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Contact: Jesse Medina, The Well, 719-362-5234, jmedina@dotheword.org
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., Nov. 3 /Christian
Newswire/ -- November 4 marks the beginning of the National Outreach
Convention, an annual three-day event that attracts thousands of church leaders
from around the country with training on outreach and evangelism. House church
leader Ken Eastburn believes the convention is the response to a problem within
the wider church community, "We go to conventions for one of two reasons: either
we're lacking in training or we've been trained in the wrong way. For most of
us, it is the latter."
The National Outreach Convention will be hosted in San Diego, CA and is being
put on by Outreach Magazine. Keynote speakers for 2009 include Efrem Smith, Ed
Stetzer, Joel Hunter, and Stacy Spencer among others. This year will also
feature 50 breakout sessions to choose from, with each one being led by a big
name in church culture.
"We've been trained to think about outreach all wrong," says Eastburn, "Until
recently, outreach was more like in-reach: inviting people to come in to the
church, following up with those who have filled out reply cards, and loving
those who are already sitting in our pews -- the ones we're neglecting are the
ones who need us the most. The Church needs to recapture what it means to exist
for the benefit of those outside its walls."
Eastburn is a leader with The Well, a network of home-based churches in
California and Colorado. Members of The Well are encouraged to reach out to
their respective communities without the motif of bringing people in to the
church.
Eastburn notes, "There's a problem when you only love people with the hope that
they will join your church, and most people can see right through that. Love for
love's sake is rare these days, but the National Outreach Convention is changing
that."
The Well hosts 10-15 members on a weekly basis at each of its five
locations, including some individuals who also continue to participate in
traditional church settings. Eastburn and other members post their experiences
on a blog maintained by the church,
www.leavethebuildingblog.com,
with the purpose of interacting with individuals from traditional and house
church backgrounds.