thechurchplanter

2012-02-07T20:58:00.001-05:00

Tunnel-visioned ignorance fails to recognize anything other than self. Open your mind and seek the mind of Christ. God's special children are those who, on their way home, are peacemakers in the traveling company. No room for tunnel vision.

Ed Stetzer - missionSHIFT: Introducing Dan Kimball

2011-01-08T12:42:00.001-05:00

Follow this link to a great interview between Ed Stetzer and Dan Kimball on the missional church. Good stuff!

Ed Stetzer - missionSHIFT: Introducing Dan Kimball

Leadership for Various-Sized Churches

2011-01-07T10:30:00.003-05:00

This is an excellent article written by Dr. Tim Keller of Redeemer Church in New York City. Dr. Keller is one of the foremost minds in the evangelical conversation today.

LEADERSHIP AND CHURCH SIZE DYNAMICS
HOW STRATEGY CHANGES WITH GROWTH
[DR. TIMOTHY KELLER]

A church’s functional style, its strengths and weaknesses, and the roles of its lay and staff leaders will change dramatically as its size changes.

One of the most common reasons for pastoral leadership mistakes is blindness to the significance of church size. Size has an enormous impact on how a church functions. There is a “size culture” that profoundly affects how decisions are made, how relationships flow, how effectiveness is evaluated, and what ministers, staff, and lay leaders do.

We tend to think of the chief differences between churches mainly in denominational or theological terms, but that underestimates the impact of size on how a church operates. The difference between how churches of 100 and 1,000 function may be much greater than the difference between a Presbyterian and a Baptist church of the same size. The staff person who goes from a church of 400 to a church of 2,000 is in many ways making a far greater change than if he or she moved from one denomination to another.

A large church is not simply a bigger version of a small church. The difference in communication, community formation, and decision-making processes are so great that the leadership skills required in each are of almost completely different orders.

SIZE CULTURES
Every church has a culture that goes with its size and which must be accepted. Most people tend to prefer a certain size culture, and unfortunately, many give their favorite size culture a moral status and treat other size categories as spiritually and morally inferior. They may insist that the only biblical way to do church is to practice a certain size culture despite the fact that the congregation they attend is much too big or too small to fit that culture.

For example, if some members of a church of 2,000 feel they should be able to get the senior pastor personally on the phone without much difficulty, they are insisting on getting a kind of pastoral care that a church of under 200 provides. Of course the pastor would soon be overwhelmed. Yet the members may insist that if he can’t be reached he is failing his biblical duty to be their shepherd.

Another example: the new senior pastor of a church of 1,500 may insist that virtually all decisions be made by consensus among the whole board and staff. Soon the board is meeting every week for six hours each time! Still the pastor may insist that for staff members to be making their own decisions would mean they are acting unaccountably or failing to build community. To impose a size-culture practice on a church that does not have that size will wreak havoc on it and eventually force the church back into the size with which the practices are compatible.

A further example: New members who have just joined a smaller church after years of attending a much larger one may begin complaining about the lack of professional quality in the church’s ministries and insisting that this shows a lack of spiritual excellence. The real problem, however, is that in the smaller church volunteers do things that in the larger church are done by full-time staff. Similarly, new members of the smaller church might complain that the pastor’s sermons are not as polished and well researched as they had come to expect in the larger church. While a large-church pastor with multiple staff can afford to put twenty hours a week into sermon preparation, however, the solo pastor of a smaller church can devote less than half of that time each week.

This means a wise pastor may have to sympathetically confront people who are just not able to handle the church’s size culture—just like many people cannot adapt to life in geographic cultures different from the one they were used to. Some people are organizationally suspicious, often for valid reasons from their experience. Others can’t handle not having the preacher as their pastor. We must suggest to them they are asking for the impossible in a church that size. We must not imply that it would be immaturity on their part to seek a different church, though we should not actively encourage anyone to leave, either.

HEALTHY RESISTANCE
Every church has aspects of its natural size culture that must be resisted. Larger churches have a great deal of difficulty keeping track of members who drop out or fall away from the faith. This should never be accepted as inevitable. Rather, the large church must continually struggle to improve pastoral care and discipleship.

Out of necessity, the large church must use organizational techniques from the business world, but the danger is that ministry may become too results-oriented and focused on quantifiable outcomes (attendance, membership, giving) rather than the goals of holiness and character growth. Again, this tendency should not be accepted as inevitable; rather, new strategies for focusing on love and virtue must always be generated.

The smaller church by its nature gives immature, outspoken, opinionated, and broken members a significant degree of power over the whole body. Since everyone knows everyone else, when members of a family or small group express strong opposition to the direction set by the pastor and leaders, their misery can hold the whole congregation hostage. If they threaten to leave, the majority of people will urge the leaders to desist in their project. It is extremely difficult to get complete consensus about programs and direction in a group of 50–150 people, especially in today’s diverse, fragmented society, and yet smaller churches have an unwritten rule that for any new initiative to be implemented nearly everyone must be happy with it. Leaders of small churches must be brave enough to lead and to confront immature members, in spite of the unpleasantness involved.

There is no “best size” for a church. Each size presents great difficulties and also many opportunities for ministry that churches of other sizes cannot undertake (at least not as well). Only together can churches of all sizes be all that Christ wants the church to be.

PRINCIPLES OF SIZE DYNAMICS
Reading books on church size can be confusing, as everyone breaks down the size categories somewhat differently.

This is because there are many variables in a church’s culture and history that determine exactly when a congregation gets to a new size barrier. For example, everyone knows that at some point a church becomes too large for one pastor to handle. People begin to complain that they are not getting adequate pastoral care. The time has come to add staff. But when does that happen? In some communities it may happen when attendance rises to 120, while in others it does not happen until the church has nearly 300 in regular attendance. It depends a great deal on expectations, the mobility of the city’s population, how fast the church has grown, and so on. Despite the variables, the point at which a second pastoral staff member must be added is usually called “the 200 barrier.” That is a good average figure, but keep in mind that your own church might reach that threshold at some different attendance figure.

Here are the general trends or changes that come as a church grows larger.

INCREASING COMPLEXITY
The larger the church, the less its members have in common. There is more diversity in factors such as age, family status, ethnicity, and so on, and thus a church of 400 needs four to five times more programs than a church of 200—not two times more. Larger churches are much more complex than their smaller counterparts. They have multiple services, multiple groups, and multiple tracks, and eventually they really are multiple congregations.

Also, the larger the church, the more staff per capita needs to be added. Often the first ministry staff persons are added for every increase of 150–200 in attendance. A church of 500 may have two or three full-time ministry staff, but eventually ministry staff may need to be added for every 75–100 new persons. Thus a church of 2,000 may have twenty-five staff.

SHIFTING LAY-STAFF RESPONSIBILITIES
On the one hand, the larger the church the more decision making falls to the staff rather than to the whole membership or even the lay leaders. The elders or board must increasingly deal with only top-level, big-picture issues. This means the larger the church, the more decision making is pushed up toward the staff and away from the congregation and lay leaders. Needless to say, many laypeople feel extremely uncomfortable with this.

On the other hand, the larger the church, the more the basic pastoral ministry such as hospital visits, discipling, oversight of Christian growth, and counseling is done by lay leaders rather than by the professional ministers.

Generally, in small churches policy is decided by many and ministry is done by a few, while in the large church ministry is done by many and policy is decided by a few.

INCREASING INTENTIONALITY
The larger the church, the more systematic and deliberate the assimilation of newcomers needs to be. As a church grows, newcomers are not visible to the congregation’s members. Thus new people are not spontaneously and informally welcomed and invited in. Pathways for assimilation must be identified or established by asking questions such as these:

+ How will newcomers get here?
+ How will they be identified by the church?
+ Where will unbelievers learn Christianity’s relevance, content, and credibility?
+ Who will move them along the path?
+ Where will believers get plugged in?
+ Who will help them?

The larger the church, the harder it is to recruit volunteers and thus a more well-organized volunteer recruitment process is required. Why is this so? First, the larger the church, the more likely it is that someone you don’t know well will try to recruit you. It is much easier to say no to someone you do not know than to someone you know well. Second, it is easier to feel less personally responsible for the ministries of a large church: “They have lots of people here—they don’t need me.” Therefore, the larger the church, the more well-organized and formal the recruitment of volunteers must be.

INCREASING REDUNDANCY OF COMMUNICATION
The larger the church, the better communication has to be. Without multiple forms and repeated messages, people will feel left out and complain, “I wasn’t told about it.” You know you’ve crossed into a higher size category when such complaints become constant. Informal communication networks (pulpit announcements, newsletter notices, and word of mouth) are insufficient to reach everyone. More lead time is necessary to communicate well.

INCREASING QUALITY OF PRODUCTION
The larger the church, the more planning and organization must go into events. A higher quality of production in general is expected in a larger church and events cannot simply be thrown together. Spontaneous, last-minute events do not work.

The larger the church, the higher its aesthetic bar must be. In smaller churches the worship experience is rooted mainly in horizontal relationships among those who attend. Musical offerings from singers who are untrained and not especially talented are nonetheless appreciated because “we all know them” and they are members of the fellowship. But the larger the church, the more worship is based on the vertical relationship—on a sense of transcendence. If an outsider comes in who doesn’t know the musicians, then a mediocre quality of production will distract them from worship. They don’t have a relationship with the musicians to offset the lack of giftedness. So the larger the church, the more the music becomes an inclusion factor.

INCREASING OPENNESS TO CHANGE
The larger the church, the more it is subject to frequent and sudden change. Why?
First, smaller churches tend to have little turnover: individual members feel powerful and necessary and so they stay put.

Second, the larger the church, the more power for decision making moves away from the whole congregation to the leaders and staff. Too much is going on for the congregation or the board or eventually even the staff to make all the decisions as a group. As decision-making power comes into the hands of individual staff or volunteer leaders, change happens more quickly. Decisions can be made expeditiously without everyone signing on.

Further, as we saw above, the larger the church, the more complex it is and therefore the more schedules, events, and programs there are to change.

LOSING MEMBERS BECAUSE OF CHANGES
The larger the church, the more it loses members because of changes. Why? Smaller churches seek at all costs to avoid losing members. As a result, certain individuals and small groups often come to exercise power disproportionate to their numbers. If a change were made, someone invariably would experience it as a loss, and since the smaller church has a great fear of conflict, it usually will not institute a change that might result in lost members. Thus smaller churches tend to have a more stable membership than large churches do.

In larger churches small groups and individual members have far less ability to exert power or resist changes they dislike. And (as noted previously) since larger churches undergo constant change, they regularly lose members because “It’s too big now” or “I can’t see the pastor anymore” or “We don’t pray spontaneously anymore in church.” Leaders of churches that grow large are more willing to lose members who disagree with procedures or the philosophy of ministry.

SHIFTING ROLE OF THE MINISTERS
The larger the church, the less available the main preacher is to do pastoral work. In smaller churches the pastor is available at all times, for most occasions and needs, to any member or unchurched person. In the large church there are sometimes more lay ministers, staff, and leaders than the small church has people! So the large church’s pastors must recognize their limits and spend more time with staff and lay shepherds and in prayer and meditation.

The larger the church, the more important the minister’s leadership abilities are. Preaching and pastoring are sufficient skills for pastors in smaller churches, but as a church grows other leadership skills become critical. In a large church not only administrative skills but also vision casting and strategy design are crucial gifts in the pastoral team.

The larger the church, the more the ministry staff members must move from being generalists to being specialists. Everyone from the senior pastor on down must focus on certain ministry areas and concentrate on two or three main tasks. The larger the church, the more the senior pastor must specialize in preaching, vision keeping and vision casting, and identifying problems before they become disasters.

Finally, the larger the church, the more important it is for ministers, especially the senior minister, to stay put for a long time. As noted above, smaller churches change less rapidly and have less turnover. With this innate stability, a smaller church can absorb a change of minister every few years if necessary. But the larger the church, the more the staff in general and the senior pastor in particular are the main sources of continuity and stability. Rapid turnover of staff is highly detrimental to a large church.

GENERALLY, IN SMALL CHURCHES POLICY IS DECIDED BY MANY AND MINISTRY IS DONE BY A FEW, WHILE IN THE LARGE CHURCH MINISTRY IS DONE BY MANY, AND POLICY IS DECIDED BY A FEW.

STRUCTURING SMALLER
The larger the church, the smaller the basic pastoral span of care.

In smaller churches, classes and groups can be larger because virtually everyone in the church is cared for directly by full-time trained ministry staff, each of whom can care for 50–200 people. In larger churches, however, the internal groupings need to be smaller, because people are cared for by lay shepherds, each of whom can care for 10–20 people if given proper supervision and support. Thus in a larger church, the more small groups you have per 100 people in attendance, the better cared for people are and the faster the church grows.

