News Stories from March 2016
From the Advocate: Ladles of love: Warming bellies, warming spirits
March 1, 2016 / By Laurel O’Connor
Click below to read the full Advocate online.Early in spring 2015, a small group came to Pastor Ben O’Connor and me, his wife, with a specific request. They asked if we could lead a Bible study in the Syracuse area that was more of a “dinner-church-meets-Bible-study” model that didn’t fit the “normal church” mold. Open Table CNY was born as a group …more
From the Advocate: Hispanic/Latino church planters ‘connect like family’
March 1, 2016 / By Jose Rodriguez
Click below to read the full Advocate online.I am a church planter who helps Hispanic pastors start new churches on American soil. Before coming to the United States to work with Hispanic church planters, I spent 12 years starting new churches in Cuba. Church planters in Cuba never work in isolation. Established congregations are expected to be continually planting new faith communities. When I came to the U.S., I …more
From the Advocate: One church, many locations
March 1, 2016 / By Kathleen Rubino / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Click below to read the full Advocate online.The Rev. Bill Vallet, lead pastor at the Pennsylvania Avenue United Methodist Church (PAUMC) in Pine City, first heard the term “multi-site” at a church growth workshop 10 years ago in California. He learned that a church with a healthy DNA can take that DNA and transplant it in another location. The seed was planted, and Rev. Vallet set to work. …more
From the Advocate: Creating new places for new people
March 1, 2016 / By Upper New York Area Resident Bishop Mark J. Webb / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Click below to read the Advocate online.Charles Cardwell McCabe was a church planter in the Methodist Episcopal Church. McCabe rode trains all over the land in an attempt to start new churches and raise funds that others might join in the effort. On one trip in the spring of 1881, McCabe read a newspaper article that described a recent meeting in Chicago of the Free Thinker’s Society. The …more