to help organize a TFC event in your area, please email us at office@fellowship.community. |
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I wonder how you feel about Lent right now. We’re about 3/4 of the way through this season leading towards Easter. Holy Week is approaching. For some of us, Lent doesn’t mean much beyond a mention or two in worship on a Sunday morning. But others are practicing various disciplines, reflection or confession, and that feels like hard work. In some parts of the country, throw a bunch of rainy, dark days on top of it, and if we’re not careful, we can turn healthy self-reflections into a self-loathing weight. We might (erroneously) focus so much on our brokenness that we forget the remedy. So this is just a reminder.
TFC Board secretary Dan Baumgartner reminds us of God's amazing love for us. |
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I suppose that you have already ordered your plane ticket, or charted your route with great anticipation of joining together with us, your faith family, at next month’s National Gathering. It is going to be an absolutely great time of encountering the Lord, being refreshed as we sit together under the Word, finding encouragement in “fellowship,” and having our hope renewed as we are reminded of the collegiality within this like-minded group. If for any reason you haven’t yet made your plans to join us, it is not too late…jump on this trending trajectory and register to attend.
In addition to gearing up for this amazing annual event, I have regularly found myself gathering with churches and pastors within our community as they consider how they might make stronger commitments, aligning with the Fellowship Community. Many of our churches are asking intentional questions about the upcoming overture that will land at General Assembly this year. There are continued concerns and apprehensions about the direction that this overture could take our denomination. Regardless of this overture, the direction that we sense our denomination to be heading, and the confusion or the worry that this may cause for many of us, there is no better time than now for all of us to lean into the strength of being kin together.
TFC Coodinator for Connections and Recruitment Ray Garcia invites you to join us in Nashville. |
Do you feel uninspired, exhausted, or burned out when it comes to sermon preparation? Or do you simply want to elevate your preaching/worship planning to the next level? What if there was a resource that you could actually trust, week in and week out, to inspire both you and your flock? There is! Welcome to The Pastor’s Workshop. We offer curated resources that leverage the power of storytelling-leading to spiritual transformation. Resources include illustrations, quotes, liturgy pages, lectionary guides, and a blog.
The Pastor's Workshop will be an exhibitor at this year's National Gathering. Several TFC-affiliated pastors are contributors to the Pastor's Workshop, but it is not directly connected to 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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by St. Patrick
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me. I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through belief in the Threeness, Through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation. |
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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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