Collaboration, and our worship of Jesus
 

Notes from the two keynote addresses from Dave Ferguson and Alex Harris at the first Everyone Everywhere national conference on 8 October 

The importance of relational networks – Dave Ferguson

Dave is the co founder of Exponential, a non-profit organisation that serves the broad, evangelical church planting community, and New Thing, which exists to catalyse reproducing disciples, leaders, churches, networks, and movements.
 
Dave stressed the importance of collaboration in his address, referencing his own experience of church planting and catalysing others to do the same.
 
We are all onboard with the Great Commission and the Great Commandment to love our neighbour, he said. But in his experience, things really start to happen when there is ‘great collaboration’, which is often overlooked, but which is rooted in Jesus’ prayer in John 17 (21-23).
 
For him, this manifested itself in small networks of church planters meeting regularly. As the number of churches planted from his initial church began to grow, they were best served by being part of small networks of four to six churches that could support each other.
 
These networks involve sharing goals, eating together (‘if you want to move an acquaintance to a friendship, nothing's better than a meal, right?), and providing training ‘so they leave better leaders’.
 
He highlighted three particular benefits of relational networks:
 
The 'results benefit’ - 'Accountability gets results,' Dave said. Statistics show that accountability increases goal achievement by 95 per cent.
 
Secondly, there was a 'relational benefit' - networks based on friendship ‘create trust and love’, which means those involved tend to ‘actually take better care of each other,’ he explained. He cited statistics showing a 125% increase in church planter survival if they meet in a peer to peer group.  
 
Thirdly, there is the kingdom benefit. ‘Networks are all about God's kingdom - and not our own individual castles,’ he explained.
 
He drew a parallel to Eliud Kipchoge's record-breaking marathon run, when the support of other elite runners pushed him to the extraordinary feat of completing the distance in under two hours.
 
‘I see other runners coming alongside this church planter who wants to do something that seems impossible: an impossible city, an impossible neighbourhood, an impossible demographic with not enough resources.
 
‘But instead of competing, they're going, “No, we're coming together to collaborate. We're going to run this section with you. We're going to cheer you on, we're going to champion your cause.”
 
'Collaboration can achieve what seems impossible alone,' he continued, before asking: ‘What could networks look like in your context?’
 
He encouraged those present to ‘don't just adopt what I'm doing.
 
‘What does it mean for you to begin to put leaders together in relational networks?'
 
Access Dave's address on YouTube

 

‘What our communities most need from us is our worship of Jesus’ - Alex Harris

Alex Harris gave the day's final address. He spoke on the Great Commission (Matthew 28: 16-20), and as well as frequently referring to the events at the start of the chapter when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary met Jesus at the tomb. He invited those gathered to reflect on three particular words which appeared in both sections: worship, go and behold.
 
In so doing, he stressed the importance of our own relationship with Jesus. What we are attempting is difficult (it is 'brutally hard' to plant a church and to pastor a church, or to lead a college or an Association, he said) - and the only way to survive and thrive is to have an 'intimate' relationship with Jesus.
 
Alex spoke of the way Mary Magdalene and the other Mary fell to Jesus' feet after meeting him at the tomb. This was a 'radical' act of worship. It echoed the moment when Mary Magdalene brought her alabaster jar of perfume. Alongside this she brought her tears and trauma.
 
'Our hearts must be postured to worship Jesus like this,' said Alex.
 
The word 'behold' is a difficult word to translate (in some translations it appears as surely or truly), 'but essentially it's a guttural expulsion of deep intimacy, security and delight,' explained Alex.
 
In verse 9 with the women it's expressing the disciples' delight; in verse 20 it's Jesus' delight in being in our intimate company.
 
The challenge is: where is your behold? Your deep intimacy with Jesus?' asked Alex.
 
He continued, 'Friends, what our communities we're trying to reach need most from us is not our missional strategy and our evangelistic heart and our listening ear, as vital as that is. What they most need from us is our worship of Jesus.
 
'What our movement as Baptists Together need most from us is not outstanding strategies and the wonderful release of resources and outstanding collaboration, which I'm 100 per cent for, but they need a worship of Jesus that is wholehearted.'
 
Alex also spoke of the different types of church and approaches needed to help people encounter Jesus.
 
Focusing on the word 'go', he said its use in both verse 10 and verse 18 is in the plural. This means that 'church planting and missional communities and micro churches and sharing Jesus is a TEAM sport' said Alex. 'It's always in the plural - go together.'
 
Taking this further, Alex spoke about the twin churches birthed following Pentecost.
 
One of those expressions of church is temple courts. ‘It's bigger, it's public. It's in the building that everyone recognized was the spiritual house of the city or the town. It had recognised and accredited leadership called priests, and it was beautiful and wonderful.’
 
The other one was ‘small and discreet’ - it met in people's homes, was led by ordinary people and tended to fit into one house. It was also beautiful and wonderful.
 
Both fully reflected God but were distinctively shaped by their mother cultures DNA.
 
‘We need to find a way to embrace both temple court church planting, and house to house church planting, and give them equal and full value as Jesus's divine body on Earth,’ Alex said.

Access Alex's talk on YouTube

Read a general account of the day plus feedback here