FAMILY MEETINGS

The elders of New Eden handed out a statement regarding our partnership with Summit Crossing Madison. The full document can be accessed here.

Though this document's intended audience is the membership of New Eden Church, we trust your discernment in sharing it with others who may deem it helpful or clarifying.

If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to us at elders@newedenchurch.org.

Please take a moment to read the update below about our partnership with the Acts 29 Network. I intended to share this at the Family Meeting and forgot to add it to the agenda.

As of March 2024, New Eden Church is no longer a member of the Acts 29 Network.

When we launched New Eden, we joined the Acts 29 Network for a few reasons:
• Our sending church belonged to it.
• We wanted a form of external assessment.
• We wanted New Eden to be connected to global and regional church planting efforts.

At the time, Acts 29 provided all of those things for us, and we are grateful for their investment in New Eden Church over the last few years.

Recently, Acts 29 asked all churches in the network to renew their commitment, which was a good time for us to revisit an ongoing conversation the Elder Team has been having over the last few years. For a variety of reasons (listed below), we no longer feel that partnership with the network is the best use of our limited energy and resources.

Because we are speaking plainly and because of the length of this announcement, this decision might sound like a bigger deal than it is. But plain speech and long explanations are because we want to be clear and transparent, not because we feel this is a huge decision. As most of you know, we have never placed a lot of weight on any of our broader partnerships. Instead, we have chosen to stay laser-focused on partnering with those we’ve had the privilege of sending from our local body. Because of this, we feel incredible freedom to move in and out of partnerships as it makes sense for us in each season of our church family.

Thank you for trusting us with this decision. Below, we've listed a few of the factors that led to this decision. After reading, if you have any questions or would like further clarity, please reach out to us.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS

Every year, around budget time, we’ve always considered whether it made sense for New Eden to give the required 2% of our budget to Acts 29. We believe there is incredible value in our church participating in things greater than ourselves, including regional and global church planting. However, with us having already sent families from our body (and more in the pipeline), we believe it makes sense to steer all of our resources toward those specific efforts.

RELATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

For a variety of reasons, our elders have never really connected with the broader Acts 29 family. We have close relationships with many pastors and churches in our region through our connections at Summit Crossing and other healthy Jesus-centered churches. These sometimes overlapped with the Acts 29 network but were never dependent on it. We all have limited relational energy to expend, and we would rather prioritize the natural relational connections God has already given us in our region (without feeling pressure to connect with Acts 29 through separate conferences and cohorts).

CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS

While we still agree with Acts 29’s theological convictions and distinctives, we have found ourselves increasingly wary of some of the broader cultural shifts within the network. At times, we have found ourselves feeling a gap between what is stated on paper and what we have experienced in person.

Ray Ortlund has defined this as the difference between “Gospel Doctrine” (what we say we believe) and “Gospel Culture” (how we and others experience what we say we believe). As a church, it is very important for us to protect not only “Gospel Doctrine” but also “Gospel Culture.” We don’t ever want to feel as if one of our partnerships is working against us in this area.

*Because I have personally benefitted greatly from the Acts 29 Network (and churches within it), and because we as elders don’t consider ourselves the final judge on these issues, I hesitate even to share this consideration. But in the spirit of full transparency, and because we honor and value each of you, we felt it necessary to share. If you would like more specific examples, I’m more than willing to share (without giving names or details).

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

From the beginning, we have never waived any one flag when it comes to our partnerships or connections. Because we believe that the Kingdom of God is way more important than any one church or network (including New Eden), we try not to put too much weight into our partnerships and connections, other than the church members we are sending out. And even though we have not loudly “flown the banner” of Acts 29, unfortunately, we have still found ourselves having to justify our connection with Acts 29 more than we’ve felt comfortable doing.