EMPHASIS ON VISION AND STRENGTHS
The larger the church, the more it tends to concentrate on doing fewer things well. Smaller churches are generalists and feel the need to do everything. This comes from the power of the individual in a small church. If any member wants the church to address some issue, then the church makes an effort in order to please him or her. The larger church, however, identifies and concentrates on approximately three or four major things and works to do them extremely well, despite calls for new emphases.

Further, the larger the church, the more a distinctive vision becomes important to its members. The reason for being in a smaller church is relationships. The reason for putting up with all the changes and difficulties of a larger church is to get mission done. People join a larger church because of the vision—so the particular mission needs to be clear.

The larger the church, the more it develops its own mission outreach rather than supporting already existing programs. Smaller churches tend to support denominational mission causes and contribute to existing parachurch ministries. Leaders and members of larger churches feel more personally accountable to God for the kingdom mandate and seek to either start their own mission ministries or to form partnerships in which there is more direct accountability of the mission agency to the church.

Consequently, the larger the church, the more its lay leaders need to be screened for agreement on vision and philosophy of ministry, not simply for doctrinal and moral standards. In smaller churches, people are eligible for leadership on the basis of membership tenure and faithfulness. In larger churches, where a distinctive mission and vision are more important, it is important to enlist without apology leaders who share a common philosophy of ministry with the staff and other leaders.

SPECIFIC SIZE CATEGORIES
HOUSE CHURCH: UP TO 40 ATTENDANCE

Character
+ The house church is often called a “storefront church” in urban areas and a “country church” in rural areas.
+ It operates essentially as an extended small group. It is a highly relational church in which everyone knows everyone else intimately.
+ Lay leaders are extremely powerful and they emerge relationally—they are not appointed or elected. They are usually the people who have been at the church the longest and have devoted the most time and money to the work.
+ Decision making is democratic and informal and requires complete consensus. Decisions are made by informal relational process. If any member is unhappy with a course of action, it is not taken by the church.
+ Communication is by word of mouth, and information moves very swiftly through the whole membership.
+ The pastor is often a “tentmaker” and does church ministry part time, though once a church has at least ten families who tithe, it can support a full-time minister. The minister’s main job is shepherding, not leading or preaching.

How it grows
House churches grow in the most organic possible way—through attraction to their warmth, relationships, and people. New people are simply invited and continue to come because they are befriended. There is no “program” of outreach.

Crossing the threshold to the next size category
The house church, like any small group, gets to saturation rather quickly. Once it gets to 40+ people, the intense face-to-face relationships become impossible to maintain. It then faces a choice: either multiplying off another house-church or growing out of the “house-church dynamics” into the next size category, the small church.

If it does not do either, evangelism becomes essentially impossible. The fellowship itself then can easily become ingrown and stagnant—somewhat stifling, sometimes legalistic.
An ongoing problem for the stand-alone church of this size is the low quality of ministry to specific groups like children, youth, and singles. If it opts to multiply into another house church, the two (and eventually several) house churches can form an association and do things like youth ministry together. They can also meet for joint worship services periodically.
If it opts to grow out of the house-church size into a small church, it needs to prepare its people to do this by acknowledging the losses of intimacy, spontaneity, and informality and agreeing to bear these as a cost of mission, of opening its ranks to new people. This has to be a consensus group decision, to honor the dynamics of the house church even as it opts to change those dynamics.

SMALL CHURCH: 40–200 ATTENDANCE

Character
+ The range of this category goes from churches that are barely out of the house-church stage up to churches that are ready for multiple staff. But they all share the same basic characteristics. + While the relational dynamics are now less intense, there is still a strong expectation that every member must have a face-to-face relationship with every other member.
+ And while there are now appointed and elected leaders, the informal leadership system remains extremely strong. There are several laypeople—regardless of their official status—who are “opinion leaders.” If they don’t approve of new measures the rest of the members will not support the changes.
+ Communication is still informal, mostly word of mouth, and relatively swift.
+ The pastor is still primarily a shepherd. While in a larger church people will let you pastor them if you are a good preacher, in a smaller church the reverse is true: people will listen to your sermons if you are a good pastor.
+ Effective, loving shepherding of every member is the driving force of ministry—not leadership or even speaking ability. A pastor who says, “I shouldn’t have to shepherd every member, I’ve delegated that to my elders or small group leaders,” is trying to practice large-church dynamics in a small-church environment.
+ However, as the congregation grows the pastor of a small church will feel more and more need for administrative
leadership skills. Small churches do not require much in the way of vision casting or strategizing, but they do eventually present a need for program planning, mobilization of volunteers, and other administrative tasks.
+ Changes are still processed relationally and informally by the whole congregation, not just the leaders. But since the congregation is larger, decisions take a longer time than in either the house church or the medium-sized church. Ultimately, however, change in a small church happens from the bottom up through key lay leaders. No major changes can be made unless you get at least one of these people to be an ally and an advocate for them.

How it grows
Like house churches, small churches grow through newcomers’ attraction to the relationships in the congregation. However, in the small church it can also be a personal relationship to the pastor that is the primary attraction for a new person. The pastor can begin two or three new ministries, classes, or groups, as long as he has secured the backing or participation of one key informal leader. Together they can begin a new activity that will bring many new people into the church.

Crossing the threshold to the next size category
This church may eventually face the famous “200 barrier.” To make room for more than 200 people in a church takes a significant commitment to some or all of the following changes.

+ First change—multiplication options.

There must be a willingness to question the unwritten policy that every voting member should have a face-to-face relationship with every other member.
When a church gets to the place where the older members begin to realize that there are members whom they barely know or don’t know at all, the complaint may be voiced in a tone of moral authority: “This church is getting too big.” Another form of this complaint is that the church is getting “impersonal.” Essentially, this attitude must change if newcomers are to be welcomed.
Often the key change that a congregation must allow is a move to multiplying options such as more than one Sunday service, or putting more emphasis on small group ministry than on having one unified corporate prayer meeting.
As a general rule, multiplying options generate a growth spurt. The single best way to increase attendance is to multiply Sunday services. Two services will immediately draw more people than one service did. Four Sunday school electives will generally draw more people than two Sunday school electives. Why? Because when you give people more options, more people opt!

+ Second change—a willingness to pay the cost of an additional primary ministry staff person.

It is a sociological fact that a full-time minister cannot personally shepherd more than about 150–200 people. At some point any pastor will lose the ability to personally visit, stay in touch, and be reasonably available to all the people of a growing congregation.
The minister’s span of pastoral care can be stretched with part-time or full-time specialty or administrative staff, such as children’s workers, secretaries, administrators, and musicians,. There are variations to this figure depending on the minister’s personality and energy level and the local culture. For example, a more white-collar community tends to demand far more specialized programs than does a working-class community,
and therefore you may find in such a place that you need a full-time ministry staff person for every 100–150 in attendance.
Eventually that second ministry staff person must be hired. This is commonly another ordained pastor, but it could be a layperson who is a counselor, overseer of small groups, or supervisor of programs who does a lot of shepherding work and teaching. It is important to be sure that this second person really can grow the church and, practically speaking, grow the giving that will pay his or her salary. So, for example, it may not be best to have the second ministry staff person be a youth minister; it would be better to hire a small group minister or a minister of evangelism and outreach. Or, if the senior minister is excellent at outreach, the second staff worker could be a pastor/counselor who complements the gifts of the first minister and works on the church’s internal growth. Initial staffing must be for growth.

The tension that often arises in a church this size is that the church is big enough that the pastor begins to feel burned out but is not yet big enough to financially support a second minister.

+ Third change—a willingness to let power shift away from the laity and even lay leaders to the staff.

As you get to this size barrier, the old approach to decision making, which required that everyone to come to a consensus, becomes far too slow and unwieldy. In the consensus model of decision making, it is considered impossible to proceed with a change if any member is strongly opposed, especially if it appears that the change would actually result in some people’s leaving the church.
As a church nears the 200 barrier, there is almost always someone who experiences the concomitant changes as a loss. Therefore no changes will ever occur unless many of the decisions that used to involve the whole membership now shift to the leaders and staff. But it is not just that the laity must cede power to the leaders. Long-time lay leaders must also cede power to the staff and volunteer leaders.
In a smaller church the lay leaders often know more about the members than the pastor does. The lay leaders have been there longer and thus have more knowledge of the past, more trust from the members, and more knowledge of the members’ abilities, capacities, interests, and opinions.
Once a church gets beyond 200, however, the staff tends to know more about the church members than the lay leaders do, and increasingly the new members in particular take their cues from the pastor(s) rather than from the lay leaders.
The lay officers’ board or elders will no longer be able to sign off on absolutely everything and will have to let the staff and individual volunteer leaders make many decisions on their own.

+ Fourth change—a willingness to become more formal and deliberate in assimilation and communication.

For a church to move beyond this barrier it can no longer assume that communication and the assimilation of newcomers will happen “naturally,” without any planning. Communication will have to become more deliberate instead of by word of mouth alone. Newcomers will have to be folded in more intentionally.
For example, every new family could be assigned a “sponsor” for six months—a member family who invites the new family over to their home, brings them to a new members’ class, and so on.

+ Fifth change—the ability and willingness of both the pastor and the people for the pastor to do shepherding a bit less and leading a bit more.

The next-size church requires a bit more vision casting and strategizing and a lot more administrative know-how. The pastor of the medium-sized church will have to spend much more time recruiting and supervising volunteers and programs to do ministry that in the smaller church he would have done himself. This takes administrative skills of planning, delegating, supervising, and organizing.
In this next-size church the pastor is simply less available and accessible to every member. Even with the hiring of additional ministry staff, every member will not be able to have the same access to the senior pastor as he or she did before. Both the people and the senior minister need to acknowledge and accept this cost.

+ Sixth change—considering the option of moving to a new space and facilities.

• Will such a move be crucial to breaking the next growth barrier? Sometimes, but not usually. Usually what is needed is planning multiple worship services, staffing for growth, and adjusting attitudes and expectations in preparation for a new size culture.

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCH, 200–450 ATTENDANCE

Character
+ In smaller churches, each member is acquainted with the entire membership of the church. The primary circle of belonging is the church as a whole. But in the medium-sized church, the primary circle of belonging is usually a specific affinity class or program. Men’s and women’s ministries, the choir, the couples’ class, the evening worship team, the local prison ministry, the meals-on-wheels ministry—all of these are possible circles of belonging that make the church fly. Each of these subgroups is approximately the size of the house church, 10–40 people.

+ Leadership functions differently in the medium-sized church.

First, since the medium-sized church has far more complexity, the leaders must represent the various constituencies in the church (e.g., the older people, the young families).
Second, there is too much work to be handled by a small board. There are now influential leadership teams or committees, such as the missions committee or the music/worship committee, that have significant power.
Third, because of the two factors above, leaders begin to be chosen less on the basis of length of tenure and strength of personality and more on the basis of skills and giftedness.
Fourth, the role of the lay officers or board begins to change. In the smaller church, the officers basically oversee the pastor and staff, giving or withholding permission for various proposals. The pastor and staff then do the ministry. In the medium-sized church, the officers begin to do more of the ministry themselves, in partnership with the staff. Volunteer ministry leaders often rise up and become the decision-making leaders. Chairs of influential committees sit on the official board.

+ As noted above, the senior minister shifts somewhat from being a shepherd toward becoming a “rancher.” Rather than doing all of the ministry himself, he becomes a trainer and organizer of laypeople doing ministry. He also must be adept at training, supporting, and supervising ministry and administrative staff. At the medium-sized church level, this requires significant administrative skills.

+ While in the smaller church change and decisions come from the bottom up through key laypeople, in the medium-sized church change happens through key committees and teams. Ordinarily the official board or session in the medium-sized church is inherently conservative. They feel very responsible and do not want to offend any constituents they believe they represent. Therefore change is usually driven by forward-thinking committees such as the missions committee or the evangelism committee. These can be very effective in persuading the congregation to try new things.

How it grows

As noted earlier, smaller churches grow mainly through pastor-initiated groups, classes, and ministries. The medium-sized church will also grow as it multiplies classes, groups, services, and ministries, but the key to medium-sized growth is improving the quality of the ministries and their effectiveness to meet real needs. The small church can accommodate amateurish quality because the key attraction is its intimacy and family-like warmth. But the medium-sized church’s ministries must be different. Classes really must be great learning experiences. Music must meet aesthetic needs. Preaching must inform and inspire.

