By Brent Rood
The emerging church movement is not as new as it used to be. As with every movement, it has reached a point in its trajectory where as it matures, the ideals of the movement have given way to the reality of the movement. Theory birthed practice. The ideal was that good substance should replace good management. Gospel-centered preaching, authentic and transparent relationships, and incarnational ministry should replace synthetic programs, simplistic and linear discipleship processes, and cold task- driven business models. The emerging church set out to accomplish this and in many ways it has, but as the movement is maturing there is a large wave of disillusionment. On one hand, we are seeing the gospel restored to the pulpit. We are seeing true conversions taking place ...
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Matt Adair is replanter of Christ Community Church in Athens, Georgia. He wrote earlier this month on Embracing Your Unique Gifting and Leveraging it for Jesus’ Mission. Here he looks at the power source for the church’s employment of their gifts.
Entrepreneurial Aptitude - A Sacred Trust
Church planters are gluttons for punishment.
The spiritual soil of the cities we dig around in often feels like petrified clay. The first people to jump on the bandwagon as we plot world domination will most likely abandon us. The stress that comes from denominational agencies, our families and the deepest recesses of our souls is a force powerful enough to stop a charging rhino dead in his tracks.
And now I’m asking you to take another whack of the paddle by leading with ...
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A called-by-God church planter is a truly focused individual. He knows that he needs specific things in order to do what God has called him to do in the city to which He has been sent.
Continued from yesterday...
Men As chauvinistic as it sounds in today's egalitarian climate, you really do need a few good men to help you plant a church. God will send some godly women, whom you will love as mothers and sisters, that will be used by God in unbelievable ways to extend the kingdom through your local church. I am not minimizing the role of a woman in church, or women in general. In our church, women lead worship, teach bible studies, serve as deacons, etc. I’m simply highlighting the reality of the "just as". Just as the men go, so goes the family. Just as the men go, so goes the ...
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A called-by-God church planter is a truly focused individual. He knows that he needs specific things in order to do what God has called him to do in the city to which He has been sent.
Building One of the things that he needs is a building. I remember driving through my city almost every day with my eyes peeled for my dream building. I looked at schools, science centers, community centers, art galleries, coffee houses and old church buildings. Heck, I even looked at a VFW (Veterans of Foreign War) building/bar complete with a medium sized tank from World War One directly in front of the entrance. I remember getting totally stoked about a potential building only to have my hopes dashed time and time again. On more than one occasion, I had vivid dreams about a certain meeting space, which ...
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By Paul Dean
Paul Dean is an Acts 29 church planter who started Alathia Community in Issaquah, Washington, four years ago.
You’ve got to admire the entrepreneurial aptitude of the extreme sport crowd. Crash or land, they are always trying something new.
Entrepreneurial Aptitude (E.A.) is a gifting from the Holy Spirit that makes you (to some degree) comfortable with the extreme sport-like risk that is church planting. Starting something from jack-squat takes tireless prayer, effort, and relationship-grinding teamwork, and may just crash even after all that. A lead church planter has to be OK with apparent failure.
E.A. is hard to describe, because it looks different with different people. Acts 29 church planters answer a series of questions that hit at the issue before and ...
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