I don’t claim to be able to identify which churches are trying to be cool churches. It’s not that easy. There are some really cool churches that actually have little vested interest in being cool, it is actually a byproduct of their commitment to mission and justice. (There’s always something appealing and kind of cool about a person or group who is confident and sure about who they are and what they’re about…even if it’s an “uncool” thing like loving poor people) As far as I am aware, there are only two definite ways of knowing if a church is seriously trying to be cool:

1. You name yourself Cool Church
2. You make your website www.coolchurch.com (Sorry Abundant Life Church but…well…you chose the url!)

Anyway, the reality is that following Jesus is not cool. Dying to yourself is not cool. Loving the unlovely is not cool. Caring for orphans and widows is not cool. Eating meals with those living on the streets is not cool. Following the child of a teenage mom who grew up as a peasant refuge and claimed to be a king only to be murdered as a criminal is not cool. It just isn’t.

When we try to make church cool, we water down what makes us unique, we begin to lose our voice. The Christ follower is invited to be different. And, no, we’re not different because we listen to Michael W. Smith music, we’re not different because we make T-shirts that play off already made products, we’re not different because we don’t sleep in on Sunday mornings, we’re not different because we don’t say cuss words, we’re not different because we don’t smoke cigarettes. I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe that Jesus died so that we could be free from smoking cigarettes. I’m sorry, I just don’t believe that Jesus died so that we could go to church on Sundays. I’m sorry, I don’t believe that Jesus died so that we could say “darn” instead of “damn”. I’m sorry, I don’t believe that Jesus died so that we could listen to poor quality and less innovative music (Oops, I’ve got an obvious bias here). Those are all fine and dandy things, but they have very little to do with following Jesus! (though I do believe that the Sunday gathering CAN and should break this mold). When we make our aim to be cool we shift our focus from trying to please God to trying to please people. There’s a difference between pleasing people and loving, accepting, and caring for people. God invites us to be radical. Cool invites us to be mainstream. Mustard seed is not cool, it’s noxious, it’s an annoying weed, its invasive, and it’s the metaphor Jesus uses for his kingdom. Nope, joining in Jesus’ kingdom movement means that you’re going to be an awkward and annoyingly passionate lover of people. It means that you’re going to choose the path of sacrifice and generosity over the path of power and prestige. It means you love the unlovely (including yourself) it means you love people regardless of whether they are considered cool or un-cool.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

Pursuit of cool and pursuit of crucifixion don’t really mesh. I wish they did because it’s always been my secret dream to be cool. I want it like the desert wants the rain. I grew up a poor black child …I mean, a preachers kid, a homeschooler, I married the only girl I ever kissed…while my experiences cause  me to have a different definition of cool than most, it has always been my dream to be cool. But the more I fall in love with Jesus, the more I get to know him, the more I find myself being freed from the oppression of cool.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Galatians 5:1

Related posts:

1. Death
2. Haiti and the church
3. Church

by Ryan Woods
July – August, 2010

I tried to be a missionary once. I failed. For two years I spent time in a ghetto suburb of Lisbon, Portugal trying to save the world. The world did not get saved. As a matter of fact I did not technically save anybody. I learned to love soccer, I spent time with teenagers and homeless men, and I grew my hair out. But missionaries are supposed to grow churches, see hordes of people come to Jesus, and perfect their altar calls.

I did none of those.

I helped my Angolan musician friend Rey Kuango write lyrics in English. I fed homeless folk and saw a community emerge at our church from their ranks. I provided a place to stay for my friend Nikko away from his cockroach-infested home, where his light fixture consisted of a light bulb and two wires that he shoved into the outlet. But I never performed an altar call. Being a missionary is nearly one of the hardest things I have ever done. But it was nothing compared to what it prepared me for later in my life of ministry.

Jesus’ Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 says “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…” This scripture has been core to our identity in the Churches of Christ, developing in us a sending mentality, reminding us of the transformation that happens around baptism, and the absolute invitation into the work of evangelism.

This passage, however, does not simply send us to do mission. The “go” that Jesus speaks of is not one of destination. There is no arrival implied in Jesus’ sending words. Rather, in the original language, Jesus’ words tell us that “as we are going” we are to make disciples, invite people into baptism, and teach what obedience looks like.

