» 2005 » August

Whenever we run intensives for church planting teams I make sure the people teaching on evangelism are effective practitioners rather than ‘experts’ like me.

One of my favourite couples to bring in is Andy and Jo Bennet.

Back in 1999 Andy was in a CRM leadership network with me while he was wrestling through his call to [...]

Just read an inspiring story of the conversion of the theologian Jürgen Moltmann. It’s subtitled “How a Nazi-soldier-turned-theologian found hope.”

A reminder of the power of the the Gospel to change the human heart. You can read it here.

I’m interested in movements because I just want to keep hearing stories like these.

As I was growing up we had a youth leader by the name of ‘Stewie’. What qualified him to lead was his energetic faith in God, his commitment to us and the fact that he drove a Holden Torana.

Stewie was pretty serious about serving God so off he went to theological college. He was half [...]

I’m working on a series of case studies on movements at different points of the LifeCycle (birth, growth, plateau, decline, death).

Just finished a draft on Francis of Assisi and the birth of a movement. I’d like some feedback before the final edition get published.

You can use the comments section on this post to tell me [...]

“The gospel is like a seed, and you have to sow it. …Now, when missionaries came to our lands they brought not only the seed of the gospel, but their own plant of Christianity, flower pot included!
So, what we have to do is to break the flowerpot, take out the seed of the Gospel, sow [...]

Good question from Tim Jeffries recently about the application of Natural Church Development to a “missional” model of church.

I regard Natural Church Development as the best paradigm and tool around for understanding and assessing church health. Good question about its application to “missional” models of church. NCD assumes “inspiring worship services” are on of the [...]

Just picked up Bob Logan and Neil Cole’s Beyond Church Planting: Pathways for Emerging Churches. Thought it might be a new edition of Logan and Ogne’s classic, the Church Planter’s Toolkit. Instead Bob and Neil have produced a resource pitched at planters in the emerging church stream.

The authors believe authentic kingdom ministry flows out of [...]

If you are privileged to live in Melbourne, Australia and you’re interested in church planting you’ll want to attend the Careforce planting seminar. Careforce is another great flagship church that is planting churches.

The date is Sep 7, 2005. You can download this file with all the details.

Church Planting Seminar 2005-1.doc

Unfortunately I won’t be able to [...]

The breakthroughs in the renewal and expansion of the Church have always begun on the fringe. The spark and the fuel for the fire is a powerful encounter with God constructively channeled into renewal and mission.

Movements cannot be manufactured or controlled. Those most open to empowering spiritual experiences are those who sense their need of [...]

Working my way through the Knowing-Doing Gap. Came across this helpful checklist on how to tell when you are substituting talk for action.

You’re likely to find talk substituting for action when

When talk substitutes for actions when
No follow-up is done to ensure that what was said is actually donePeople forget that merely making a decsion doesn’t [...]