The other day, while driving to some meetings a couple hours away, I was thrown back to my high school days when an early Pearl Jam song came on the radio. As I listened to the once billboard-charting tune “Jeremy,” I heard the pain of a generation ringing through the intricately woven lyrics. Later, after a quick Google search, I …
We Must Prepare for Change—and Opportunity
We begin 2017 by racing into a new decade that is likely to change at warp speed. As a consequence, leaders in our churches need to learn from the business world how to prepare for change and anticipate a host of new challenges before they arrive so that we all have lead time to create new and innovative responses. One …
A Place-Based Missional Learning Experience
Our friends at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary have created a place-based missional learning experience any serious church planter can benefit from: The Graduate Certificate in Church Planting and Revitalization. The Graduate Certificate in Church Planting and Revitalization forms pioneer leaders attentive to God and God’s world. Participants will learn to listen to the Holy Spirit and their communities, they will practice leading teams in …
Subverting Church Planting Stereotypes
If I am being honest, I’m not generally a big fan of books on church planting. My lack of enthusiasm stems from two primary observations. First, many books on church planting are authored by people who actually have surprisingly limited experience in church planting or whose credibility rests on a single (relatively meaningless) criterion—their ability to draw a large crowd. …
The Striking Disconnect Between Knowing and Doing
The pastor asked an earnest question: “Why don’t we do this?” The teaching had been compelling. He was stirred, convicted, convinced. Of course, love of neighbour is central to what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Of course, care for the communities where God has placed us is a reflection of God’s Kingdom’s desire—human flourishing, the redemption of …
Top 12 Posts of 2016
It’s that time of year when we revisit the resources from the V3 blog that garnered lots of responses from readers/missional practitioners. You all shared the movement in powerful ways this year, and we thank you so much! Church planters and place-based missiologists used these posts to experience the movemental power of the Kingdom in their neighborhoods, church plants, businesses, and …
UK’s Innovative Church Planting Edge
Ash Barker welcomed me at the door of the Newbigin House in Birmingham, England. As I entered this enormous house, Anji, his wife, handed me a large mug of coffee. I walked into a huge living room and was greeted by two alpacas, three lizards, seven adults sipping coffee and a half a dozen kids playing hide-and-seek behind the furniture. …
"Church as Movement" Wins Readers Choice Award
We’re pleased to announce that The Church as Movement: Starting and Sustaining Missional-Incarnational Communities, co-authored by V3 Movement leaders JR Woodward and Dan White Jr. is the recipient of the Intervarsity Press Readers Choice Award! Church as Movement won for the category “IVP Praxis”. The publisher describes the Praxis line this way: IVP Praxis is a new line of books …
The Christmas Hospitality Challenge
We are in the midst of one of the most festive seasons of the year. Family gatherings, church pageants and Christmas feasts are all around us. Yet, in the midst of it all, it is easy for us to forget the real meaning of hospitality and the commitment it calls us and our churches to. Ancient Hospitality Hospitality in ancient …
A Kick in the Seat of the Pants
Sometimes I just need a good “kick in the seat of my pants” to get me going. That phrase – kick in the seat of the pants – has always been a reminder that I need to open myself up to new ideas and get outside the box of my thinking, even in church matters. Roger Von Oech wrote a life-changing …