No Mission Without Incarnation

John 1:14 from the Message reads:“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” There’s something significant, inspiring, and mysterious that the Creator of all things dwelt in a neighborhood.  Accessible God That God would care to be known in a simple and tangible way to humanity is a powerful reflection of the incarnation. It makes God from “way out there” …

Grounding Your Church Plant

As church planters, one of the key questions we need to be able to answer for our missional communities is this: “What is the Church?”  The premise for being able to answer this question lies on the fact that, most people who have gone through some sort of negative experience with an institution will fall into a distaste and a …

The Praxis Gathering 2019

In our fifth annual time together, we will plunge into the hands-on-work of Life Together in Community with particular emphasis on creating a missional-community, a tethered community, a multi-ethnic community, a peace-making community, and a healing community. We’ve gathered some of the best on-the-ground church planters and practitioners to furnish us with the possibilities for lighting a path ahead in our churches, …

New Learning Cohorts for Planters & Pastors

The V3 Movement is overjoyed to offer new innovative learning cohorts this fall. MarketPlace Planting Early Trappists Monks created enterprises to that funded their missional work, so today’s marketplace planters and pioneers will artistically find ways to start businesses that contribute social good and while engaging civic structures of a particular place. Join us this fall as Hugh Halter trains …

Of Oaks and Aspens

A pastor friend of mine, Jonathan Cleveland, recently reminded me of a metaphor that is not necessarily new but is good to revisit, especially when talking about missional church planting and ecclesiology. The imaging of this metaphor revolves around the differences between an oak tree and aspen tree. I live in Colorado, at a higher elevation, where Aspens are an …

Hamster Wheels and Holodecks

Well, the news is out again. Gallup’s latest faith poll showed church membership is “down sharply”[1] over the past two decades. Relevant Magazine recently reported that young people are leaving the church due to perceived judgment and hypocrisy [2]. These types of reports are all the more common today, and it is getting harder for church leaders to navigate the …