Crossing the threshold to the next size category

I have said that the small church crosses the 200 barrier through (1) multiplying options, (2) going to multiple staff, (3) shifting decision-making power away from the whole membership, (4) becoming more formal and deliberate in assimilation, and (5) moving the pastor away from shepherding everyone to being more of an organizer/administrator. You can grow beyond 200 without making all of these five changes; in fact, most churches do. Often churches grow past 200 while holding on to one or more of the smaller-church attitudes. For example, if the senior minister is multigifted and energetic, he can take care of the organizational/administrative
work and still have time to visit every member of his church. Or perhaps new staff persons are added but the decision-making is still done on a whole-congregation consensus model. But to break 400, you must firmly break the old habits in all five areas. As for the sixth change—moving to new space and facilities—this is usually needed for a medium-sized church to break the growth barrier, but not always.

LARGE CHURCH, 400–800 ATTENDANCE

Character

+ We have seen that in the small church, the primary circle of belonging is the entire church body. In the medium-sized church, the primary circle is the affinity class or ministry group, which is usually 10–40 in size. However, in the large church the primary circle of belonging becomes the small group fellowship. This is different from the affinity class or ministry in the following ways:

It is usually smaller—as small as 4 and no bigger than 15.
It is more of a “miniature church” than is the affinity class or ministry. Affinity classes or ministries are specialty programs, focusing only on learning or worship music or ministry to the poor and so on. The small group fellowship does Bible study, fellowship, worship, and ministry.

+ Leadership also functions differently in the large church. In the small church, leaders were selected for their tenure; in the medium-sized church, for their skills and maturity. Both of these are still very desirable! But in the large church, these qualities must be combined with a commitment to the church’s distinct vision and mission. The larger the church becomes, the more it develops certain key ministries and strengths that it emphasizes, and the common vision is an important reason that members join. So leaders need to be screened for vision as well as other qualifications.

+ In the small church, the board gave or withheld permission to the pastor(s), who did the ministry. In the medium-sized church, the board is made up of lay leaders and committee chairs who share the ministry work with the pastors and staff. But in the large church, the board must work with the senior minister to set overall vision and goals and then to evaluate the overall ministry. Unlike the small church board, they don’t oversee all the staff—they let the senior minister do that. Unlike the medium church board, they may not necessarily be the lay leaders of ministry. Instead they oversee how the church and ministries are doing as a whole.

+ In the large church, the roles of individual staff members become increasingly specialized, and that also goes for the role of the senior minister. He must concentrate more and more on (a) preaching and (b) vision casting and strategizing. He must let go of many or most administrative tasks; otherwise he becomes a bottleneck.

+ While in the small church change and decisions happen from the bottom up through powerful lay individuals, and in the medium-sized church they come from the boards and committees, in the large church they happen “top down” from staff and key lay leaders.

How it grows

The small church grows mainly through new groups, classes, and ministries initiated by the pastor, sometimes with the help of an ally. I call this the “backyard approach,” since it grows from informal new fellowship circles. The medium-sized church grows mainly through ministries that effectively target “felt needs” of various groups such as youth, seniors, young married couples, and “seekers.” I call this the “side-door approach,” since it brings in various people groups from your city or neighborhood by addressing their felt needs. The large church, however, grows through a “front-door” approach. The key to its growth is what happens in the worship services—the quality of the preaching, the transcendence of the worship experience, and so on.

Crossing the threshold to the next size category
The same five changes mentioned before need to be taken to the next level.

+ First change—multiplying options. Up to the “800 barrier,” churches can still get away with having a mediocre or poor small-group system. The people may still be getting shepherded mainly through larger programs, affinity classes, and groups that are run by staff people directly. But if God keeps sending you new people, so that you are bumping up against the 800 barrier, you must have the majority of your members and adherents in small groups that are very well run and that do pastoral care, not just Bible study. Multiple services were more important when addressing the 200 or 400 barrier, but small group life is the key to navigating this change.

+ Second change—multiplying staff. Up to the “800 barrier” churches can still get away with a small staff of generalists, but after the 800 barrier there must be much more specialization. Staff members must be increasingly gifted, and not simply workers, nor even leaders of workers, but leaders of leaders. They must be fairly mature, independent, and able to attract and supervise others.

+ Third change—shifting decision-making power. Up to the “800 barrier,” decision-making power was becoming more centralized—migrating from the periphery (the whole membership or the whole lay board) to the center (the staff and eventually the senior staff). Now the decision-making power must become more decentralized—
migrating out away from the senior staff and pastor to the individual staff and their leadership teams. As noted above, the staff must become increasingly competent and must be given more authority to make decisions in their area without having to run everything through the senior staff or lay board.

+ Fourth change—becoming more formal and deliberate in assimilation. Assimilation, discipline, and incorporation of newcomers must become even more well organized, highly detailed, and supervised.

+ Fifth—adapting the senior pastor’s role. The pastor becomes even less accessible to do individual shepherding and concentrates even more on preaching, large group teaching, vision casting, and strategizing.

THE VERY LARGE CHURCH

Character

+ The very large church has a missional focus. In general, smaller churches give members a greater voice (see below), and thus the concerns and interests of members and insiders tend to trump those of outsiders. On the other hand, the larger church gives the staff and executive leaders a greater voice. The more staff-driven a church is, the more likely it is to concentrate on ministries that will reach nonmembers and that don’t directly benefit its own constituents—that is, church planting, mercy and justice ministries, and other new services and programs.

+ The very large church has several traits that attract seekers and young adults in particular:

Excellence. Those with no obligation to go to church based on kinship, tradition, ethnicity, or local history are more likely to attend where the quality of arts, teaching, children’s programs, and so on is very high.
Choices. Contemporary people are used to having options when it comes to the schedule or type of worship, learning, support services, and the like.
Openness to change. Generally, newcomers and younger people have a much greater tolerance for the constant changes and fluidity of a large church, while older people, long-term members, and families are more desirous of stability.
1. See Timothy Keller, “Why Plant Churches?” (2002), redeemercitytocity.com, for a more in-depth discussion of church planting.
2. Lyle Schaller, The Very Large Church (Nashville: Abingdon, 2000), 174.
Low pressure. Seekers are glad to come into a church and not have their presence noticed immediately. The great majority of inquirers and seekers are grateful for the ease with which they can visit a large church without immediately feeling pressured to make a decision or join a group.

+The very large church also has greater potential for developing certain qualities and ministries:

Being multicultural. A larger staff can be multiethnic (while a single staff/pastor usually cannot). A larger church with multiple services, classes, or even “congregations” can encompass a greater variety of interests and sensibilities.
Creating a full-service family support system. Families often need a variety of classes or groups for children in different age groups as well as counseling services, recreational opportunities, and so on. Larger churches often attract families for that reason.
Doing church planting. Larger churches, in general, are better at church planting than are either denominational agencies or smaller churches.1
Carrying out faith-based holistic ministries. Larger churches have a bigger pool of volunteers, finances, and expertise for carrying these out.
“Research and development” for the broader church. Again, the larger church is usually a good place for new curriculum, ministry structures, and the like to be formulated and tested. These can all be done more effectively by a large church than by denominations, smaller churches, or parachurch ministries.

ONE OF THE MOST COMMON REASONS FOR PASTORAL LEADERSHIP MISTAKES IS BLINDNESS TO THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHURCH SIZE.

+ Of course the very large church has disadvantages as well:

Commuting longer distances can undermine mission. Very large churches can become famous and attract Christians from longer and longer distances, who cannot bring non-Christians from their neighborhoods. Soon the congregation doesn’t look like the neighborhood and can’t reach its own geographic community. However, this is somewhat offset by the mission advantages and can be further offset by (a) church planting
and (b) staying relentlessly oriented toward evangelism and outreach.
Commuting longer distances undermines community/fellowship and discipleship. Christians coming from longer distances are less likely to be discipled and plugged in to real Christian community. The person you meet in a Sunday service is less and less likely to be someone who lives near you, so natural connections and friendships do not develop. This can be somewhat offset by an effective small-group system that unites people by interest or region.
Diminished communication and involvement. “A common pattern is for a large church to outgrow its internal communication system and plateau . . . as many people feel a loss of the sense of belonging, and eventually [it declines] numerically.”2 People are no longer sure whom to talk to about things: in a smaller church, the staff and elders know everything, but in a very large church, a given staff member may know nothing at all about what is going on outside his or her ministry. The long list of staff and ministries is overwhelming. No one feels they can get information quickly; no one feels they know how to begin to get involved. This can be offset by continually upgrading your communication system. This becomes extraordinarily important in a very large congregation.
Displacement. People who joined when the church was smaller may feel a great sense of loss and may have trouble adjusting to the new size culture. Many of them will mourn the loss of feeling personally connected to events, decision making, and the head pastor. Some of these “old-timers” will sadly leave, and their leaving will sadden those who remain in the church. This can be offset by giving old-timers extra deference and consideration, understanding the changes they’ve been through, and not making them feel guilty for wanting a different or smaller church. Fortunately, this problem eventually lessens! People who joined a church when it had 1,500 members will find that not much has changed when it reaches 4,000.
Complexity, change, and formality. Largeness brings (a) complexity instead of simplicity, (b) change instead of predictability, and (c) the need for formal rather than informal communication and decision making. However, many long-time Christians and families value simplicity, predictability, and informality, and even see them as more valuable from a spiritual standpoint. The larger the church, the more the former three factors grow, and many people simply won’t stand for them.
Succession. The bigger a church, the more the church is identified with the senior pastor. Why? (a) He becomes the only identifiable leader among a large number of staff and leaders of whom the average member cannot keep track. (b) Churches don’t grow large without a leader who is unusually good in articulating vision. This articulation then becomes the key to the whole church. That kind of giftedness is distinctive and is much less replaceable even than good preaching. This leads to the Achilles’ heel of the church—continuity and succession. How does the pastor retire without people feeling the church has died? One plan is to divide the church with each new site having its own senior pastor. Lyle Schaller believes, however, that the successors need to be people who have been on staff for a good while, not outsiders.

How it grows
Basically, a very large church continues to grow only if the advantages described are exploited while the disadvantages described are resisted and minimized.

A FEW MORE SUGGESTIONS REGARDING VERY LARGE CHURCHES
BE NONJUDGMENTAL

A common problem in churches is that people attach a moral significance to their ideal size culture. They don’t see a large-church size culture as “different” but as “bad.” For example, some members may feel that a very large church is an “unfriendly” or “uncaring” church because they can’t get the senior pastor on the phone personally. However, if everyone in a church of 3,000 could get the pastor on the phone anytime they wanted, it would not lead to a more caring church at all. He could not possibly respond to all their needs. (On the other hand, if a pastor in a church of 150 can never be gotten on the phone, he is imposing a larger size culture in a smaller church, and that will lead to disaster.)

Because a very large church is marked by change, the overall vision may stay the same, but few or no programs or practices are sacrosanct. Because it is complex, it is not immediately obvious whom to talk to or who needs to be in on a given decision; many new events may have unforeseen consequences for other programs. Because there is a need for greater formality, plans have to be written down and carefully executed, rather than worked out face to face and relationally. In a very large church, all of these traits must be considered the inevitable cost of ministry. There should be little hand-wringing and no moral significance attached to these traits (calling change “instability,” formality “being impersonal,” etc.). Different cultures are just that—different, not inferior.

FORM SMALLER DECISION-MAKING BODIES

In general, the larger the church, the fewer people should be in on each decision. Why? The larger the church, the more diversity of views. If the older processes are followed, decisions take longer and longer to be made, and they result in watered-down compromises. As a church gets larger it must entrust decision making to fewer and fewer people just to maintain the same level of progress, decisiveness, and intentionality it had when it was smaller. Many

Christians consider the size culture of a very large church to be by definition undemocratic or unaccountable. This is one reason that many churches never get very large, or shrink again once they do.

ALLOW THE DECENTRALIZATION OF POWER
Another mark of a very large church, especially once it surpasses about 1,800 members, is that the “hub and spokes” structure, in which the senior pastor serves as the captain or “hub” and his staff are the “spokes,” becomes obsolete. Instead of being a team under the senior pastor, the staff becomes a team of teams. The power of directors and clusters of directors grows greatly. The church has become too complex for the senior pastor to supervise directors closely, and power is shifted to specific departments. This has two consequences. On the one hand, it means that staff leaders have more decision-making power for their own area. Other staff directors and even the senior pastor have less information and ability to second-guess them or interfere. This happens increasingly as a church gets larger. On the other hand, it means staff cannot expect to receive as much mentoring, instruction, and rescuing from the executive staff as they did when the church was smaller.

BRING ON MORE SPECIALIZED, COMPETENT STAFF WORKERS WHO UNDERSTAND THE VISION
Studies show that churches of fewer than 800 members are staffed primarily with seminary-trained ministers, but the larger a church gets, the fewer trained ministers are on staff. Why is this?

