We serve a mighty God. A kind, gracious and merciful Lord. And the truth is, our God has not given up on many declining and struggling churches that many of us would have given up on a long time ago. He loves these churches and receives much glory when bringing them back to life and vibrancy. And the amazing thing is that He invites us to be a part of it! The Lord is calling us as His people, as partners in the Gospel, to lock arms and fight, by His Spirit, to stop the trend of dying churches in our communities together.
In the pages that follow you’ll find biblical evidence for church partnerships, practical instruction on how to partner, the commitments required of partners and cautions that could hinder partnerships.
BOB BICKFORD (MDiv, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is a Replant pastor of The Groves Church, founder of churchreplanters.com, the Associate Director of Replant for the North American Mission Board, and serves as the Chair of the Church Revitalization Team of the St. Louis Metro Baptist Association. He and his wife live in Webster Groves, MO with their youngest daughter. Follow Bob on twitter @bobick or @churchreplanter.
MARK HALLOCK (DMin, Westminster Theological Seminary) is lead pastor at Calvary Church in Englewood, Colorado, and president of the Calvary Family of Churches, an interdependent family of churches committed to planting and replanting churches for the glory of God (thecalvary.org). He is grateful for 18 years of marriage to his wife, Jenna, and loves being a daddy to their two kids. Follow Mark on twitter @markhallock.