Seminar
It became a good annual tradition for us to host in St.Petersburg seminars for church leaders. Following this tradition, we hosted Vth CRCR seminar in August 6-9. The main theme was devoted to the biblical image of the Church leadership - becoming, electing and appointing of elders and deacons. "Setting in order what remains", that was the title of the seminar. The name was inspired by Titus 1:5, where the apostle Paul wrote to Titus “I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city.” The vast majority of Russian congregations in the light of this verse are not finished yet. We examined the Scriptures and prayed together. Our guests from the United States Royce Money, Brent Isbell and Phil Jackson led us in our study of the Scripture, existing experience and search for practical application. They helped us tremendously. We are very grateful to them for their ministry to God and to us.
Many congregations were represented at the seminar - Barnaul, Volgograd, Voronezh, Vyatskie Polyany, Kazan, Kamyshin, Lipetsk, Moscow, Omsk, St. Petersburg, Sevastopol, Sosnogorsk, Syktyvkar, Tomsk and Chelyabinsk. With God's help, we had a real celebration of Christian fellowship.
I’d like to thank the staff of the Christian Resource Centre for the help in preparing for the seminar: Sergey Fedoseev, Natalia Egireva, Dmitry Gusarov, Lyudmila Bolshakova and Galina Dreval. And special thanks to our volunteers Natalia Pekareva, Elena Babentsova, Vera and Nadezhda Tupchanenko. These brothers and sisters worked very hard for the glory of the Lord, so that the seminar was a success.
Seminar "Setting in order what remains" has ended. This does not mean that we have set in order everything. This should be done by local congregations. We believe that every church, represented at the seminar, will find how to implement what has been learnt and experienced in August of 2015 in St. Petersburg.
Videos
Lesson 1: Getting Started
Basic foundations—the importance of leadership and its essential functions
Servanthood—the primary biblical image of leadership
-Old Testament backgrounds
-Essential themes of servant-leadership | |
Lesson 2: The Gospels: Jesus on Leadership Principle: Jesus the embodiment of true leadership (Lk. 4:1-21; Jn. 13:4-5; Phil. 2:5-11)
Gospel texts that give insight (focus on Mark)
Mk. 9:30-37; 10:25-45; 11:1-11; 14:26-31; 15:33-37; 16:1-7 Summary: Jesus gives us the perfect example of leadership, showing us the way.
-Proclaiming the Gospel
-Caring for people
-Leading and equipping the group toward its mission | |
Lesson 3: Acts and the Letters: Leadership in the Early Church -Diakonia – service, the essence of the nature of leadership, according to Jesus.
-What did the early church look like? What was new and different?
-Acts and early letters of Paul—informality, small community, shared gifts (1 Cor. 12)
-Function seems to precede form/title/office! (1 Thes. 5:12-13). In later letters of Paul and others, a more developed and formalized picture of leadership emerges.
-Acts 20:17-35—Paul with the Ephesian leaders
Servant-leader as Elder (presbyteros)
Servant-leader as Shepherd (poimein)
Servant-leader as Overseer or Bishop (episkopos) | |
Lessons 4-5: Timothy and Titus: Character and Work of Church Leaders Backgrounds to Pastoral Letters; roles in Timothy and Titus
Contexts of these “lists”—qualities of character (better than qualifications)
-Reputation with outsiders
-Temperate
-Not quarrelsome
-Experienced, not a recent convert
-Not a lover of money
-Home and family—hospitality; wife and children
-Teacher
Authority / Responsibilities of the church to leaders | |
Lessons 6-7: Applications / Responding to Questions Here Royce will lead the conversation as he and Brent try to directly respond to the ministers’ questions you sent (in addition to other leadership questions that may surface during the conference). | |
Lessons 8-9: Conclusion: So Where Do We Go From Here? Next-steps strategies for developing, identifying, and affirming leaders in our congregations.
Vision-casting for the future! | |
Thursday, Aug. 6 (part 1) Leader Development: Mentoring Those That Facilitate Discovery | |
Friday, Aug. 7 (part 2) Leader Development: Mentoring Those That Facilitate Discovery | |
Saturday, Aug. 8 (part 3) Leader Development: Mentoring Those That Facilitate Discovery | |
The 5th Annual CRCR Church Edification conference.
