Workshop Tracks

Church PlantingDisciple Making MovementsShort Term MissionsVulnerable PopulationsIdeological FrameworkDeveloping Your OrganizationReaching the Majority WorldCity and Urban Focus

As churches continue to be planted in the United States and around the world, it is imperative that the necessary steps are taken to ensure sustainable success. To truly gain sustainability, a planted church must take a wholistic approach to ensure the physical and spiritual fulfillment of its members and its community.

  • What does a wholistic approach to Kingdom Building look like?
  • What are some mistakes to avoid when creating ministry partnerships?
  • How do church planting networks function?
Church PlantingWhen and Where
Simple Wholistic Church Planting in America Wednesday, May 1
10:30 a.m.
A Wholistic Approach to Kingdom Building Wednesday, May 1
1:00 p.m.
Empowering National Leadership while Leveraging First World Celebrity Thursday, May 2
11:00 a.m.
Launching Church Planting Networks in a City or Region for Gospel Saturation Thursday, May 2
1:30 p.m.
Mobilizing Church Plants Wholistically Both “Here” and “There” Thursday, May 2
3:00 p.m.

Disciple Making Movement, or DMM (sometimes referred to as CPM or Church Planting Movements), strategies focus on creating environments where disciple making can go viral so that disciples make disciples who plant churches that plant churches. DMM strategies locate Persons of Peace (POP)  to disciple, who in turn disciple those in their lives; thus creating a network and a chain of disciples to spread the Word at home and abroad. Come learn how to effectively adopt and use these strategies to increase the effectiveness of your ministry!

In this track:

How can we respond to the needs of different communities using DMM strategies?

Can DMM strategies work in prison?

How can we create networks using DMM without creating dependencies?

Disciple Making MovementsWhen and Where
Using Disciple-Making Movement Strategies to Plant a Reproducing Gospel as an Outsider Wednesday, May 1
10:30 a.m.
Facilitating Sustainable and Reproducible Discovery Groups: The Operating System of DMM Wednesday, May 1
1:00 p.m.
Reaching Incarcerated Populations With Disciple-Making Movement Strategies Thursday, May 2
11:00 a.m.
How to Implement a DMM Strategy Thursday, May 2
1:30 p.m

With estimates of 3-4 million ‘Go-ers’ heading out each year (and that’s just from North America), Short Term Mission efforts are often self-defined by those same ‘Go-ers’; and they are self-evaluated by those that send them (churches, organizations, etc.) and by those that receive them (also often churches, organizations, etc.). These evaluations have little regard to the successes and failures that all 3 of these ‘participants’ (Go-ers, Senders, Receivers) have experienced over the past 30+ years of this phenomenon.  SOE (Standards of Excellence in Short Term Mission, soe.org), sponsors of the IWMC Short Term Mission track for the past 3 years, seek to change that.  The very ‘Kingdom of God’ essence of Wholistic Mission efforts that also involves the whole body of Christ demands thoroughly thought-out Short Term Mission efforts that seek to support Mutually Designed and Empowering Partnerships, as well as attention to essential details like Comprehensive Administration and Qualified Leaders. These values (and more) make up the 7 Standards of Excellence in Short Term Mission that were developed by leadership from over 400+ organizations, schools and churches.

– Is it possible that even the best Wholistic Mission efforts on the field could be sabotaged by the a poorly trained and executed Short Term Mission team?  Examples?

– Is it also possible that a very well trained and prepared Short Term Mission team could be supporting mission efforts that are actually poor, truncated representations of a Wholistic Gospel of the Kingdom?  Examples?

Because the answer to both of these questions is probably ‘yes’; join us in the Short Term Mission track where we’ll discuss both the philosophical ‘why’ of Short Term Missions, as well as the practical, logistical ‘what’ and ‘how’.

  • Short Term Missions
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The Vulnerable Populations track focuses on groups of vulnerable people in the United States and around the world including refugees, internally displaced people, people with disabilities, foster children, orphans, and immigrants.

• What do sustainable solutions look like for the flourishing of these populations?

• How do we help without harming? And how do we focus on the physical, mental, social, and spiritual issues at hand?

• What entry points exist in your own community for working alongside vulnerable populations?

• What particular issues should we be most concerned with in regards to vulnerable populations in today’s landscape?

Learn from experienced practitioners based in the U.S. and abroad for a closer look into this important work.

