Media Monday was my initial thought but i don’t really want to be locked into Monday so the title of these posts will be media TODAY! The idea is to do a little review / give some thoughts on some media i run across that pertains to community planting. Probably LOTS of youtube video or other church media. 

My goal is to put up a media today post once a week to join in and further cultivate the conversation that we are having and other people are having on ministry, specifically planting ministries. 

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Our 1.0 post is an interview i listened to yesterday. The interview is by Cameron Strang of Relevant, he is interviewing Rob Bell of Mars Hill Bible Church. 

Bell says some pretty significant things about church ministry and leadership that i thought were pretty good. But Bell always says good stuff. 

They talk a lot about his most recent book, Jesus wants to save Christians. I haven’t actually read it yet. I’m slowing working through it. But i have listened to a bunch of messages that give content to the book. Solid stuff for sure! 

enjoy the interview :: here’s the link :: Rob Bell interview

Relevant has this new-er branch of what they do, i am sure i will be discusing some of there content here on our media today posts. You can check it out for yourself :: www.neueministry.com

And if you check it out fast! you can watch the newest Rob Bell Nooma film in it’s entirety. 

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A final P.S. Most of these post will have more context and / or conversation specifically about community planting. This was 1.0 and i had listened to this interview yesterday. I didn’t take note or anything so i just posted some general info. Next time be ready for some serious convo! Got it! 

Be peace

After a long delay, I thought it would be good to start walking through the nine themes covered in “Emerging Churches” by Gibbs and Bolger.  The first is “identifying with Jesus,” which seems pretty general and something every church probably claims for themselves.

In the emerging church, identifying with Jesus takes the form of  emphasizing the kingdom of God as the telos of the church.  This changes the direction of the church “from a centripetal (flowing in) to a centrifugal (flowing out) dynamic.  This in turn [leads] to a shift in emphasis from attacting crowds to equipping, dispersing, and multiplying Christ followers as a central function of the church (50-51).”  The point of church is not to get as many people as possible to come to a worship service on Sunday morning.  Rather, the point of church is to participate in the kingdom of God by focusing on discipleship or following Jesus.

In my opinion, a gift of the house church is the fact that it is not dependent on the number of people who show up on a given Sunday.  Since it is a small group that is not recognized as a formal institution, it will only be recognized by the ways that the group flows out into their local and global communities.

Emphasizing the kingdom of God as the telos of the church moves away from an understanding of the gospel as simply a matter of personal salvation.  Yes, personal salvation is certainly a part of the gospel, but it is not the whole story.  Many churches I am familiar with see as their mission to get as many people as possible “saved.”  The gospel is good news for individual sinners.  Emerging churches tend to see the gospel as God reconciling, restoring and redeeming the entire world.  The gospel is good news for the entire world  Therefore, the mission of the church is not just about saving individuals, but about participating with God in God’s work of reconciliation, restoration and redemption.

To summarize, for the emerging church, identifying with Jesus means moving the church outward instead of expecting movement inward, and seeing salvation as the kingdom of God, which is holistic and not individualistic.

I certainly resonate with this understanding of what it means to follow Jesus.  Do you?

WHEN?

When is this going to happen? When is the right time?

This is a question I have been thinking about a lot lately. Tim Keel in his book Intuitive Leadership (pg.63) talks about kairos time. He just brings up the point that God often stirs these kairos moments in the chaos of our lives.

Kairos being the “right” time. Opposed to Chronos which has more to do with chronological time.

[ funny side note :: the chaplin at my university preached a message on this very thing my freshman year. The bad part was that he decided it was the coolest idea ever and totally over played it. The kairos time became a huge joke the rest of my five years in college. But looking back on it, it really was a great message. Kudos to Bill Bray and shame on all of us for giving him such a hard time. ]

But yea, I am looking for that kairos momemnt to go forward with this whole community planting thing. But how do you ya know? My fear is that this is usually an unanswerable question. NOW is never the right time, the convenient time, or the easy time. Is it? That’s why I am looking for that kairos moment, I need that kairos moment. But I also need Jesus to open my mind, my heart, and my eyes to see it!

In my head I am wanting something to form organically. I want it to fall into my lap. I’m just not sure that always happens, at least not the way we expect it to.

SO, when is the “right“ time?

My question I have for you…
// How did you know it was the “right” time?
    (especially if you have planted a church PLEASE answer that question.)
// How did your story lead up to it being the “right” time?

DO SHARE!

