As a result of research, prayer and the movement of the Holy Spirit, we believe that we are at a pivotal moment in the life of the Church in South Florida. By all accounts, the next 30 years will represent the largest mission opportunity since the beginning of America, and our very own South Florida. While we are witnessing the largest and fastest numerical shift in religious affiliation in the history of our communities, we stand at one of the greatest moments for the Church – the people of God – to be agents of faith, hope and love to our community. While all the research may be bleak and depressing, the good news is that God us uniting the church for this great missional moment. 

From the very beginning of the Church United story, we rallied around mission not causes or activities. To embrace this missional moment requires a continual spirit-driven move of God that was beyond any one church key leader, funder, or organization. Fast forward to today, Church United is taking root throughout the tri-county with a vision to unify, equip and inspire leaders to foster soul health, thriving churches and local ministries.

Embracing the Missional Moment

Last month we hosted a special two-day event called, “This Missional Moment” for pastors and ministry leaders in both Southwest and Southeast Florida. We were joined by special guests Lisa Fields of the Jude 3 Project, Kevin Palau of Louis Palau Ministries and Brad Hill of Gloo – leading national voices helping steward the Church towards best practices and reorientation towards embracing this unprecedented evangelistic opportunity as the body of Christ. 

 

Southwest Florida

Beginning in southwest Florida, we were able to pull pastors and ministry leaders together to consider the possibilities of continued connection and collaboration post hurricane Ian relief efforts. Over 45 local pastors and ministry leaders joined for this inaugural Church United event as our special guests helped cast a vision for why the future of the church and embracing of this missional moment requires uncommon unity, collaboration and shared learning together. For pastor Jordan Roe, lead pastor of Mission Community Church, “This event was both inspiring and convicting to me as a local pastor. It’s obvious that the transformation of this region is beyond any single church but what we so often lack are models and language of where and how collaboration actually works. Having Church United bring these thought leaders in to invest in local churches provided the right spark and tone we needed to envision continued unity in the wake of hurricane Ian. Having what’s happening with Church United over on the east coast as a guide for us to contextualize over here is a rare gift. I know I speak for dozens of other pastors when I say I believe the best is yet to come for the Body of Christ in Fort Myers.”

 

Southeast Florida

Moving over to the East Coast, we hosted the same event for pastors and leaders in Broward and Palm Beach as a special Church United quarterly gathering. Hosted at Christ Fellowship’s Church Boynton Beach campus, hundreds of leaders gathered to glean from the wisdom of Lisa, Kevin and Brad, as we continued to reinforce and demonstrate the fruit of what happens when we come together as the body of Christ to embrace the missional opportunity before us. 

Kicking off with a powerful word of welcome, Pastor Todd Mullins of Christ Fellowship gave context as to why he and his church continue to lean into unity and collaboration with other local churches. Lisa Fields, a leading apologist and next-generation evangelist, powerfully communicated how reaching the next generation and embracing this missional moment requires us to embrace what she calls, “mirror ministry” – the idea that transformation and revival begins with us cultivating a lifestyle conducive to the fruits of the spirit in our lives. Taking the stage after Lisa, Brad Hill, of Gloo, demonstrated the fruits of Church United’s work in connecting thousands of spiritual explorers to local churches through online evangelistic campaigns and gave insight into the types of online searches and felt needs our unsaved friends, neighbors and co-workers are looking for answers to on Google and social media. Finally, Kevin Palau led a panel discission on how evangelism and a focus on mission fuels the work of unity movements nationally. 

I love how Pastor Shawn O’Neil from Christian Life Center in Fort Lauderdale put it. “There was a special sense of God’s presence in the room, “This was a special Church United gathering. Unity of the body was exceptional. The thought leaders in the room helped equip and fuel what God has been doing in our region through his Bride! Gloo shared brilliant insights to help the church move into missional spaces with the lost and disconnected of our communities. Love the vision to not only equip and empower our local churches, but also city transformation to catalyze the Church to tangibly demonstrate the hope and love of Christ to our neighbors. Exciting times ahead!”

We call this a great opportunity for a reason – not every opportunity is realized by everyone. Yet, for those who are willing to see the investment of their individual ministries and churches as part of a much larger story of unity, connection and Kingdom collaboration for the sake of the “capital C” Church, I believe God’s spirit will indeed command a blessing. Personally, I couldn’t be more excited about what’s to come for the bride of Christ. While the work ahead is hard and filled with uncharted cultural landmines and divisive political talking points, if Gods people are reoriented back to who they are, who they belong to and what that means for our region, I believe we’ll look back in amazement of what God did in South Florida years from now. 

 

Learn more at churchunitedfl.com or write us a note at [email protected]

Read more articles by Edwin Copeland at: goodnewsfl.org/author/edwincopeland/