Accelerate

Unity in the Church

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Brill) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Check out this link to watch an interview with John Armstrong, author of Your Church Is Too Small: Why Unity in Christ's Mission is Vital to the Future of the Church (Zondervan).

In his book, Armstrong presents a vision of the unity possible for Christians across social, cultural, racial, and denominational lines. When Jesus’ followers seek unity through participation in the Kingdom of God and the mission of Christ, they demonstrate God’s character to a watching world.

In this interview, Phil Miglioratti's has John Armstrong unpack some of this concept of John 17 unity. Go to Podcast.

(Use Internet Explorer or Safari. This podcast does not work on Firefox at this time.)

Coalition Issues Call to the Church for a New Depth of “Loving Your Neighbor”

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Brill) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:50:00 +0000

Two Joint Gatherings of Evangelism Leaders Held in Birmingham

Contact:
Susan Brill, Director of Communications, Mission America Coalition, 715-559-1068, www.missionamerica.org

Palm Desert, Calif., March 9 -- The Mission America Coalition issued a call to churches and Christians across America last week for a “prayer-care-share approach” to “loving their neighbors to Christ.”

“We need a new surge of evangelism and discipleship in America,” Dr. Paul Cedar, chairman of the Coalition, said in an interview at the group’s annual gathering in Birmingham, Ala. last week. “The average evangelical Christian in America has such a resistance to being involved in evangelism. I’m convinced that fear, not wrong motive, is the major factor. They are just afraid.”

Cedar addressed the group of 300 who gathered for two joint meetings in Birmingham - “Convergence,” the National City Impact Roundtable, and “Accelerate 2010,” the MAC annual gathering. He emphasized that evangelism is not work that we do, but the work of the Holy Spirit. “There is this mysterious wooing and drawing and convicting of the Holy Spirit,” he said, “And we just need to make ourselves available.”

The method Cedar put forth for “making ourselves available,” is the prayer-care-share lifestyle. MAC wants to “blow the trumpet” to call and encourage churches and ministries to adopt a “prayer-care-share lifestyle,” Cedar says. This natural method of outreach can alleviate some of the fear believers have about sharing their faith, he advocates, because it relies on the Holy Spirit, not on the believer, to come up with the best way to minister or reach out to someone. The method begins with prayer alone.

“If you can get Christians to really start praying for even a small list of three to five people,” Cedar explained, “then as they pray, that gives opportunity for the Holy Spirit to get them to the next step. Then they are prepared to begin to love them and to care for them.”

The third facet of this lifestyle is “share” - sharing the gospel. While “the gospel always comes down to a verbal message” Cedar says, it doesn’t mean that those who are praying for and caring about someone will share the gospel one on one. The “share” part of this lifestyle could mean inviting someone to a church service or an evangelistic event where they can hear the gospel message, or sharing a book or movie that present the gospel, or many other means. The point is for the one praying to look for opportunities the Holy Spirit opens up, Cedar says.

Cedar said he and his wife Jeannie are amazed at the “mature” Christians they meet who have not caught the vision for beginning to pray for lost people. “That is the key,” Cedar said. “The right place to put the oar in the water...is to get them to start praying for lost people.”

In his plenary session delivered on Wednesday, Cedar issued a call for a new emphasis on loving one’s neighbors to Christ to the 300 gathered. He presented a working paper for feedback and response. The group responded positively, Rev. Phil Miglioratti, MAC’s COO, reported, “Everybody - 100 percent of the people there - resonated with the need to call the Church to love our neighbor at an even more authentic level than we are doing it now. At no point was there disagreement for the Church to seek God for a ‘Compassion Revolution’” he said, using the term some had begun to call the movement during the discussions.

According to Miglioratti, “Researchers Dave Olson (America Church Research Project) and David Kinnaman (Barna Group) gave compelling evidence that the Church is struggling yet filled with signs of hope. Nothing less than a compassion revolution of Christians loving their neighbors and neighborhoods will accelerate the Great Commission in this next decade.”

Held in conjunction with Accelerate 2010, was Convergence, the National City Impact Roundtable. The two events shared several sessions. Convergence addressed four streams of cityreaching - Christians collaborating in evangelism and discipleship to reach their city/community for Christ. George Otis, of The Sentinel Group, addressed “presence-based cityreaching” in Monday’s opening session. “Transforming revival is a pleasant byproduct of believers who are passionately seeking God’s intimate company for it’s own sake,” Otis offered.

The marketplace stream of cityreaching was represented by a panel of four leaders in marketplace ministry who shared what God is doing in each of their ministries and fielded questions from the audience.

“We don’t need more faith and evangelistic efforts...in the workplace,” posed panelist Steve Capper of Mission Houston, “The saints need to be equipped for their works of service in every place they live, work and play….the Church in and through the workplace, connected and functioning in obedience to the Lord.” Other panelists included Brad Fieldhouse (The Barnabas Group), Kent Humphreys (Christian Companies for Christ, Int.), and Bob Varney (Campus Crusade for Christ).

