Summits

**Small-town/rural New England pastors, lay leaders, and Christian workers, here’s an initiative designed for you, located close to you, and meant to learn from you.**

Our Summits gather pastors, laypeople, and ministry leaders within a State or region. We learn from one another as we pray and plan for gospel advance. Talks and breakout sessions from small-town/rural New England pastors and ministry leaders spur our thinking. Generous time for discussion, eating together, fellowship, and prayer allow us to encourage one another.

This Year’s Summits

Small Town Summits spring 2026

The good news of the gospel is not simply that Christ’s redeeming work is gloriously accomplished and Christ’s person is gloriously awesome. It’s that his whole person and his entire work are ours through faith. The greatest benefit of what he’s done is that we can bask in who he is – eternally. He is ours forevermore. Throughout 2026, Small Town Summits will gather small-place New England churches, pastors, and laypeople to exult in the person and work of our LordJesus Christ.

In our Spring Summits, we’ll focus on 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 15.1-4, Paul summarizes the saving gospel by saying ‘Christ died for our sins’ and ‘he was raised on the third day.’ At the beginning of the letter, he says ‘I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified’ (2.2). At the end of the letter, he devotes an entire chapter to Christ’s resurrection, concluding, ‘Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain’ (15.58). 1 Corinthians shows that the cross and resurrection are the focus and fuel of gospel ministry. They give us something glorious to proclaim and the indomitable resolve to proclaim it.

We hope you’ll save the date and make plans to join us for a summit this year!

Click on your state below for more information and to register:

Past Summits

Called to Counsel

Small Town Summits 2025

This year Small Town Summits and the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation of New England (CCEF-NE) will partner to host six Summits, one in each of the New England states. These summits will be built on the conviction that every Christian is called and equipped by God to speak grace-giving words to those around us (Ephesians 4:29), and that God uses these words to protect us from sin (Hebrews 3:13) and to stir up good deeds (Hebrews 10:24). This is very good news for small-town New England churches, where professional counseling centers may be geographically distant and counseling resources limited.

One of the tasks of small-town ministers is to learn how to more effectively counsel others, and to encourage and equip our congregations to grow in offering wise counsel. In each of our six 2025 Summits, speakers will include small-town New England pastors who care deeply about counseling, together with Andy Engert, a skilled biblical counselor and the Executive Director of CCEF-NE. Our plenary sessions will highlight the importance of God’s Word and Christ’s church for personal transformation in the life of believers, together with a call (and practical equipping) for each believer, including pastors/elders, to grow in our ability to offer wise biblical counsel. Breakout sessions, and also a plenary panel discussion, will provide opportunities to get practical, go deep, and explore through questioning.

In 2025 we hosted one summit in each New England state.

Get a sense of who we are by seeing where we’ve been. We’re grateful for those who gather with us to consider what God is doing in the small places of New England and how we can together labor for the advance of the Kingdom in this part of the world. Celebrate with us our past Small Town Summits.

*Our Extraordinary Christ**: Expositions of Hebrews*

Small Town Summits 2024

Small-town New England churches and pastors are used to feeling ordinary – and that’s because we are. We stumble, struggle, and sin. We get discouraged. We’re often weak, weary, and uncertain. What we most need is not someone to tell us we’re impressive. We need a truly impressive Someone. We need to be reminded of our extraordinary Christ.

From the very first lines of the book of Hebrews, Jesus is declared superior to every created being. And Jesus’ greatness is meant not just to be marveled at, but to motivate us to persevering love and obedience. In our 2024 Small Town Summits, we explored the riches of the book of Hebrews in order to revel in the incomparable greatness of Jesus as our God, our brother, and our high priest. We saw that the supremacy of Christ is rocket fuel for a joyfully tenacious life and ministry. The small places of New England desperately need pastors, laypeople and churches who don’t flame out, but who doggedly and delightedly go on. The small places need people who care more about the fame of Jesus than their own. The greatness of Jesus will propel us forward and be our all-satisfying prize when our race is complete.

In 2024 we hosted one summit in each New England state.

Small-town/rural New England pastors, lay leaders, and Christian workers, here’s an initiative designed for you, located close to you, and meant to learn from you.