First, the larger church needs specialists in counseling, music, finance, social work, and childhood development—whereas seminaries train generalists. Very large churches do not need theologically trained people to learn a specialty so much as they need specialists who can be theologically trained.

Second, the very large church cannot afford to bring on a newcomer with a steep learning curve as director of a large ministry. In a church of 500, you may have a youth ministry of 30 kids, so you can hire a young person out of seminary to be the youth pastor. But in a very large church there may be 300 youth—so the staff director has to be very competent from the start. The larger a church gets, the more competent the staff needs to be. The call to the staff changes from “Do what I tell you” to “Go out and make things happen.” Resourcefulness and creativity
become more and more important. The staff often need to be able to inspire followers and to find creative ways to bring something out of nothing. They must move from being leaders to being leaders of leaders.

Third, the larger the church gets, the more distinctive its vision is. It has a highly honed and carefully balanced set of emphases and styles—its own “voice.” People who are trained theologically before coming to staff inevitably come in with attitudes and assumptions that are at variance with the church’s vision. They may also feel superior to other staff people who are not theologically trained or may underestimate their own ignorance of the church’s specific context. The larger the church, then, the more important it is to raise and train leaders from within. This means that staff coming from outside need thorough training in the very large church’s history, values, culture, and so on, and staff coming from within should be supported heavily for continued theological education.

CHANGE THE SENIOR PASTOR’S ROLE
A very key and very visible part of the large size culture is the changed role of the senior pastor. As stated earlier, in a very large church the preacher cannot be the people’s pastor. The senior pastor must move from an emphasis on doing the work of ministry (teaching, pastoring, administering) to delegating this work so that he can concentrate on vision casting and general preaching. Many churches and ministers never allow this to happen; indeed they believe it is wrong to make such a shift. While the senior pastor must not become a CEO and stop doing traditional ministry altogether, he must not try to do pastoral care or provide oversight for the church at large either. That responsibility must go to others. This is undoubtedly difficult; the senior pastor will have to live with guilt feelings over it all the time. It’s a burden he must be willing to bear, with the help of the gospel. Otherwise the pressures of trying to do it all will lead to burnout. The senior pastor, the staff and ministry leaders, and the congregation must allow this transition to happen.

BUILD TRUST
Schaller shows that the very large church is more accessible and capable of reaching young people, single people, the unchurched, and seekers than smaller churches are. He then poses a question: If the need for very large churches is so great, why are there so few? Why don’t more churches (a) allow the senior pastor to become less accessible, (b) allow the staff to have more power than the board, (c) allow a small body of executive staff to have more decision-making power than the larger staff or congregation, or (d) allow directors more power to hire competent workers and release generalists? His main answer is that the key to the very large church culture is trust. In smaller churches, suspicious people are much happier. Every decision goes through a process of consensus that is accessible to any member. Any minority that is unhappy with something can block it. The larger the church gets, however, the more and more the congregation has to trust the staff, and especially the senior pastor. Though the staff (and the senior pastor) must do everything they can to be open to criticism, to be relationally available, and to communicate with people in a way that makes them feel included and informed, ultimately a very large church runs on trust.

Copyright © 2006 by Timothy Keller, © 2010 by Redeemer City to City. This article first appeared in The Movement Newsletter, and was reprinted in the Spring 2008 edition of Cutting Edge magazine, Vineyard USA.

We encourage you to use and share this material freely—but please don’t charge money for it, change the wording, or remove the copyright information.

Three Areas of Leadership Development

2011-01-05T17:25:00.003-05:00

I picked this thought up from Oikos Ministries in Canada. I like it. What do you think?

Three areas of leadership development:
1. character formation: integrity, faithfulness, obedience, love, etc.
2. ministerial formation: skills needed for ministry
3. strategic formation: shaping values & philosophies which under gird our perspective of life & ministry.

oikosministries.com

Missional Leadership Development

2011-01-04T18:31:00.002-05:00

After a return to the local church as a Lead Pastor three years ago, I am now reactivating this blog. My intent is to lead our church into the critical field of missional leadership development.

So, I am now looking for fresh, contemporary ideas on how to develop future missional leadership through the local church. Think as creatively as you can and share your thoughts with me by responding to this post.

By missional leadership, I mean the identification and training of leaders who haved a heart for creative missional multiplication in their own communities or for somewhere/anywhere else in the world. Please share!

God's Creative Design - Oneness

2010-02-15T09:56:00.004-05:00

God created us to be ONE with Him and with one another. He took a big risk in creating human beings and giving them individuality, consciousness, choice, free will; the Creator's desire being that man's conscious choice would be oneness. And, oneness is impossible without conscious choice. For, there is no unity, no delight of love, no harmony, no good in being, where there is only one.

Two at least are needed for oneness; and the greater the number of individuals, the greater, the lovelier, the richer, the more divine is the possible unity.

John 13:34 - "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

John 13:35 - "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

John 15:12 - "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

John 15:17 - "This I command you, that you love one another.

John 17: 20-23 - "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Is There a Gap Between Your Theology and Your Reality

2010-01-21T09:05:00.003-05:00

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:7-12 NIV)

On this whole planet no one has physically seen God. But, if, we love one another … the Bible says if you want the world to see and believe in your Jesus Christ ... it’s not about getting a great preacher who can put a good sermon together; and, getting a great band and super programs and everything else; it's not these things that are somehow going to convince the world that God exists. But, if the church would actually live like the church and love like the church, somehow that is going to give a picture of God; in some way God will reveal Himself so that He is seen and experienced. That will only be accomplished by the way that we love one another. And, obviously, that means more than a handshake, and a “what’s your name?” during a greeting time.

Doesn’t it make sense that if a man lives on earth and dies on a cross and comes back and begins talking to you, and telling you that if you will believe and follow Him, and that if you do you will live a million years and more, like FOREVER; doesn’t it make sense that a person who believes that Person and begins to follow that Person, will think differently than what he used to think? Doesn’t it make sense that he will act differently? Doesn’t it make sense that he will begin to live the same kind of radical life, conforming his life to be like that Person who was able to raise Himself from the dead and promise the kind of things He promised?

If the church would actually live like it believes, live like the church and love like the church, it would give a picture of the church that is so absolutely supernatural that it will look differently than most Christians live like and most churches look like today.

Is there a gap today between Christian theology and Christian reality? Or, let me ask it in another way: “Is there a gap between your theology and your reality?” If the answer is, “Yes,” then it sets you up for ridicule. I mean, if you really believe this stuff about Jesus, then why doesn’t it show? Why is everything except what you say you believe, showing?

Is Our Church On Mission?

2009-08-24T09:51:00.002-04:00

Being an on mission church is not about size, staff or structure. Neither is it about a specific program. The magnitude of its mission giving or the multitude of its outreach efforts does not make a church an on mission church. An on mission church is more about a congregations passion than its percentages. It focuses more on its burden than its bigness. Gods mission in
the world and His biblical mandate drives an on mission church to become a world mission strategy center.

An on mission church embraces the Great Commission and engages the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a church committed to starting new churches, strengthening existing churches and sending workers into the harvest fields. It is a church that encourages, equips, empowers and expects every member to be personally involved in Gods mission enterprise. An on mission congregation prays, gives, knows and goes on mission with God. Its a church of people burdened for the lostness of all nations that seeks to create ways to reach its Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Most of all, its a church with the glory of God as its ultimate goal and primary purpose.

Overflowing with Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T09:40:00.002-05:00

I hate organ recitals. Not pipe organs, mind you, but this kind:

"How are you today, Gladys?"

"Terrible, just terrible? Did I tell you about my gall bladder acting up?"

"Yes, Gladys."

She doesn't seem to acknowledge my, "Yes," but launches into a full-scale report on gall bladders around the world, and hers in particular. When she sees my eyes beginning to glaze over, Gladys falters for a moment. She knows she has to switch gears quickly to keep me from nodding off.
"And I have this terrible skin rash that drives me so crazy that I can't sleep at night."

I am trying hard to be polite. "Oh, I'm sorry…."

I attempt to stop myself, but it is too late. The ill-fated word has crossed my lips -- "sorry" -- and now I have fed Gladys her first morsel of real food for the day. She seems to take new energy, and as she describes her itching, I begin to sense little crawling things in my scalp. I unconsciously reach up to scratch my head, but nothing gets by Gladys. Oh, that's the first sign…." she begins.

You've met Gladys, haven't you? It might be a different name. Gladys goes under a number of aliases and dons many disguises. But it's the same complaining, self-centered woman.
Too often, however, I meet Gladys in me. I want people to sympathize with me, so when something is going wrong, -- and when doesn't it? -- I begin to complain. The 49ers are having a bad season. The morals of our nation are terrible. The election was depressing. My spouse is in a bad mood. It doesn't have to dwell on the interior plumbing of a sick Gladys. Normal complaining comes all too easily to my lips.

So when I read Colossians 2:6-7 it hits home. The phrase, "overflowing with thankfulness," begins to repeat itself over and over in my mind.

"Overflowing" -- "abounding," some translations say -- brings the mental picture of the Thanksgiving cornucopia spilling out an abundant harvest blessing. Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." What is in my heart? Complaining? Selfishness? Pride? -- Or Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is the mark of a Christian, because thanksgiving points out and up while my complaining points only back to me and feeds my pride and dissatisfaction. Thanksgiving towards God and man fits the Great Commandment like a glove, to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. What better vehicle than thankfulness to express love?

The Pillsbury Doughboy® has that endearing quality that when you poke him he doesn't flare up but automatically responds with a friendly, perky, "Oh!" I want to be like him. Not so plump, mind you, but that full of friendliness. When someone pokes me I want my first instinct to be thankfulness rather than anger. I want people to find thankfulness oozing out of me. I want thanksgiving to mark my conversation and manner. I want to abound with it, be full of it. I want to overflow with thankfulness.

How about you?

Colossians 2:6-7 reads: "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." (NIV)

A View of the Emerging Church - From USA Today, November 12, 2007

2007-11-26T15:46:00.000-05:00

This post should not be viewed as an endorsement of the Emerging Church (EC) or of what is said in the article. It is my sincere desire to help all of us better understand this conversation. - Kurt Miller

A force for good

For a growing movement of believers, an activist faith means more than proselytizing about Jesus and stoking the fires of our culture wars. Welcome to the new (and yes, liberal) world of evangelical Christianity.

By Tom Krattenmaker

A passerby might not have known: Was this going to be a church service or a concert by an alternative rock band? The set-up on the stage suggested the latter — a drum kit, guitars on stands, several microphones, and large screens flashing iconic Portland scenes — and so did the look of the young, urban-hip crowd filling up the auditorium.

Then the band hit the stage with a loud, infectious groove, the front man singing passionately about God, and it was clear that the Sunday gathering of Portland's Imago Dei Community was both alt-rock concert and church service, or neither, exactly. So it goes in the new world of alternative evangelical Christianity, better known as the emerging church.

(Illustration by Sam Ward, USA TODAY)

There's a growing buzz about the emerging movement, and depending on your point of view, its robust growth and rising influence are worthy of applause, scorn, or perhaps just puzzlement. Fitting for a movement that eschews hierarchy and dogma, emergents defy simple definition. Perhaps the best one can say is that they're new-style Christians for the postmodern age, the evangelicals of whom the late Rev. Jerry Falwell disapproved.

Postmodernity is nothing new. Philosophers will tell you we've been living in the postmodern age for decades. But its expression in the context of fervent Christianity, in the form of the emerging church, is a fairly recent phenomenon, only about a decade old.

Like the postmodern philosophy it embraces, the emerging church values complexity, ambiguity and decentralized authority. Emergents are quite certain about some things, nevertheless, especially Jesus and his clear instruction about the way Christians are to live out their faith — not primarily as respectable, middle-class pillars of status quo society, but as servants to the poor and to people in the margins. In the words of Gideon Tsang, a 33-year-old Texas emergent who moved himself and his family to a smaller home in a poorer part of town, "The path of Christ is not in upward mobility; it's in downward."

Nothing to resent

To the many Americans cynical about religion, news of the emerging church might come as a stereotype-busting surprise. Christians fired up not about wedge-driving culture-war issues, but about spreading non-judgmental love and compassion? What's to resent about this public face of religion?

According to best estimates, several hundred emerging church congregations, or "communities," have sprung up around the country. Although some are quite large, with memberships well into the thousands, emergents are still bit players on the national religious stage. But the emerging church is making its presence felt, with new groups forming rapidly and major secular and religious media outlets chronicling its influence and potential to dramatically change religion in this country.