Lastly, I want to end by expressing incredible gratitude for how God has used Acts 29 in my life personally. Many of you know that I come from a background of incredible legalism, and for years, I held a faulty understanding of God’s view of me. As my family and I were awakened to the beauty of the gospel, it was an Acts 29 church (Summit Crossing - Limestone) that became a well of life and hope for us during a challenging season. Expositional preaching, a big view of God and His work, a desire to plant churches, a commitment to the Scriptures, radical dependence on God’s Spirit, and the centrality of the gospel in all of life - these were all things that shaped me during that season and still do to this day.

We are grateful for the time we were formally connected and still pray that God continues to use the network to advance His Kingdom work around the world. We have many faithful brothers and sisters in formal partnership with Acts 29, and we will continue those friendships with joy.

Again, if you have any questions about the above, please let us know!

To close the member meeting, we spent some time praying for the following things:

• Gratefulness for provision and unity
• Request for continued Spirit-dependence among His people
• Request for continued unity among the people of New Eden Church
• Request for continued wisdom and trust for the Elder Team
• Request for continued provision for the ongoing needs
• Request for resources to continue sending missionaries well

One big announcement we made that I don't want anyone to miss - Mark Carpenter has been in our elder process for quite some time, and we are actively working toward installing him as an elder at New Eden. This ongoing process will take some time, but we encourage all members to get to know him over the next six months or so. Please join us in continued prayer as we discern God's leading in this area.

I want to acknowledge something that took place during the meeting.

Toward the beginning of the meeting, I made a comment directed toward Ben Coggin. You can't hear it on the video, but after his prayer, I made a sarcastic quip about the length of his prayer. Upon further reflection with God, my wife, and Ben, it didn’t take long for me to realize that I had sinned against my brother through a comment veiled in sarcasm and humor. The reason I am calling it sin is because I used my words to demean Ben as a person, and I also demeaned the idea of prayer. At New Eden, we desire a culture of love (evidenced by the way we treat others) and dependence upon God (evidenced by prayer), and my comment worked against both of those things.

I have already spoken with Ben, who was very kind to forgive, but since the comment was publicly made, I wanted to publicly confess. I also want to publicly thank Ben for being courageous, kind, understanding, and forgiving.

To some, this confession might seem unneeded. But let me take a moment and express a few reasons why I think it is important.

PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP
Many of us have been on the receiving end of passive-aggressive comments made by leadership personalities. Plainly stated, I believe these comments are wrong and a dehumanizing choice of communication. I desire to speak the truth in love, not use sarcastic quips and side comments.

DEMEANING OF A PERSON
God has been gracious to give New Eden a gospel culture where people feel safe to ask questions, be honest, and press into community without fear of being demeaned or belittled. Sarcasm, passive-aggressive comments, and mockery of people (or groups of people) tear down this gospel culture little by little, especially when made by the leadership. I take complete responsibility for my words and am seeking to continue my journey of growth in grace.

DEMEANING OF PRAYER
With my comment, I also demeaned a sincere attitude toward prayer. Prayer is important to us at New Eden. As I mentioned in my sermon on Sunday, it evidences the reality of how much we believe we are dependent on God. I firmly believe that is true, but my comment communicated that prayer was insignificant.

To make sure it’s clear, Ben and I have spoken, I have asked for forgiveness, and he has granted it. Ben did not ask that I send this email, but I did ask for his permission to make sure it did not shame him in any way. (I also asked him to look this over to make sure that I did not misrepresent him in anything that I said.) Please feel complete freedom to reach out to Ben or me if you have any questions about this.

In closing, let me communicate that if I’ve been demeaning or belittling toward any of you, I apologize. I want each of you to know that you have complete freedom to approach me about anything, including how my words are used and heard. I pray I receive your correction of love in humility. I love each of you and know that God has placed you in my life as a key part of my growth and sanctification.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Also, please share this confession with any non-members who were at the meeting. I know some were there to observe, but only members received this communication.

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know.

Much love,
Joel McCarty
Pastor for Preaching & Oversight