From planting the seeds to watching them grow, let's discuss church multiplication.
Resonate
Jim
Alejandro
Joel 
Ramon 
When I talk to Lori, I sense some faith. She’s a spiritual person. However, she doesn’t belong to a local church. We all know such people. And as far as we know, they’ve not received the gospel. So, how are we supposed to reach them?
How are you teaching the people in your congregation to tell the gospel story? What story are they telling?
Every church planter has a story and mine started in 2004. God used family relationships to open doors for us in New York and to teach us much about the culture and context from the very beginning.
Two trends are emerging in North America: the call for people to be self feeders and the move away from the church on the part of "mature" beleivers
Connecting the Bible and Culture is one of the challenges church planters and all pastors face. One great place to make the connection is music.
“The ‘As You Are Initiative’ is mobilizing thousands of willing Christ-followers just like you to start, growing and multiplying ‘come as you are’ leaders to lead ‘come as you are' churches. Is the CRC ready to be part of such a movement?
My sense is that we live in a "no" culture. We find all kinds of ways to either say "no" or to slow a process down so much that it feels like a "no."
What was it like being a parent who celebrated having a child whose stomach was full?
The attendance and membership of some CRC churches grew by more than 20% in a recent five year period. But, if we dig a little bit deeper into the statistics, maybe we’ll find that we’re missing something important.
The conversations with these small, yet growing, church pastors offer us some reassurance and some challenges for us as a denomination.
Today’s entry continues with the factors that led to growth in CRC and RCA churches.The church was at a point where it was ready to take risks and to make changes.
Though this five-year span has not been easy in North America, with the downturn of the economy directly affecting our churches and their members, there were 42 CRC churches and over 30 RCA churches who showed significant growth.
More Books for under the Tree . Perhaps it is an occupational hazard of being a minister, but around this time of year a lot of family and friends decide to give books as the perfect Christmas present. In the spirit of that giving and perhaps to enhance your asking here are seven more books that I’ve found helpful from a number of different genres.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…which at my house means, “What books are doing to show up under the Christmas tree?” Perhaps it is an occupational hazard of being a minister, but
Premise: the vast majority of our church planting resources need to be invested in planting churches in Alpha Cities. If this premise is true then we need a way in the CRC to come together and discern how to create a church planting movement that focuses on Alpha Cities.
...new wine is the sign of the eschatological age.
What did it feel like? It felt like being hungry, I suppose, in a place where being hungry is shameful, and where one has no money and everyone else is full. It felt, at least sometimes, difficult and embarrassing and important to conceal.
Advertising encourages people to want things and to satisfy their desires. Education encourages people to reflect critically on their desires, to restrain or to elevate them.
In the face of changing demographics in America, many African Americans find themselves becoming a minority-minority, or shrinking minority. For instance, in the west where I live, Asian and Latino populations are increasing dramatically as a result of immigration and soaring birth rates. The U.S. black population has shrunk from about 17% to 12% as we enter the second decade of the third millennium. The white population has shrunk to 72% while the Latino/Hispanic population has risen to over 16%.
African American theology had its earliest roots in an experience of pain and suffering. Mourning freedom and agonizing over loss of identity and opportunity were a huge part of the Southern African American experience. But, with civil rights and a more socially engaged African American population in the North and the West, black theology has evolved into more of a need for empowerment and survival.
Here are some factoids about African American churches and church plants.
One African American Church planter in Atlanta has an interesting expansion strategy for church planting in African American communities. He envisions planting “bubble churches” in well educated and well resourced corners of the community and then hiving off need based churches that are highly subsidized by the parent church in order to create a sustainable church planting movement.
As of 2013, no one could simply say, “I am going to plant an African American church” with the implied presumption that one size fits all. The dream of freedom, employment, opportunities, education and mobility has created many strong sub cultures within the overall African American community.
As I study the book of Luke there are continuing moments of surprise. Some of the surprises come from words that I have read many times before, but failed to catch their meaning or nuance.