Waiting for the “right” time
Erik

Dave Ferguson shot out a twitter today informing his “followers” that the planting channel is broadcasting live from the Urban Church Planting Conference. 1. i didn’t know about the Planting Channel  2. i didn’t know about the Urban Church Planting Conference. I don’t really have time right now to check it out but they both sound very cool! If i have time to check it out i will post more about it but for now here are the links. 

Planting Channel .com

Info about the Urban Church Planting Conference

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PS :: Just to inform ANYONE who might actually read this thing, i just moved to Nashville and am getting settled in! The plans are to seriously getting rolling with this blog ASAP! 

Peace
Erik

I just finished reading Emerging Churches by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan K. Bolger. This book is basically a compilation of research as the authors collected and organized trends that they discovered through their investigation of a particular type of church communities they describe as emergent.

I hesitate to say that the house church I am involved in should be considered “emergent,” mainly because I do not think slapping labels on communities is very helpful.  Each community has a story and a complex set of reasons as to how it came about and why it is doing the things it is doing.

However, it is possible to notice common trends and I did resonate with a lot of what Gibbs and Bolger identified through their research.  Therefore, I thought it might be helpful to state the trends and talk about them in the context of the house church.  I thought I would list the practices below and then reflect on them in individual blog posts.

The 9 practices or trends are:

1. Indentifying with the life of Jesus

2. Transforming secular space

3. Commitment to community as a way of life

4. Welcoming the stranger

5. Serving with genorousity

6. Participating as producers

7. Creating as created beings

8. Leading as a body

9. Taking part in spiritual activities

More to come….

Todd

It seems that ever since I can remember, I have heard people say “the church is not a building, the church is the people.”  While I agree with that, I wonder how many people actually believe this.  For American Protestants who have lived in the 20th century, there really has only been one model of church: church is a place where you go on Sundays with other people.  Also, that gathering must have a few basic components, at the very least some music and a sermon.

Lately I have been thinking through this idea of church and have been trying to come to some conclusion about what identifies a church.  When I have told people about the house church, I have been frustrated that many have asked me if me and my wife “still go to a church,” as if the house church is missing something normally found in a regular Protestant church.

So, what is needed to consider a community a church?  What is it that sets a church apart from a book club or a social justice group or a country club?  Is the worship of the living God?  If so, how do you define that worship?

What are the essential elements of a church?

So how do you pick your where? How do you pick your spot to plant a community?

I think I am made it clear that I think the where is really important but how do you figure out WHERE you want to land and plant? I think that’s a good question.

I also think this is a hard question. Initially (this was a couple years ago) as Todd and I talked about planting a community together Todd was pretty sold on Illinois and there were a lot of good reason for that. It was our home for 18+ years and to give back to that place, to the people who have been a community of Christ to us sounded like a good idea. I think putting your hometown or area into the mix of where is a good idea. But not the only idea. And obviously Todd hasn’t ended up in IL just yet.

And a brief disclaimer is this :: I am not forgetting about the God factor. I believe that God could miraculously direct, I HOPE HE DOES! I could pin a map to the wall, close my eye and play pin the tale on the right place BUT I think until God does speak miraculously the intelligent, planned, intellectual approach is wise.
So far that’s my approach when thinking about this. Trusting that when it’s time God will speak clearly and / or give a solid assurance.

So here are a few more questions I think will help me figure out my where.

Where is there a need?
Where is there a desire?
Where is there openness?
Where is there opportunity?
Where is there a team?
Where is there resources?

These all seem to be good question…

(this according to http://www.citymayors.com/gratis/uscities_growth.html )

Another report give these as the 10 fastest growing cities ::
#1. New Orleans, LA #2. Victorville, CA #3. McKinney, TX #4. N. Las Vegas #5. Cary, NC #6 Killeen Texas #7 Port St. Lucie, FL #8. Gilbert, AZ #9. Clarksville, TN #10 Denton, TX
(This according to an article on CNN.com)

Another source lists these as the top 10 fastest growing cities.

I give you these lists of the fastest growing cities (you can also check out the 100 largest cities here) because I think population growth and in some instances size in general is a good indicator of opportunity and of a developing community. And personally i am much more drawn to a larger city with urban potential. So I pay attention to these kinds of things.

FIND YOUR SPOT [dot] COM
I also filled out this little survey. It’s kinda interesting, you fill out a list of questions and they give you the top 10 cities that would fit you (according to your answers.)

