Missionally-minded church mergers are a growing trend in the last couple years. Many churches are now joining forces in order to become more effective at reaching their city. In this post, Acts 29 pastor and leader, Justin Anderson, tells the story of Praxis and Redemption merging together and the lessons he learned on the way.
by Justin Anderson
On November 7th, 2010, I announced that our six-year old church of about 1,100 people on two campuses was merging with a twenty-year old, 2,500 person church about ten miles east of us. The merger would triple the size of our church overnight and we’d have a new name, a new structure, and new leadership. Three months later, we announced a third church was joining us and we became Redemption Church.
...multi-site strategies in ...
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I do not think that the American church is dependent upon the Spirit's empowerment. Most of what takes place among our local gatherings may be able to occur without the Holy Spirit. This is tragic because Jesus depended on the Spirit's empowerment for His ministry (Luke 4) and He sent the first church in the power of the Spirit (Acts 1:8). Josh Kouri is leading a Spirit-empowered church in Oklahoma City. His words below are an encouragement to me. — Scott Thomas, Acts 29 President
By Josh Kouri, Lead Pastor at Frontline Church in Oklahoma City, OK
Paul rebukes his friends for acting as mere humans in 1 Corinthians 3. Their carnal, man-focused approach to church and life has left them spiritually stunted and weak. Instead of growing up and thriving as a church, they are divided, ...
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Tags: church, church planting, plant a church, pastor, church planter, thriving, supernatural, jesus, spirit, healthy, mission, missional, god, leadership
Evangelism and Discipleship
Church planters can do a lot of things wrong and God can still bless the new church. All pastors will confess that God often blessed in spite of their frail leadership and strategies. Still, planters need to lead and strategize for carrying out the mission of God.
Evangelism and discipleship is one of those mission critical issues that needs a planter’s attention. Evangelism does not automatically happen in a new church. Too many planters think the reason that lost people have not come to Christ is because they have not found the right church yet. Thus, a mythological equation is formed: lost culture + relevant church plant = instant harvest.
Planters sincerely set out with a new approach that will fill the local middle school gymnasium or movie ...
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Posted in: Leadership, Disciple Making
Tags: evangelism, discipleship, church-planting, church, pastor, church planter, top issues, challenges, disciple-making, missional
Adapted and excerpted from Matt Carter’s Orlando Boot Camp message, “Leading Your Church on Mission.”
The Church Leader’s Job is to Equip People for Ministry
In Ephesians 4:11, Paul writes, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.”
Think about this in context of your church. Apostles, prophets, shepherds, teachers – this is you and me, the leadership of the church. God gave us these gifts for a reason: to equip the people in our churches to do the work of the ministry for the building up of the body of Christ.
What makes the body of Christ grow?
In Ephesians 4:16 Paul says: “From whom the whole body, joined ...
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Posted in: Mission
Tags: missional, matt carter, orlando, boot camp, our fathers our future, #ofof, missional church test, is your church missional?, is my church missional, how to lead a missional church, get your church on mission, how to get people on mission, how should mission happen, austin stone church, equipping the saints, the role of church leaders
Terry Virgo founded New Frontiers, an international, 700-church, charismatic, reformed, and missional network based out of England. Terry and New Frontiers have been a blessing to Acts 29 and its leaders over the past few years, and we're thrilled to share a vision of planting churches to see as many people meet Jesus as we can.
Here, from his 2010 session at our London Dwell Conference, Terry talks to church planters about why they should pray for their cities, and for their church's needs for things such as meeting space.
Terry remembers when he first read A.W. Pink's, The Sovereignty of God, how he was amazed for the first time as a newer believer by God's sovereignty. However, this newfound discovery, "took away the edge of my praying," he says. "For a ...
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Posted in: Spiritual Vitality
Tags: reformed charismatic missional, terry virgo, new frontiers, missional, mission. church planting, prayer, power of prayer, why pray, why pray when god is sovereign, if god is sovereign why pray, what is prayer for, reasons to pray, 1 kings 18, elijah and prayer, elijah, prayer and the church planter
