» 2008 » May

We all need Yodas in our life. One of mine is Steve Ogne. As a novice coach Steve taught me to listen and let the church planter wrestle with the issue. Back in the nineties cost me $50 an hour in phone calls to the US and worth every cent.

I still do too much telling [...]

There’s some crazy people out there who think that God still loves Europe and wants to reach this prodigal continent. Check out their Concept Papers. And if you’re crazy about Europe get in touch.

Don’t forget to invite Philip Jenkins. He’s crazy about Europe too.

Church Planting

Everywhere we see CPMs we see suffering.This is a quote from a man who has given his life to sparking and fueling indigenous church planting movements (CPMs).

It floored me. Is this the reason they are so rare in the West?

Church Planting Movements

Some more interesting findings from the NCLS study on the effectiveness of church planting. It’s not a new study (2003) but you can assume the trends have continued.

Green represents the size of a denomination relative to others. Blue represents the relative amount of church planting a denomination is undertaking.

So why are the largest denominations either [...]

Turned up this interesting finding from the Australian National Church Life Survey (NCLS).

Church plants are more likely to attract three groups: young people, males and overseas immigrants.

All three groups are under represented in established churches.

“Young” of course is anyone under 50. After that you’re “mature”.

Church PlantingNCLSTrends

I am a product of the best in evangelicalism: converted 32 years ago in a flood of tears after hearing the gospel, discipled by a strong prayer group, taught by great theologians. I know the strength of evangelicalism in bringing people to an intimate relationship with Jesus.

But what happens when you have relied on this [...]

Do you want to become a multiplying church? Don’t copy what the top 25 multiplying churches DO.

Copy what they VALUE.
Reaching unchurched people. They are driven by a belief that God has sent them as a missionary to their community, state and world.

Staff and membership involvement. Both staff and members invest in new planters. They help [...]

Following up on the list of top 25 multiplying churches in the US, here a few observations. . .

It helps if you’re not too old

Older churches (pre-1970) did poorly when it came to multiplying. Only one multiplying church in the top 25 was started in the 1920s. Two each from the 50s and 60s. Conclusion? [...]

Don’t tell anyone but I don’t read many other blogs. I like books. Especially case studies on church planting movements.

So that’s my excuse for being 11 months late in telling you about a study on the 25 top multiplying churches in the US. Hopefully they are working on a 2008 list.

Ed Stetzer has published his [...]

Stuart Robinson has stepped down as senior minister at Crossway, our home church. After 25 years he has some other giants to slay.

As a young pioneer missionary Stuart helped spark a church planting movement in Asia that is still going strong. He returned to Australia and built one of the nation’s most significant churches. Now [...]