About Ekklesia

Ekklesia Lynchburg exists because healthy churches need each other. No single congregation carries the full weight of gospel ministry in a city alone — and pastors and church members alike benefit from stepping outside their own walls to be sharpened by others walking the same road, under the same convictions, toward the same aim.

The conference is hosted by the Fellowship of Cooperative Pastors, a group of local church leaders who have covenanted together around a shared set of doctrinal and ecclesiological convictions. Ekklesia is one expression of that cooperation — a yearly gathering where our churches teach, worship, and fellowship together around the truths we hold in common.

Our Cooperative Convictions

The churches of the Fellowship of Cooperative Pastors are united around six shared convictions:

1. Doctrinally Reformed — We hold to the historic doctrines of grace as expressed in the Reformed tradition.

2. Traditional Complementarian — We affirm the distinct, complementary roles of men and women as designed by God, including in the household and in church leadership and teaching office.

3. Expository Preaching — We are committed to preaching that explains and applies the meaning of a biblical text, rather than using it merely as a launching point.

4. A Plurality of Elders — We believe local churches are called to be led by a team of qualified, biblically-tested men, not a single individual.

5. Meaningful Membership — We believe church membership is a real, accountable commitment — not a passive affiliation — through which believers are cared for and held to the standards of Scripture.

6. Great Commission Focused — We exist to make disciples, locally and to the ends of the earth, and we shape our life together around that mission.

These convictions don't make us identical churches — we differ in secondary matters — but they give us a common foundation sturdy enough to gather around, learn from one another, and labor together for the sake of the gospel in Lynchburg and beyond.