When’s the last time you caught yourself railing on some church for its faults? “I’d never consider taking my friends into that environment.” Or, “Wow, they’re the most cutting edge 90’s-style church in the city.” Or maybe it was a broader condemnation: “Most churches talk a lot about Jesus without acting much like Jesus.” These…
Read MoreThis past year I’ve frequented a church that pours incredible energy into all kinds of justice and compassion ministries throughout our city, and even nationally. They strive to give fair representation up-front to diverse voices often not heard in the body of Christ. They send missionaries to serve both locally and in distant lands. Through…
Read MoreIf you’re truly immersing in your local setting, you’re regularly encountering people who’ve decided they’re finished with church (the DONES) or who claim no religious affiliation at all (the NONES). The research tells us these populations are on the rise, perhaps eclipsing the 100 million mark in the US alone. These fellow humans experience shalom…
Read MoreSome years ago, a Work of the People vimeo clip by author Michael Frost caught my eye. In that clip Frost states that the role of the church is “to help you find another way of being human.” I wondered back then if it’s maybe better to say the role of the church is “to help…
Read MoreLike many others, I can’t seem to get enough of Lesslie Newbigin. Ever since reading The Gospel in a Pluralist Society and Foolishness to the Greeks back in the early 90’s, I have an insatiable appetite to revisit his writings over and over again. From a missiological perspective, Newbigin is arguably just as relevant to…
Read MoreMany of us have fed so long and voraciously on concepts and practices related to “missional” that we’ve lost the appetite to dig in much deeper. I often feel stuffed myself. Such a volume of material, and so much of it only recasting in new language and stories the same beaten paths of application. Don’t…
Read MoreNot long ago I participated in a webinar with some pastors and church planters. We were interacting over how existing and newly-forming churches can grow in their engagement with their respective local contexts. About half way through, I realized we were really talking about how to help spiritual communities sustain that outward impulse into culture. As people…
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