The hybrid approach to church planting
Cultural Context
According to research conducted by Tear Fund, 60 percent of adults in the UK never go to church, 26 percent go once a year, and less than 15 percent attend a church service of some kind once a month. That means at least 86 percent have no meaningful contact with church at all. The statistics are probably higher when you consider that church services attended once a month by 15 percent include everything that would call itself a church service, rather than contact with bible believing gatherings of God’s people.[i]
Britain is typical of much of Western Europe. If our dominant mode of church planting is churches planting churches after their own likeness then we aren’t going to make an impact on the unchurched of Western ...
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Why did God create us with a cycle of rhythm?
1. It teaches us to rest.
2. It teaches us the Gospel.
3. It demonstrates God’s sovereignty.
And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” Genesis 1:14-15
You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5:15
Questions for Reflection:
Am I personally experiencing the Sabbath rest for which God ...
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Posted in: Spiritual Vitality, Emotional Health
Tags: rhythm, rest, sabbath, why take a sabbath, can pastors sabbath, pastoral burnout, burnout, tired pastor, exhaustion, overworked, ministry, recovery, church planter, church planting, pastoring, pastoral
Tyler Jones is Regional Director of the East Coast for Acts 29, and planter of Vintage21 Church in Raleigh, NC. He spoke on balance for the church planter at the Orlando boot camp in February – and we just posted the audio. The following is adapted from the beginning of his talk.
Got balance?
Our culture is permeated with the concept of ‘balance.’ I don’t think I’ve ever experienced this balance. Not in college, not when I got married, and not since I planted eight years ago. Everywhere I turn, people pray for balance, we say balance is what we need, and you’re judged if you don’t have balance.
I went to Scripture and started looking for balance, and what I found was Christ saying “pick up your cross and follow me,” and I’m ...
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Posted in: Leadership, Marriage and Family, Emotional Health
Tags: balance, rhythm, surviving church planting, how to survive church planting, help for church planters, how to balance life as a pastor, how to find balance as a pastor, how to balance life, ministry life balance, ministry life, tyler jones, reverse engineering, rest, hope for tired pastors, tired pastor, exhaustion, rest, pastor, church planter, how to plant a church
Acts 29's Lead Visionary and Co-Founder, Mark Driscoll, just published "Loving the Pastor's Wife" on The Resurgence today, helping church members and leaders gain perspective on the unique challenges and pressures of a pastor's wife.
How well are you protecting your wife and instructing your congregation in loving and caring for her, especially on Sundays when you are entirely engaged in preaching and pastoral duties?
Driscoll writes:
Many pastors have children. On Sundays, the pastor’s wife is basically a single mother. She gets up early to cook a nice breakfast, chat with her husband, and pray for him before sending him off to preach. She then has to get the kids up and ready, get herself ready, and get the family out the door early enough to not be late to church, because ...
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Bruce Wesley, lead pastor of Clear Creek Community Church in Houston, Texas, spoke on "The Enduring Legacy" of a church planter. He talked about "wells" that church planters need to avoid turning to as well as the rhythms of grace to protect our enjoyment of God.
If your goal is an enduring legacy, ask yourself two questions: Will you last? Will your work last?
As a church planter, your walk with God will happen while Rome is burning and an angry mob is at your door. You will walk with God because you choose every day to act in a way where you can be acted upon by God. If you don’t do this, you will flame out and cave in. In 2 Timothy 2, Paul writes, “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Jesus Christ.” This strength is something that is done to ...
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Posted in: Leadership, Spiritual Vitality
Tags: how to plant a church, how to make it, church planting, surviving church planting, surviving as a pastor, how to survive as a pastor, pastoring pastors, help for pastors, help for church planters, how to endure as a pastor, encouragement for pastor, how to survive ministry, bruce wesley, clear creek community, houston, acts 29
