It’s one thing to verbally affirm that in our postmodern, post-Christendom world we face adaptive challenges. It is entirely another to respond to these challenges adaptively. We naturally assume (at least I do) that we can formulate the strategies, organize the resources, and outline the steps for leading our people in participating in God’s mission. But if we are in …
We fell in love with the idea of being missional before we actually started practicing it. It was just easier to articulate a missional theology than it was to start practicing everyday mission. Eventually, though, we realized we needed to start somewhere. We needed to get outside our normal rhythms of “church” if we were going to learn missional living. …
I don’t know if you’re like me, but when I hear the word evangelism, I have a visceral response. My heart sinks, and one of three images usually comes to mind: The bearded, scruffy-looking man walking down the sidewalk with the cardboard sign declaring, “The end is near!” The street preacher dressed to the nines on the corner, bullhorn in hand, …
V3 Movement partners Forge America and Asbury Seminary are collaborating to offer an exceptional opportunity for missional church planters this summer–Activating Missional Communities. Part of Asbury’s Doctor of Ministry Program, Activating Missional Communities will be taught by Michael Frost, Alan Hirsch, Scott Nelson, and other notable faculty. The application deadline is Jan 2. Only fifteen applicants will be accepted. Now is the time to take advantage of this incredible, …
Christmas is about Incarnation: God becoming tangible. Because God has become flesh and now dwells among us, we can rest assured that God knows us! He’s “been there done that”, as the saying goes. God Has Felt… God has felt tired, hungry and thirsty. He’s been tempted, roused to anger, tears and laughter. He wore toga-pajamas (a holy onesie?) and …
Because of some of the jobs I’ve had over the past couple years, I’ve learned quite a bit about copywriting. “Copy” refers to the words used on web pages, in ads, on promotional materials, etc. Copywriting is the art of writing copy that sells a product or service and convinces prospective customers to take action. It surprised me to realize …
At Christmas, we remember again for the first time that God became a human being. God became a someone who could be touched and smelled, heard and seen. God became tangible. Tangible. What could be more tangible than needing to be burped and have your diaper changed? Almighty Creator is nursed in the arms of a teenage girl. Her betrothed …
Joy is one of the most compelling forces in the world—when people have it, and it’s real and flowing from the depths of their souls, you know it. If so much of discipleship is about embodiment and imitation, then it is a pastoral responsibility to live the kind of lives that other people would want to have. With this in …
My husband and I recently returned from vacationing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a highly multiethnic city of 1.67 million people in a metro area consisting of 7.9 million people. The city itself is predicted to grow to 2.2 million by 2020. Kuala Lumpur is a global city, offering international financial services, headquarters to multinational corporations, a center for new ideas and …
My wife Deb and I recently moved our family to a northeastern suburb of Indianapolis to plant a church with our friends Matt and Sharon Tebbe. There were a few reasons for landing where we did, mostly having to do with the relationships our friends (who had arrived a few months before we had) were establishing. It seemed good to …