2027 Church Life, Leadership, and Planting (Foundational) Network
- Image
Key principles and practices stand out in the scriptures surrounding New Testament local church life, church leadership, and church planting. What was local church life like? How did local church leadership function? How was it that churches seemed able to work together fruitfully on mission in new areas beyond their initial localities? How can we apply these lessons today to create healthy, loving local churches that are effective at sharing the Gospel and caring for one another?
Jon Beardon and the team working with him at Relational Mission will lead this Network exploring how we can make a diligent attempt in our generation at the implementation of New Testament practices in local church life, church leadership, and church planting. This Network will aim to explore principles and practices found in various biblical passages for those involved in senior leadership within a local church and for those leading or seeking to build networks of churches. Following collective times looking at the Scriptures, the themes raised will be further discussed and explored through group work, Q&A, case studies, etc. Prior preparation will be set for all applicants.
What Network Participants Are Saying
- "Being here is so helpful for me because I have the ability now to address issues of revitalizing our church in a more biblical way. I have learned so much for leadership development that I can't wait to get back to my church and apply these principles." - Arvid Gogaj, Pastor, Albania
- "Being a part of this ELF community is unlike anything else in my life. It is an opportunity to grow in my faith by being encouraged by speakers and participants of the Forum. It is a limitless well of knowledge, experience, and ideas that help me go back to ministry with a renewed heart and mind bursting with ideas. It also allows me to meet others who are in similar situations and hopefully be an encouragement to them as well." - Bartosz Przybyla, Missionary, Poland
Applicants should be involved in the senior leadership within a local church or those leading or seeking to build a network of churches. This Network explores principles and practices found in the New Testament for local church life, leadership, and planting. This Track is designed for those who have NOT attended the European Leadership Forum Church Life, Leadership, and Planting Network in previous years.
Network Leadership
Network Speakers
Jon Beardon is a member of the Relational Mission core team, with responsibilities that include overseeing the team of directors responsible for governance, finance, and communications and directly supervising some of the Relational Mission churches in the United Kingdom, France (Lille), Serbia… Read more
Vlada Stojanovic was born and raised in Nis, Serbia, where he graduated in mechanical engineering. He spent 4 years in the UK training in missions and receiving his education in theology and leadership, at the same time working in local churches. Currently, he is finishing his master’s degree in… Read more
Network Programme
Sunday, 23 May
Psalm 45 is a song written in anticipation of a marriage. It is written from hearts stirred by love. Embarking on ministry that is focused primarily on tasks, goals, structures, techniques, or programs will lead us inevitably into fruitlessness. The image of marriage and love from the heart is a frequent one in scripture, helping us grasp something of the relationship between Christ and His church. We begin this Network by exploring and assessing what the key heart motivations within the leadership of the local church are. The goal of this session is to help participants refresh their hearts, reminding themselves of why they do what they do.
An understanding of God’s grace is vital if we are to fully enjoy the freedom we have found through our relationship with Jesus Christ. Sadly, many Christians are more aware of a sense of failure and condemnation than of reigning and rejoicing. The people of God must be restored to a fresh appreciation of all that is theirs in Christ. This seminar explores the glorious riches of the gift of mercy that is God's grace to us, and particularly how to disciple one another into enjoying the full benefits of God's astonishing, lavish, unending, unfailing, unlimited, unmerited favour towards his children through Jesus Christ.