Upcoming APEPT missionality workshop with Dr. Curt Watke

Upcoming APEPT missionality workshop with Dr. Curt Watke on November 5 and 6.  The workshop will take a look at the following:

Five roles are to equip believers to do the work of ministry and to edify the body of Christ.  These five roles, the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers, were given to each and every church for an equipping purpose. (Eph 4:11-12).


However, for many centuries churches have approached ministry institutionally. Controlled by pastor/teachers, ministries have often been ingrown and internally focused. Those with special gifting in apostolic, evangelistic, and prophetic roles often have not found a place of ministry in the current ministry structures. Many times they have had to set up "para-church" organizations in order to follow God's missional calling. 


Today many churches are "churches with missions" meaning that they give, support, and otherwise further mission causes -- but they don't know how to be missional.  Missional congregations know how to act like a missionary within their sociocultural context.  Missional congregations understand the diverse cultures in their community, respond interculturally, and develop contextual approaches to reach and disciple them.  Missional congregations honor, support and equip believers to function in apostolic, evangelistic, and prophetic roles within the cultural context to which God has called them.  The Pastors and Teachers of missional congregations -- seeing themselves as co-laborers with gifted believers who have apostolic, evangelistic, and prophetic roles -- provide support, assistance, and training for these roles in their local congregations.


You are invited to attend the upcoming APEPT Missionality Seminar.  This seminar is based on the Ephesians 4:11-16 passage that deals with equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.  However, what is unique about the workshop is that it addresses how churches can work together as teams in missional ministry and outreach. At least one of these five roles has been given to every believer in your church.  And the Ephesians 4 passages indicates that your church has gifted people in each of these functions.  By taking the FREE APEPT Missionality Survey, you can find out how God has wired you with a unique blend of missional roles and how your role functions missionally.  


The seminar provides an opportunity for you to meet others who have the same gifted wiring as yourself -- and to meet others who are uniquely different from you.  Together you experience ways in which these roles shape your personal mission and how you can contribute to kingdom growth.  You will also learn how an imbalance of missional leadership negatively impacts your church's ministry.


Dr. Curt Watke will be with us to lead the seminar.  He is a North American missiologist with a passion for reaching the diverse people groups across North America.  He has developed cutting edge contextual resources for helping churches connect with their culture.


He has served churches in Georgia, Virginia and Pennsylvania and trained church planters who started postmodern Anglo, Mandarin, and Portuguese-language churches in Canada. He has trained pastors on three continents, holds two masters degrees and a doctorate (PhD) with a double major in both missiology and in evangelism.  His major professors were Drs. Roy Fish, Malcolm McDow, Daniel Sanchez, and Ebbie Smith.


He has conducted sociocultural research in both the United States and Canada; served as a professor of Evangelism & Church Planting at Prairie Bible College and Graduate School in Alberta, Canada and has taught at four other seminaries and graduates schools in the United States and Canada including Southeastern Seminary, Southwestern Seminary, Golden Gate Seminary and Heritage Baptist Seminary (Canada).  He founded the Intercultural Institute for Contextual Ministry in 2003 after serving in the Church Planting Group at the North American Mission Board, SBC.  


He has been the principal researcher in the following research projects:  SITESCAPE Location Typology (2007); APEPT Missionality Questionnaire (2008); MissionCraft: Forecasting Rate of Church Closures (2008); MissionPoint: Active Evangelical Presence by Census Tract (2009).


He has also developed the following online resources:  MissionalZipcode.org (Missional Zipcode Catalogue, 2008); MissionalCorps.org (social networking for mission, 2008) and MissionalCyclopedia.org (online cyclopedia similar to Wikipedia). 


And he has co-authored the following books and materials:  Ministry Context Exploration: Understanding North American Cultures (w/ Bruce Scott, 2002);  and Starting Reproducing Congregations (w/Daniel Sanchez & Ebbie Smith, 2003).
  

SNEBA annual meeting

Please note that the annual meeting will take place on October 17, starting at 3pm, at Chariho SBC.  The church is located at 80A Alton Bradford Rd, Bradford, RI  02808.  This year's preacher will be the Rev. Brendan Saunders, pastor of Lighthouse Community Church, Old Saybrook, CT.

Pastor prayer and strategy session on the 16th at 3pm

Please remember that on Thursday the 16th at 3pm we will have our next prayer and strategy session.  Let us know you are coming so we can buy the appropriate food amount for dinner.  The meeting will take place at Faith Baptist Church, 765 Commonwealth Avenue, Warwick, RI

NAMB elects new President

The North American Mission Board has elected Dr. Kevin Ezzel as its new President.  The voting took place today.  Now we must continue to pray for God to give wisdom to our new President, to do His will and purpose in the days to come.

Disaster Relief training on 10/30 at Faith Baptist Church

SNEBA will receive Disaster Relief Training on October 30 at Faith Baptist Church, starting at 9am.  The churchis located at 765 Commonwealth Avenue, Warwick, RI  02886.  The training being offfered will be Basic Training, Feed Unit, Mudout and Assessment.  The fee is $40.00 to pay for a hat, a shirt, and the background check mandated by Homeland Security and FEMA.  Our coordinator is Mike Kays, and you may contact him at (860)389-2358 or at bigmikeswoodshop@sbcglobal.net

NAMB Board of Directors to vote on new President

The North American Mission Board's Board of Directors will gather on September 14 to vote on a new President.  The candidate under consideration is Dr. Kevin Ezell, pastor of Highview Baptist Church in Luisville, KY.  You can read more about him at the church's website http://www.highviewbaptist.org/
Please be in prayer as the next Presiden will impact the way the new restructuring will take shape.

SNEBA annual meeting

Mark your calendars for October the 17th at 3pm.  The meeting place is to be announced.  Please let church members know that they are welcome to attend and celebrate with us what God has done in our association this year.