  • Vulnerable Populations
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Wholistic ministry is made up of ministers, human beings, made in God’s image, but flawed by the Fall, who are jars of fragile clay carrying the Kingdom purposes of a perfect God. That can be a scary proposition! The workshops in this track will address those issues in the foundation that we build on – to our success, or our detriment. You will engage with issues of worldview, spiritual formation for leaders, cultural understandings that affect methods and outcomes, and other root themes that impact every area of our ministries. Come and strengthen your foundation!

  • Are there cracks in your ministry’s foundation that need fixing?
  • How can our worldview and cultural understandings impact the foundation of our ministries?
  • What are some strategies to repairing the cracks in the foundation of a ministry?
  • How does the spiritual foundation of leadership affect the ministry?
  • Ideological Framework
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Organizations are built around leaders. Leaders lead best when they are cared for, learning, and developing themselves. Success requires vision, empathy, commitment, humility, and faith in your team. This track will focus on both the financial, and human side of organizational development and the leadership skills which lead to dynamic and sustainable wholistic ministry.

  • What are tangible ways you can show faith in your team?
  • Why is it important to show empathy and humility as a leader?
  • How can you make sure your vision and commitment leads to dynamic and sustainable wholistic ministry?
  • What approaches can we use to give away power, handing over the keys to our teams?
  • Developing Your Organization
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By 2025, two-thirds of Christians will live in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.  Over the last century, this represents a dramatic shift in the geographic center of mass of the global church away from the West to the Majority World.  The changing face of Majority World missions is now “from everywhere to everywhere” as new paradigms of connectedness, partnership, interdependence, and local ownership emerge.  This track will focus on ministry examples that have empowered the growth of indigenous movements, emerging issues that represent challenges to reaching the Majority World, examples of effective local-global partnerships, and models of integral mission/transformational community development/community health evangelism that equip indigenous believers and churches to reach their nations with the Gospel through word and deed.

                How can we use CHE and its principles to spread the Gospel throughout new parts of the world?

                What are some examples of CHE strategies working in the growth of Christianity around the world?

                What does the phrase “from everywhere to everywhere” look like in regards to Christianity, and what does the involvement of CHE principles look like?

  • Reaching the Majority World
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  • City and Urban Focus
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Speakers: Brian Johnson and Rob Wegner

We see simple expressions of Church multiplying exponentially around the world in places like China and India.   Many of these church planting movements are now intentionally weaving in wholism through micro-enterprise, orphan care, and other simple forms of community development.

Is this possible in the West?  What does it look like to see missionaries on every street and a simple church in every neighborhood making the gospel tangible in wholistic ways?

In this workshop, Rob Wegner, Global Catalyst for the NewThing network, a network of more than 1400 churches planting in more than 20 countries, and Brian Johnson,  Director of the Simple Church Network in Kansas City, will unpack a twelve month planting process to equip ordinary people to plant simple expressions of church in their neighborhood or network here in the West.    Rob and Brian are both on staff at Westside Family Church, overseeing global missions and equipping people to live like missionaries here in Kansas City.

The workshop will include:

Speakers: Jason Morris, Reneé Terrill, Allison Colin, Enosh Kumar, Ed Phanursi

In this workshop, Jason Morris, Director of Global Church planting, a network of over 500 churches in 5 countries, and Reneé Terrill, Coordinator of Global Impact, will tell the story of how Adopt a Village came to be after discovering the synergy of Church Planting, Orphan Care, and Community Development. Jason and Reneé are both on staff at Westside Family Church, overseeing global missions and One Life Child Sponsorship. Allison Colin, from South Africa, is our expert on Orphan Care. Enosh Kumar, from India, is our expert on Church Planting. Ed Phanursi, from Thailand, is our expert on Community Development.

The workshop will include:

Speakers: Jason Morris, Enosh Kumar, Ed Phanursi

In this workshop, Jason Morris, Director of Global Church planting, a network of over 500 churches in 5 countries, will tell the story of how he learned the hard way how to empower national leadership instead of accidentally undermining the work on the ground and how to strategically leverage first world celebrity to catalyze systems of sustainable ministry instead of dependence. Jason is staff at Westside Family Church, overseeing global church planting and has served on the mission field for 8 years empowering nationals. Enosh Kumar is leader of Truthful Gospel Ministries in India. Ed Phanursi is leader of Asia All In Ministries in Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.

The workshop will include:

Speakers: Dan Southerland and Troy MacMahon, NewThing Network Leaders

Dan and Troy have led a church planting network and movement here in Kansas City that has planted 24 churches in the last seven years, crossing denominational boundaries for Kingdom purposes.  Currently, two church planting networks have launched with plans for four more to reach the goal of gospel saturation through 100 church plants in Kansas City by 2025 and 1000 church plants in Kansas City by 2035.

