SCP Seminar

26th - 28th August 2010

Participants who attended the second School of Church Planters (SCP) seminar for this year were challenged to think differently as they learnt on how to engage themselves in community development activities and on a broader perspective of service. 19 church planters and their families involved in planting churches attended the SCP held from 26th - 28th August 2010 at Sanctuary House, Pamunugama. NCEASL representatives conducted the seminar.

Over the 3 days the resource personnel explained the need to address the spiritual needs as well as the physical needs of communities. Currently most churches were used to address the spiritual needs leaving other organisations to look in to the physical needs of individuals.
Subsequent sessions addressed how to identify the root cause and issues in society. The participants were also taught to engage themselves in development activities rather than relief activities. They were also encouraged to involve local communities when working on a development project and make the people responsible to develop their own communities. Identifying available local resources from among the communities they work in and applying the eight principles of community development were also part of this session.
On the last day the participants were taught how to identify and implement a ‘seed project’; they were also encouraged to have a vision for their churches and set achievable goals.   

This seminar provided a time of getting to know each other from various regions as some of them had never met before. All participants received a valuable book pack, as a resource for their ministry, as well as a tambourine to use in their worship services.
Several participants said, this was the very first time they learned about community development and appreciated the teachings that gave them an insight in to new areas of service.