My List

I filled out this survey another time and after filling it out the second time i found my first results… they were different?

FIRST RESULTS :: #1. Knoxville, TN  #2. Cincinnati, OH  #3. Nashville, TN  #4. Oklahoma City, OK  #5. Little Rock, AK

Most of the top 10 were the same just mixed up a bit. 
But these are my results. Hmmm… 

So these are all just some of the things I am thinking about as I trying to decipher my where.

What are some other means of figure out this very important question?
If you are a church planter, how did you figure out your where? We would love to know!

Looking for those wide open fields
Erik

1.0 // The where of community planting // Republished
(the first time i put this post up it was a bit sloppy, maybe it still is but here goes)

To start this part of the conversation I want to say that I think this is really the central question in this series of “who, what, where, when, why” issues. I have been thinking about it and it seems that the where will really help to define a lot of the rest of these issues.

And when I think about ministry in general I really think that the where is an issue we don’t embrace enough and I think often our ministries suffer because of this.

Seriously, how many ministries do you know of that try and take stuff from “there” and implement it “here”? How many ministries try and take some mega-church method and make it work in their church? The answer is TONS! But WAY to often this kinda deal doesn’t take into account the context at all, it doesn’t even think about the where of ministry.

Every “where”, every context has a particular people, a particular culture, a particular that needs to be embraced in order to do constructive, Jesus following ministry. If you really think about it Jesus and his ministry TOTALLY embraced the where in order to do the rest of the ministry he did. Jesus completley knew the culture, he knew the people and their religious situation… he knew his context (his “where”) extremely well.

I remember living in Alabama. It was a totally different culture and kid than where I had been, Chicago. I wanna think I did some valuable ministry there but I am positive that if I would have embrace my where to a greater extent my ministry would have flourished in an analogous way.

Is it fair to say context is everything?

I’m not really sure about that but it does seem to make sense to me that context, the where of ministry would shape much of what you do as a minister.

I have some ideas about this but before I share them I’m gonna toss this post up for a day or so and see what you all think.

So what do you think about the where? Am I making to big a deal about this or am I on to something.

How important is the “where”, really?

Sorry for the delay in this next “Who,what, where, when & why” // Community Planting post. The delay happened for a couple reason, #1. I’m kinda depressed #2. Life is just wild #3. ministry is super slow, and #4. money is even slower.

I’m trying to figure out what God is getting me ready for but I’m just not sure yet, not even close. Maybe he is speeding up the gears in the Community Planting machine (I realize the contradiction in metaphors there, I like it).

SO anyway, my goal is to post on here once or twice a week. And then hopefully Todd will post on here once a week or so as well. We are working our way up to full steam I suppose.

You interaction / conversation will motivate us for sure!

Shalom
Erik

I think that the importance of momentum should not be undervalued.  I love playing/watching sports, and anyone who plays/watches sports understands that momentum is a huge thing.  I think that momentum is also a big deal for institutions and communities.

In communities of faith, another way to describe momentum is the moving/blowing/working of the Holy Spirit.  I believe that the energy and vibrancy from the Spirit of God is absolutely crucial for a community of faith.  You can usually tell within five minutes of visiting a community of faith whether or not the particular community has this momentum.  Sometimes you walk into churches and the place just feels dead, other places are alive with energy.

I am thrilled to report that the house church I am a part of experienced this momentum the last time we gathered.  At our last gathering, we had just under 30 people crammed into the small living room/dining room area of our house.  We had a guest that evening - the leader/organizer of the “Religious Coalition for a Non-Violent Durham.”  She is a friend of mine and she came to share about some ministries that her organization is doing in Durham.  Those minitries include prayer vigils for victims of homicide, matching recentely released prisoners with faith teams that will help with the transition, and seminars that teach children creative ways to solve conflict that does not include violence.  Indeed, I have been on a faith team that works with a recently released prisoner, and it has been very transformative for me.

The gathering went really well and everyone seemed to respond in a positive way to my friends presentation on the ministries.  Our little group donated close to $1600 to the organization [a major benefit of the house church is that we have zero expenses, so 100% of our money can go to missional purposes - I will touch on this more later].  We are also talking about starting our own faith team to get matched up with a recently released prisoner.  It was amazing to me to see the breath of God blowing on our group, and I am hopeful that it will lead to positive action and that we can move beyond writing checks to actual involvement in our community.

Do you have any thoughts on this concept of momentum/moving of the Spirit of God?