At V3, we’re committed to equipping you to start a movement.
Over the last year, we’ve published dozens of articles from real life church planting practitioners. They have ranged from collections of resources, such as JR Woodward’s “Top Ten Books on Church Planting” to cutting observations like Dan White, Jr’s “Five Points of Bitterness Common in the Missional Church.”
Below are our most read articles from the past year. We hope you’ll give them another look, and pass them on to other movement makers.
15. “Undeniable Elements of a Missional Calling,” Welford Orrock
These are the types of reasons that well meaning leaders use to motivate their ministries to move out missionally into new territory. But we cannot forget: where there is no call – there is no connection. While we all would hope for an expression of the Body of Christ in each of these intersections of community and cultural life, before we plant we have to ask, are we called?
14. “An Easy Way to Cheat at Disciple Making,” Welford Orrock
We can all agree with Chesterton that there is a difference between good, honest, hard work and cheating, yet there are times we consciously or unconsciously blur the lines between the two for the sake of “success.” In every aspect of our lives, including ministry, when the ends justify the means, cheating, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, sneaks in a viable strategy for success.
13. “The Secret Ingredient Creating Unity in 40,000 Denominations,” Tim Soerens
I’ve had the gift of traveling through hundreds of neighborhoods over the past few years, and almost always return home with a profound hope: not only for the church, but also for how many new church plants are becoming a unifying force within the greater body of Christ.
12. “The God of Cereal Aisles: Practicing an Everyday Pentecost,” AJ Swoboda
God does not sleep in the parish hall awaiting his people to show up once again on Sunday morning so he finally can do some stuff in someone’s life. Quite the contrary: God is alive, dynamic, and goes shopping in all the cereal aisles of the world.
11. “Illusions in Church Planting,” AJ Sherrill
An illusion is an error in perception. Over time we subtly rename perception, “reality.”
And it is not uncommon to believe we are living in God’s reality when we are actually steeped in personal illusion.
The tragedy is that church planters are equally as susceptible to living in illusion as anyone else. I know I am.
10. “How to Break Free from the Numbers Leash and Cultivate Gardens,” Dan White, Jr.
Every church I’ve served has been led around by the numbers leash. Whether spoken or unspoken, it is how we weighed our impact. Simultaneously we always had angst about a lack of involvement, spiritual maturity and genuine care for mission.
9. “Words and Shovels: Where have all the prophets gone?” AJ Swoboda
Prophets are the church’s immune system.
Without prophets, we are left to the mercy of whatever sicknesses we’re exposed to from season to season. The prophet, like an oncologist, inflicts a kind of communal pain which, when received, brings healing. Their hard words bring a better world. Perhaps more than ever, prophets are in great need to revitalize the American church. For truth-telling is the language of a Christ who so proudly spoke of Himself as “…the Truth.” (John 14:6)
8. “Developing a Rule and Rhythm of Life,” Tim Catchim
Although typically avoided, chaos is not always a bad thing. Under the right conditions, it can actually facilitate growth and innovation. This is why we often see a new leader(s) emerge during chaotic situations. In fact, one of the staple features of leadership is the ability to bring order out of chaos. Those who manage to facilitate order in the midst of chaos are often invested by the group with charisma. That is, the group deems such people as being worthy of following.
7. “Five Environments For a Thriving Missional Community,” JR Woodward
One of the most overlooked elements to making missional disciples is recognizing how the culture of our group shapes us. It either pulls us down toward our base instincts or lifts us up to our redemptive potential. We create culture and culture in turn recreates us.
Creating a missional culture develops a current within the missional community that enables people to catch the wind of the Holy Spirit and live missional lives. So what are the different environments necessary to create a missional culture?
6. “The Missional-Incarnational Journey,” Tim Catchim
The missional impulse is the notion that we are to be a sent and sending presence in the world. This is the “going” of our collective vocation as the people of God. As a sent people, we are inherently movemental, which is to say, in Bible-speak “apostolic.” Part of living out the missional impulse is being willing to cross boundaries and engage people on their own turf as it were.
The incarnational impulse addresses the issue of “how” we go. Jesus says to the 12 apostles in the gospel of John “AS the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” The Father sent Jesus as one OF us, that is to say, incarnationally. He not only came to our turf, he also came to us on our terms. He humbled himself and submitted to our human form (Philippians 2:1-10).
5. “Top Twelve Books on Cultivating Community,” Dan White, Jr.
Community is not a fad it is the foundational apologetic in our civilization that Jesus is Lord. The credibility of the Gospel of Jesus is explicitly tethered to the quality of our practical and emotional collective life (1 Corinthians 12,13, Matthew 5-7). Mission finds its endurance in the ongoing formation of the vibrancy of the community.
4. “Missional Minimalism,” Dan White, Jr.
One afternoon this pastor took me on a village walk and then we moseyed into his hut for what he called a “Pastor to Pastor chat.”
I was expecting a delightful spiritual conversation, but I received a gentle but pointed rebuke on American Christianity. The classic memorable line from my new pastor friend was “we don’t want your overstuffed Jesus.”
Ouch.
3. “Discipleship and the Four Spaces of Belonging,” JR Woodward
Joseph Myers in The Search to Belong, with the help of sociologist Edward T. Hall, identifies four kinds of spaces in which we find a sense of belonging. Each church would be wise to think through how they pursue making disciples in each of these four spaces.
2. “Five Points of Bitterness Common in the Missional Church,” Dan White, Jr.
There was one issue that I was not prepared to run into so regularly and widely…bitterness.
Over and over again, our team has collided with the thick smog of bitterness that saturates many conversations and any intentional gathering related to Christianity. I’ve studied up on Post-Christianity but nothing could ready me for the discipleship challenge of very real and raw people being riddled with bitterness and cynicism.
1. “Top Ten Books on Church Planting,” JR Woodward
One of the most frequent questions I get from church planters is: What do you recommend as the best books for church planters to read?
As an avid reader who has planted churches on the East Coast and the West Coast, and a person who is devoted full time to helping equip church planters, this is a difficult question to answer. I have sought to avail myself to most all the resources out there on church planting. There are a lot of good books on this topic.
“Let’s Plant a V3 Church in my Neighborhood”
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