Rick McKinley is a goateed thirty-something who leads Imago Dei (which means "image of God" in Latin). McKinley is not your mother's minister. He threads his sermons and two books with youthful slang, as in being "stoked" about things that excite him and acknowledging that "it can really suck" to live with sin.

Ask McKinley whether he and his community are evangelical Christians, and he'll tell you yes — and no. "We'd say 'yes' in terms of what we think about the authority of Scripture and those things," says McKinley, who is finishing his theology doctorate this year. "What you have is evangelicalism defined doctrinally, which we'd agree with, and defined culturally, where we would disagree. Culturally, it has been hijacked by a right-wing political movement.

"Like mainstream evangelicals, emergents believe in spreading the Gospel and in the necessity of believers having a personal relationship with Jesus. The difference lies in how faith is applied — the way it's acted out "in the culture," as emergents typically put it. In the eyes of the emerging church, Christianity lived out in the respectable confines of megachurches and suburbia is fading into irrelevance as a new generation comes of age with a passion for healing society and a reluctance to shout moralistic dogma. "If the church doesn't love its neighbors," McKinley says, "I don't understand how it can say anything that's going to have meaning in the culture."

Emergents tend to be more tolerant than establishment evangelicals on issues such as abortion and homosexuality. Do emergents believe in heaven and hell? Yes, McKinley explains, but according to emergent theology, the point of being Christian is not solely to achieve heaven in the next life, but to bring some heaven to this life by doing the work of Jesus.

That conviction recently translated into "Love Portland," a Saturday of service around the city. Groups from Imago Dei fanned out to perform service projects — beautifying a school in a poor neighborhood, refurbishing a rundown community theater, and the like — and then gathered to celebrate at their Sunday service the next day with music, video clips and stories from those who partook of the service work. Of course, most evangelical churches perform community service. What makes groups such as Imago Dei different is "sustainability," McKinley says — a commitment to serving the community day after day, week after week — and a soft-sell approach to evangelizing to those on the receiving end of their good works.

Serve the community

The "downward mobility" cited by the Texas emergent applies as well to the church-growth strategy, or lack thereof, of emerging communities. Unlike the megachurches of mainstream evangelicalism, emerging groups do not emphasize attracting new members (although it seems to happen anyway) or constructing church buildings. Some emerging groups meet in rented auditoriums, some in people's homes, some in pubs. There is less emphasis, too, on programming for members. In their view, the church exists not primarily to serve members but to serve the community.

Typical of the movement's critics, Falwell accused the emerging church of trying to "modernize and recreate the church so as not to offend sinners." That's probably code for "liberal," a shoe that would certainly fit.

Writer Scot McKnight, a supporter of the movement, says emergents are seen as "a latte-drinking, backpack-lugging, Birkenstock-wearing group of 21st-century, left-wing, hippie wannabes. Put directly, they are Democrats."

As is so often the case with religious movements in this country, the emerging church is both old and new: Old, in that Christianity in America has seemingly always been in a state of re-invention in response to the ever-changing culture; and new, in that we see in the emerging church a group of Jesus followers who reject the social conservatism modeled by Falwell and many other leading evangelicals this past quarter-century.

Is the emerging church compromising biblical truth for the sake of being hip? That debate won't be resolved here. Whatever the case, there is something hopeful about the appearance of a youthful, idealistic form of faith focused more on healing broken neighborhoods than accumulating members and political power.

For those hoping religion can more consistently serve as a force for kindness, unity and society's renewal — and not so much as an argument-starter — the verdict seems simple: Let the emerging church, and its larger ideals, continue to emerge.

---------------------------------------

Tom Krattenmaker, who lives in Portland, Ore., specializes in religion in public life and is a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors. He is working on a book about Christianity in professional sports.

The 200th Anniversary of Protestantism in China

2007-09-21T10:50:00.000-04:00

Mark This Day and Marvel at the Work of God

I do not doubt that what happened on September 7, two hundred years
ago, will be celebrated in heaven for its epochal significance in world
history. The first Protestant missionary set foot on Chinese soil on
September 7, 1807. His name was Robert Morrison. He was a Scottish
Presbyterian, and except for one furlough, he spent the next 27 years in
China.

Persevering against the hostility of official opposition and the resistance of
foreign merchants, Morrison baptized the first Chinese Protestant
Christian, Cai Gao, on July 16, 1814. After the baptism of Cai Gao,
Morrison wrote prophetically in his journal, “May he be the first-fruits of a
great harvest, one of millions who shall come and be saved on the day of
wrath to come."

Last month The National Catholic Reporter carried an article by John Allen
documenting the fulfillment of Morrison’s prayer. Here is what he wrote: "At the time of the Communist takeover in 1949, there were roughly 900,000 Protestants. Today, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, which puts out the much-consultedWorld Christian Database, says there are 111 million Christians in China, roughly 90 percent Protestant and mostly Pentecostal. That would make China the third-largest Christian country on earth, following only the United States and Brazil. The Center projects that by 2050, there will be 218 million Christians in China, 16 percent of the population, enough to make China the world's second-largest Christian nation. According to the Center, there are 10,000 conversions in China every day.

Click here for the full story

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.

The Centrality of the Gospel

2007-09-08T11:18:00.000-04:00

The gospel is:

you are more flawed and lost than you ever dared believe, yet
you can be more accepted and loved than you ever dared hope at the same time, because Jesus Christ lived and died in your place.

Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9)

The irreligious don't repent at all. The religious only repent of sins. But Christians also repent of their righteousness. Moral and religious people are sorry for their sins, but they see sins as simply the failure to live up to standards by which they are saving themselves. They may go to Jesus for forgiveness-but only as a way to "cover over the gaps" in their project of self-salvation. But a Christian is someone who has adopted a whole new system of approach to God. They realize their entire reason for either irreligion or religion has been essentially the same and essentially wrong! Christians realize that both their sins and their best deeds have all really been ways of avoiding Jesus as savior.

... the way to avoid Jesus was to avoid sin... -Flannery O'Connor

A Christian says: "though I have often failed to obey the law, the deeper problem is why I was ever trying to obey it! Even my effort to obey it is just a way of seeking to be my own savior. In that mindset, even if I obey or ask for forgiveness, I am really resisting the gospel and setting myself up as Savior." To "get the gospel" is to turn from self-justification and rely on Jesus' record for a relationship with God. "Lay your deadly doing down, down at Jesus' feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone-gloriously complete.

"The Two "Thieves" of the Gospel - Legalism and Liberalism

Tertullian said, "Just as Christ was crucified between two thieves, so this doctrine of justification is ever crucified between two opposite errors." These errors continue to "steal" the gospel from us. They are "legalism" and "liberalism". On the one hand, "legalists" have a truth without grace, for they say or imply that we must obey the truth in order to be saved. On the other hand, "liberals" have a grace without truth, for they say or imply that we are all accepted by God regardless of what we decide is true for us. But those with truth without grace do not really have the truth, and those with grace without truth, do not really have grace. In Jesus we behold the glory of the one "full of grace and truth". De-emphasize or lose one or the other of these truths, you fall somewhat into legalism or somewhat into license and you eliminate the joy and the "release" of the gospel. Without knowledge of our extreme sin, the payment of the gospel seems trivial and does not electrify or transform. But without knowledge of Christ's completely satisfying life and death, the knowledge of sin would crush us or move us to deny and repress it. Take away either the knowledge of sin or the knowledge of grace and people's lives are not changed. They will be crushed by the moral law or run from it screaming and angry.

As Luther put it, the Christian is simul justus et peccator (simultaneously accepted, yet a sinner). We are more sinful than we ever dared believe, but through Christ we are more accepted than we ever dared hope. The gospel becomes a transforming power when it dawns on the soul (Romans 1:17). Instead of seeing the law of God as an abstract moral code, Christians see it as a way to know, serve, and resemble their Master. Instead of obeying to make God indebted to them, they obey because they are indebted to him. Instead of being driven by an anxious sense of being unacceptable, they are empowered by grateful joy. The difference between these two ways of morality could not be greater. Their spirits, goals, motivations, and results are entirely different.

The Impact of the Gospel

A basic theological premise is that the gospel can change any one, any place. Part of the driving force of the Church is the conviction that most people have not heard the gospel clearly, whether they have been raised in liberal churches or conservative churches. Many people are on "trajectories" of reaction to either their conservative or their liberal backgrounds or experiences. But the gospel is off the continuum altogether. When people actually hear the gospel, they are surprised and brought up short. There can be neither personal transformation nor social transformation without a grasp of it. The gospel transforms our hearts, thinking and approaches to everything. As you read the following, consider ways that the gospel might transform your way of thinking through theses areas. Some examples:

1. Approach to multi-culturalism:

The liberal approach is to relativize all cultures.
The conservative approach is to idolize some cultures.
The gospel of grace leads us to be: somewhat critical of all cultures, morally superior to no individual, hopeful about any individual, and respectful and courteous to each individual.

2. Approach to the poor:

The liberal elites tend to scorn the religion of the poor and see them as helpless victims needing their expertise.
The conservative elites tend to scorn the poor as failures and weaklings.
The gospel of grace leads us to be: humble, without moral superiority knowing we were saved by grace, gracious, remembering our former deserved spiritual poverty, and respectful of believing poor Christians as brothers and sisters from whom to learn. The gospel alone can bring "knowledge workers" into a sense of humble respect for and solidarity with the poor.

3. Approach to difficult emotions:

The moralizing say, "you are breaking the rules-repent."
The psychologizing say, "you just need to love and accept yourself."
The gospel leads us to say: "something in my life has become more important than God, a pseudo-savior, a form of works-righteousness". The gospel leads us to repentance, but not to merely setting our will against superficialities.

4. Approach to the physical world:

The moralist is afraid of or indifferent to physical pleasure and wholeness, while the hedonist makes it an idol.
The gospel leads us to see that God has invented both body and soul and so will redeem both body and soul. Thus the gospel leads us to enjoy the physical and fight against sickness and poverty. This is applied also to sex as well.

5. Approach to love and relationships:

Liberalism reduces love to a negotiated partnership for mutual benefit.
Moralism makes relationships into a blame-game and a never ending need to earn our love; often creates "co-dependency", a form of self-salvation through neediness.
The gospel leads us to sacrifice and commitment, but not out of a need to convince ourselves we are acceptable. So we can love the person enough to confront, yet stay with the person when it does not benefit us.

6. Approach to suffering:

Liberalism lays the fault at God's doorstep, claiming him to be either unjust or impotent.
Moralism takes the approach of Job's friends, laying guilt on you. "I must be bad to be suffering."
The gospel shows us that God redeemed us through suffering. That he suffered not that we might not suffer, but that in our suffering we could become like him.

7. Approach to self-control:

Liberalism tells us to express ourselves and find out what is right for us. This is an emotion-based approach.
Moralism tells us to control our passions out of fear of punishment. This is a volition-based approach.
The gospel tells us the free grace of God, which we cannot lose, "teaches" us to "say no" to our passions (Titus 2:13) if we listen to it. This is a whole-person based approach, starting with the truth descending into the heart.

8. Approach to ministry in the world:

Liberalism tends to emphasize only amelioration of social conditions and minimize the need for repentance and conversion.
On the other hand moralism will tend to place all the emphasis on the individual human soul. Moralistic religion will insist on converting others to their faith and church, but will ignore social needs of the broader community.
The gospel leads to love which in turn moves us to give our neighbor whatever is needed-conversion or a cup of cold water, evangelism and social concern.

9. Approach to worship:

Liberalism leads to a shallow understanding of "acceptance" without a sense of God's holiness and can lead to frothy or casual worship (a sense of neither God's love nor his holiness leads to a worship service that feels like a committee meeting.)
Moralism leads to a dour and somber worship which may be long on dignity but short on joy.
But the gospel leads us to see that God is both transcendent yet immanent. His immanence makes his transcendence comforting, while his transcendence makes his immanence amazing. The gospel leads to both awe and intimacy in worship, for the Holy One is now our Father.

Summary

All problems, personal or social come from a failure to use the gospel in a radical way. All pathologies in the church and all its ineffectiveness come from a failure to use the gospel in a radical way. We believe that if the gospel is expounded and applied in its fullness in any church, that church will look very unique. People will find moral conviction yet compassion and flexibility. For example, homosexuals are used to being "bashed" and hated or completely accepted. They never see anything else. The cultural elites of either liberal or conservative sides are alike in their unwillingness to befriend or live with or respect or worship with the poor. They are alike in separating themselves increasingly from the rest of society. Avoiding the excesses of the dispensationalist, charismatic, or mainline liberal churches (who all lose the balance of the gospel truth in different ways), a gospel-centered church will break stereotypes and shine brightly in the world.

