Europe City Partners is committed to seeing the Gospel flourish in the City.
We are committed to raising local leaders.
Coaching Church Planters
Drawing on over 25 years of experience as a church planter and pastor of a church planting church, Walter is able to encourage and coach European church planters in the dynamics of effective church planting leadership. Though cultures vary, many of the principles and dynamics of church planting are remarkably similar such as “where should I meet, when should I launch, I’ve got this problem with my core team.”
Developing Catalytic Leaders
For church planting to grow, multiply, and begin to impact the European cultures, regional catalytic leaders need to be raised up. In turn, they need to be trained to recruit church planters, train them, and develop networks of like-minded church planters who love their city and love the gospel. Walter is committed to developing such catalytic leadership as a way of helping to build the European church planting movement for the future.
Building a Movement
Only God can build a movement of the gospel. Only God can send the fire of revival to a city or nation. But we can help “build the altar,” through prayer, evangelism, discipleship training, church planting, deeds of justice and mercy, and cooperation across denominational lines in every city. We are praying and working for such a movement.
We are committed to the Gospel and the City.
The Gospel
The gospel is news about the historical events of Jesus’ life. The word ‘gospel’ means good news of a world-changing historical event and how one should respond to it (Mark 1:1, 14-15). The gospel is the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:1-8). It tells us that Jesus died on the cross for us and was raised from the dead for us, according the Scriptures, so that even the worst sinners can be saved by grace. But it is not enough to know these facts. We must repent of our sins and believe in Christ (Mark 1:15) for the gospel to take hold of us and make us new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). The gospel is not just the message that saves us when we first believe. It continues to work in us and bear fruit (Col. 1:9), being the power of God unto salvation from beginning to end (Rom. 1:17).
Theological Commitment
The staff and Board of ECP is committed to the historic Christian faith as expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms.
The Importance of the City.
Beginning with the Old Testament prophets, God’s future redeemed world is depicted as a city. And in Revelation 21-22, when God’s creational and redemptive intentions are fully realized, we see that the result is indeed a city, with walls and gates and streets. The city of God’s old enemy, Babylon, is finally overthrown, and God’s people thrive in peace and productivity (Rev. 18). Cities today have a disproportionate influence on how human life is lived in a society because they exert power in business, publishing, the media, the academy, and the arts. These people live or spend much of their time in city centers. Since cities now influence the culture and values of the world more than ever, the single most effective way for Christians to influence the culture of a nation is to have large numbers of them stay in cities and simply “be the church” there. Tim Keller, Center Church
