Not so daily discussion question: What collaboration resources would you like to see?
Jeremy Geerdes
forming the first of The Wesleyan Church's antecedent denominations,
the name was very deliberately chosen. The churches which belonged
believed the episcopal structure of the denominations of the day
flawed, and they wanted to distance themselves from that form of
government. Of course, the geographic distribution - there were a
couple of distinct groups of churches spread across the eastern half
of the modern US - only reinforced this notion. Yet these churches
came together to formulate a collective discipline, coordinate
ministry assignments and provide accountability to ministers, and work
together for missions.
In the 1900's, when The International Holiness Union and Prayer League
- which eventually developed into The Pilgrim Holines Church -
started, there was no centralized denominational office or regularized
means of financing a denominational budget. The entire point was to
get the individual churches to work together on things that none of
them could do on their own, such as missions.
Indeed, the whole point of a denomination is to pool the resources of
individual congregations to accomplish greater ministries that none
could do on their own. Some examples of such works from today would
be missions; church planting (though there are churches that can and
will do this on their own); curriculum development; ministerial
education, coordination, and accountability; etc. On the district
level, we also collaborate on camps. But are there other areas where
we would benefit from collaboration? What about brainstorming
ministry ideas? How about simple encouragement?
So here's the question: In what areas would you like to see improved
collaboration between our churches, and what collaboration resources
would you like to see developed and deployed at the zone, district and/
or denominational level(s)?
Rev. Jeremy R. Geerdes, Pastor
Debra Heights Wesleyan Church
4025 Lower Beaver Rd.
Des Moines, IA 50310
p/f: (515) 279-5212
h: (515) 277-7491
jgee...@mchsi.com
jgeerdes.wordpress.com