A Family of Baptist Congregations in the Midlands of South Carolina
Our One Priority: Starting and Strengthening Churches to Serve as Vital and Vibrant Missional Communities.
Join George Bullard for a Roundtable Gathering for a Meal and Dialogue
In 2020 before the beginning of the pandemic, George Bullard began holding Roundtable Gatherings – typically at lunch – with
CMBA congregational pastors and staff. These began early in 2020 but came to a halt in the middle of last March due to the pandemic. The third week of April these will start up again and will be held in various places throughout the association. Typically these will be lunches, but later a couple of evening meals will be added to the schedule.
CMBA will buy lunch and provide a book or other resource for each person who attends. The goal is to have no more than six or seven people at each gathering so we can have in-depth conversations around a table to build fellowship and to dialogue about the opportunities and challenges of our congregations.
You can click here to see the schedule and register for a Roundtable Gathering. I look forward to sharing a meal and conversation with you! Upcoming dates are April 21st in Lower Richland County, April 27th in the VISTA area of downtown Columbia, and April 28th in the St. Andrews area.
Talk with Ryan Burge About His Newly Released Book on The Nones
Our One Priority Briefing Live! on Tuesday, April 27th at 2:00 p.m. will be a videoconference interview with researcher, professor, author, and pastor Ryan Burge. The link for the live session – that will be recorded – is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82096987749.
In his endorsement for the book, Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center, says that this book “provides an aerial view of the American religious landscape as well as an amplified view of the rise of the nones – American’s fastest-growing demographic. When you’re finished reading this book, you will see the American religious landscape as it is—not as you think it is.”
Ryan Burge is a political science professor and a Baptist church pastor who researched and wrote a helpful book on the people who are not affiliated with a church. The book is The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going. Click here to see and purchase the book. Or, if you are from a CMBA congregation and attend the videoconference interview, we will send you one for free.
In the concluding chapter, Ryan Burge offers this challenge: “People who grew up in faith communities but left them when they moved into adulthood, all have a story to tell.” “We should be seeking out people willing to tell their stories, and inviting them to tell us, and listening—really listening—to them” (p. 129).
CMBA staff and mobilizers are engaged with each of these congregations as part of our focus on new congregational expressions. Lead and assisting congregations in our family are encouraged to pray for and support the ministry of these congregations.