You see, if we believe that mission work is something that does not simply happen when we step foot onto foreign soil or speak a foreign language – but rather happens in our homes, neighborhoods, work places, grocery stores, and cafés – then our level of commitment to discipleship and evangelism have immediately multiplied exponentially. When ministry is dependent on my going to a particular place or destination I preclude the as-you-go mentality and replace it with a once-I-get-there attitude. Once-I-get-there is controllable. I control when I leave, I control if I leave, I control where I go, I control. When evangelism is defined as something that happens as-I-go, then I had better be ready for life to be messy.

I had better be ready to miss a mission committee meeting when my neighbors water main breaks and he is in need of help.

I had better be willing to stay at work late when my coworker opens up to me about his struggling marriage. I had better learn to accept that people might stop by my messy home uninvited.

I had better take seriously Peter’s words to “always be prepared to give an answer…” because that moment could happen anytime or anywhere, and often it will happen through my actions long before it happens through my words!

Jesus’ invitation to an as-you-are-going life was marked by such words as death, carrying your cross, dying to yourself, and loving your enemy. It is impossible, then, to follow Jesus down this path of being available to the world as-we-go, all the time, at any moment, without following him down the path to death.

Death is a core tenet of the Christian faith. We are to die to ourselves daily to live for the world. We are to die to ourselves daily to allow the Spirit to bring new life in us. We are to die to ourselves daily because we are following a God who did nothing less.

Neither Objects nor Projects

Moments ago as I sat in a local downtown café sipping on the best locally-roasted coffee, my friend and I knocked our mugs together in mini-celebration over the awkward moment that had just passed. You see we were talking about the church that my wife and I are planting in downtown Vancouver and my friend – who is not a Christian – kept accidentally dreaming with me about what this church might look like. While she does not buy into Christianity, she nonetheless is beginning to take ownership of this fledgling church despite the fact that she does not believe. The clinking of glasses was done jokingly to celebrate her acceptance of the inevitability of using the word “we” when talking about this church. At that moment, she allowed my dreaming to be her dreaming, the potential church activities to be her activities, and the conversation immediately twisted to “we” instead of “you”. It was a valuable celebration.

In Jesus’ other commission in Luke 10, we hear him sending his seventy disciples out to the nearby towns to proclaim the kingdom. Surprisingly, however, he sends them out without the necessary provisions. They were sent without money, a bag, or even shoes. Instead they are told to be open to the generosity and hospitality of the people to which they have been sent. In other words, they have been sent in search of partners. Partnership is also important to Matthew’s Great Commission as Jesus states that while authority is his, he is sending us.

Us? He is the one who has the power, but he has commissioned us as his sent agents of hope in his world. Partnership. Jesus invites us to partner with him. The reason this is so key is that when we transition from an arrival mentality of mission to an as-you-are-going mentality, we are challenged to change our view of humanity around us. No longer are they objects of our mission; no longer is their salvation our goal. Our neighbors are those who surround us as-we-are-going and we are invited to see them as fellow journeyers, as partners in journeying through life. If we believe God’s Genesis 1:31 statement that what he has created is very good and if we believe that “For God so loved the world…” was referencing all of God’s created people, then we must believe in the inherent dignity of God’s loved people. Mission is how we live with these people; it is how we die for these people; and it is how we partner with these people as we traverse this life and pursue a new God-ordained future for us all.

My friend does is not a believer, but she is partnering with us in planting a church. What is more shockingly strange: that we are partnering with her or that God has chosen to partner with us?

Boxes not included

If we accept Jesus’ invitation to mission as-we-are-going about our life, we are accepting the inevitability that everything will change. We cannot die to self as-we-are-goingabout life without a change to the way we live. Mission requires intentionality.

My life, as it normally goes, is about me. I go to a church that fits my preferences and feels comfortable to me. I live in a neighborhood that feels safe for me and my family. I prepare food that I like. I eat at restaurants that I prefer. I avoid people who make me uncomfortable. I value my time, my stuff, my ministry, my thoughts, my opinions, myself. I am not terribly different from you; I am not terribly egocentric – I am just being honest about myself. When I look at a photo, guess who I look for first?

