Discipleship is a lost love in our culture of “Go Big or Go Home.” At Praxis Gathering 2016, however, we will gather to recover the act and art of discipleship. This unique, annual church planting experience combines real-time practice with rich theology and deep reflection. Participants of all backgrounds, denominations and ecclesial styles will join together to plummet deep into the …
Introducing RePLACING Church—Our First Podcast Partnership!
For almost three years, The V3 Movement has been providing top notch articles on Church Planting and the Missional Life. We’re excited to move into a new arena, audio, with our new partner Ben Katt of the RePLACING CHURCH podcast. We need your help to get the word out about this podcast! Tell your friends, and subscribe and review on iTunes. Meet Ben …
How to Find Your Call through Experimental Discipleship
Recently I had a conversation with someone in which I asked the question, “What would you say to other followers of Jesus to encourage them to consider what it might mean for them to join God in their neighbourhood?” My question produced a grimace and a sigh. “I’ve tried, nothing works,” they said. I persisted. “It’s a hard shift,” I said, …
The 3 Faces of God
How do you speak of that which cannot be said? How do you conceptualize that which in its very nature refuses to be fully captured in concepts? How do you talk about that which translates itself most clearly not in Greek or Hebrew, but in flesh and blood? We are always on a collective journey figuring out faithful and beautiful …
How to Spot an Immature Teacher and What To Do About It
“How to Spot an Immature Teacher” is the fifth in a series of five articles on recognizing immaturity in fivefold ministry and what to do about it. If you have no idea what fivefold ministry is, check out Alan Hirsch’s brief descriptions here, or JR Woodward’s video introduction here. If you’ve ever planted a missional church, you know it isn’t exactly a …
How Should We Really Prepare Church Planters?
By Christopher Brown and Scott Hagley The Church has a problem: most of its future leaders are being prepared in ways that don’t work and for ministries that don’t exist. Ways that Don’t Work My (Chris’s) first call out of seminary was to be a bivocational church planter. For more than five years, I worked part-time at an independent café …
The Grove Church Planting Residency
By Josh Oxendine, Lead Pastor of The Grove Church I don’t know about you, but I have become an avid mixed martial arts fan. Almost every week there seems to be a new “great fight” to watch. What most people don’t realize is the amount of work that it takes for the fighter to get to the point of peak performance before …
Accept Mark Scandrette's Challenge at Praxis Gathering ’16
Mark Scandrette actually takes Jesus seriously. He believes that Christ’s words are meant to be lived out in the everyday experiences of life. As such, he is a perfect fit for Praxis Gathering 2016: Shaping Disciples for Movement. At Praxis Gathering 2016 we are gathering to recover the act and art of discipleship, and we want you to join us. This unique annual church …
8 Tips for Taking a Spiritual Retreat
The spiritual practice of retreat is one of the most powerful tools we can implement to increase our faith and draw us closer to God, to each other and to our responsibility for God’s world. The Bible is full of examples of people who periodically removed themselves from the world to draw closer to God in spiritual retreat. In fact, Jesus …
How to Create Strategies for a Missional Vision
“How to Create Strategies for a Missional Vision” is the second of a three-part series created to help you set a vision for your church or organization and strategize for it. If you haven’t read part one, “A Practical Guide to Having Missional Vision,” you may want to do so, as there are practical exercises I suggest there for determining your organization’s vision. Back From the Future Now that …