Holding Space in the Midst of Tragedy: A Hard Story PART 2

We jump back into the question of holding space and self-care without sacrificing the ethos of the pastoral office. As pastors we help shoulder the burden of trauma carried by members of our community. The cost of this work can be overwhelming. Yet, to do this work well we must take care of ourselves without feeling the guilt of our …

Sent Shepherds

Is it possible that shepherds with apostolic eyes can help create bridges from predictable and safe sheep pens into missional and open fields? In missional movements growing out of evangelical subcultures it is really important for apostles and prophets to regain their voices in the body which have been lost, quieted or silenced(!) in the overemphasis on shepherds and teachers. …

Feeling Like an Evangelistic Failure?

Do you feel like a failure if you haven’t converted anyone? This was the question that my friend asked me about my work in the neighborhood where I live. My friend who is not a Christian, had read my book Urban Spirituality: Embodying God’s Mission in the Neighborhood. In this book, I write about the work I do in my …

The Cure for Overwhelmed Church Planters and Pastors

Cut the number of worship services in half. Sound far fetched? It’s possible to do, and it would cut workload considerably. Of course, then you may have to justify your salary. Ultimately, it may be the best move to re-connect with a post-Christians culture. If we look at budgets and responsibilities, the majority of money and time in a church …

Questioning Paradigms

The questions we ask ourselves will define our practices.  Think about the questions you ask either consciously or subconsciously and they will shed light on your daily, weekly, and yearly practices.  For example, we would probably all agree that the question “how do I live the most comfortably?” is a deep value of Western Culture. If this is the question …

Our Desire to Plant a Neighbourhood Church

Here at V3 we get the joy of encountering stories from around the globe that inspire and encourage us and we hope to do the same for our readers by highlighting a few. We are honored to come alongside our church planters as they labor to ground their leadership and missiology in community. We are grateful to be part of …

Best Cities in North America for Planting Among Asian Indians

As of Saturday morning, June 2, 2018, the population of India was 1,352,795,014, making up 17.74% of the world’s population. In other words, approximately one out of every six people in the world live in India. This is important to consider in this third post of our series exploring the best places to plant churches. (see our first post here …

Free Webinar – Multi-Ethnic Missional Planting: Colonization vs. Community

God’s spirit is awakening us to the beautiful mess of being a diverse church together. Everybody seems to be talking about being a Multi-ethic church. But what does that mean? Are we using consumeristic tactics to build multi-ethnic churches? Is this leading to a new colonialism rather than shared-life in community? We need to move beyond cool church practices and dive deep into neighborhood-rooted …

The Ecology of the Gathering

The design of a space is never neutral; it always communicates some specific value. For example, what does it say about someone’s values if they set their living room T.V. off in a corner, while all the furniture is turned towards a window looking out into the backyard? The way a room is set up communicates certain values. Physical spaces …