Al Karsten

Great  to hear from you Norm.  I am part of a team in classis Hamilton that has gone through significant changes/discovery at how we can be more effective as a classis.  It started about six years ago when the delegates adopted adopted a new mission statement namely "classis Hamilton exists to be used by God to renew the greater Hamilton region through a gospel movement of healthy and vibrant churches, ministries and member".  The values that we adopted were community  (less isolation), ministry (less administration or at least completing administrative matters well but in short order) and mission focus (less maintenance orientation in our meetings).  I am part of the Classis Ministry Team that explores how we can have reports at classis done in a more meaningful way.  We have done so through greater dialogue  and attempted to build in ways for churches to be able to take the experience/learning back to their congregation.  It has been an exciting work in progress.  

Steve appreciate your article and the need to reach the unreached.  Say a bit more about what the difference is between doing missions with and not doing missions through - could it not be both?