Small Church Gathering Track Overview

SMALL CHURCH GATHERING

A Big Event for Resourcing Small Churches.

Track Overview

Transformation is not Optional: Becoming more like Jesus can take on many different forms. From pairs, triads, to small groups, and events you’ve got options for disciple making in your church and beyond the walls. But too often discipleship is relegated to a program, event, or day of the week, when it is the lifeblood of a healthy church. What if you didn’t need to buy more curriculum or read another book?

In this track we will:

Ground our work by practicing a spiritual discipline and reflecting on it

Integrate a Wesleyan understanding of grace and explore where grace abounds in your ministry

Discuss creating an atmosphere of transformation and ways of being like Jesus including growing together in large, small, and micro groups.

Participants will:

Assess and name 1-2 ways that organic and intentional discipleship is happening and how to maximize and celebrate it. Cultivate language to express grace, transformation, spiritual growth and discipleship. Identify and commit to 2-3 simple and realistic to be’s and to do’s for the next 90 days.

Small churches are doing incredible things in their communities! But what if these incredible acts could be even more transformational in your community?

I’m Jason Stanley, the Track Leader of the Cooperative Ministry Track at the Big Event for Resourcing Small Churches! In this track, we'll explore the power of a shared vision to transform those small acts into a BIG impact!

Cooperative ministry is about discerning opportunities to collaborate, finding ways to pool our resources, and significantly impacting our communities in the name of Jesus Christ. Join us as we dive into the strategies of cooperative ministry, discovering how working together can amplify our efforts and create lasting change.

When churches unite, incredible things happen. We've seen firsthand how combining our strengths and resources multiplies the Kingdom impact we can make. So, gather your team and come prepared to learn, be inspired, and walk away with actionable steps and practical help for cooperative ministry.

*Note: this track is led by Kay Kotan in the Branson location

Anchoring Scripture: “Different kinds of gifts. One Spirit.” (1 Cor. 12)

Small congregations are not miniaturized big ones. And worship resources can’t simply be dragged and dropped from big settings to yours. Small congregations have different challenges, needs, and resources. More importantly, they also have different strengths. Powerful, deeply-forming strengths. Strengths that don’t work in big settings. Strengths that come with a powerful advantage for your congregation--and whole community.

In this track, you’ll learn

1. Seven small-church strengths and how to work differently with them.

2. The power of “going local,” “contact” and how to worship with conversation.

3. A way of planning and worshiping that fits--and feels like the very best kind of potluck celebration.

Small churches had a vital role in our communities. In this Track we will explore some ways to simplify your ministries to have an even greater God-sized impact for your neighbors. During our time together, we will touch on these eight key strategies to simplify your small church ministries:

We, Not They
Get Face to Face
Evangelism is Not an Extra
Dream Up to Team Up
Deep, Not Wide
When in Doubt, Experiment
Simple with a Signature
Keep Accountable

Participants will walk away with simple, yet effective tools and strategies that can be immediately applied in their local context to ease volunteer burnout and congregational fatigue. A fresh toolbox with adaptive solutions is sure to energize ministry leaders and volunteers.