The manner in which I go about my life is not wholly transformational nor on mission for Jesus. Yes, I may have a church meeting or ministry that I am involved in, but those are duties that fit within a scheduling block on my full calendar. As-you-are-going does not necessitate more meetings, small groups, or duties. Quite the opposite: As-you-are-goingtranscends scheduling. As a matter of fact, it necessitates a scheduling transcendence because it necessitates availability and spontaneity. If we take a moment to study the life and ministry of Jesus, which we cannot do here, we will discover that much of his ministry happened as he was going. It happened because he was available, he was interrupt-able, he was willing to be spontaneous.

Strangers do not follow our schedules, life does not cater to our wants or preferences, and mission happens in the midst of the messiness of our lives. So to protect ourselves, we create boxes. We are attracted to boxes. Boxes allow me to sing This World is not my Home on Sunday and spend Monday through Saturday storing up treasures on earth. Boxes allow me to act one way with my Christian family and another way with my coworkers. Boxes give me a freedom from accountability to my neighbor. Boxes make me feel safe. Terrifyingly, dying-to-self requires that our boxes to die along with us. This means that we are on mission every moment of every day, available to the Holy Spirit regardless of time, function, or location. We must allow our boxes to be taken down so that a holy availability can then stand. And where there is a person indwelt by the Spirit, available to his neighbor, there is a missionary. Mission becomes our identity. We become missionaries.

Mission Matters

I may have failed at attracting hordes of people to my soapbox sermons in Lisbon and I may fail in planting a church in downtown Vancouver. Death is the paradox of the Christian faith, is it not? “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies…” Through Christ’s death, we find life. Through our death, our neighbors find life. And through their death (celebrated in baptism), they will inherit life.

Mission matters. Mission is to attach the phrase “for the sake of the world” to the end of any Christian statement, structure, schedule, or plan. Mission is the invitation to be salt and light in our neighborhoods, at the car wash, at the café, at work, in the car, and in our Sunday worship gatherings.

Mission is to die to my own preferences in order to love my neighbors preferences more fully.

Mission is to listen first and answer later.

Mission is to heal the sick, care for the needy, mourn with those who mourn, celebrate with those who celebrate, to seek people of peace, to receive as well as give, to worship with our hands, our feet, our bodies, and even with our mouths.

Mission is to wait tables for the sake of the world, to sell homes for the sake of the world, to eat meals for the sake of the world, to gather on Sundays for the sake of the world, to live for the sake of the world.

Mission matters because we have been commissioned by the creator of the universe to partner with him in the unfolding of his alternative reality in our broken world.

So the question must be asked: Will you go on mission? Will you be on mission as you go?

And will you die trying?

Ryan Woods lives in Vancouver, WA where he is an associate minister at the Renovatus Church of Christ, a church plant that he and his wife helped to start in 2005. In 2011 he and his wife will lead a daughter church plant in the downtown district of Vancouver. This church plant will be a grassroots, neighborhood driven church where a group of dedicated Christ followers will live and die for the neighborhood until a sustainable church emerges. Ryan enjoys reading, gardening, coffee, and human interaction. He and his wife Jessica just celebrated their seventh year of marriage and have two kids. For more information you can read at [www.downtown.renovatus.com]  or write him at [ryan@renovatus.com].

Related posts:

1. Death
2. Sunday: What’s the Point?
3. Becoming Missional?

peace.

Related posts:

1. Westboro
2. Thoughts on Early Christianity
3. Faith is overrated

As a Christian Jesus is my ideal starting point. If I want to better understand the mystery of God I should seek to better understand Jesus. If I want to better understand the whole of Scripture I should seek to better understand Jesus. What does God feel and think about suffering? Look at Jesus. What does God feel or think about rejects and freaks? Look at Jesus. What does God think about money, materialism, and consumption? Look at Jesus.

Let me quickly add one caveat before I move on. Things are not simple! Just looking at Jesus is not simple. The reality is that I don’t have a clear picture of Jesus. I only see him through my own world view, through my own baggage. So while it is an incredible and difficult task in a sense to look at Jesus, I do believe that it is a forgiving task full of mercy and grace along the way. One of the beauties of following Him is that he knows my baggage, he knows my (in)ability to comprehend and understand who he is and what he is about. And most importantly he is able to meet me where I am at and create transformation and a new creation despite my ignorance or brokenness!

