In this final talk from our Sunday evening series, The Southern Baptist Convention & Our Future, Pastor Adam Triplett lays out and summarizes a new approach to how we think about partnerships as a local church. By laying out three different aspects of partnerships, and then summarizing three points within those aspects, he helps us to see how vast and varied our partnerships can be, while still maintaining cooperation with fellow churches and ministries that are in step with us both doctrinally and methodologically. A summary of this talk can be found below.
1. THREE PLACES OF PARTNERSHIP
- Local Partnerships
- Aim: Make missions local again
- Thinking about how we are caring for those closest to us
- Ex. Considering Christian education
- Local missions ought to be the heartbeat of everyone in our church
- National Partnerships
- Begin to think about helping plant and revitalize churches in the United States & Canada
- What does it look like to partner with churches around the country across denominational lines but are not theologically slipping?
- Ex. G3 Network (Gospel, Grace, Glory) — looking for networks and churches where we have a seat at the table.
- International Partnerships
- Instead of focusing on organizations, focus on individual & churches
- We are aiming to know church planters & local churches, specifically, so that we may bless them and they too may bless us.
2. THREE TYPES OF PARTNERSHIPS
- Church to Church (Networking)
- Partnering with like-minded churches (preach same gospel, same philosophy of ministry, same goals)
- Hoping to start a more formal network of local churches in 2023
- Ex. Beginning to host pastors’ prayer once a month
- Church to Gospel-Ministry (Resourcing)
- Partnering with like-minded ministries that, despite where they stand on secondary issues, are aiming to be resources to the local church and resource the local church.
- Ex. Friendship House, Blue Ridge Women’s Center, Samaritan’s Inn (Pastors preaching there), BRCC (hosting missionary counseling in the new year — DP to send email this week)
- Church to the World (Evangelizing)
- Engaging with the world in a bold yet hopeful way, that confronts the culture on their terms without compromise of the gospel-truth.
- Ex. Partnering with other Christians to hold out hope
3. THREE WAYS OF ENGAGING
- Prayer Support
- We commit to pray for churches and ministries in all three categories, as well as praying that God would supply us with strength, insights and more opportunities.
- Resource Support
- We want to provide any financial or resources that we are able to give
- Financial support will come out of the missions budget line or otherwise budgeted (this will also include benevolence)
- Personnel Support
- We want to go — the expectation that each pastor will make a trip and begin to build relationships in hopes of taking teams and equipping future full-time church planters and support missionaries
- We hope to build out our Outreach Team to become the Missions Team
A CONCLUDING WAY FORWARD
- Who’s in charge of overseeing these partnerships?
- Elders in conjunction with the Missions Team/Deacon of Missions
- What should we be on the lookout for?
- Do they doctrinally align? (First, second, third level partnerships)
- Do they value the local church? (Especially non-profits)
- Can we partner with individuals better than organizations?
- Do they remain unstained by the world? (The rise of ‘faultines’)
- How can we be praying moving forward?
- Pray for opportunities to serve/give in specific ways
- Discernment as it relates to the depth of partnerships
- The opportunity to establish Christian School here in Roanoke City
- What can we expect in the next year?
- More Local partnerships
- Pastor David’s Thailand trip
- More joint gatherings