Okay, it may be true that sometimes, female church planters think a little differently and come up with different metaphors than their male counterparts. Yesterday was just one of those days. I was sitting in a classy hair salon in Walnut Creek, California, when a woman who seemed quite underprivileged walked by. I relished watching her be pampered, cared for, …
Last week, in light of the recent events in Ferguson, New York, and Cleveland, our youth pastor decided to have some open conversations with our youth to help them process all that was happening. Though our church is multiethnic, the majority of our youth are African American. Many of the youth shared common themes that black youth are voicing all …
At The V3 Movement, we believe in teams. God has given each of us different gifts and personalities. When we plant churches, we want to bring all of those gifts to the table. Great teams don’t just come together on their own. It helps to understand a little bit about how people work, and what happens when they try to work …
mulThe deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown impacted all of our lives. Hopefully, it has made many of us consider the great divides that separate us from people of other colours and ethnicities. I wonder if in the roar of the protests what real changes we are willing to make to our lives. Are we really prepared for the …
When modern Western Christianity asks important questions, the voice and concerns of the church often dominate the conversation. For instance, questions about leadership might be phrased this way: “What does leadership in the church look like?”1 There is another starting place other than the church. We can frame our inquiries with two questions: The Theological Question: “Who is God?” The …
Incarnational Theology emphasizes that the Father has sent Jesus as one of us. God does not scorn the human condition rather God dwelt in the fragility of the human body (Philippians 2). This human form brought the Glory of God down from Mt. Sinai to the streets of Nazareth. The fullness of God somehow, someway was displayed in the limitations of the God-man Jesus. He …
Sociologists say that people group themselves together in three ways: Affinity— Similar ethnic, socioeconomic, education, language, etc. background Kinship— Extended family, tribe, band, tight-knit relationships. Geography— Same neighborhood, block, apartment complex, etc. These same categories also function as organizing principles for people who start various kinds of churches. Affinity For several decades, the predominant approach has been affinity. We have …
How might a person on mission learn to read the book of Acts? As might others, I’m swept up into near uncontrollable emotion when I recall the little nativity set erected with sacred precision every Christmas in my childhood living room. That pristine manger transcended my suburb existence; it had a blissful quality akin to magic. The scene still sits …
In Jesus’ day, the religious had turned God’s guidelines into fences. You had to wear, do your hair, eat your lunch, wash your hands their way— or else: you were on the wrong side of the fence. The sign on the fence read: NO UNDESIRABLES! There was a long list of those who were, well, undesirable. Many things could make …
There are a number of good books on church planting. You can see my top ten list here. I would put Mark Lau Branson and Nicholas Warnes’ Starting Missional Churches: Life with God in the Neighborhood in my top books on church planting for a couple of reasons: First, Mark and Nick deconstruct current unhelpful practices of church planting, or planting (the gospel) …