Stubbornly Faithful

by Lance Finley, CGGC Executive Director

As we continue to explore the different regional bodies that make up the Churches of God, General Conference, we sat down with Bob Eatherton, Jeff Rockey, and Steve Johnson to gather their perspectives on the Midwest Region Conference.

The Midwest Region was formed in July 2000 when the Indiana, Illinois and Iowa conferences combined to create the new region. In the history of regionalization in the CGGC, the Midwest Region Conference stands out as a unique merger of three stubbornly independent local conferences. Bob Eatherton relates that one of the initial goals of forming the region was to develop a greater unity among the churches as well as the establishment of a regional office/director role who would be able to come alongside local churches and pastors. “Everything had been done by volunteer committees in the original state conferences and so every three years all the personalities and roles might change (depending upon conference elections) and there were times when you never knew who to call when you needed something.” Jeff Rockey adds, “Trying to merge three independent conferences into one was not an easy task. We are a stubbornly independent group of people. In many ways, that stubbornness has been what we’ve survived on and also what’s held us back at times.”

Eatherton adds, “Generally speaking, the farther west you go, the more independent the mindset. It was a pretty hard sell to convince independent minds that we even needed a region. We became a region, kind of kicking and screaming, but there were enough people who were passionate about it that we were able to come together and make it happen.” Steve Johnson observes that we see an independent mindset when we look through the history of the churches in the Midwest Region. “These were barnstorming individuals, like Frederick Kant, who founded Oak Grove Church of God. They didn’t need anybody’s permission to do this.” Eatherton notes that there might be less appreciation for the encumbrance of history in the Midwest mindset: “We don’t mind bringing in a bulldozer and starting from scratch if that’s what’s needed.” The first Midwest Region Conference annual gathering reflected that mindset in their theme, “Whatever it takes.” Eatherton reflected that, “We were going to do whatever it took to establish the region and help build the Kingdom of God."

Beyond Business as Usual

From the earliest days of the region, there was a desire to accomplish more together fueled by a conviction that business as usual wasn’t good enough. One of the first places this became evident was in the annual conference meeting. There was an intentional effort to transform a three-day business session to more of a convention mindset with training and equipping by utilizing nationally known leaders and exposing church leaders to the cutting edge of the Church in North America. Eatherton relates, “We wanted to raise the bar and give leaders practical training that they could take home to their local church. At one point I wondered whether we had made a mistake after a longtime conference attender came to me, fist shaking and informing me that she wouldn’t be back because ‘there aren’t any good fights anymore.’”

Eatherton continues, “One of the gifts of our independent mindset was the freedom to write a new script without being confined by what used to be. We could try new things.” Rockey adds, "In some ways, we’ve had the freedom to innovate or serve as a proving ground. We’ve been willing to try new things, even if they don’t all succeed.” Johnson sees the long roots of such willingness to innovate or risk in the region’s role in global missions. “The first Church of God missionary to India, Clara Landes, was a young woman sent from one of our Iowa congregations. She was followed by several others from Illinois. Even in the late 1800s we were willing to try something new for its time.

This posture of doing whatever it takes has held true over the two-decade history of the region. Around 2010, the leadership of the region wrestled with whether the region exists for benefit of our churches or if the churches exist for the benefit of the region. The conference should be about helping local churches. In a desire to make the same kind of training and equipping even more accessible and affordable to local congregations, the region made some significant shifts in how they gathered. They shifted to a bi-annual conference with the aim of helping reduce the burden of travel and the costs associated with that. In the offyears, the region began taking the annual conference to local churches in a series of one-day conferences designed to bring the same kind of training and equipping in closer proximity to groups of local churches, eliminating some of the barriers that might prohibit participation and increasing the potential to reach as many leaders and local churches as possible.

In a similar effort, the region built off the momentum of the Missional Leadership Initiative (MLI) offered by the General Conference and created the Missional Church Initiative (MCI) that works with teams of leaders from local churches to help them transition from an inward focus to an outward focus in their ministries.

Unintended Consequences: Both Good and Bad

When asked whether regionalization had been good or bad for the churches of the Midwest Region, the resounding, tongue-in-cheek answer was, “Yes.” There have been both blessings and challenges.

In the old state conferences, every pastor served on a commission and had ownership in the overall mission of the conference. There was a sense of connection and cooperation that flowed out of that structure and some of that was lost with regionalization. Yet, regionalization also brought the blessing of freeing local leaders from some of their conference obligations, thus giving more time to focus on local ministry initiatives. The shadow side of this reality was the loss of connection and ownership in the larger work of the conference. While acknowledging the unforeseen fruit of regionalization, there’s still a strong conviction that the churches of the Midwest Region are better together, working collectively to advance the kingdom of God.

Present and Future

The Midwest Region Conference has three chief strategic goals that guide the work and ministry of the region. The first is to develop reproducible disciples. The second is to empower leaders who impact their communities. The third is to connect churches and leaders with cross-cultural ministries. True to its original ethos that the status quo is not sufficient, the region continues to innovate and develop ways to help local congregations. The Midwest Region is offering opportunities for leaders to grow in their ability to make disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus. Whether it’s through the Missional Church Initiative or their partnership with Winebrenner Theological Seminary, they are equipping leaders who are able to engage their local communities in transformational ministry. They’ve taken the posture that cross-cultural could require a trip to somewhere else on the globe or it may be a walk across town to engage people who are different than us and regularly offer opportunities for leaders to engage in cross-cultural settings.

The brothers and sisters of the Midwest Region Conference continue to live with a stubborn faithfulness to do whatever it takes to carry the Good News of Jesus Christ to every man, woman and child across Iowa, Illinois and Indiana.