Everywhere You Look: The Church After COVID

Even before the pandemic, the practical imagination of what the church is and what it exists for felt like it was already up for grabs. The COVID pandemic has accelerated this confusion while also creating new opportunities for innovation and adaptation. Join us to explore the future of the church and how it will likely become more local, relational, and globally networked. IN THIS WEBINAR …

Uncovered: How My Response to these Times Matters

As church planters and church leaders, as we’re busy carrying the weight of leadership in these times, trying to bring clarity in the midst of confusion while being confused ourselves, trying to help those who have suffered great loss even while we are facing our own personal loss, and navigating wisdom for our communities when righteousness seems so polarized.  It …

Church Without Walls Part 2

Covid19 has been tough on church worship services, but it has also exposed something beautiful—the Church can gather without walls. When you pare down the Church to its essentials, something potent is discovered at its core. Could it be time to re-explore the DNA of the church when it’s decentralized, when it takes on the form of a grassroots local …

Learning from Tomatoes as We Reopen Our Churches

One of the interesting responses to the current pandemic has been a turning back to gardening. Plant nurseries and online seed catalogue companies have been inundated with orders for seeds, planting boxes and fertilizers. First time gardeners are crying out for help as they dig their inexperienced hands in the dirt. What concerns me, however, is that many of these …

Church Without Walls

Covid19 has been tough on church worship services, but it has also exposed something beautiful—the Church can gather without walls. When you pare down the Church to its essentials, something potent is discovered at its core. Could it be time to re-explore the DNA of the church when it’s decentralized, when it takes on the form of a grassroots local …

What is My Role in the Story of Racism?

I don’t like to grieve, I prefer to smile, but I find myself grieving. I don’t like to lament, I prefer to find ways to anesthetize the pain, but I find myself lamenting.  Watching the cruel murder of George Floyd by a police officer who is called to protect and to serve the community, demonstrated once again how racism, which …

Your Identity and Calling Are Not What You Think

“Who am I and what on earth am I doing here?”  “What is my identity and what is my purpose or calling?”    “What is God’s will for my life?” These are just some of the many questions most of us have at some point in our lives.  Most of us, and particularly those of us who have been in church …

Decolonizing Church Planting

With rising gentrification, wealth disparity, and the decline of organized religion, often along racial lines, planting churches requires power analysis. This webinar will use a basic framework of decolonialism to reconstruct a vision of church planting that shifts the center of power from being in the possession of the ruling class (clergy, institutions, men, white folks, professionals, etc) to being …

It’s Time to Re-imagine Worship and How We Gather

(Note: This article was originally written before COVID-19. The ideas contained are now applicable to a time, whenever that may be, when we all can gather again.) In my previous post, I introduced my church plant Cypher Church, and discussed how we’ve intentionally shifted our community away from a worship event. Not only have we removed weekly services, we’ve also …