My purpose in this blog is to talk about church. If we are honest about ourselves we must accept the reality that most of what we practice and believe about church is solely taught or read about in the book of Acts and the letters in the latter half of the Bible. Very little of how we define and practice being the church is founded in our reading and understanding of Jesus. While I do not believe that Paul (who wrote many of those aforementioned letters) and Jesus would disagree with each other or throw down in fisticuffs if given the opportunity, I do think that we have improperly done our theology about church (in biblical theology circles this is called ecclesiology). Similar to how we try to fit Jesus into our understanding of God instead of the other way around, with church we have spent more time trying to fit Jesus into our understanding of Paul. Would things be different if we started with Jesus? Would things be different if we attempted to define what a movement of Jesus followers (church) would look like based on the life and ministry of Jesus himself and then look into Paul and the other New Testament writings to see what they came up with in doing the same process?

Take a step back and think about the early church. What did they have? They had the stories about Jesus. They had the Old Testament. They had their own context. And they had the working of the Holy Spirit. WE, on the other hand, get all that PLUS the stories of what those early faith communities did, what they struggled with, the questions they asked, and the dysfunctions they developed. If I created a formula to better describe how the early followers of Jesus came up with what church looked like, it might look like this:

• Jesus + History (including the Old Testament) + Context + Spirit = first century church

Couldn’t you look at our churches, our ways of defining how to do church and suggest that our formula looks more like this:

• Paul + your grandpa’s context + Spirit = western church

What if we tried to craft a different formula? Would church today look different if we made an authentic effort to live and practice out of this formula:

• Jesus + Church History (including rest of Scripture) + OUR context + Spirit = ?

I’m no scholar, but I know that much of the early churches structures, practices, and disciplines were not new. They were things that they borrowed from out of their own context, history, and surrounding culture. They borrowed things that were of value in following Jesus. We, in turn, have made those things concrete. Have we made the wrong things concrete? Have we inadvertently practiced idolatry by elevating that which is not holy (the practices and structures) to a place of holiness? In Paul’s writings we see a community of people struggling with the equation, with the formula. In those writings we see the churches journey, their story, their “becoming”.

Have we I ignorantly tried to adopt their culture, their context, their problems, and their journey without following their lead? Would it not be more true to their journey, to Scripture, if I was to follow the early churches lead by looking at my Lord, looking at my context, looking at my story (history), and listening/looking for God’s untamed Spirit? I wonder what type of church I would end up with?

Sorry for the heresy. I’m an out loud processor, I grow most through dialog, through putting things out there that I may not even agree with…though, to be perfectly honest, I’m kind of liking what I’ve come up with.

Related posts:

1. The "Old" Testament
2. Grappling with the Ordered Death of Men, Women, and Children
3. Why I’m Getting Plastered Tonight

It was right about midnight, the day before he died, that we stood at the door and he told us about a time where he almost killed himself driving around a corner on highway 14. We laughed, as usual, at his ridiculous stories that surprisingly always turned out to be true. Earlier on that same Sunday night we grilled Nick about how fast he was driving his new bike. We told him to slow down. My friend said to him “don’t make me go to your funeral”, and he responded by saying that the saddest thing about crashing would be the thought of his bike getting beat up. That’s just how Nick was.

I loved Nick because he was so raw, so authentic, and so passionately in love with Jesus. Don’t get me wrong, at times he could be a complete ass, but he was always the first to laughingly admit it in a proud fashion. It was in that spirit that he smiled as he showed us his shirt he wore that Sunday night at our churches worship gathering (it included the f* bomb) He always left us shaking our heads and smiling because he would say the most off the wall things, like when he said he thought Mother Teresa was in hell…umm…I hope he’s being proved wrong right now. He was passionate about being a missionary. As a recovering addict he saw himself as a missionary to his people, to addicts and homeless and broken people. You rarely saw Nick by himself, he was always inviting others, always bringing people along with him, he really was a missionary. In our short three months with him he went from wanting to be a missionary somewhere overseas, thinking that he had to go somewhere to make a difference, to passionately embracing the reality that God was using him here and now to change peoples lives. Because of that he was eager to plant a downtown church plant with us, a church that was focused on relationships, on loving every person because they’re loved by God. As a matter of fact, it was in our last moments with him that he kept pushing us to get moving with this church plant. He kept saying over and over again how he was ready to live in Christian community, how he wanted to start doing meals together a few times a week where we could invite neighbors and friends (ironically we talked about tonight being the first), and how we should start taking bums out for lunch together.

