The Office of New Faith Communities partnered with the Ormond Center at Duke Divinity School to share in a Common Learning Day hosted at Village Church Rolesville. The day and a half event was designed for church planters and those discerning a calling to church planting and was filled with learning and conversation about relational discipleship. The Ormond Center fostered our imagination to become agents of thriving in our churches and in our communities based on the power of cultivating strong relationships.
Day one began with a theological grounding of the Trinity and Jesus’ great commandment to love God, neighbor, and ourselves. Planters were reminded that relationships are everything! The Ormond Center spoke about their vision and how they might come alongside planters to help with training, learning opportunities and research. In particular, planters learned about the importance of Christian Social Entrepreneurship and opportunities to be a part of the Ormond Center’s Church & Community Placemaking Lab. This lab seeks to generate social impact by helping participating communities align community interests, leverage church real estate, and attract investment opportunities. We often forget that our church spaces provide opportunities for relationships that are meaningful and impactful for both the local church and community!
In the afternoon, participants engaged in peer-learning breakout sessions with leaders from the Ormond Center to share about their contexts in ministry. Then, lay leaders from Village Church Rolesville came in for a panel discussion sharing about the development of Village Church Rolesville. They shared about the power and importance of “B3 Groups” (Belong, Become, Bless -small groups) for the church and how making space for people to belong has helped to embody the mission of the church to “live like family and love like Jesus.”
On Day 2, the Ormond Center led an interactive activity connected to Asset Based Community Development. Planters were asked to choose something interesting that they would like to teach others. After developing a short teaching plan, they shared their teaching idea with others. At the conclusion, the group as a whole named the surprising skills and unique assets within the New Faith Community Pastors and Leaders cohort. Planters were encouraged to continue to tap into the knowledge and skills of their peers and colleagues moving forward. In the same way, pastors and planters can also cultivate relationships in their community to find and map the assets that exist there. Everyone brings something to the table!
Thank you to the Ormond Center for helping to foster renewed imagination and a will and desire to develop relationships in our community so that our churches can be agents of thriving!
