On March 19–21, pastors and leaders from around the country will gather in Raleigh-Durham, NC, for ADVANCE13: Building a Faithful and Effective Church. I am honored to be one of the speakers at this event, and I am thrilled to see what God will do through this conference. Among others, the speakers include John Piper, Matt Chandler, David Platt, and Larry Osborne. I am honored to spend some time with men like these who are truly committed to both making disciples and reaching the lost.
This conference revolves around a simple but pressing question: How do we build churches that are both faithful and effective? There is a false dichotomy in the church today between these two: we are effective or we are faithful; we aim for depth or width; we are making disciples or reaching the lost. Most of our churches pick a side in the debate, and many excel in that area. So some churches focus so much on discipleship that they aren’t concerned about the lost, while others focus so much on evangelism that their members have no depth.
In the gospel, however, there is a better way. The gospel calls for both, because faithfulness and effectiveness cannot be separated. Churches that grow wide without sending down roots are not producing width that lasts. On the other hand, churches that go deep without spreading the gospel out wide are not nearly as deep as they think.
What we need is a resurgence of faithful and effective churches. And that is precisely the point of this conference. The lineup of speakers mixes pastors, theologians, and experienced practitioners, both from the church and the business world. Our aim is to equip not only pastors, but also all church members, for everyday ministry both inside and outside the church. This promises to be one of the richest and most practical conferences of the year—and I hope to see you there!
Sign up here today!