Come learn:

Speakers: Brent Foulke, Stadia Executive Leadership Team; Andrea Hamilton, Director of Global Development  

Stadia plants scores of churches in the West, and more than 100 in under resourced settings globally each year. In all settings planters are empowered, especially in caring for children. How do churches here start with a passion for wholism, both here (locally) and there (globally)? How does wholism become a part of the local church DNA?

In this workshop:

www.stadiachurchplanting.org

Speakers: Meredith and Joshua Johnson

Outside leaders identify inside leaders who in turn can plant a reproducing gospel in their culture. Learn to Identify these inside leaders often referred to as person’s of peace and disciple them without creating dependencies.  Explore building coaching and mentoring networks that sustain generational growth allowing the gospel to move unimpeded through social networks.

This workshop will include:

Joshua and Meredith Johnson served with All Nations in Jordan working among Syrian Refugees, now as leaders of All Nations North America, Meredith & Joshua coach and train people to live in loving obedience to Jesus and His commands. They love 2 Timothy 2:2 and helped ignite and coach a Jesus movement among Muslim refugees in the Middle East. Joshua has a Masters in Social & Civic Entrepreneurship, and Meredith has a Masters of Divinity with Global Missions emphasis.

Speakers: Hermie Smith and Roy Moran

Explore the critical habits of successful discovery groups. Learn effective strategies for generational growth. Identify the three mistakes that most facilitators make when learning the discovery method. Discover where to start reading in the Bible with a new Discovery Group.

This workshop will include:

Hermie Smith is with Cityteam coaching and mentoring disciple making activity among Latinos in the Bay Area of California. Roy Moran is founding pastor of Shoal Creek Community Church and is chairman of the board of New Generations (formerly Cityteam International) and Beyond. Roy is author of Spent Matches, a book in which he chronicles his journey into DMM as a pastor of a successful attractional church.

Speakers: Cory Ozbun and Phil Alessi

Prison populations are often receptive to the gospel but bear little fruit upon being released. Planting a reproducing gospel among incarcerated that spreads inside a prison and continues to bear fruit once released is a Great Commission strategy. Hear a case study of two places where the gospel is flourishing in prisons and disciple makers once released are continuing to plant the gospel.

This workshop will include:
Bridging the release by building receptive communities after incarceration
Providing material help that doesn’t turn into dependency
Building collaborative partnerships with existing agencies with fostering dependency

Phil and Ruthann Alessi serve with NOVO (formerly CRM) in the Greater Chicago area. Their ministry has focused on discipling people of peace inside then outside jails and prisons that have reached hundreds of inmates and family members. Some of those inmates, now in vocational ministries reaching gangs and youth on the outside and planting "con"-gregations on the inside that are seeing 100 inmates a month coming to faith. Phil is empowering leaders who are raising up teams committed to disciple making movements. Cory Ozbun works in Johnson County Kansas in the prison system.

Speakers: Dave Hinman and Jim Egli

Movements are more than Discovery Groups!  How do you implement a disciple making movement strategy in an organization or church?  Get a sneak peek at a new curriculum developed through a New Generations/Vineyard collaboration and how it might become a tool to make cultural shifts in organizations.

This workshop includes:
Identify where in your organization or church you can start implementing DMM
Understand the nuances of who and when you rollout DMM training
Explore the scope and sequence of a brand new tool for training DMM

David Hinman is a pastor with the Vineyard and is the Southwest Regional Representative for   Multiply Vineyard. He and his wife Lissa planted two churches and have 30 years of ministry experience. David’s passion is to see the Great Commission accomplished through multiplicative discipleship. After being exposed to Disciple Making Movement (DMM) principles, David became a team-member with Cityteam as a Field Missionary, Trainer, and Coach. In the past three years, he has trained and mentored numerous churches, ministries and individuals in DMM throughout Arizona, the United States, and Africa. David has a B.S degree in Education from Taylor University, a Masters of Divinity degree from Regent University and is pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry degree from Denver Seminary.   Jim Egli was formerly the Leadership Pastor at the Vineyard Church (Urbana, IL), a church with five campuses in East Central Illinois. His job is to multiply the number of leaders, small groups, and churches at the Urbana Vineyard. Jim now is the Learning Designer for New Generations Int’l.  Since 1992, his central ministry focus has been small groups. For eight years of that time, his full-time job was writing training and consulting with churches helping them to establish vibrant small group ministries. He has completed a Ph.D. in Organizational Communication from Regent University.