» 2006 » May

If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing [...]

At the Gourmet Girl yesterday for sandwiches and coffee with Peter.

Peter is planting a church in inner Melbourne and he’s out of control. People coming to know Christ. Groups starting up. He’s growing some leaders. Plenty of life. All this on two days a week while he’s a teacher the other three.

That’s not quite true. [...]

One thing the Southern Baptists have in common with the Pentecostals is they love to plant churches.

A few years ago Ed Stetzer surveyed 600 Southern Baptist church planters and corelated their growth over four years with their answers.

His study hasn’t become a best seller despite it’s catchy title: An Analysis of the Church Planting Process [...]

May 16
1981-2006

The Australian newspaper is upbeat about Australians’ growing interest in Christianity: The rebirth of Christ: Religious revival reflects humanity’s quest for meaning
500,000 young Catholics will converge on Sydney in 2008 for the World Youth Day.About 4.5 million – or almost one in four – Australians attended Easter services this year.Catholic church membership is up, Anglican [...]

Most Powerpoint presentations are awful. Slide after slide of bullet points that the presenter reads one by one. Let’s take a stand against the dominance of the bullet point!

Try this: turn off the data projector and just talk. Even better tell stories. Hey it worked for Jesus. If you must use technology make sure you’re [...]

I knew it—it is the Church planters fault. That’s an easy out. Just blame it on the Church planter. While he may often be at fault, it seems this list puts all the blame on the planter.

Something I vaguely remember in the Bible about GOD giving the increase.

Bruce

Bruce got me thinking. Eventually I concluded it [...]

We couldn’t have had the Reformation without:

1) the message of Martin Luther; and
2) the printing press of Johannes Gutenberg.

Indulging in print

On a similar wavelength, some more great insights from OnMovments on Movements and Materials.

Dynamic movements use adaptive methods to spread the heart of their message like a virus.

Solid core. Pliable exterior.

Dying movements lock in their [...]

Six books on the Sociology of movements.

Caveat emptor—only for nerds. (If you know what caveat emptor means you may be one of us).

“People, power, change;: Movements of social transformation” (Luther P Gerlach)

“Why Conservative Churches Are Growing: A Study in Sociology of Religion With a New Preface for the Rose Edition (Rose Series)” (Dean M. Kelley)

“The [...]

Previously we gave you the bad news on why Vineyard church plants failed according to Todd Hunter. Now here’s the good news.

The most common characteristics of successful Vineyard church planters:
They were hard workers.The church did not suffer from ethnicitis (A terminal disease caused by inability to adapt to a changing community. Result: the church does [...]