As those of you who have followed our work here this time will recall, most of our effort has been with the Addis Kidan Church(es). We are so grateful to God for this opportunity and prayerful that we have/will use the occasion for an eternally valuable work. As a result of our prior dealings with the church, I requested to attend the monthly board meeting in May in order to make a proposal concerning a more intentional working affiliation.
In this proposal, I put forward our convictions, expectations, and purpose concerning ministry in and through the local church, (which is summarized in the previous post). Also included in the proposal were various specific areas that are lacking and must be a focus if the churches are to be pleasing to God. I discussed how me might go about bringing the needed reform in the existing churches and what must be changed foundationally in order to plant churches in the future that match the biblical description of Christ’s bride. We agreed that through teaching and preaching (the bible), along with patience (yet real expectation), and love (towards God and His people), God will honor His word and raise up churches that accurately portray Him to the world.
The board, which is made up of several leaders from the denomination, held further discussions following my proposal and I attended a follow up meeting the fourth Saturday in June. They were unanimous in their decision that we should/could have liberty within the church(es) to teach and preach and train the ministers along with the people. We have essentially been doing this already, but now we have the green light to continue and to be more deliberate in our efforts. We will spend the coming days attempting to detail, to some degree at least, how we might proceed in this endeavor.
PTI is well underway and will continue in late September or early October with round three of at least eight. But the training within the existing churches must be tantamount to the training of new ministers, therefore it is essential that we devise a method to get the ministers of the existing church(es) grounded in the bible, rooted in Christ, and embedded deep into a commitment to the Glory of God in His church(es).
