Retreat and Advance
What type of church are you? A church with a new pastor? A developing church plant? An established church? A growing church? A church in transition? A declining church? A stuck church? A revitalizing church? An urban church? A rural church? A small church? A multi-cultural church? A medium or large church? Converge Heartland facilitates all types, sizes, and contexts of churches through ministry planning retreats. And though it seems like an oxymoron, churches do well to intentionally retreat to purposefully plan for gospel advancement. The following is a report of two Heartland-region churches that intentionally “retreated” to advance the gospel in their communities.
Hillside Community Church in Vermillion, SD, is not a Converge Heartland church, but she is a friend of our district and has worked hard to advance the gospel over the past years. Located near the University of South Dakota, Hillside is a growing university-town church that recently launched a rural church plant called, The Seed in Centerville, SD. As an example of regional Kingdom collaboration, not long ago, leaders from The Seed sought consultation from leaders at The River of Life Community Church, a younger Converge Heartland church in Canton, SD. After the unexpected 2020 death of Hillside’s former pastor, the elders reached out to Converge Heartland for assistance in calling their new pastor, Robbie Severson. After a year of significant post-Covid growth, Robbie and the Hillside elders requested Converge Heartland to facilitate their strategic ministry planning retreat for the development of their five-year ministry plan. Their desire and commitment to gospel impact in the Vermillion area are incredible! Congratulations to Hillside Community Church on your great work, and praise God for your Kingdom influence in Vermillion and the greater Clay County region of South Dakota!
Gospel Life Church, led by Pastor Chase Hill, is a Converge Heartland church plant in Wichita, KS, two years beyond its public launch in the downtown Delano neighborhood of Wichita. Gospel Life Church has been blessed with a fantastic sending church, Westside Baptist Church in Hutchinson, KS. As such, most of the launch team relocated from Hutchinson to Wichita. The amazing dedication and commitment of this launch team cannot be overstated. During their recent ministry planning retreat, this team came face to face with the missionary reality of their church planting call as the culture, demographics, and economic realities of the Delano neighborhood are very different from their former communities. The ministry plan and vision they prayerfully labored to develop maps out how they will intentionally advance the gospel message within the cross-cultural ministry challenges of their new neighborhood. We are excited about the future aim of Gospel Life Church in Wichita. In the spirit and words of William Carey (1761-1834), who was known as the Father of Modern Missions, they are “expecting great things from God and attempting great things for God.”
Converge Heartland facilitates Auxano and StratOp certified strategic and ministry planning retreats for local churches, as well as other parachurch ministries and organizations. To inquire about a retreat for your church, please contact Jim Capaldo.