God’s Story for the CCCC

MATT MILLIGAN, CCCC PRESIDENT

Noah entered the ark upon the promise of the Lord to spare his family from the coming judgment and lead them through the waters into a new world. Genesis tells us that Noah obeyed and did all that God commanded him. I wonder sometimes what Noah was thinking on day 123, after he had watched the world and every soul on earth destroyed. As the ark was just floating on the water with nothing as far as the eye could see, did he look up to the sky and wonder if he was forgotten by God? Did he have the same assurance of where it was all going as he did when he first set to building the ark? I am sure that as much as Noah would have appreciated it, God did not come down and give Noah daily progress reports on how everything was going. God’s word went out, and that’s all Noah had. As he floated there he carried on the mission based on the promise of what was to come and the assurance of its fulfillment because of the One who had spoken it. As anxious as Noah may have been, he was told that God was entering a covenant with him and they would emerge on the other side of this tragedy. Genesis 8:1 says, “But God remembered Noah…” and God did come through and caused Noah’s family to land safely on dry land.

This sometimes goes through my mind as the Board of Directors comes together, as they did in Orlando on February 5-7 for its Mid-winter face to face meeting. In 2018, we pick up in the middle of a story that God has been writing in the CCCC for some time. Much time has passed since God spoke with such clarity through the leadership of the conference which led to the work of the Guiding Coalition and the formation of our current Ministry Priorities, Guiding Values, and the subsequent alignment of our systems through the guidance of the Structure Task Force. But that original vision of a CCCC way of life that allows our churches to be the healthiest Christ-centered communities we can possibly be is as strong as ever, and God continues to show His faithfulness as we see the progress being made toward that vision across the conference.

The Board heard reports from the staff, who have been very engaged in working together on the Turning Point Initiative. Turning Point is a process that will allow us to be able to resource every phase in the life cycle of a church. It takes advantage of the structures that have been developed, and so is an affirmation of how God has been helping us effectively care for and build into every one of our congregations. Where we currently are in the story means that we will see more and more of these processes that promote the mission.

The Stewardship Committee has been working toward helping us attain financial freedom to carry out our God-given mission. They reported to the Board and are currently looking toward the future and what we will need to resource the vision of the conference so we can begin to plan and work together toward living that out more fully.

The Annual Gathering Planning Team has been hard at work to plan a time where we can come together around what God is doing in our conference. The theme this year of A Culture of Peacemaking is one that applies so deeply into a need our culture currently has, and why Jesus has established our churches around the conference to bring his gospel into the heart of every community we are in.