VITAL Initiative Zoom Conference Set for December 7
Michael Nations, founding director of The VITAL Initiative, along with Church of God General Overseer Dr. Tim Hill, will host a gathering for pastors via Zoom on Monday December 7, 2020 at 8:00 EST.
Pastors are encouraged to join the virtual discussion, which will focus on issues highlighted in the work of The VITAL Initiative, a ministry founded to benefit the pastor of the smaller congregation.
Nations said, “Specially in this period of the pandemic, this time together will be of great benefit for pastors serving smaller churches, pastors serving in obscure places, church planters, and pastors that are bi-vocational or co-vocational.” He stated there will be a Q&A session and attendees will be encouraged and inspired when joining pastors from across the country realizing they are not alone in their labor for the Lord.
Topics will include:
• The importance of pastors
• The importance of churches, even if they are small
• Positively bi-vocational, co-vocational
• Mission stations, missional calling, missionary efforts
• Multiplication? Do we need more small churches?
“The VITAL Initiative is changing the way the Church of God thinks about small churches!” Hill said. “This is critically important since it is obvious according to 2019 statistics that the Church of God is a denomination primarily of small churches. We have 6,575 churches in the United States and Canada and of those churches, 5,260 have less than 100 people attending on Sunday. That is eighty percent (80%).”
In recent years, The VITAL Initiative has focused on this segment of the Church of God to stress the importance of the work taking place in small churches and the crucial role of pastors in these churches. The stated mission is “to help the Church of God realize and utilize the place and power of small churches in 21st century Kingdom work.”
“In many instances, pastors serving small churches are misunderstood, misrepresented, and marginalized from ministry discussions,” Hill continued. “The VITAL Initiative is working to create a new ethos within the Church of God that recognizes the small church as a valid and vital part of God’s redemptive plan. Small churches are not failed large churches. They are outposts of the Kingdom of God in a hurting world.”
For those who wish to join the conference, a link will be available in the coming days at www.thevitalinitiative.com, where other information and resources are available as well.
