The Way We Were

By John Lanferman

St Louis, USA

The year 1993 would mark the beginning of Newfrontiers in the USA. Having already developed relationships with several pastors in Missouri, Terry and Wendy Virgo arrived to live among us. Many of us had been introduced to Terry’s message of God’s grace through a leadership conference. This was the beginning step of transformation for many pastors present.

We often gathered with Terry to ask questions and pray. Ultimately seven Missouri leaders, along with the churches they led, became linked to Terry and Newfrontiers while he lived among us in Missouri. Two other churches also became part of Newfrontiers, one on the west coast and one on the east coast.

These first churches, however, would not have been a good representation of all that Newfrontiers was. We were pastoral communities all located in rural settings. Our leadership model was that of a caregiver. Our notice boards were filled with pictures of missionaries we supported. Mission was regarded as something for those specially gifted. Our part was to pray and pay. Of course in eternity we would share in the reward. Though we were beginning to understand the need to build strong local churches, the understanding of the local church as a missional community was still foreign to us.

Carl Herrington led the first Newfrontiers church plant in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. After Terry’s departure from the USA in 1995, Linda and I went to St Louis representing the second. We were now moving from rural settings into major cities and from an exclusive parish mindset into a new paradigm of seeing the church as a missional community.

Apostolic revelation

The greatest influence in our transition was apostolic revelation and impartation. It began as Terry gathered the leaders to pray. He would report on our work as a family of churches amongst the nations, sharing news from around the world of advancement and church planting. We would then pray into these situations, which served to envision us for the nations. Terry’s apostolic vision also came through as he taught in conferences and amongst the local churches. Our leaders began travelling to the UK for Stoneleigh Bible Week and leadership events. Apostolic vision provoked us and challenged us to lift our eyes beyond our little sphere of responsibility. Relationships began to form and a sense of togetherness was established.

Following Terry’s departure from the US, a team of leaders began to form to work together apostolically for the advancement of the kingdom in the United States. Out of this team came initiatives that furthered our transition from isolated pastoral communities to a family of churches together on a mission. These initiatives included events by which we gathered the churches for camps, leaders’ conferences, men’s and women’s conferences. We also gathered the younger generation for times of imparting vision, facilitating relationships, prayer and training. Bringing people together would be a key element in transitioning us into a missional family.

The prophetic

The prophetic became very significant to our corporate development. Our prayer times and gatherings became punctuated by prophetic words that further shaped us around apostolic vision. Prophecy led to the planting of churches and burned the nations in our hearts. Many of the initiatives we have undertaken first came to us through prophecy.

Youth

We determined that one of our priorities must be to capture the hearts of young men and women for God’s cause. Oneblaze camps, weekends for teens and Clear Vision for those in their twenties were launched. It was vital for this generation to form relationships, experience the presence of God and be envisioned by apostolic impartation as they gathered. These events have been crucial as people were transformed in God’s presence and envisioned with the supremacy of God’s glorious purpose. They became a training ground for a new generation of mission-minded leaders who began to take responsibility in existing churches and new church plants.

Training

Training initiatives played a large part in bringing us together around mission. Leadership conferences and seminars were key – both envisioning leaders and offering practical help for implementation in the local churches. Weekend training events, such as Church Planting Boot Camp and Cross Cultural Training have also equipped us to reach various people groups in our own cities as well as other nations. Books that enlarge vision and facilitate understanding of the church as a community on a mission were regularly recommended to leaders. In 2001 we launched the Trilogy Project (a three-year training programme), seeing the training of potential church leaders as absolutely crucial for church planting. The lectures and assignments of the Trilogy Project were saturated with the apostolic mission. Ten churches along with six new church plants are now led by Trilogy graduates.

Exposure to international

On-going exposure to apostolic vision has been vital to our development and identity as an international movement. Terry has continued to travel to the US for several events, as have others such as David Holden, P-J Smyth, David Devenish, Ray Lowe, Simon Pettit, John Hosier, Jeremy Simpkins and Colin Baron.

The present

It is clear when one comes into any of our gatherings today that we are a family of churches on a mission together. Andrew Kirk’s statement has come to characterise Newfrontiers in the USA: ‘Mission is so much at the heart of the Church’s life that rather than think of it as one aspect of its existence, it is better to think of it as defining its existence’ (Andrew Kirk, What Is Mission, Theological Explorations). Mission now defines our existence and intent.

We have come to know that when we band together churches can do things they could not do alone. Churches are partnering together to plant new churches in their regions. We are sending church-planters into new regions. We have planted in the heartland and on the coasts. Such corporate efforts involve not only people, but also money and prayer, creating a true sense of ownership in all who participate.

Phil Strout said, ‘The power of the whole is greater than any individual component’ (Phil Strout, God’s Relentless Pursuit). We can do more together than we can by ourselves. In a family of churches everyone gets to play. Each church finds a greater expression of God’s will when we partner with other churches. Most churches don’t have the resources they need to plant churches across geographic barriers.

We believe that together we can transform cities and change the destiny
of the poor and disenfranchised with the power of  the gospel.

Back to the future

Future plans include planting churches in 100 key population centres in the USA. These churches will become resource centres and reproducing churches to reach the surrounding geographical areas. We know the key to this is the mobilising, training and releasing of leaders as well as growing large, strong churches. Church planting is now in our genes. Recently God spoke to me about fishing in a bigger pond. The Newfrontiers USA pond is too small for what He has in mind for us. We are now looking beyond our own borders to other networks and leaders that God may want to lead us to. Our plans to expand include making the Trilogy Project available to many more people including those who are not a part of Newfrontiers.

Today the Newfrontiers USA churches reflect the result of apostolic vision and prophetic unction, which has brought us together to reached the unreached and plant churches so that people everywhere may glorify our God. The tide has turned.