Healthy Pastors and Healthy Disciple-making Churches

by Terry Shanahan, Northeast Region Minister

The Seven Guiding Values of the CCCC give us a direction and focus which we apply to our various ministries. These are pathways to fulfill the call God has revealed to us. In all areas of CCCC ministry we attempt to focus within these guiding values. Two of those values, Healthy Pastors and Healthy Disciple-making Churches have been the focus of many of our Pastor Roundtable discussions here in the Northeast this past year.

The New England Congregational Christian Fellowship (NECCF) wants to emphasize this focus as they plan for their annual gathering. The NECCF has for decades ministered to the pastors and churches in New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts and welcomes those from other regions such as Maine and Vermont and Eastern New York State to attend our gatherings.

Recently the Executive Committee of NECCF met at our hosting facility, First Church Boxford, to plan for this event. Some of the members are shown here meeting with Rev. Dr. David Midwood discussing the vision for the gathering on the first Saturday in May. David will be our event speaker on the topic Gospel-Centered Discipleship. Not only will David bring the two messages for the day but he will host a panel discussion with pastors from around New England that he has been mentoring. David loves to share the joy of mentoring pastors with a one-on-one relational connection. He has been in CCCC pastoral ministry for about 40 years, and he has mentored a host of pastors, including friends from other church traditions. He also has experience in Pastoral Spiritual Formation through the ministry of Vision New England, where he helps direct the Pastoral Spiritual Formation process. He is currently serving as the Campus Pastor at Free Christian Church, our CCCC church in Andover, Massachusetts.

Many of you have attended the NECCF annual meetings in the past. This year we will offer a more focused experience with time for interaction, worship and testimonies. After the morning presentation and panel discussion, we will break for box lunch and gather into small groups for ongoing discussion on the topic of discipleship. After a brief business meeting, we will end the day with a second message from David.

The day will be filled with worship and song led by Kenny Laughters, and the praise band from Free Christian Church. It is our prayer that everyone who shares this day with us will depart having been nurtured in the ways of discipleship that lead to healthy ministries that honor Him.

The NECCF Annual Gathering will be held at First Church Congregational Boxford, 4 Georgetown Road, Boxford, Massachusetts, Saturday May 3, 2014, 8:30am–3:00 pm. Find registration information online at www.neccfonline.org