A church’s strength lies in “meaningful membership,” noted The Great Exchange Conference. Gathering for the conference at Soteria Church, West Des Moines, Iowa, September 15–16, church leaders explored the purpose and practice of church membership.
Plenary speakers Mike Augsburger, pastor of Soteria Church, and Mark Hallock, pastor of Calvary Church, Englewood, Colorado, addressed the meaning of membership, member priorities, life together as members, and members on mission.
Each general session began with worship led by the Soteria music team.
The conference also featured five workshops:
- The Formed Member: How the Ordinances Shape the Soul of the Church—Zach Dietrich, teaching pastor at Soteria Church
- The Guided Member: Scalable Shepherding through Small Groups—Josh Smith, growth groups pastor at Soteria Church
- The Missing Member: Diagnosing Disengagement and Reengaging the Disconnected—Jason Reynolds, pastor of Clear Lake (Iowa) Baptist Church
- From Google Search to Member—Jenny Cross, founder and CEO of TwoTone Creative
- TGX Explained: Why We Partner, How We Multiply, and What’s Next—pastors of The Great Exchange Network
The Great Exchange (TGX) Conference is part of The Great Exchange Network, a micronetwork of churches working together to multiply healthy churches. Six Iowa churches have already committed to this partnership. Partnering churches “fit together and need each other for gospel multiplication throughout our state,” says Josh Smith, the network coordinator.
He explains that TGX rallies around six traits: expositional preaching, discipleship-based evangelism, meaningful membership, plurality of pastors, Biblically shaped worship, and a multiplication mindset. The network advances this vision through relationships, resourcing, replication, and replanting.
TGX also partners with the GARBC, as Clare Jewell, national representative of the GARBC, shares TGX’s conviction that micronetworks are a highly effective tool for church multiplication.
