Rhode Island: Seeking a Larger Vision

The Journey of David Gadoury and the Love Rhode Island Movement

In 1994, after 19 years in pastoral ministry, David Gadoury was in a pit.  A growing sense of spiritual struggle was compounded by conflicts in close relationships in the church. Then, within a period of weeks, came the unexpected deaths of his father and step-father.  Finally, in a twist that is reminiscent of Job, David began having migraine headaches for the first time in his life.

In the midst of a Monday morning migraine, David was sitting in his church office looking at his invitation to the 3^rd annual New England Pastor’s prayer summit.  He decided to go.

In spite of his discomfort with the unfamiliar and the diversity and exuberance of some of the worship, he remained focused on seeking God and was personally and dramatically renewed.  On returning, other people were quick to pick up on the change and began asking him, “what happened to you—you’re different?”  The summit experience flooded into his personal times with God; hope had been rekindled.

Over the next several years, the New England Pastor’s Summits became a regular discipline.

Theological Transformation

In the years previous to the Summit, David had read the book One Lord, One Faith—A Theology of Cross-Denominational Renewal with a group of other pastors and church elders.  The central thesis of this book is this: Jesus has only one church in any geographical location.  What we call “churches” today are essentially overgrown house-churches.  Pastors of churches in a city are really just the eldership of the church in that city.  From God’s perspective, there is only one church in any given place.  For that reason, those pastors who are really the “city-wide elders” should, at the very least, be meeting together for prayer. 

David found himself persuaded by this vision of Church.  His experience at the prayer summit was undergirded by his theological understanding of what the Church actually is—the Church is the people of God, and it should be divided by geography, not by denominations.

Over the next several years, he worked on inviting pastors from Rhode Island to the Summit, praying that together they could catch the vision of a united church advancing God’s Kingdom together in Rhode Island. 

The Rhode Island Prayer Summits: 2004-Present

In 2003, David’s passion for drawing Rhode Islanders to the New England Summit took on a new dimension: what if the Summit model could be more localized and be duplicated specifically for Rhode Island pastors?  He and others were gripped by this vision.  At the Summit in 2003, he and fellow RI pastor John Gibson shared with the entire group their burden to have a group focused on the RI area.  With the blessing of those at the Summit, John and David began writing letters: the RI Pastor’s Prayer Summit was born in 2004 with 32 pastors attending. 

A servant leadership team was formed to plan the Summit as well as 2 or 3 follow up events during the rest of the year.  Many people would come to the follow-up prayer breakfasts that had not come to the Summit.  Since 2004, 65 different pastors have attended at least one of the gatherings including a strong committed core. 

Changing Summit Dynamics

At first, the focus of the RI Summits was on getting to know one another and soaking in God’s presence.  Early Summits were punctuated by cathartic moments of repentance and deep, personal sharing.  As the Summits matured, the deep sharing has moved to smaller groups and there has been a greater focus on intercession for the state of Rhode Island.  As pastors were renewed and became spiritually healthy, they began to ask “what is God telling us that we should be doing together to advance his kingdom?”

The Genesis of Love RI: 2010

 “We’ve deliberately avoided any temptation to hatch plans…we’ve just waited on God.  The Love RI focus…emerged out of the Prayer Summit organically—it just came to us.”—David Gadoury

Enter “Love Rhode Island”.  Love RI is a missional partnership among RI churches.  Their catch-phrase is “Prayer, Care, Share”.  Love RI partners are committed to “praying for people in need of Jesus, Caring for people and communities in practical ways with love and justice, and Sharing the good news of Jesus lovingly and compellingly.”  So far this partnership includes about 30 RI churches.  Love RI is associated with the “Mission America Coalition”. It’s a way for the Body of Christ in Rhode Island to be united in mission.

In February of 2010, about 70 pastors were presented with the idea of forming the Love RI partnership.  Pastors were given 6 weeks to decide.  On the last Sunday in March, 30 churches decided they wanted to be involved.  Initially, the plan was to start with prayer, then move to a pulpit exchange in June with a city outreach in the fall.  However, before the initial April meeting could happen, the heavens were opened and much of the state was flooded!  Samaritans Purse, a Christian aid organization, wanted to come up and serve.

 

Seizing the Moment

In the first Love RI meeting, an official partnership with Samaritans Purse was formed on the spot— within one week’s time 385 volunteers from 15 churches were at work mudding out houses.  15 or 20 people from different churches would show up at a work-site.  The volunteers didn’t know one another, but would quickly get acquainted through partnering in the work.  Often, there was an opening to pray for people in their homes.

Since then, there has been a pulpit exchange as well as a one-day festival in October, once again, with several hundred volunteers serving the community. 

Outlook for the Future: “Together over time”

David and others involved in the Prayer Summits and Love Rhode Island are motivated by a hope that the Church in RI can be united in prayer and in mission.  However, they are quick to acknowledge that there is a long way to go: “We recognize that this is a long and up-hill climb…we’re taking it one step at a time and feeling our way along.  This is not about events, but about developing a different way of doing ministry and service together over time.  It’s not an organization, it’s a movement and will not go anywhere apart from the leading of the Holy Spirit.”

From an interview with David Gadoury—By Jonathan Friz

David Gadoury is the Pastor of Cranston Christian Fellowship in Cranston, RI.  He has been one of the leaders in the RI Pastor’s Prayer Summit and Love RI movements that are working to build friendship and partnership in the Church in Rhode Island.