God's Glory - Our Joy

2007-08-24T15:41:00.000-04:00

Do people go to the Grand Canyon to increase their self-esteem? Probably not. This is, at least, a hint that the deepest joys in life come not from savoring the self, but from seeing splendor. And in the end even the Grand Canyon will not do. We were made to enjoy God.

We are all bent to believe that we are central in the universe. How shall we be cured of this joy-destroying disease? Perhaps by hearing afresh how radically God-centered reality is according to the Bible.

Both the Old and New Testament tell us that God's loving us is a means to our glorifying him. "Christ became a servant ... in order that the nations might glorify God for his mercy" (Romans 15:8-9). God has been merciful to us so that we would magnify him. We see it again in the words, "In love [God] destined us to adoption ... to the praise of the glory of His grace" (Ephesians 1:4-6). In other words, the goal of God's loving us is that we might praise him. One more illustration from Psalm 86:12-13: "I will glorify your name forever. For your lovingkindness toward me is great." God's love is the ground. His glory is the goal.

This is shocking. The love of God is not God's making much of us, but God's saving us from self-centeredness so that we can enjoy making much of him forever. And our love to others is not our making much of them, but helping them to find satisfaction in making much of God. True love aims at satisfying people in the glory of God. Any love that terminates on man is eventually destructive. It does not lead people to the only lasting joy, namely, God. Love must be God-centered, or it is not true love; it leaves people without their final hope of joy.

Take the cross of Christ, for example. The death of Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of divine love: "God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Yet the Bible also says that the aim of the death of Christ was "to demonstrate [God's] righteousness, because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed" (Romans 3:25). Passing over sins creates a huge problem for the righteousness of God. It makes him look like a judge who lets criminals go free without punishment. In other words, the mercy of God puts the justice of God in jeopardy.

So to vindicate his justice he does the unthinkable – he puts his Son to death as the substitute penalty for our sins. The cross makes it plain to everyone that God does not sweep evil under the rug of the universe. He punishes it in Jesus for those who believe.

But notice that this ultimately loving act has at the center of it the vindication of the righteousness of God. Good Friday love is God-glorifying love. God exalts God at the cross. If he didn't, he could not be just and rescue us from sin. But it is a mistake to say, "Well, if the aim was to rescue us, then we were the ultimate goal of the cross." No, we were rescued from sin in order that we might see and savor the glory of God. This is the ultimately loving aim of Christ's death. He did not die to make much of us, but to free us to enjoy making much of God forever.
It is profoundly wrong to turn the cross into a proof that self-esteem is the root of mental health. If I stand before the love of God and do not feel a healthy, satisfying, freeing joy unless I turn that love into an echo of my self-esteem, then I am like a man who stands before the Grand Canyon and feels no satisfying wonder until he translates the canyon into a case for his own significance. That is not the presence of mental health, but bondage to self.

The cure for this bondage is to see that God is the one being in the universe for whom self-exaltation is the most loving act. In exalting himself – Grand Canyon-like – he gets the glory and we get the joy. The greatest news in all the world is that there is no final conflict between my passion for joy and God's passion for his glory. The knot that ties these together is the truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Jesus Christ died and rose again to forgive the treason of our souls, which have turned from savoring God to savoring self. In the cross of Christ, God rescues us from the house of mirrors and leads us out to the mountains and canyons of his majesty. Nothing satisfies us – or magnifies him – more.

A message by John Piper

What's happening to missions mobilization?

2007-07-26T11:28:00.000-04:00

World mission mobilizers are confronted by a bewildering array of opinions, facts, and new realities. Among them: The MARC Mission Handbook reports a leveling off in long-term missionaries. Patrick Johnstone of Operation World reports that 10,000 of the world's 12,000 ethnolinguistic people groups have church-planting teams.

Field missionaries describe extra work generated by short-term teams and fear the consequences of some inappropriate conduct by "prayer walk" teams.

The AD2000 and Beyond Movement reports progress toward church-planting movements among the unreached, while missiologists track increasing resistance among Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims.

Such trends, among others, point to a significant division among mission mobilizers and strategists, perhaps one of the most important shifts since the end of World War II. The increased emphasis on the challenge of unreached peoples has highlighted two major streams of action.

(More here)

Berber, Drawa of Morocco

2007-07-22T07:53:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...

Berber, Drawa of Morocco

Population: 442,000
Language: Tachelhit
Religion: Islam
Evangelical: 0.00%

The Drawa Berbers inhabit the Dra River valley region of southern Morocco. They can be divided into three main categories: the farmers who live in the northeast (the Dades); those living along the northwestern tributaries (the Mesgita, Seddrat, and Zeri tribes); and those who live at altitudes of more than 6,500 feet. The Drawas live in a very complex social system. Their villages are usually overseen by the most powerful family in the village. This family lives in a community fortified, threshing-floor dwelling. The rest of the community lives in terraced houses crowded closely together. The nearby oases are usually dominated by their semi-nomadic Berber neighbors. The Berber languages have five main groupings and several different dialects. Except for numerous short inscriptions in ancient Libyan and a few modern religious texts, these languages have practically no written literature.

What Are Their Lives Like?

The Drawas are mostly farmers. The mountain slopes in the vicinity are divided for pastures and gardens. The staple crop grown is dates, followed by barley. Date palm trees are very valuable and are considered as property. Various other crops are grown including wheat, corn, and beans. Some animals (cattle, goats, sheep, horses and camels) are kept as well. There is little industry among the Drawas; however, fishing in the Dra River and trading with nearby communities provide other sources of income. Many Drawas have been forced to leave their mountain homes to find work in the cities. Some have been employed in the phosphate mines, while others live in the slums of Casablanca. Although most do some type of manual labor, a few have become shopkeepers. Drawa villages still live according to a code of customary law known as kanun, which deals with questions concerning property and people. Inheritance is patrilineal, meaning that all rights and properties are passed down through the fathers. Over the years, many dynasties have tried to conquer the Drawas because of their importance in the trans-Saharan caravan trade.

What are their beliefs?

Prior to the seventh century, the Berbers had successfully resisted foreign invasions of Islam. However, with the Arab conquests of the seventh century, the Berbers were shattered. Some fled or were driven into the desert, while others submitted, becoming arabized in language and, to some extent, racially mixed. All embraced Islam, the majority becoming Sunni Muslims. Although the Drawas follow the Islamic fundamentals, there is still much intermingling with existing pagan beliefs. Consequently, Islam in North Africa is somewhat different from Islam in the Middle East. For example, orthodox Sunnis do not celebrate some of the main Muslim festivals. Also, the concept of baraka, or holiness, is highly developed in North Africa. The Drawas believe that many people are endowed with baraka, of which the holiest are the shurifa, or the direct descendants of Mohammed. Another class of holy people is known as the marabouts. Among some of the Berbers, the marabouts are considered to be different from ordinary men. They are believed to possess the powers of protection and healing, even after death.

What are their needs?

The Drawas, as other Muslim peoples, have never been successfully penetrated with the Gospel. At the present time, it is illegal for a Moroccan to become a Christian or to evangelize others. For this reason, there are no churches among the Drawa Berbers. In spite of this, there are a small number of known believers. While Morocco is closed to traditional styles of missions work, there are creative ways in which to enter the country as tentmakers. The illiteracy rate among Moroccans is less than 20%. Perhaps Christian teachers would have an open door into Moroccan schools.

Prayer Points:

Ask the Lord to call people who are willing to go to Morocco and share Christ with the Drawas.
Pray that the Lord will raise up missionaries who are sensitive to the Muslim culture and can effectively disciple new converts.
Ask God to encourage and protect the small number of known Drawa believers.
Pray that God will raise up linguists to complete translation of the Bible into Tachelhit.
Ask the Lord to send Christian teachers to work among the Drawas.
Ask the Holy Spirit to soften the hearts of the Berbers towards Christians.
Pray that laws restricting the preaching of the Gospel in Morocco will change.
Ask the Lord to raise up a strong local church among the Drawa Berbers.

Text source: Bethany World Prayer Center © 1999.Used with permission from Adopt-A-People Clearinghouse
View Berber, Drawa in all countries.

Taking the Church Where It's Needed Most

Lessons Can be Learned from Successful Cities

2007-07-05T12:35:00.000-04:00

In the May 3, 2007 issue of "Economist" magazine there was an article entitled, "The Reinvention Test." The article was about durable cities and pointed the reader to the idea that successful cities must expect to go through several rebirths over time. Enjoy a portion of the article and then respond to my musing at the end.

"CITIES are durable. Most last longer than the countries that surround them, or indeed any other human institutions. But some thrive, whereas others merely mark time (Cleveland, Minsk, Pyongyang), go into apparently long-term decline (Detroit, New Orleans, Venice) or disappear (Tenochtitlán, Tikal, Troy). What are the characteristics of a successful city? The short answer is good government and a flourishing economy. But such attributes may come and go in the life of a metropolis. In order to be continuously successful, a city has to be able to reinvent itself, perhaps several times."

Harvard's Edward Glaeser describes how Boston has done this three times—“in the early 19th century as the provider of seafaring human capital for a far-flung maritime trading and fishing empire, in the late 19th century as a factory town built on immigrant labour and Brahmin capital, and finally in the 20th century as a centre of the information economy.” On each occasion, human capital provided the secret to Boston's rebirth. A strong base of skilled workers, writes Mr Glaeser, has been a source of long-run urban health.

Education was important from the first in Boston. But Mr Glaeser draws attention to other characteristics of the city that were present even in colonial times. It had a strong set of community organisations, because of its church structure, and something like the rule of law. It also had a tradition of “democratic egalitarianism”.

Law has been essential for urban life since Babylonian times, both because cities have usually been centres of commerce, and trade needs regulation, and because cities tend to draw different kinds of people, whose success in living together depends on common rules of behaviour. Democracy, too, has served cities well, providing a shock-absorber for changing economic times and a mechanism whereby immigrants can join the mainstream.

Immigration, or at least an ethnic and religious mix, has also been closely associated with urban success. As Joel Kotkin points out in “The City”, Chinese towns at the end of the first millennium AD showed the same cosmopolitan mixture as did Alexandria, Cairo, Antioch and Venice. Pre-1492 Seville, 16th-century London and 19th-century Bombay (now Mumbai) all contained a variety of different peoples, whether Muslims, Jews, Parsis or others.

Throughout history, cities open to the world have benefited both from an exchange of goods and from a trade in ideas from abroad. Japan, by closing its doors to foreigners, condemned its cities to slow marination in their own culture until the country's opening up after 1853. Today the burgeoning cities with the best chance of overcoming their difficulties are those in Asia and Latin America that can gain from globalisation. Africa's cities, largely excluded from this phenomenon, are winning relatively little investment, trade or entrepreneurial fizz from foreigners.

Some cities in the rich world, too, have been much more successful than others at exploiting globalisation. The ones that have done best are those that have plugged into global industries and been able to capture the headquarters or lesser corporate centres of globalised companies, especially banks and other financial firms, argues Saskia Sassen, of the University of Chicago. London, New York and Tokyo are pre-eminent in this, but some other cities—Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich, Amsterdam, Chicago, Los Angeles, Sydney, Hong Kong, São Paulo, Mexico City—are not far behind.

Not every city can “go global” or will even want to. There are other types of raison d'être. One is simply to be a pleasant place to live and work, pleasant meaning different things to different people, of course. In the developing world most people would be delighted to live in a city that was prosperous and well governed, if that meant jobs were available, officials were honest, the streets were safe, housing was affordable and transport, sanitation and basic utilities operated to minimum standards. Even in rich countries not all these things can be taken for granted.

Mercer, a consulting firm, publishes a ranking of big cities each year based on an assessment of about 40 factors falling into ten categories (political, economic, cultural, medical, educational, public-service, recreational, consumer-goods, housing and environmental). Last year the top ten cities were Zurich, Geneva, Vancouver, Vienna, Auckland, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Bern and Sydney.

The Economist Intelligence Unit, a sister organisation to The Economist, carries out a similar exercise (see table). Five of its top ten cities for 2005 were also in Mercer's top ten. All ten in each list, with the exception of Sydney and Calgary, might be considered rather homely, even dull. The cities that have done most to excite attention the world over—New York, Chicago and Los Angeles—are also-rans. Smallish countries mostly do well, and Australia, the most urbanised country of all, ranks notably highly, at least in the EIU list.

No list includes the ability to reinvent itself among the desirable qualities of a city. That may, however, be increasingly put to the test, for some people believe that cities have had their day."

Could the Church learn lessons from the histories of cities? If so, what might they be?

