Tag: Missional
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Keller on Being Salt & Light
Working through the Sermon on the Mount on Sunday mornings, a few weeks ago I preached from Matthew 5.13-16, the Salt & Light passage. What I explained to our congregation is that, after instrucitng us about what our attitude ought to be as citizens of the Kingdom, Jesus goes on to reveal the Influence he…
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Missing the Missional Mark
To read something I disagree with on the Internet is not an unusual thing. When what I disagree with comes from a source that I respect – highly respect – it makes me somewhat uncomfortable. When the source I respect seems to oppose what I hold, well that is just down-right disappointing. But that is the…
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Ambition
I’ve been listening to the audio of sessions from Acts 29 Network’s 2009 Bootcamp: Ambition. While not everyone will find these talks of interest, I think they are challenging and stimulating for those of us in ministry and church leadership. Ministry for the Long Haul & Ambition (Matt Chandler) Decoding Your City & Ambition (Kevin Cawley)…
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Crazy Love
I don’t know Francis Chan, but I think I like him. I know I like what I see so far. A friend, who is also an Elder in our church, introduced me to Chan a few months ago. He had just finished reading Chan’s book, Crazy Love, and said that Chan was teaching the same…
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Characteristics of a Missional Church
As our church begins to explore what it means to be a missional church, it might be helpful to hear the insights of one of the most effective practitioners and proponents of the missional approach to ministry. In the above video Tim Keller, of Redeemer Church in Manhattan, explains some of the key characteristics of…
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Gospel in Context
The gospel is always conveyed through the medium of culture. It becomes good news to lost and broken humanity as it is incarnated in the world through God’s sent people, the church. To be faithful to its calling, the church must be contextual, that is, it must be culturally relevant within a specific setting. The…
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Mere Marketing Misses the Mark
This had to be one of the more irritating telemarketing calls I can recall. Some guy cold-called me at my church office yesterday and wanted me to give him a blow-by-blow of our Outreach strategy. He had a service to sell that would “enhance” our attractiveness to the community. To listen to him it sounded like a can’t…
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Cats & Dogs and God’s Global Glory
First among the Core Values at Walnut Hill Church is God’s Global Glory. This is the recognition that we do not exist, as a church or as individuals, primarily for ourselves, but for God and for his glory. Expressing this as a platitude is one thing. Getting newcomers to agree with this premise is something else. And getting people to…
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Faith in America: Not What it Used to Be?
I appreciate the perspective of this editorial from the March 12, 2009 Kingsport Times-News. The editor integrates both history and contemporary polling data. It eschews any alarmist inclinations and refutes any distorted notions that America was a distinctively Christian country upon it’s founding. I think this perspective is helpful. I am especially hopeful that it will help in preventing Christians from mistaking…
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Faucet or Sink?
Trevin Wax suggests that there are two kinds of Christians: Sinks and Faucets. Does that seem a little odd? Well check out Genesis 12.1-3, then see how Trevin describes his view on his blog, Kingdom People. See if you agree, then see which you are…
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Radical Reformission
Long ago I shamelessly pilferred the word “Reformissional” from Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church and Acts 29 Network. The word seemed to encapsulate what I was about. The word is a hybrid of both Reformed and Missional, two parallel tracks that both decribe and shape my philosophy of ministry – and even, to a large degree, my…
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The Times They Are A-Changin’
With proper dues to Bob Dylan, “The times they are a-changin’”. I found that glaringly evident when, earlier this week, someone sent me the following video that was oringianlly presented to a gathering of SONY executives. When I watch this video I find myself wondering about the implications for the church, especially as it relates to our mission…
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Frontline Prayer
Jack Miller, in his book Outgrowing the Ingrown Church, makes a distinction between two types of prayer meetings: Maintenance and Frontline. Miller confesses to having led both kinds in churches he pastored. Here is how Miller describes each: The Maintenance meeting was largely designed to maintain the the existing life and ministry of our congregation. Believers…
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The Supremacy of God in Missions Through Worship
by John Piper Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no…
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Odyssey of Church Outreach
Outreach and evangelism are among the most important responsibilites the Christian has to his/her community. They are also perhaps the most intimidating. A friend of mine, who is not a pastor, took over the the outreach ministry of his church. He was aware at the outset that this ministry was in need of an ovehaul. During the ‘heydays’ in this congregation most…
