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Home Page > Resources > Posturing of the Church
of the City Unity in our Region and Posturing of the “Church
of the City” Since 1989 I have given myself over to serve my city. God has given me a “Kingdom of God” mentality and not just a burden for the local church I serve as Pastor. As a result of this, sometimes I am invited to participate in different expressions of the Kingdom. As the last week of January 2000 was approaching, I found myself having to decide which of three events I would attend – all occurring on exactly the same dates. One was a national, another involved the northeast, and the other involved primarily the greater New York region. After prayer, I decided to split my time between the last two events because they impacted the NY region. The first event I attended was the “Pastor’s Prayer Summit” hosted by “Concerts of Prayer Greater NY” and was facilitated by Rev. Mackenzie Pier (Mac). This was a unique gathering of about 175 spiritual leaders from the NY region. For the past decade, this Summit has brought together an Evangelical expression of the body of Christ that is both multiethnic and cross denominational. It is unique and positively impacts the body of Christ because spiritual leaders (most of them local church pastors) come together to pray and develop relationships at a few of the sessions. Mac’s sensitivity to both the Holy Spirit and to this eclectic group led him to ask several pastors representing their distinct ethnicities to share about their communities and people groups. This heightened our awareness of the church, sensitized us to the “pantheon” of the body of Christ in our city and enabled us to engage in “informed intercession”. This annual summit is always a great blessing and helps to under-gird our city with a base of united, corporate prayer. The second gathering I attended was called a “Leadership Summit.” This was hosted by Rev. Robert Stearns and Eagle’s Wings Ministries. It was facilitated by Apostles Larry Kreider and Daniel Juster. In this summit about 70 leaders from the north east came together to pray, worship, develop relationships, compare notes and strategize – The overarching theme of this summit seemed to be that we had to recognize that the body of Christ is “in between two wineskins.” (A transition between the old denominational wineskin and the new regional church of the city wineskin.) Preaching and sharing centered on leadership principles and strategies for the apostolic city church. Utilizing prayer in small groups, panel discussions and regional think tanks, this summit was also a great success! It helped to network key leaders, imparted new strategy, answered tough questions and motivated all involved to partner with other leaders in their region to build the Kingdom of God. May we all be open to hear the voice of God and obey His leading as He builds His church and establishes His Kingdom! Dr. Joseph Mattera has been in full time ministry since 1980 and is currently the Senior Pastor of Resurrection Church in Brooklyn, New York. He also is the President of Children of the City Inc., a community based outreach that ministers to at-risk youth in Sunset Park. Known as “a Pastor’s Pastor,” Dr. Mattera earned his Doctorate of Divinity from the Christian Leadership Seminary and serves as a consultant and mentor to many leaders in the Body of Christ. Dr. Mattera also regularly contributes articles that are featured in a tri-state NY area newspaper. He also has a weekly cable television program called “The Ekklesia.” In November, 1999 he started City Covenant Coalition, an apostolic network of five-fold ministers. They have come together to holistically effect inner cities world wide. Dr. Mattera, his wife, Joyce and their five children live in Brooklyn, New York. He can be contacted at: CITY COVENANT COALITION
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