Last fall, two celebratory gatherings were held in Mumbai and Chennai, India, to recognize the work that has been accomplished by individuals in our global partner church networks. In addition to attending these gatherings, Michael Vos and James Riley also traveled to Pune to provide apostolic support and vision to these leaders of churches and church networks as they shape their lives around the biblical principles they have learned and what it means for the next steps in their ministries.
Along on this trip was Michael Kettwich, a third-generation leader from Family Bible Church in Mendon, Michigan. (We recognize the third generation as those born between 1990 and 2015.) Michael was 19 years old when he first came to a BILD Summit 11 years ago. Since then, he has been faithfully committed to ordering his life around serving God and his church in Mendon.
This trip was a first-time experience abroad for Michael and was an opportunity for him to visit many of the global partners he had previously met at BILD’s annual Global Summit. Michael has taken time to reflect on his experience in India: the time visiting our partners’ churches and families, celebrating their achievements, and gaining a better understanding of BILD’s apostolic team and the vision cast for building global networks of churches that follow the New Testament pattern.
Michael said, “This trip has a personal emotion–‘God is so cool’--meaning to it.” When he was first introduced to the way of Christ and His Apostles 11 years ago, he knew then he wanted to play a part in networking and partnering with global church leaders and their churches. To come full circle has brought about a gamut of emotions, but mainly excitement and energy.
“I decided at that [first] Summit that this would be my life’s work: that I would work to master the scriptures as was modeled to me. That I would have planting and establishing churches be at the forefront of my mind. That I want to spend my whole life helping people grasp the way of Christ and His Apostles, and I specifically wanted to help leaders,” he said. “I didn’t know the roles or extent of how any of that would play out, but I desired it. So to sit here 11 years later and to participate in the field of India and the BILD team is just a testament to how cool God is and how He webs things together.”
While two different celebrations were held in Mumbai and Chennai to recognize the 431 leaders who received certificates for growth and progress in multiple pathways, Michael also visited partner churches, which was eye-opening in many regards. While a translator was still needed, Michael said they were speaking a common language around the biblical principles. “It was supernatural because we’ve also rooted ourselves in this, and this is how Christ designed us as people and families, and you can see it and recognize it,” he said. “Just watching them root those principles in their lives wasn’t just a Sunday thing or an academic thing; it’s changing their lives.”
Michael loved traveling with Michael Vos and James Riley and watching how they work together and how their gift sets complement each other. “That was the most energizing, exciting part,” Michael said. “They constantly have the big picture in mind where they strategize with network leaders about an entire civilization plan for how to establish more believers and how to plant more churches. And then they zoom in to look at an individual church, and then zoom back out and look at how that church could become a network.”
Michael’s trip is a representation of looking at the bigger and smaller pictures as it relates to the larger, global church network and his church in Mendon. The local church must have a global perspective, and Michael’s trip helps bring that perspective into focus.
When he prepared for this trip, his church family asked him, “Why are you going?” As Michael reflected on the weight of that question, he knew it was important for him to own what his role and purpose is. Michael has spiritual gift mixes that are recognized by his church, and he said the trip was a good opportunity for him to spend time practicing, evaluating and testing those giftings, as well as uncovering other gifts that may not have been recognized yet.
The trip also symbolized a stage of growth and partnership in his personal church family. He said because of the work and effort of the Mendon church, they have been able to come alongside the Ames-Des Moines CityChurch network and BILD to participate in the expansion of the gospel.
“Our church is just on the cusp of truly starting to participate in the large church network and global work,” he said. “I was just an ambassador of what Christ has done through my church, and then in return I get to be an ambassador of what Christ did across India back to my local family of families.”
Having a global perspective from the local church is also paramount because Michael sees the importance of his generation and those younger to be able to grasp the work and order their lives around it.
“It’s beneficial for the third generation to have vision trips such as this to understand the magnitude of Christ’s Church, but also to recognize that His plan at the simplest levels of the local church is the foundation,” he said. “We must master the first principles of faith and order our lives around it. The work of our local church drastically affects and is pivotal to what Christ is doing around the globe. And this goes hand-in-hand with the work done at the global level and how it affects and is pivotal to the local church.”
This trip has solidified the vision which Michael has been committing the last 11 years of his life to and has deepened his desire to participate in the global work from the local level. He will continue to search for ways in which he can help our partners in India and elsewhere, and he desires to see others look to create opportunities as well.
“All of this is church, and I’m devoted to doing this for my entire life,” he said. “But not just me striving for this, but that I must commit to bringing my peers and the next generations with me. It's equipping the saints for the work, not just equipping a leader for the work. It’s not just my work; it’s our work. All of us are tied to it.”