Symposium Wrap-up

2008-06-12
We’re up early this morning, getting ready to finish packing. We leave Pasadena this morning to drive to Fullerton, pick up Jessica, then make the almost 400 mile drive to Mesa. By 4.00pm this afternoon we should be stopping at Andrew’s workplace to meet him. We’re briefly meeting the owner (click here for the company) who’s helping us with some banners for Dickens Heath Village Church and thethirdplace. After that, we’re meeting a small group from Central Christian Church of the East Valley (http://my.cccev.com) for dinner.

While my Final Project Symposium is complete, the work is just beginning. My deadline for completing the 150 to 175 page final project is October 2010. This is where all the studying of the Doctor of Ministry (click here) comes together, and there are a number of intermediate deadlines to keep, the first being August 15 for submitting a draft final proposal for review, the next being 15 October for formal submission. While each class has had immediate personal application and in our church planting ministry in England, the final project should have substantial application.

I have two topics in mind, and can’t yet settle on one or the other until I flesh them out further in the final project proposal format. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

Possible Topic One: A Strategy for Church Planter Assessment in the Fellowship of Churches of Christ in England. Thesis: The purpose of this ministry focus paper is to present an implementable plan for assessing potential church planters within the network of churches known as the Fellowship of Churches of Christ.

Possible Topic Two: A Strategy for Planting a ‘Simple Church’ Network in the West Midlands of England. Thesis: The purpose of this ministry focus paper is to present an implementable plan for planting a network of reproducing organic or home-based churches in the West Midlands of England.

The first topic has to do with helping produce a more national strategy to support church planting by coming up with a range of assessment means that help potential church planters start planting churches. The second topic is more local, and has to do with establishing and growing thethirdplace network.