I love that for most of the Renovatus community the last words they heard from Nick was him yelling “Hallelujah” as he walked into our worship gathering late. It was loud and obnoxious, and genuine…it was totally Nick. The word “hallelujah” can be defined as an exclamation of “praise the Lord”, or more fully as what happens when you are so in love that you cannot help but burst in adoration toward your lover. This word might be the best description for Nick.

The best word to describe my house yesterday would be numb. We all just sat around, some of us crying on and off. We unloaded the dishwasher that was filled with the dishes from the dinner Nick made for us that Sunday night. On our house-mate’s desk sat a dvd that Nick was supposed to pick up on Monday, the day he died. The house seemed to linger with his absence.

I only knew Nick for three months, but in three months he became a dear friend. God’s people who are trying to live his kingdom within our messy world will miss Nicks presence terribly. I am not sad for Nick. I am sad for us, for the three churches he was involved in, for his friends who were in recovery with him, and for the ways God could have used him to be an agent of hope to the world.

Thank you God for giving my family three months of Nick. We feel blessed because of it.

Hallelujah!

Related posts:

1. Sympathy for Jesus
2. Worshiping on Saturday
3. Thoughts From an “Outsider”

Easter Sunday, it’s a celebration of the resurrection power of God and it is one of two times each year we stand back for an objective look and let the numbers tell us how we’re doing. First I’ll give you the numbers, then a sense of what those numbers mean.

- 11 new churches reported, the oldest is 5 years old and the youngest 3 churches have not yet had their opening launch. – 1,169 is the average worship attendance in 2010. – 1,670 was Easter Sunday attendance. – 15 baptisms occurred the weeks prior to and following Easter.

Now here’s the perspective point. According to Outreach magazine, to make the 2009 list of America’s 100 fastest growing churches a church had to have “attendance greater than 1,000, a numerical gain of 300 or more, and a percentage gain of at least 5 percent.”

These 11 church plants have a combined average worship attendance of 1,169, they had 339 more people at Easter in 2010 than 2009, this was 25.5% higher than 2009 Easter and 30.5% higher than their 2010 worship attendance average! As a collective network (comparative to a multi-site church), these 11 churches would make America’s 100 fastest growing churches in 2010!

Now here’s the underlying story. About 50% of the people who are attending these 11 new churches would not have been in a church a year ago, or two years or three years ago. The amazing church planting couples leading these new churches are intentionally reaching for and gathering together God’s lost people. God is restoring his lost people into his great church family!

Thank you for supporting this amazing kingdom activity with your finances, your prayers and your attention. Next month look for the announcement of the “Ten for 10” prayer network. We’re looking for 1,000 people this year to join together in a regular, monthly concert of prayer on behalf of God’s lost people in America. We’re going to ask you to join this prayer endeavor with us.

Stan Granberg
Kairos executive director

Related posts:

1. Grabbing the Bull By the Horns…Literally
2. “Americans are Great People…but…”
3. Part Deux

peace.

Hello, we are Brandon and Katie Price and we are trying to get to Kharkov, Ukraine to do mission work for five years. We still have a lot of money to raise before we can leave and so we are trying to get more people involved in helping us get there. If you’d be interested in helping, here’s what you can do:

• Visit our blog, brandonandkatie.com, to learn more about us and the work we are wanting to be a part of.
• Consider helping us achieve our financial goals by donating either one time or on a monthly basis.
• Forward this message to everyone you can think of so that we can reach as many contacts as possible.

Please help us get the word out about our desire to move to Kharkov, Ukraine and to make disciples for God’s Kingdom. For any questions, please do not hesitate to send us an e-mail to pricebusiness@gmail.com!

