Programs Set For Michigan KEZ

The South West Michigan Kingdom Enterprise Zone (KEZ) is seeing people come forward wanting to donate profits of their businesses to go directly into funding the Zone’s programs.

Business people have stepped forward and said, “I want to use my life to be a good steward for the church.”

Some are even looking to form entirely new companies to help fund the Zone’s programs. This project is known as Kingdom Builders.

The South West Mich. KEZ is part of the Church Multiplication Initiative (CMI),  a joint program between the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) and the Reformed Church in America (RCA) for planting, growing and sustaining churches in and between the denominations.

The CMI has established  these Kingdom Enterprise Zones as areas in which the program focuses its efforts.

Comprised of six CRC and six RCA churches, the South West Mich. KEZ has been busy forming integration and connections between the pastors at those churches.

On. Oct 1, the South West Mich. KEZ will transition from being an apprentice KEZ,  meaning that it had just begun its work, into an active zone in which it will be able to do more to further God’s kingdom and simply put “make a greater difference,” says Daniel Teerman, co-leader of the Zone.

Teerman says leaders in the South West Mich. KEZ are excited about transitioning from an apprentice zone into an active KEZ.

“It shows what we are doing is working. We are meeting or exceeding goals that we have made in the past and now we are ready for the next step,” he says.”

“One of the biggest problems that has faced the KEZ is people being in their own bubble. As a KEZ it was one of their goals to break down these patterns and replace them by forming relationships amongst each other.”

As part of their work, Zone leaders are also looking to do what they are calling a “Legacy Tour” in Israel.

What this means is that the people who are coming forward wanting to give the profits of their businesses to the church are going to go to Israel and walk as disciples in the land of the Bible.

Teerman calls this “walking out the word.” It will be a time where participants can experience God’s word coming to life before their eyes as they walk in the places in which events in the Bible took place.

Besides the Legacy Tour and the Kingdom Builders project, the South West Mich. KEZ is seeking to start another project this fall. This project is known as the Luminex Collaboration.

The Luminex Collaboration consists of a group of churches in the same geographical area coming together and meeting four times a year for a 24-hour duration.

At these meetings they will be exploring what it means to be a parent church, assess where they are and look at making it clear on how to be a parent church.

On top of this they will receive training and plan strategies for starting and strengthening churches. For more information regarding Luminex please click here to be directed to the Luminex website.

Moving forward, the soon-to-be active KEZ is working at improving their KEZ through the four E’s (Evaluating, Equipping, Empowering, and Expanding).  

For Evaluating the KEZ is working at using the systems that have been set in place to evaluate both church leaders and planters.

For the equipping aspect, the KEZ will be working to launch a regional training center in January.

The KEZ is focusing on empowering by training coaches. They have a coach training event that will be taking place this week.

Finally, they will be expanding through calling people in the congregation out.

“We are seeking people out who are willing and ready to serve in the church,” says Teerman.

On top of this the KEZ is also working at planting churches. One of which is Oasis at Western Michigan University (WMU). It has recently started up and will start having services after the 1st of the New Year.