ACOP as a Fellowship

[Zach]

Conferences play vital roles in a Fellowship because they are the places where relationships and connection are built and enhanced, but also when people with shared values come together those tend to be caught and enforced in a social way that is very powerful. I have in the past been a part of a movement that was very much centrally controlled but that also believed authority was relational and not based on a position or a title. It seemed to work well with good leaders, but the possibility did exist that at a functional level, choices were made for local churches and fellowships that were made by others far away, and that even in the best of times can cause relational strain, and almost functionally undercut or at least strain the shared value of relational authority.

[Jaylen]

Conferences are important because otherwise it is hard to really get a sense for what is going on everywhere else. To gather and share testimony with each other about God work, and also to take advantage of the moment and utilize it to cast vision for the next period of time.
I have not.

[Kimberly]

Conferences are so important because it allows the relationships between each other to grow. Conferences also give us the chance to talk about what is going on in our local church and be creative with others when it comes to programming and outreach. Since we don’t have a central control planning our stuff out, it is very beneficial to be able to bounce ideas off of people that may have more experience or a different perspective than us.

[Deleted User]

• Conferences play such an important role in denominations that consider themselves a fellowship because it is important to come together and make sure that all members of the denomination know the objectives and values of the organization. It is also a key point of connection for members and helps to foster healthy relationships among the organization. Because fellowships do not have a lot of centralized leadership in the local church, conferences serve as an opportunity for leadership to visit and pour into different leaders within the local church.
• I have been attending a PAOC school over the last 4 years and so have seen how they operate compared with ACOP. As they are a somewhat centralized type of denomination I have seen that the operate much more internally with a bit less leadership being given to their local church leadership. It has differed from my experience with ACOP as I have seen how ACOP operates largely in the context of the leadership of the local church rather then being centralized and led by the hierarchy in the organization.