Sincerely,

Brandon and Katie Price

Related posts:

1. Isaiah 61 Fund Raising,
2. Two random thoughts
3. The Neighborhood Coffee Spot

Church. Churches spend a lot of time and money trying to sell themselves to the world. They send out mass mailers, they advertise on the radio, put up billboards, and they do events that give them name recognition among other things. In other words, they try to carry the torch themselves. Churches have a good enough message, a potentially good enough medium, and a good enough base to “go viral” in our communities.* What would happen if churches clarified what they were all about, what they were not about, and developed a sense of comfort with those things. What if we tried to cultivate a culture that empowered people to carry the torch? I think the word that the Bible uses is “evangelism”.

* “good enough” is kind of a poor term to choose with regard to the message and medium of Christianity. If it is only    ”good enough” then I think we’ve got some problems!

Related posts:

1. Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-17
2. Goodbye Marcell’s
3. My Observations on Being a Visitor

This is one of my favorite articles I have included in a newsletter yet. Some of you have read Mo’s story from the July 2009 newsletter, well she has written again this month and it includes some very challenging words. I want to encourage you to not be put off by a difference in opinion, theology, or perspective, but to instead hear one person’s journey in raw
and authentic form. The point here is not correct doctrine,
but learning to listen.

___________________________________________

I recently came upon a question posed on an online forum that provoked me. The question, essentially was: If outsiders have
visited church services and found it wanting and don’t want
to go back…what then? A number of people were uncomfortable with the use of the word “outsiders”. Including the person who originally posted the question for discussion. I‘m not. I think it is entirely appropriate. Especially in this context. I am myself an outsider. I was an insider before too.

I was not brought up in a church attending family. In high school I was drawn to a church youth group and fell in love with the church and its congregation. I went all the time. Really. For some reason they gave me a key to the church and I would go at midnight after school football games. I attended every service. I was there for most official church events as well as random off hours. When I felt weird and like I didn’t fit in at school because I was the only Asian kid in a sea of Caucasian faces, I felt safe, accepted and loved at church. I knew the lingo and the secret handshake! I eventually even went to seminary. I had definitely made the conversion from outsider to insider.

Then…I figured out that I am gay. And my church body decided I was an outsider. It was incredibly painful to be disaffected by my spiritual family. It was also frustrating to try to dialogue about my experience and be told I had nothing of value to add to the discussion until I “got right” with god and got rid of “the gay“. In other words, I was still allowed in the building as long as I kept my mouth shut. I was met with rigid legalism and much…MUCH finger shaking. I was NOT met with love. Or compassion. Or a desire to help me talk through this real challenge in my life. Nor was I met with an honest humility that we are all sinners and all sin is repugnant to God’s eyes. I don’t think being gay is a sin, but was never allowed to articulate my convictions. My experience is mirrored nationally. The church community I loved has declared war on my gay brothers and sisters. And me. So I left.

Now here I am, an outsider again. I went to other churches for awhile. It’s funny. If you attend services there is always a break for folks to greet each other and welcome newcomers. There is a new attendee (outsider) form you are encouraged to fill out so the church can follow up with you. I can attest from personal experience, of the 37 different churches I went to and filled out their form. (I did mention I was gay and not conflicted about it.) Exactly zero ever followed up with me. Periodically I get a longing to attend services and be part of a spiritual family that is working to build stronger communities through practical demonstration of God’s love. Mostly I squelch it. So we are back to the original question. If outsiders have visited church services and found it wanting and don’t want to go back…what then? This is me. I don’t want to keep bruising myself against the un-Christ-like inflexibility of an organized church. I don’t want to be the object lesson of how sanctified (read sanctimonious) YOU are because your sins aren’t political hot buttons. Hello….glass house…stones.