Dr. John Perkins spoke to the community development stream of cityreaching and also gave the opening plenary for Accelerate 2010, when the two gatherings joined together. Perkins said the only remedy to the problems of our culture is God and His Church. “We are sitting at an opportune moment of greatness. And greatness has to do with people seeing the pain and the agony and entering into that pain and agony,” he said. He challenged participants to go where they see the most hurt in their communities to expand their compassion.

Melisa Pearson from Idaho welcomed that challenge. She said she is looking forward to going back to Boise, gathering statistics about the hurting needs in her community, and praying over where God would have her start working. “I want to be able to step into where that pain is and be willing to be vulnerable to allow Christ to flow through me to love them and meet them in their need,” she said.

The fourth stream of cityreaching - evangelism - was held in conjunction with MAC’s session with Dr. Paul Cedar speaking on the prayer-care-share lifestyle, and the closing NCIR session addressed the convergence of these streams.

Jarvis Ward, of the NCIR lead team and a national facilitator for MAC repeated one of the group’s analogies about convergence: “When two rivers collide, the nutrients come to the surface...and you’ve got some of your best fishing ever,” he explained. “That is what we’re about - as we converge, that we would see in our cities the best fishing ever for the souls of young and old.”

“We hope we will see an increased number of cityreaching movements around the country as a result of this,” Ward said. “Our vision is to try to have a cityreaching movement in every city of 10,000 or more - that’s about 2,500 cities in the United States.”

Participants engaged in frequent roundtable discussions during speaker presentations, and a number of cityreaching groups took the stage throughout the event to talk about the work going on in their cities and share best practices.

“A lot of times cityreaching people get so focused on their local area, they get discouraged because they don’t see things progressing,” said participant Kathy Pipal from Boise, Idaho. “It really helps to see what God is doing in other places....Just networking with the people here is well worth it because you get so many ideas.”

Alaina Brake from Akron Ohio agreed. “It’s a great way to network and to build partnerships with other people, especially for the young folks,” she offered. “So I can bring home to Akron Ohio...that even though we’re young, we can do big things.”

Both groups held a reception together for Dr. Perkins Tuesday evening honoring his 80th birthday and his 50 years of ministry pioneering Christian community development. MAC presented Dr. Perkins with a plaque and a collection of letters from participants thanking him for his work for the Kingdom of God.

For information about promoting a prayer-care-share lifestyle in your church or ministry, go to http://www.missionamerica.org. For more information about City Impact Roundtables, go to http://www.cityreaching.com.

The Mission America Coalition is a network of national church leaders, representing denominations, ministries, and other key Christian leaders with a shared vision to collaborate in prayer, evangelism, and revival. Since its inception, leaders from 81 denominations, over 400 ministries and dozens of ministry networks have been involved in the Coalition. Mrs. Vonette Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ), Dr. Billy Graham (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association), and Dr. John Perkins (Christian Community Development Association) serve as honorary co-chairs.

City Impact Roundtables (CIRs) are interactive gatherings of cityreachers held regionally and nationally to build relationships among cityreachers, share Kingdom-sized vision for holistic evangelism and revival, and pray together for united ministry throughout the Body of Christ.

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After Stories

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Brill) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:06:00 +0000

About 300 pastors, ministry leaders, denominational leaders, cityreachers, intercessors, and more gathered in Birmingham this week for two powerful events - Convergence and Accelerate 2010. Share your feedback with us. What impacted you? What action steps will you take for your ministry as a result? How did God work in our midst? What do you anticipate for the future? The floor is open...

(To make recommendations for future events, send comments to info@missionamerica.org)

ONE Week and Counting!

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Brill) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:24:00 +0000

We look forward to seeing you in Birmingham next week! We hope you'll be praying toward our meetings and come expectant for God to work!

Pray for our speakers and those involved in preparing for the events:

Father, Thank you for the 241 participants registered for Convergence and Accelerate 2010! We ask you to bring more to the doors next week! We ask that You would bring each person whose voice is needed at these events and who You will use and bless through these events. Let no one who should be there be kept away by conflicts, schedules, or last minute circumstances.

We intercede for the speakers who will inspire us, rally us, and minister to us. For Dr. John Perkins and Dr. Paul Cedar, for researchers Dave Olson and David Kinnaman, for Convergence speakers George Otis. Jr., Kent Humphreys, Glenn Barth, Jarvis Ward, Tom White, Bob Varney and for table facilitators and responders - we ask for Your anointing upon each one, for their hearts to be sensitive to your Holy Spirit and for each participant to hear clearly the Word of God for their life and ministry back home, resulting in an unprecedented acceleration of your Great Commsion in cities and town, young and old, among all the peoples of our country.

We intercede for those finalizing details for the events - the Convergence and Accelerate 2010 planning teams, the Mission America Coalition staff and the National City Impact Roundtable staff and volunteers. Let details fall into place, let obstacles or setbacks be quickly resolved, let all of the resources at the hotel be in order for the needs of our meetings.

