The Necessity of Partnerships

By Ben Miller

I was recently having coffee with another pastor, and he asked, “Do you think a church or church plant must be a part of a network?" My answer was, “It depends.”

If we are talking about finding a chapter and verse that says, “Every church shall be part of a church planting network,” you won’t find one. For a church not to be formally connected to a larger network or denomination is not an act of disobedience. However, if we are asking if such a relationship is essential from the perspective of biblical precedent and practical prudence, the answer is a clear “yes.”

Even while the New Testament describes qualified elders leading individual local churches, guarding doctrine, preaching the gospel, overseeing ministry, and shepherding the flock, the record of the early church in Acts and the letters is replete with examples of churches working together, coordinated by the efforts of Paul’s Missionary team. Local churches financially supported Paul and his teammates, contributed to a common collection when famine struck Jerusalem, spoke into one another’s questions and concerns (see Acts 15 and the Jerusalem Council), and sent workers to help the apostles beyond their local area. If believers were to participate in the Great Commission to “make disciples of all nations,” they would only be able to do it through partnerships.

Oak Hill’s elders were not only deeply convinced of these biblical paradigms as we sought out a network in 2017-18, but we also strongly felt the need for all these partnership benefits and practices. After searching the scriptures, we realized that partnership was not only helpful but biblical. Just as the Lord does not intend believers to follow Christ on their own, he has not designed churches to operate in isolation. The Great Commission Collective serves all of these purposes in the life of Oak Hill, and I can safely say the relationships we experience in this group of churches are vital to our health and mission.

In the past, our leaders have benefited from training conferences and resources provided by the GCC. We have taken both men’s and women’s retreats with other churches within our network, and we have visited one another’s churches. We supported several church plants financially, and in the past year, we have intentionally focused efforts in Welch, WV, encouraging Reclamation Church in their first year of ministry and supporting them through a tragic flood. We’ve also been able to partner internationally through the GCC as we send a third team to the other side of the globe this week to train leaders in a nation hostile to the gospel. Hardly a week goes by that I don’t talk with another pastor from the GCC on the phone: I ask them for input, sharing victories and challenges, and they do the same. We pray for one another and together regularly, especially during our monthly Zoom call for the northeast region. It would be hard to overstate the mutual benefit we enjoy through this partnership, and it’s exciting to be part of the very same types of relationships that existed between churches in the first century, as described in the pages of scripture.

At the end of June, pastors from our region gathered with our families for three days of relationships, refreshment, and resourcing. While the kids were being spoiled by loving volunteers, the pastors and their wives were equipped in the multiplication vision of the GCC. Not only were the relationships rich and life-giving, but I was also extremely grateful for the clarity and scope of the material. It was so helpful that our church planting cohort will be studying it this fall, and I will also take the same material to train the elders of Reclamation Welch at the end of September. This kind of training from the GCC ensures that we are well-supported and on the same page as we partner in the work of planting churches and strengthening leaders from South-central Pennsylvania, the Northeast US, West Virginia, and even Asia.

Would you pray that the relationships between these churches and our leaders would stay healthy, supportive, and life-giving? Pray also for the ten GCC church plants getting started this Fall in the US, and eleven church planters who will begin their journey in the GCC training center. Finally, pray for the GCC staff as they support the work of the local churches, especially in preparation for the upcoming National Conference on Oct. 27-30.