I don’t know if I can ever believe in God again. I do know that if I am ever likely to, it won’t be from attending a church service. Tried that. Found it wanting. Don’t want to go back. End of story, right? Until I met an unusual Christian who doesn’t judge me or preach to me. Simply shares the stories of his life with me and is interested in the stories of my life. I don’t feel he has an agenda with me. Like some spiritual salesperson earning his eternal commission. (You know you’ve met them) I am extremely sensitive to “fake” concern over my spiritual wellbeing and threats of damnation if I don’t correct my behavior. Yet this Christian man never triggers my alarms. When I am around him or his wife I periodically think I may catch glimpses of Christ out of the corners of my eyes. I feel welcomed back into the discussion. I may or may not find my way back to the church again. But for the first time in many years I am engaged in an internal AND external dialogue about it that feels productive. Christians are called to go into the world (great commission stuff). I personally have only met two who are doing that. It renews my hope if not yet my faith to know that there are Christians willing to. It is scary to leave your comfortable church and your comfortable assumptions and meet “outsiders” where they are. It’s scary. It’s also what you are called to do.
—Mo

Related posts:

1. Church Thoughts
2. Storytelling
3. Becoming Missional?

1. Fund raising. I was never taught to ask for money, how to ask for money, or how to find success in asking for money. But the reality is that aside from prayer I think that fundraising is the single most crucial thing in getting and keeping church planters going.
2. Database management. Try fundraising, sending out newsletters, etc. without some kind of working knowledge of how to organize contacts, keep track of the last time you contacted them, keep track of if you’ve written them a thank you note, keep track of whether or not they get your newsletter, support you, etc. I waste my time doing this stuff because I have no idea how to do it, but it’s a must!
3. Written word. In seminary you get a class or two about how to preach, so in theory you’re completely prepared to be a weekly teacher (read in sarcasm here) but the written word is completely different. You’ve got to write newsletters, blog posts, and articles among other things.
4. Graphic Design. Connected to number three, if you’re writing newsletters you had better make them look good. Also you probably don’t have money to pay someone to make your new churches website so you had better start figuring out a way to make your own website! You’ve got to make yourself some sort of church logo, design your own business cards, and create all those beautiful documents and posters that make any worship space a communication workhorse.
5. Powerpoint. You should probably learn this in high school, but if you didn’t you’re in trouble ’cause any church planter without his powerpoint might as well be naked. Learn it, use it, custom animations, inserted video clips and sound, etc.
6. Social networking. Yes, thats right, starting churches is actually all about people! So if you want to start a church you’ve got to know how to connect with people. What makes it even harder is that often you come out of a schooling context where your nose is stuck in a book (albeit, a good book) for 2-3 years. When you take your nose out of that book and look around at all the people it takes about three years for your eyes and nerves to adjust to human contact again!
7. Social activist. Church planters must be connected in their neighborhood, in their community, schools, and the like. They attend the PTA meetings, the neighborhood watch meetings, chamber of commerce meetings, they serve at local schools, homeless shelters, and anything else that sends them to the community in love. Try learning that in seminary.
8. Training leaders. One of the most important things you do as a leader is to train other leaders. Otherwise you’ll never create a sustained movement and your church will only go as far as your Superman-like shoulders will take it. How do you train a leader? Who do you train? Do you take them through a curriculum or just let them shadow you? Do you just look for those who already lead and tell them to keep doing it or do you plug in people where you think they’ll fit? Leadership development is important!
9. Time Management. I know, I know, this is in no way unique to church planters…except for the fact that often you do not have an office when you start a new church. Which means that you’re working from home, from coffee shops, libraries, and anywhere else that has wifi. You had better learn to stay motivated and on task ’cause there are an innumerable amount of distractions around you.
10. Finally (though I’m sure you could list more) your appearance. Can you grow a good goatee? Do you look good with a shaved head? Got plugs? How about a tattoo? Do you own a Moleskin? Have an iphone? Got good eyesight? If you have good eyesight you had better stab yourself in the eye ’cause you’ve got to have a pair of black framed glasses!

School cannot and will not ever prepare you for all that!  So what’s the answer? Obviously experience can never be replaced. But I would also suggest that reinventing how school and graduate work is done is vital (see Rochester College’s new Missional Leadership degree). But even more practically speaking we need more opportunities to watch, follow, be mentored, and learn from others’ mistakes. I get excited when I see groups like Kairos an Northwest Church Planting because they are beginning to offer these types of experiences.

Oh yeah, and I didn’t even get into the stuff that really makes a new church work. Stuff like prayer, listening to God, engaging the world, taking care of your family, theology…you know, all that stuff!

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1. Church
2. Church Thoughts
3. Rejecting Church