Finally, we intercede for the staff and managers at the Sheraton Birmingham. May our presence in their hotel bring glory to You. May the presence of your Holy Spirit be undeniable. May those who don't know You be drawn toward You through seeing You in us...

Please add your own prayer before you move on - With our thanks and accelerating expectations!

Three Weeks and Counting...

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Brill) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:35:00 +0000

We look forward to seeing you in Birmingham in March! Please pray your way to Birmingham with us. This week:

Pray for the intercessors and for our hosts Mission Birmingham and The Tuscaloosa Prayer Network:

Father, we thank you for stirring the intercessors to pray for the leaders and speakers of Convergence and Accelerate 2010. We pray for intercessors who will commit to pray on site in Birmingham for these events. Thank you for those who carry the vision for what is to happen and put your protection around them and the vision. We ask You to help us maximize the opportunity of hosting these events for Your purposes in Birmingham - that leaders would be drawn to the gathering; that we would use this as a opportunity to see true convergence happen in Birmingham. We pray for Mission Birmingham and the Hope Initiative - we ask you to cover and protect the children in the seven zones who have experienced hopelessness - give each zone leader wisdom for the work ahead, give those working in the zone a long-term commitment to see change, and move more congregations to take ownership of the Hope Initiative. We pray for literacy for west Alabama - that those who don’t know how to read will desire to read and be given the opportunity to learn. We pray for Mayor Walt Maddox's protection and that the pressures of politics will not draw him away from You. We pray for the Tuscaloosa Prayer Network, the Ministerial Alliance, and the servant leaders. We ask for wonderful weather in Birmingham! Especially for the outdoor prayer rally at noon on Tuesday, March 2. Bless those who are hosting this event and bring a spiritual awakening that will usher in the power and presence of the Lord in Birmingham and in Tuscaloosa, and in each of our communities.

Five Weeks and Counting

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Brill) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:10:00 +0000

We hope you'll be praying toward the Accelerate 2010 and Convergence meetings and come expectant for God to work among us. Each week we'll post a specific prayer request. Please pray your way to Birmingham with us!

PRAY for those registered and those yet to register:

Gracious Father, we thank you for every person who has registered for Convergence and Accelerate 2010 and those who have not yet registered. We ask you to be at work in their lives between now and our time in Birmingham. Prepare them - mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally - to come together and seek Your heart and Your vision for accelerating the Great Commission in the next decade. Give them strength and ability to overcome any obstacles that would hinder them coming. For those not registered, we ask you to clear schedules, resolve finances, or sort out other obligations to clear the path for each one to come. Bless and protect these servants of Yours for Your glory, in Jesus name.

John Perkins at Accelerate 2010: "A Love the Lost Can See"

noreply@blogger.com (Susan Brill) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 01:02:00 +0000

At Accelerate 2010, part of our working meeting will be strategizing how we the Church can collaborate in reaching our communities for the Kingdom - loving America to Christ.

One of the models of that kind of effort will be among us: Dr. John Perkins. He'll be speaking to us at both the Accelerate 2010 and Convergence events (held in conjunction - if that's new info to you, see the Accelerate 2010 News Bulletin). We'll also be honoring him with a reception on Tuesday evening (March 2) to recognize his 50 years of ministry and 80th birthday.

Has John Perkins been an inspiration to your in your ministry?

Let's exchange stories here of the models of collaboration that his life and ministry have inspired, or models of caring for and serving the lost. Share your comments so others who don't know as much about his legacy can glimpse who he is and why we want to hear from him at Accelerate 2010.

Also, if you'd like to share a hard-copy word with John Perkins personally, as part of our reception honoring his years of ministry, we'll be collecting letters of thanks and binding them into a book to present to him at (or after) the Accelerate 2010 and Convergence meetings in Birmingham. Send letters on 8-1/2x11 paper to MA Coalition Attn: Perkins Reception P.O. Box 13930, Palm Desert, CA 92255 by February 22.

Accelerate The Conversation!

noreply@blogger.com (missionamerica) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:33:00 +0000

Accelerate 2010 will grapple with the realities of the spiritual state of our United States and Christ's call for a united Church to respond ...

As you pray toward the March meetings, what is the Holy Spirit stirring in your mind and heart?

Your concerns
Applicable scriptures
Insights and ideas
...all toward accelerating the Great Commission in this new decade

Post a comment - Reply to a comment - Pray for the upcoming gathering - Forward a brochure to a colleague or your network!

Welcome to Accelerate 2010!

noreply@blogger.com (missionamerica) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 02:44:00 +0000

With your participation, this blog will become the working-site for the working-meeting of the Mission America Coalition.

The Birmingham sessions Convergence and Accelerate 2010 are designed to involve every MAC partner and member - and anyone with a passion to see their neighborhoods, communities, and whole cities come to Christ - in the unfolding process of a renewed call to the Church in America. A call to impact communities and influence culture through the lifestyles of praying, caring, and gospel-sharing believers.

Are you "in"?

Register for the MAC Gathering
Read the presenting document
Come back to this site and comment, give feedback, ask the questions that will better prepare us all for the strategic conversations of March 2-4, 2010.