The 7 Arenas of Culture

If you took a tally on what Jesus talked most about, we would see that his conversations were oriented around one thing: the Kingdom of God.  He connected how the Son of Man is connected to the Kingdom of God, who is a part of the Kingdom of God, and what the Kingdom of God is like.  And he told …

Reaching Immigrants

Scripture is quite clear about the Church’s responsibility to the foreigner: “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt” (Lev 19:33-34); “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the …

Free Webinar – Multi-Ethnic Missional Planting: Colonization vs. Community

God’s spirit is awakening us to the beautiful mess of being a diverse church together. Everybody seems to be talking about being a Multi-ethic church. But what does that mean? Are we using consumeristic tactics to build multi-ethnic churches? Is this leading to a new colonialism rather than shared-life in community? We need to move beyond cool church practices and dive deep into neighborhood-rooted …

missional culture V3 2016

How to Know If a Missional Culture Is Flourishing

In my two previous posts, Creating Culture: When Values and Life Don’t Match and 4 Ways Jesus Established Culture, we determined that leaders build the foundation for a church’s culture by what they do, especially in the beginning. We saw that it’s not about just starting programs, having gatherings, or copying the ‘successful’ church in your city, but discovering, identifying, and articulating your church’s DNA, …

V3 2016 Ben Katt apest

5 Ways to Become a Better Pastor in Your Neighborhood

I’ve been a pastor for 10 years, and I’ve never been a very good one.In seminary, I remember learning about how pastors are gifted at listening, and pastoral care, and counseling. That didn’t really sound like me.And then there was all of this energy and attention given to preaching—“pastor,” as it is in many Christian circles, was synonymous with “preacher.” …