‘Where is the wind blowing?’ – a day at School for Apostles
QUARRYVILLE, Pa.—“Where is the wind blowing?” asked Lawrence Chiles, as he stopped moving long enough to towel off his perspiring head and fix his gaze on the group of church planters, evangelists, and EMM staff gathered at this year’s School for Apostles (SFA) at Black Rock Retreat, July 23-27, 2007.
“I’ll tell you where the wind – the Spirit of God – is blowing,” he said. “The wind is blowing the Body of Christ out of the church building and into the world.”
Chiles, bishop of the Koinonia Fellowship of Churches and keynote speaker at SFA, EMM’s annual networking and training event for church planters in North America, went on to describe Christians who are carrying God’s good news into their communities through involvement with school districts, relief ministries, English teaching, art exhibits and more.
Later in the day, a group of panelists interacted with the whole group through stories of how their congregations are moving out of their church buildings into the world.
Recardo Cook, a Birmingham, Alabama, pastor with Good News Fellowship of Churches, said that his congregation held an outdoor concert featuring Christian rappers, followed by a community cookout at the church.
April Weaver, part of a church planting group from West End Mennonite Fellowship in Lancaster, talked about purposefully eating breakfast on the front porch of their city home in order to connect and build relationships with neighbors. Last summer, she and her husband started a Bible club for children, along with picnics for their parents, and all of the children who attended trusted Jesus for salvation.
Alejandro Colindres, formerly of Honduras and now living in Stanford, Connecticut, and leading a network of cells and churches called Ministerio Fraternidad Cristiana, described what happened when his congregation invited the championship soccer team in their town to come to church to be honored. The whole team showed up in uniform, with their families. The team was honored, prayed for, and invited to stay for food. Over time, 80 percent of the team became members of the church!
Colindres admitted that not every creative outreach endeavor works well. “But let us not tire in working for the kingdom,” he said. “We must continue even as we cry over the attempts that didn’t work.”
This kind of encouraging interaction and learning helps to create what participants call “a place and people you want to come back to.” Gladys Lopez, EMM co-chair of the SFA planning committee, says participants also cite “fellowship, praying together, refreshment, discipling, vision casting, and networking” as deeply appreciated elements of SFA.
Bishop Chiles explored this year’s theme, “For the Sake of the Kingdom,” with two additional questions: What is God doing now? and Where is the Church going? with the group of more than 60 church planters and agency staff who participated in the week.
Acknowledging a group of intercessors who had been faithfully praying for SFA, Walter Sawatzky, representative to the U.S. and Canada, gave special thanks to 92-year-old Betty Miller of Landis Homes who leads a weekly prayer group for EMM workers in North America.
“I believe that one reason our feast has been so rich this week is that it was planned by a multicultural team,” said Richard Showalter, EMM president, at the closing rally. The planning group included members from Canada, the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Honduras.
- Nita Landis
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