Central Connection | March 27th, 2025
In This Connection
Lay Delegate Registration Deadline Tomorrow | General Council
2025 Regional Partnerships
Alliance Peacemaking Training: Level 2 | April 30th-May 1st
Church Multiplication Director Thought
Alliance Women Spring Events - Encouragement
Compete or Mobilize? | Church Mobilization Director Article
Lay Delegate Registration Deadline
The deadline to register a Lay Delegate for General Council 2025 is tomorrow, Friday, March 28th.
This is a deadline set by the National Office. We are unable to offer an extension for submissions beyond this date.
General Council 2025 Resources!
2025 Regional Partnerships
It's not too late to sign up for the remaining Regional Partnership!
Our focus will be:
Missional Breakthrough in Anxious Times
Bring other leaders from your congregations as well.
Time is 9:30am-11:30am with lunch to follow for those who can stay.
April 3 @ Mansfield Alliance Church
Please RSVP to Taylor Callahan [email protected]
Alliance Peacemaking Training: Level 2
"Conflict is inevitable; how we handle it is not. God expects us to handle our conflicts differently than the world does. Alliance Peacemaking teaches how He wants us to deal with conflict."
If you are a Christian leader (consecrated and ordained or lay), you are already coaching. This two-day live seminar equips you to coach better from a biblical standpoint to help other people see and resolve their conflict from a godly perspective. Certified conflict coaches become resources for their churches.
Please note: You must complete level 1 training to participate in this event.
This training will be held at Riverside Alliance Church, April 30th-May 1st.
( 2433 S Main St, Akron, OH 44319)
The cost to attend is $300.
Click here to register now!
Church Multiplication Director Thought
A brief message from Todd Sovine.
(Director of Church Multiplication)
Multiplication Readiness
Sometimes we mistakenly believe that congregation size is the determinant of multiplication readiness. That is not true. Think about it from a human biological perspective. Size doesn’t determine when a person is ready to reproduce, maturity and health are the better indicators. So, the question that needs to be answered is – when thinking about multiplication through church planting what are the biblical indicators of maturity and health in a local congregation.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Lets talk!
Email Kirsten Tousley, [email protected], to make
an appointment with Todd Sovine.
Alliance Women Spring Events
Thanks to all who promoted, served at, and participated in our Alliance Women Spring Events! Nearly 200 women gathered from 25 churches across the Central District to Rise Up and Be Bold. We are thrilled to send $3,060 to our partners in Ukraine to purchase much needed diapers. Testimonies from International Workers in Mongolia and Burkina Faso as well as messages from women in our local churches encouraged the attendees and motivated them to prayer and action. We are grateful for our host churches—Hope Community Church (Hudson, Ohio), Northview Alliance Church (Wooster, Ohio), and Buckhannon Alliance Church (Buckhannon, West Virginia) for their wonderful hospitality and gracious service. Special thanks to our Alliance Women’s Ministry Leaders at each location: Tina Evans (Hudson), Wanda Pfahler (Wooster), Emily Morris (Buckhannon).
Glory to God and appreciation to our Central District Family!
Compete or Mobilize?
A brief message from Dennis Turner.
(Director of Church Mobilization)
I just heard that in an effort to pull ahead of Southwest Airlines, Frontier Airlines is offering a promotion for “free checked bags” on their flights. On the fast food front, Wendy’s, in an effort to compete with McDonald’s and Burger King, will be offering a new line of Frostys with Frosty Swirls and Frosty Fusions!
Getting a leg up on market shares in business is an economic necessity. Competition can be a healthy thing in the corporate world that often has great benefit for the consumer. But not so for the church!
As congregations of ONE church, we are not competitors with each other. I believe we all know this to be the true biblical reality. However, in our consumeristic world, we can sometimes be tempted to try and provide a little more for people than the church down the road. And even if church leaders do not intend that to be the case, people in the church sometimes look at it that way, practically speaking. (A large majority of “church growth” is still transfer growth across the Evangelical landscape.)
But what if we ALL focused more on mobilizing our people – and ourselves! – to be more engaged in the world in which we live? Perhaps we could actually be a part of a unified effort in seeing greater impact in the spiritual lostness of our friends and neighbors. This mobilization effort might disrupt some of our programming at our church buildings or at least help focus our programming more missionally.
Remember, sisters and brothers, there is more that unites us than divides us. Would you take up the call to raise the temperature of mobilizing the people of the church to BE the church to each other and toward those who do not yet know Jesus? Would you take up the call to pursue partnership in the kingdom with other like-minded believers and congregations? Let’s MOBILIZE and break the stronghold of competition.
If you would like to press in more on what mobilization looks like, email Taylor at [email protected] to set up a time for us to get together.
And for what it’s worth, chocolate Frosty is the ONLY Frosty for me!