Pray for Kazakhstan

2007-06-21T16:55:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...
Kazakh of Kazakhstan
Population: 7,801,000
Language: Kazakh
Religion: Islam
Evangelical: 0.36%

The Kazakh, a Turkic people, are the second largest Muslim people group of Central Asia. In times past, they may have been the most influential of the various Central Asian ethnic groups. While most of the Kazakh now live in Kazakhstan, they make up only about 40% of the country's population. Large communities can also be found in Mongolia, Ukraine, and Russia.

The Kazakh developed a distinct ethnic identity in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Several of their clans formed a federation that would provide mutual protection. As other clans joined the federation, its political influence began to take on an ethnic character. During the nineteenth century, the Russians acquired Central Asia through a steady process of annexation. They eventually claimed the entire territory of Kazakhstan. Tragically, about half of the Kazakh population was killed during the Russian Civil War of the 1920's and 1930's. During this time, many fled to China and Mongolia.

What Are Their Lives Like?
Since the collapse of Soviet Communism, the Kazakh have been searching for their identity. Traditionally, they were nomadic shepherds; however, under Soviet rule, much of their land was seized and used for collective farming. As industry developed, their economy and culture became dependent entirely on the Russians. Today, however, there is a widespread movement to redevelop their own cultural identity.

As nomadic shepherds, the Kazakh lived in dome shaped felt tents called yurts. These portable dwellings could be taken down and moved from area to area as the shepherd found good land for his flocks. Under Russian rule, many other Kazakhs were forced to move to the cities and live in houses or small apartments. Most of these two or three room apartments have running water, though in some rural areas there is no hot water. The water is clean, but not safe to drink. The process of purifying the water can be very tedious.

The Kazakh eat a variety of meat and dairy products. A popular Kazakh food is besbarmak, which is eaten with your hands. It is made of noodles, potatoes, onions, and mutton. Rice and bread are common staples. In the southern regions of Kazakhstan, fruit and vegetables grow in abundance. There the people enjoy eating grapes, melons, and tomatoes. Kazakh apples are also famous throughout Central Asia.

The foundation of the Kazakh culture is hospitality, which always starts with a cup of tea. The host offers tea to any person who comes to his house. Guests must accept the kindness, or the host will be offended.

A favorite sport is kokpar which means "fighting for a goat's carcass." Up to 1000 horseman will participate in this sport.

What Are Their Beliefs?
The Kazakhs embraced Islam during the sixteenth century and still consider themselves Muslim today. Changes in Kazakh society (mainly from a nomadic to a settled lifestyle) and an attempt by the Soviets to suppress religious freedoms have led the people to adopt Islam more closely. However, their Islamic practices have been combined with traditional folk religions.

Traditional Kazakh folk religion includes beliefs in spirits. They practice animism and ancestor worship. Animism is the belief that non-human objects have spirits. Ancestor worship involves praying and offering sacrifices to deceased ancestors. Today, the Kazakh continue to consult shamans (priests who cure the sick by magic, communicate with the spirits, and control events). They also practice various traditional rituals before and after marriage, at birth, and at death.

What Are Their Needs?
The Kazakh are facing ecological catastrophe due to the mismanagement of natural resources. This has caused the near desolation of the Aral Sea and contamination of much of their drinking water. As a result, the infant mortality rate is very high. There is also a high rate of stillbirths and birth defects. Abortion is their main method of birth control. Most women have five or six abortions. Because Kazakhs value children, this creates a serious emotional battle for Kazakh parents.

The Kazakh church is young, but the church is growing. Young people are especially excited about hearing the Good News of the Gospel. Over 40 Kazakh speaking churches exist, but in a people group of over eight million, that is a small number. Many churches are located in the major cities like Almaty, but Christian workers are also needed in the rural areas.

Prayer Points

Praise God for the growing number of Kazakh Christians.
Pray that they would learn the Word of God quickly.
Pray that there would be fresh leadership training materials prepared in the Kazakh language for pastors.
Pray for salvation for heads of families as the Gospel is clearly presented to them.
Ask the Lord to send long term laborers to live among the Kazak and share the love of Christ with them.
Ask the Holy Spirit to open the hearts of the Kazak towards Christians so that they will be receptive to the Gospel.
Pray that God will raise up prayer teams to go and break up the soil through worship and intercession.
Ask God to encourage and protect the small number of Muslim Kazak who have converted to Christianity.
Pray that these converts will begin to boldly share the Gospel with their own people.
Ask the Lord to raise up strong local churches among the Kazak.

The Great Challenges of the City

2007-06-05T18:48:00.000-04:00

"An honest evaluation of church history should serve to remind Christians that there has often been some hesitation to embrace the city. After all, when in the Book of Genesis Lot chose the cities of the plain for his habitation, it led to disaster. With the exception of Jerusalem, most cities referenced in the Bible are mentioned with considerable concern, if not outright judgment. Think of Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre, Sidon, Sodom, Gomorrah, Corinth, and Rome."

To read the entire article please go to Albert Mohler's blog

Khmer of Cambodia

2007-06-05T08:43:00.000-04:00

Pray for the Khmer of Central Cambodia

Population: 12,475,000

Language: Khmer

Religion: Buddhism

The Central Khmer inhabit the western and central portions of Cambodia, and make up 90% of the country's total population. The Central Khmer speak an Eastern Mon-Khmer language called Khmer, or Cambodian. It is the national language of Cambodia. The Khmer Empire, which flourished between the ninth and thirteenth centuries, encompassed present-day Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and southern Vietnam. Its power declined after being conquered by the Thai and the Vietnamese. In 1969, Cambodia suffered bombings by the U.S. and invasions by the Vietnamese; events that threw the country into turmoil. In addition, a civil war broke out between the Cambodian government and Communist rebels known as the Khmer Rouge. Possibly three million Central Khmer died between 1975 and 1979, while the Khmer Rouge ruled. Since then, peace talks with the Khmer Rouge have failed, coups continue, and the Central Khmer still live in fear.

What Are Their Lives Like?

In 1975, the Khmer Rouge regime nearly destroyed Cambodia. In order to depopulate cities, three million people were forced into the countryside as slave labor. Starvation led to the deaths of over one million people. Currency was abolished; religion was eradicated; education was suspended; medicine was forbidden; and people who could read were often massacred all in the name of the ideal of rural social reform. Many people fled north to Thailand; others took the trail of tears into Communist Laos. Unfortunately, there they struggled to find clothing, shelter, medical care, and food. Some Khmer found permanent homes; others found shelter in crowded refugee camps. Before the war, 90% of Cambodia's inhabitants lived in one-third of the country, along the two main waterways and their tributaries. Although the soil there is not fertile, the plains flood every rainy season. The overflow brings an abundance of fish; and when it recedes, leaves rich deposits. Sadly, bombing, civil war, and war with the Vietnamese decimated a once thriving agricultural economy. Today, most of the Khmer still live in small villages and grow rice in irrigated paddies. Rubber is also important to their economy. Unfortunately, it has been dangerous for the farmers to work the fields since the 1970's (due to land mines). The mines have caused more wounds to the Central Khmer than any other weapon. In 1994, the United States provided military aid to help locate the mines and build new roads. While the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia, more men died than women, creating a skewed sex ratio. Today, women are required to perform duties that were once done by men. They dress in colorful skirts, adding life to their unhappy environment. Red and white checkered cloth is used to make everything from headdresses to pouches for carrying babies. In the villages, Buddhist rules of conduct maintain social control. These rules forbid lying, stealing, drinking alcoholic, committing adultery, and killing living creatures. Some remnants of traditional culture can be seen in the villages: folk dance, the classical royal ballet, and traditional Khmer music.

What are their beliefs?

The former Khmer Empire was influenced by India, from which it adopted Hinduism and Buddhism. Today, 94% of the Central Khmer are Buddhist, although relics of ethnic religions such as ancestor worship (praying to deceased ancestors) and spirit worship are very important to them. The Buddhist Khmer also seek the middle path to nirvana, or ultimate peace through gaining merit in this life. Merit may be gained through supporting the construction of Buddhist temples, giving food to monks, and studying in the monastery.

What are their needs?

Although the Bible and other Christian resources are available to the Central Khmer, less than 1% of their population has turned to Christ. They remain a war-torn people in need of true, inner peace. Prayer is the key to reaching them with the Gospel.

Prayer Points:

Ask the Lord to call people who are willing to go to Cambodia and share Christ with the Central Khmer.

Pray that God will grant wisdom and favor to any missions agencies that are currently working among the Central Khmer.

Ask the Lord to begin revealing Himself to these precious people through dreams and visions.

Pray that God will encourage and protect the Central Khmer who have accepted Jesus.

Ask God to use these new converts to reach out and share the love of Christ with their own people.

Take authority over the spiritual principalities and powers that are keeping the Khmer bound.

Ask God to call forth prayer teams who will begin breaking up the soil through intercession.

Pray that strong local churches will be planted among the Central Khmer.

Pray for the Tatar, Crimean of Turkey

2007-05-28T08:27:00.001-04:00

Tatar, Crimean of Turkey

Population: 143,000
Language: Crimean Turkish
Religion: Islam
Evangelical: 0.00%

What are their beliefs? The Tatars are Sunni Muslims who belong to the Hanafite branch. However, they have no version of the Qu'ran in their language. The Muslim faith includes observing Ramadan, a month of ritual fasting. During Ramadan, they are praying for Islam to fill the earth.

What are their needs? Some evidence suggests that the Crimean Tatars have a thirst for the Word of God. Getting a translation of the Bible in their language is the most urgent need since only portions are available at this time. There is also a great need for laborers to work among the Tatars. Tentmakers with skills in agriculture and construction are needed, in addition to those who can evangelize and do church planting. Tatars also need job training and help in establishing small businesses. English language studies may be needed as well. Of the 143,000 Crimean Tatars living in Turkey, only a few have found abundant life in Jesus Christ. It is God's will for these precious people to come to know Him, for He "...is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

Prayer Points:

Ask the Lord to call full-time Christian workers who are willing to go to Turkey and share Christ with the Tatars.
Pray for those who are leaving comforts behind and risking their lives to return to their homeland.
Ask God to strengthen, encourage, and protect the small number of Crimean Tatar Christians.
Pray that God will raise up qualified linguists to translate the entire Word of God into the Crimean Tatar language.
Ask the Holy Spirit to soften their hearts towards Christians so that they will be receptive to the Gospel.
Pray that God will open the hearts of Turkish governmental leaders to the Gospel. Ask the Lord to raise up a strong local church among the Crimean Tatars.

Taking the Church Where It's Needed Most

The African Planter

2007-05-15T16:45:00.000-04:00

What must we learn, and unlearn, to be agents of God's mission in the world?

In the 1950s, while Kenya was still a British colony, a group of white expatriates started a church. Since they were from free church backgrounds, largely Plymouth Brethren, they called it Nairobi Undenominational Chapel. The church was located near the Governor's house, within a secured area where Africans were not allowed. So the church had no African members.

After the Mau-Mau Rebellion, as whites left Kenya for Rhodesia and South Africa and other places still under British rule, the church dwindled. In the meantime, the University of Nairobi, in the center of the city, began growing and occupying the land around the Chapel. But until 1989, the church had no university students, and only one African family among the remaining 20 members in the congregation.

That's when the congregation approached an indigenous African church to take over. And a young graduate student named Oscar Muriu became the pastor of Nairobi Chapel. Today the church has planted 25 congregations in Nairobi, with thousands of members, and is planning to plant churches in Asia, America, and Europe. Read more...

Dandelions...

2007-05-10T11:03:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking about a Midwestern spring phenomenon...

Dandelions

"We have all seen the simplest of weeds, the venerable dandelion, masquerading as a flower in the fullness of its yellow bloom, and then quickly fading to gray... Who knows how it came to this little garden, drifting in on the wind, no doubt, and settling unseen into the fertile soil to germinate. Soon it sprouts tiny green leaflets that grow and extend themselves upward... Who would want to pluck such a brightly colored thing from the ground?

In its full flush it seems to exude the energy of spring and summer, tempting the pollinating bees as ably as any rose I have ever seen. Its slender stalks, so frail and milky when snapped away by the casual gardener, are in fact designed to give way easily, so as to leave the vital root of the plant intact. And its hour and day in the sun is fleeting and brief, a mere wink and a nod before the plant gets about its real business-the making of more dandelions.

