New England Synod Evangelism Strategy

As presented to the 2005 Synod Assembly

In New England we are rooted for life—in Christ and in the communities where God has planted our congregations and partners in ministry. Embracing together the abundant blessings of God, we joyfully share the gospel with others in many and diverse ways.

We desire to grow deep and wide as Christians, as congregations and as a Synod. By the Spirit, we wish to cultivate deep roots of faith and to spread that faith widely through our witness in the world.

To this end, the focus of our New England Synod evangelism efforts will be growing healthy churches. Knowing that it is God alone who gives the growth (I Corinthians 3:6), we pray that healthy churches will also be growing churches.

As we grow in our stewardship of God’s abundance and focus our Synod evangelism efforts around congregational health, we will encourage congregations to:

• Assess their health.

• Envision God’s future for them

• Pray for renewal

• Eliminate barriers to congregational health

• Implement strategies for healthy change

The Synod will offer resources to assist congregations in these endeavors. The Evangelism Committee, Visioning Resource Team and Rooted For Life Team, in particular, will offer support and the following resources, among others, to congregations:

• The Natural Church Development Cong. Assessment Tool

• The NES Visioning Toolkit

• Access to Congregational Coaching

• Ongoing collaboration around Rollie Martinson’s “Factors That Make for Faith” research

By grace through faith we are rooted for life in Christ and called to be in mission to the world. May our healthy lives of faith, individually—and collectively as congregations and Synod—be a witness to those not yet in our churches.