Church Planting Archives - Page 3 of 6

Have We Really ‘Forgotten’ How to Do Church?

By Troy

As a Theology major at Whitworth, I’ve had the privilege of reading a wide variety of Christian literature. I’ve read through the Bible, numerous early Christian primary sources, biblical commentaries, etc. One consequence of my extensive reading is the tendency to become a literary critic. For me, the older the book, the more weight and authority it carries (this is a generalization). After reading Ignatius, Clement or Irenaeus, it’s easy to see how these works have survived the centuries. But I tend to read contemporary authors more critically. In other words, they haven’t stood the test of time yet.

In class, we are reading Forgotten Ways (2006) by Alan Hirsch. After slogging through the book, I was left disappointed by the wordiness and ‘fluff’ of Hirsch’s writing (and the excessive use of charts!). Although Hirsch does offer some valuable insight for contemporary church leaders, I found the book characteristic of ‘emergent church’ literature. Forgotten Ways is full of emergent buzz words such as missional, organic, fluidity, ‘authentic Jesus movement’ that appear to be cutting-edge. At least to me, these words are nebulous and vague. After more than two hundred pages, it’s still not clear to me what mDNA and the Apostolic Genius are! I felt the book was just another attempt to formulate a ‘successful’ 21^st century church.

Hirsch confidently asserts: “the Apostolic Genius lies dormant in you, me, and every local church that seeks to follow Jesus faithfully in any time. We have quite simply forgotten how to access and trigger it” (22). This seems to suggest thatwe possess the keys to unlocking the Apostolic Genius; and when/if we find it, the Church will flourish. There is little mention of the working of the Holy Spirit or God as Lord of the Church. And have we really forgotten how to do church? I agree that the church-growth and attractional-church models aren’t healthy, but the church has managed to survive two thousand years. There is no magic model to success, as “unlocking the Apostolic Genius” suggests.

I agree that mission is a critical aspect to the Church, but I also affirm the importance of true worship and diligent study of Scripture. Mission is not superior, but rather goes hand-in-hand with worship, theology, liturgy, and sacrament.

Like other contemporary ‘emergent’ authors, Hirsch is simply offering a new model for “doing church.” New
styles of doing church come and go like many other fads and trends. Well we have not ‘forgotten’ how to do church, Hirsch does offer excellent insights, provoking critiques, and challenging applications. But in my opinion, Hirsch is neither a diligent biblical exegete nor a careful historian. Hirsch is no Irenaeus, but we can add his opinion (with grace) to the Christian melting pot as we progress towards renewed expressions of the Church.

A new perspective of the Lilac City

By Troy

There was a philosophy that I heard stated in different ways when I was in youth ministry and every time I heard it, it always drove me a little crazy. That philosophy was something along the lines of “if you can win the quarterback, you will win the school.” And whether stated or unstated, it was the basis of most of the youth ministries I observed. Tons of energy was poured into reaching the cool kids.

via theycallmepastorbryan.com read more

Planting Churches Worldwide – from CA’s Connections E-newsletter

The following is from an entry from me in Christian Associates Connections e-newsletter. If you would like to get these monthly updates, you can type your email in at the bottom of the CA site.

This last March I delivered one of the plenary session messages at CA’s Summit in Spain. I made a couple of statements that may have come off as a bit confusing. One thing I said with a bit of bravado is that I don’t want to plant churches. Now, that comes off a bit peculiar, since I lead a church planting organization. That is what CA does – we plant churches. What I mean when I say that I don’t want to plant churches must, however, be qualified. What I really mean is that I don’t want to plant churches that just do “church.” I see many churches being planted at this time, but many of them are really simply starting worship services. The reality is, we don’t need more worship services. Most churches in most cities have plenty of seats available – right? Read what veteran missionary and theologian Howard Snyder says about this dilemma:
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Church Planting Among the Catalan – my time in Barcelona

A month ago I got the amazing privilege to wander around Barcelona with one of Christian Associates missionary families, Justin and Jenn Powell. I was deeply impressed with how they lived and how they intentionally connected with so many people. While we walked, it was remarkable how many people Justin knew by name. This came about as a result of them taking the time to, what we in our church planting lingo call, “embed” in their context. That simply means for us the first step for every missional church planter is not to plan or start a worship service, but to actually make friends…I know that is an amazing concept, but you’d be surprised if you knew however many people just don’t get the habit of listening and learning the culture they seek to bring the Gospel to. We use the phrase “listen for the joys and laments of a particular context.” Jenn and Justin do get it and it shows.

Here’s a video of their project in Barcelona. You can catch right away that Justin has become a keen student of his city and as a result has fallen in love the Catalan people. read more

Ed Stetzer – The Upstream Collective/Christian Associates/et al at Exponential

Being "Missional" is currently the hot topic of conversation among churches, denominations, and networks everywhere. Most church and network websites have at least a mention of their missional posture, if it is not the central focus. There remains a disconnect, however, between being missional and joining God's global mission, with neither being informed by the other. Many churches appear to actually be choosing between the two, focusing either on justice ministry in their local context or involving themselves in global missionary efforts (you can read a previous post I wrote on the topic here). The question is, how do we fully embrace missional without losing the mission?

via www.edstetzer.com read more

Church Planting in Barcelona

Here is a video from Justin Powell. He is the planter I just visited in Barcelona. Amazing. It will take a couple of minutes, but it would be great if you took a look at it!

Missional Planters in the PDX

I get the pleasure of being a part of Christian Associates’ North American Engage this weekend in Portland, Oregon (Portlandia – You Gotta Watch This!!!). What a pleasure it is to meet and encourage a crew of folks who have set there sights on multiplying missional communities in some of the most amazing cities of the world. We have people interested from Germany, the UK, Norway, and Latin and North America. If you would make a note to remember to pray for them as they get poke and prodded a bit and as they further investigate the next steps for their lives (a weighty proposition, indeed) it would be deeply appreciated!

Thanks!

“Being Missional” in Scotland

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Would You Like to Come Over for Dinner?

Ever since entering this class, I have been wondering what it looks like to do mission. After hearing four pastors talk about what it is like to live missionally in their neighborhoods, I noticed a common thread: hospitality.

After listening to Russ Davis New Community, Ryan Miller Branches, Justin Bryeans Kaleo, and Steve Hart Vintage Faith, I know that I can use hospitality (among other things) to live missionally wherever I may be living in the future. read more

imagining how the church can reorient around mission