Ben Sternke

Field notes on life and mission with God after Christendom

Ecclesia Network

My Talk at this Year’s Missional Learning Commons: Discipleship and the Gospel

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This year’s Missional Learning Commons is only two days away! I’m excited to see many long-time friends and meet a whole slew of new ones as well (we have over 140 people registered this year). This year our theme is discipleship, and we’re excited that Mike Breen will be with us to help guide the conversation. (Speaking of Mike, if you can swing it, check out the 3DM workshop on Friday and the theological discussion Thursday night!)

I will be facilitating a discussion on Saturday morning about the relationship between discipleship and the gospel. More concretely:

Does the gospel you preach naturally lead to people becoming disciples of Jesus?

It’s really an amalgamation of a few of my blog posts, but here’s a little outline of what I plan to share…

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The Future of Theological Education

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Now there’s one more reason for you to be in the Chicago area at the end of October. In addition to the 3DM workshop on discipleship and mission (Fri Oct 28 / 9am-5pm) and the Missional Learning Commons (Fri Oct 28 / 7-9pm – Sat Oct 29 / 9am-3pm), Northern Seminary will be hosting an event on Thursday evening (Oct 27 / 7-9pm) during which 3DM will present a video and paper as a way to spark some conversation about the future of theological education. Got all that?

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The Ecclesia National Gathering: Why I’m Going

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Since the inception of our church plant, we have been part of a remarkable group of people and churches called The Ecclesia Network. This year our national gathering will be held March 5-7, 2012 near Washington, D.C. The focus this time is on how our churches can function as centers of reconciliation, where we learn through the power of the Spirit to live as one reconciled family of God across racial, economic, and generational lines. John Perkins, Ivy Beckwith, AJ Swoboda and others will join us for three days of conversation, learning, discussion, and prayer.

I’ll be attending the gathering again this year (with my 14-year-old son!), but not out of a sense of obligation because we belong to a network. I’ll be going because this isn’t like other conferences I’ve been to. There is a passionate desire among the organizers and attendees to simply equip people to join God in what he’s doing in their respective local contexts, and that comes through every single year.

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Missional Learning Commons 2011

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Okay, the short-and-sweet facts of the matter: For several years now, the Missional Learning Commons has been a highlight of my year. It’s a collaborative learning event for missional churches and practitioners to share stories, discuss ideas, and encourage one another for the sake of incarnating the Gospel in their contexts. It has been an incredibly generative time for me over the past few years, and I meet wonderful new people every year.

So you should come this year! This year’s MLC will take place Oct 28-29, 2011 in the Chicago area, and in addition to our regular diet of on-the-ground practitioners and collaborative discussion, we are excited to announce that Mike Breen and a team from 3DM will be around to share some of what they have learned and help facilitate some of our conversations by asking some provoking questions. They’ll also be doing a discipleship-and-mission workshop on Friday Oct 28 during the day (before the MLC) for those interested in learning more about what they do.

Head over the MLC site for more info and to register. Feel free to RSVP via Facebook as well. But for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, a little back-story:

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Missional Church Planter Training

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If you resonate with anything I write here and have any kind of inkling that you’re supposed to plant some kind of church/community, please let me recommend that you find the time and money to go to Ecclesia’s church planter training May 9-13 in Richmond, VA.

I went a couple years ago as we were moving toward planting, and it was profoundly helpful. The description on the website details how this training is different from other kinds of church planter “boot camps” and why this would be well worth your time and money. [Read more…] about Missional Church Planter Training