Equipping Leaders for Ministry

January 25, 2025 | 8:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Northeast Church of Christ
Keynote Sessions | Breakout Sessions

Eyes That Are Open for God (John 10)

What kinds of spiritual dispositions are needed for leaders in the church? Obviously, we're all different people, and the New Testament talks about many kinds of gifts, but are there things that we all share and can pursue as leaders? In this session, we'll spend time in John 10 as we talk about why we need spiritual practices, and how they can help us focus our attention in the right direction. 

Walking in the Boldness of Christ (John 14)

In his ministry, Jesus demonstrated a variety of important leadership traits, including a kind of humble boldness that can be hard for us to imitate. And "boldness" is a trait we see among the early disciples in the book of Acts. So what might that look like for us as congregational leaders, and how can we incorporate it into our leadership? Jesus's words to his disciples in John 14 will guide us as we consider these questions.

Living in Step with the Spirit (John 15)

Thinking about leadership is something that can easily be theoretical or hypothetical, without being connected with realities "on the ground." Similarly, leaders in the church can easily end up using administrative and strategic skills and unintentionally failing to pursue spiritual growth. In our final keynote time, we'll think together about why and how we can incorporate spiritual practices into our ministry work, and John 15 will help us along the way.

Breakout Sessions

Leading Well: Exploring the Who, What, and How of Church Leadership 

Carson Reed and Shelby Coble

Leading well within your congregation is crucial for its life and vitality. Leaders can be found within elder groups, a ministry staff, and among the congregation. No matter your leadership title, there are opportunities to strengthen your church leadership for the sake of God's mission through your local congregation. Join us in exploring the important responsibility to lead your congregation well. We'll examine who church leaders are, what is necessary for church leaders to embody, and how leaders deploy their leadership for the sake of their congregation as dynamic partners with God.

Session 1 - Church Leadership Fundamentals 

The fundamentals of church leadership center around questions of identity and purpose. This session will explore the identity and purpose of church leaders through these foundational questions: who is a leader, what does a leader embody, and what do church leaders do?

Session 2 - Shared Leadership for Healthy Churches 

Shared leadership is not an easy task—but it is a biblical frame for congregations. Shared leadership creates space for God to slip in and be acknowledged as the real leader in your congregation! This session will explore lies about leadership, principles for shared leadership, and leadership practices for varying church sizes. 

Ministering Across Generations: Leading Young People and Fostering Intergenerational Ministry

Ron Bruner and Robert Oglesby

Churches all over the country are wrestling with the significant cultural changes in our world. We worry about our young people, we worry about people leaving the church, and we worry about disconnects that exist between the people we do serve. In this track, we'll think about two key components of what ministry in this day and age can look like: the realities that young people are facing and bringing to us today, and what intergenerational ministry can look like in a time when the generations seem quite far apart in their outlook and experience.

Ron Bruner: Getting to Intergenerational Ministry: Road Maps, Roadblocks, and Squeaky Wheels 

Once a congregation understands what intergenerational ministry does, most of them want to get there. There are, though, many things to accomplish on the road and many ways to get there. What are some of the important destinations en route to an intergenerational church? What are the common roadblocks? What strategies help us overcome the obstacles and squeaky wheels along the way? This set of sessions presents possibilities for these questions: 

• Reading the Bible on behalf of children

• A conversation about intergenerational worship: Boomers, Xs, Ys, Zs, and beyond

• Grandparenting: How the church can help grandparents and how grandparents can help the church

Robert Oglesby: Big Questions Gen Z Has for the Church

There's no question that things are changing in our world.  From baby boomers to millennials, and now to young people today (often called "Generation Z"), we know that folks in our churches look at God, the Bible, and the world with very different mindsets and values. Leading young people today means that we need to know some things about them, and about the questions they're asking.  Here are some topics that we'll talk about together:

• Does God have something to say about sexuality and gender in our modern world?

• How should we engage with tech and social media as Christian families?

• How do Gen Z students read the Bible compared to their parents?

• How do we teach biblical discernment in a confusing world?

• Is there a place for Gen Z  to find community in our current structure?

Questions?

Contact david.kneip@acu.edu