TAP(ping) mission leaders

The Antioch Partners (TAP) is a missionary agency that works with local Presbyterian churches in the United States to send followers of Jesus to participate in God’s mission in the world.

TAP works through multiple Presbyterian denominations to develop missionaries and send them into the mission fields to do God’s work. Those participating in kingdom work such as inviting people to follow Jesus, social justice, discipleship, supporting church planting movements, leadership development and business have been called by God for long-term, cross-cultural ministry.

To help further that purpose, The Antioch Partners, along with The Outreach foundation and Frontier Fellowship, will present “Connecting Mission Leaders,” a conference for Presbyterian congregational leaders Sept. 19-21, 2013, at First Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, Texas.

The event is open to leaders of ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), Fellowship of Presbyterians (FOP) and Presbyterian Church (USA).

Carl Medearis

The event begins with dinner at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 19 and includes four talks by keynote speaker Carl Medearis, author of Speaking of Jesus: the art of non-evangelism and Muslims, Christians and Jesus: Gaining Understanding and Building Relationships. He is a catalyst for a number of current movements in the Middle East to promote peace-making, as well as cultural, political and religious dialogue leading toward reconciliation.

The event also includes worship services, breakout groups, free time and networking opportunities. Sessions Friday and Saturday start at 9 a.m., and the conference wraps up at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Scheduled breakout sessions include:

• Missions Leadership 101;
• Local and urban engagement in your community;
• Training ST teams for spiritual formation at every step in the process;
• Developing mission leaders/champions in your local congregation;
• Mission-minded Families: mobilizing, equipping and facilitating family engagement in mission;
• Taking Your Mission Trips to the Next Level – from Projects to Partnership;
• Engaging the Unreached – Learning from the Experiences of Other Congregations; and
• Serving as Senders: Raising Up and Sending Out Effective Cross-cultural Missionaries from Your Church.

In partnership with local Presbyterian churches, missionaries are serving through TAP in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Avenues for TAP missionaries to serve in the United States as well as unnamed Christian immigrant communities also are being explored.

TAP is committed to increasing the number of Presbyterian churches it serves in the sending of missionaries, the number of missionaries being sent, as well as the areas of the world and number of unreached people groups where these missionaries are serving.

Registration and conference information can be found at www.connectingmissionleaders.com. Registration fee for the event is $85. Space is limited.

Anyone interested in serving the world through TAP can contact the personnel coordinator at personnel@theantiochpartners.org or 713-490-9571.