In a matter of days the golden crown can wither and whiten to an afro of puffy white and gray seedlings. If your hand was in the slightest stayed, and you have not troweled up the deepest tendrils of its roots by then, you have lost your battle with this hardy weed. Try to pluck it away when it has gone to gray, and you ensure the next generation will colonize your world. The slightest touch sets the feather light seedlings to flight, and they drift and scatter on the barest whisper of a breeze. One dandelion can become a hundred in the space of a few short weeks, and any gardener arriving too late on the scene will have a great challenge before him. Just when you think you have plucked out the last of the feisty little demons, you find ten more have rooted somewhere else." *

This week during the INSTITUTE we were spending the hour in Solitude, during that time I started thinking about the seed metaphors that Jesus talked about. My mind ran onto dandelions. In the middle of my musing...one of those delicate dandelion seeds came floating right at me. It missed me yet landed right on the picnic table in front of me. (That cinched that I would be writing about it in this article! )

The seed didn't find suitable soil there on the picnic table, but a gentle breeze whisked it away more than 20 yards in the air before I couldn't track it. In that little seed lies resident the whole potential to germinate, to grow, to produce a flower, then to produce seeds that starts the cycle all over again. Amazing.

It's amazing that the Good News Seed has resident in it the potential to germinate people into followers of Jesus, to grow, to produce fruit and seeds to start the cycle all over again. It's simple, light, and UNSTOPPABLE! Just like dandelions in the Midwest in springtime...

Press On,
Mike Jentes

*the dandelion article above was excerpted from an online article by John Schettler in his article found here
posted originally in thequest email UPdate from May 25, 2005

Tibetan, Shanyan of China

2007-05-08T13:23:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...

Tibetan, Shanyan of China
Population: 23,000
Language: Language Unknown
Religion: Buddhism
Evangelical: 0.00%

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness and guide the nations on the earth."
Psalm 67:4

Progress of Christianity by People Group

2007-05-01T19:17:00.000-04:00

View / Download map in PDF format (2.5 MB)

Pray for the Uyghur of China

2007-05-01T19:02:00.000-04:00

Please pray for.....

Uyghur of China
Population: 10,584,000
Language: Uyghur
Religion: Islam
Evangelical: 0.00%

Islam has been the dominant religion of the Uighurs since the 10th century. In the past, they were Muslim in name only; however, there is some renewal that is currently taking place among them. One hundred percent of the Uighurs now claim to be Hanafite Muslims. Mosques in the capital city, Urumqi, are overflowing with followers. On the pavement surrounding the mosques, worshippers kneel on their prayer mats and offer prayers faithfully. Islamic literature is freely bought and sold, and the graves of Muslim saints are highly venerated.

There are no known converts. As Muslims, they are taught that Christians are their enemies. Even school children are indoctrinated with atheism. It is reported that Christians in this area of China are persecuted. The Bible has already been translated into the Uighur language; Christian broadcasts and the Jesus film are available. In spite of these facts, they remain untouched with the Gospel. There are no Uighur churches established, and the Uighur have never heard that salvation comes through Jesus Christ. They desperately need to know the Truth of the Gospel.

Taking the Church Where it's Needed Most

Orality and a Changing Culture

2007-04-25T10:40:00.000-04:00

The landscape of learning, understanding and beliefs is changing in North America at a surprising rate. The Church is struggling to find ways to better communicate the Gospel in meaningful and life-changing ways. Many of the problems can be corrected by a better understanding of the literacy issues facing us coupled with increased skills in effective oral communication. If the church needs an example, she needs only to turn to Jesus who lived in a 95% illiterate, or functionally illiterate society. Jesus was the master oral communicator!

Orality refers to the style of communication between individuals and generations that functions without the use of a writing system. However, it is a deeper concept than the mere absence of writing. It produces its own thought forms and processes that constitute ways of learning, conceptualizing, and communicating that are quite distinct from those of literate thinkers and communicators. Oral thought processes are less linear, and logic is associative rather than deductive and sequential. Orality also affects worldview, particularly in the area of truth perception. For literates “truth is seen as consisting in facts – specific descriptive statements about an objective, perceivable reality. Knowledge is the accumulation of facts. The oral culture, on the other hand, places priority on relationships, which produces a concept of dynamic truth. This focuses on relational skills, and truth is seen in terms of personal integrity and fulfilment of relational and family obligations” (Orville Boyd Jenkins,“Orality and the Post-literate West”). An oral culture is characterized by relational, face-to-face communication using stories, proverbs, drama, songs, chants, poetry and others forms of participative, communal and interactive events.

One has only to have a cursory understanding of post-modernity to see the parallel implications of orality in contemporary North American culture. Let he who has ears to hear....

Orality and the Communication of the Gospel

2007-04-25T10:22:00.000-04:00

Around two-thirds of the world’s population, either by necessity or choice, are oral communicators, and they are found in every cultural group in the world. Among unreached people groups – those not highly penetrated by the gospel – or language groups without the Scriptures, the figure is significantly higher. One people group that interestingly and perhaps unexpectedly often displays many of the traits that scholars associate with the term orality (although it cannot properly be called “oral”) is deaf people.

Apart from those who have known only oral communication all their lives (“primary orality”), an increasing number of previously literate communicators, influenced by the audio-visual impact of mass media (TV, radio, telephones, interactive computer software, movies, music, etc), are adopting orality as their preferred communication style (“secondary orality”). This is often referred to as “post-literacy”. It should also be noted that many members of so-called literate societies are in fact only semi-literate at best, and are more comfortable with oral communication (in the USA for example up to 50% of the population have poor literacy skills).

On the spectrum of learning styles from primary oral learners to highly literate learners, there are generally recognized to be five broad categories: 1) primary illiterates; 2) functional illiterates; 3) semi-literates; 4) functional literates; 5) highly literate. (The categorization is that of James B Slack, reproduced in "Making Disciples of Oral Learners, Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation and International Orality Network"). Only the “highly literate” primarily use a literate communication style, while even “functional literates” learn and communicate a significant amount in oral ways. While there are many people who use only oral communication styles, there is not really anyone who exclusively uses literate means of learning and communicating. This does not diminish the value of literate learning, but rather brings the value of oral learning into perspective. Needless to say, these categories bear no necessary relation to intelligence. Many primary illiterates, for example, have memorization skills that are superior to many highly literate learners.

The Church must learn better oral communication skills if she is to continue to effectively communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to an increasingly oral learning society.

What is Racism? Who is a Racist?

2007-04-20T10:30:00.000-04:00

Definition: The American Heritage Dictionary lists two definitions of the word "racism":

1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to
others.

2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

There is great confusion and argument over the terms "racism" and "racist" - some groups are classified as "racist" while others are considered "incapable of racism due to power difference."
The first definition can be evidenced when we consider the views of White Supremacists and Jim Crow Laws (which legislate the belief that Whites were entitled to more civil rights than others). The underlying assumption is that one race - the white race - is superior to all others. Laws based on this belief (e.g. Apartheid in South Africa) reflect racism. People who ascribe to
this belief are then, racist.

The second definition leaves greater room for discussion and debate. This broader definition tells us that "discrimination" (treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit) or "prejudice" (a preconceived preference or idea) allows that people of any race can be labeled as racist and any biased (def: an unfair act or policy stemming from prejudice) acts to be categorized as racism.

Also Known As: racialism, racial discrimination

Examples: The teen who verbally or physically attacks another simply because he is of a different race can be considered to be engaging in a racist act, whether he is White or Black, Asian or Latin. Beliefs that all people of another race (be they White, Black, Latin, Asian, etc.) are bad, evil, less than, reflect racism. Of key importance is the idea that racism and racist
behavior is not owned by any one group.

From Susan Pizarro-Eckert, "Your Guide to Race Relations."

Pray for the 79 People Groups Living in Germany

2007-04-19T16:13:00.000-04:00

Total Population: 82,716,000

Total population of German people: 56,900,000

Total population of Non-German people: 25,816,000

Total People Groups: 79

Total Least-Reached People Groups: 17

Religions:

Protestant 34%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 3.7%, Orthodox 2%, unaffiliated or other 26.3%

Languages:

German is Germany's only official and most-widely spoken language. Standard German is understood throughout the country, while dialects — some quite distinct from the standard language — are used in everyday speech, especially in rural regions. Speakers with regional dialects and accents are not frowned on or interpreted as uneducated. On the contrary, dialects are seen as symbols of regional identity and spoken throughout all social classes.

English is the most common foreign language and almost universally taught by the secondary level. Other languages taught are French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. Dutch is taught in counties bordering the Netherlands. Latin and Greek are part of the classical education syllabus offered by some secondary schools.

Sources: Joshua Project, Wikipedia

Taking the church where it's needed most.

Pray for the Least-Reached in France

2007-04-14T20:33:00.000-04:00

Total Population in France: 60,723,000

Total population of "French" people: 34,450,000

Total population of "Non-French" people: 26,273,000

Least-Reached People Groups: 34

Population of Least-Reached People: 4,677,000

Religions:

Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, unaffiliated 4%

Languages:

French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish)

Taking the church where it's needed most.

Aoka of China

2007-04-10T08:58:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...

Aoka of China
Population: 295,000
Language: Chinese, Xiang
Religion: Ethnic Religions
Evangelical: 0.70%

Taking the Church Where it's Needed Most

Identity
Although they are officially part of the Miao nationality, the Aoka speak a unique Chinese language - a fact they apparently refuse to accept. When linguists visited them and told them that they spoke a form of Chinese, "they claimed that they spoke Miao, because their speech was very different from that of the surrounding Chinese population, and because they wore Miao clothes instead of Chinese clothes."

History
In the aftermath of Chinese wars against them, the ancestors of the Aoka were launched into an era of migration. Tired of being harassed, they fled across mountain ranges in hope of finding an isolated place where they could be left alone to live their lives. Many of the ethnic groups now known as the Hmu also traveled into Hunan and Guangxi. They may be the ancestors of the Aoka. After centuries of living beside the all-powerful Han Chinese, the Aoka have lost their language and are being speedily assimilated to the Han Chinese language and culture.

Customs
Aoka communities work together as one to design and build homes for each other. During a crisis, all the people come together to find a solution. In many villages, the Aoka believe the stove is the center of their home and they are afraid to offend the "spirit of the stove". They are forbidden to place their feet or shoes on the stove, and at night they must remove all pots and pans from it: not to do so is believed to bring a curse to the family.

Religion
Some Aoka believe there was once a ladder connecting heaven to the earth. A long time ago the ladder was broken and no people have been able to visit heaven since. Today the majority of Aoka are animists, living under the influence of demons and evil spirits. Many have also adopted the ancestor worship belief systems of their Han Chinese neighbors.

Christianity
More than three-quarters of Aoka people have yet to hear the gospel for the first time. No widespread mission effort was undertaken in their area before missionaries were expelled from China in the early 1950s. There are few Miao or Han Chinese Christian communities in that part of China today. Hunan remains one of the most unreached provinces in China. Although they have their own spoken language, the Aoka use the Chinese script for writing. Few Aoka, however, are literate enough to read the Chinese Bible or other evangelistic literature.

Text source: Copyright © Operation China, Paul Hattaway. Used with permission.

Taking the church where it's needed most.

Cross-cultural Church Planting Starts Where the Scripture Starts

2007-04-09T15:53:00.000-04:00

Cross-cultural church planting has it's foundation in the very beginning of the Word of God. It starts where the Scriptures start. God has displayed His creativity not only in the creation of the heavens and the earth, but in ethnic diversity, in redeeming the world, and in building His church. In a fast-forward way, we can see God’s plan through other key biblical passages. “The Lord had said to Abram,‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation...I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing...and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you’ ” (Gen. 12:1-3).

To this man of faith who would go on a great pilgrimage, God unveiled a plan to reach the world. Through this one man who left his people, all peoples on earth will be blessed. “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age’” (Matt. 28: 18-20).

Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus commanded His followers “to make discip les of all nations.” This key command echoes in different ways throughout the New Testament (Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-49; John 20:21-22; Acts 1:8).

In "Let The Nations Be Glad!: The Supremacy of God in Misions," John Piper declares,“God’s great goal in all history is to uphold and display the glory of His name for the enjoyment of His people from all the nations.” In step with“God’s great goal” described by Piper, the Lord has allowed world migration today to bring many different peoples to the major cities. In the major metropolitan areas around the globe,multicultural churches are microcosms that simultaneously reflect a fulfillment of the Great Commission (see Matt. 28:18-20) and foreshadow the reality of heaven (see Rev. 5:9-10; 7:9-10; 14:6-7; 15:4; 21:3).

Arab, Shuwa of Western and Central Africa

2007-04-09T14:58:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the:
Arab, Shuwa of Western and Central Africa

Population: 1,891,000

Language: Arabic, Chadean, Sudanese

Religion: Islam

Evangelical: 0.03%

Taking the Church Where it's Needed Most

Who are they?

The Shuwa Arabs are commonly referred to as the "Baggara." This name is derived from the Arabic word bagar, meaning "cow," and refers to the Arab tribes in West Africa who are cattle herders. They are spread from the Lake Chad region eastward to the Nile River in the countries of Sudan, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, and the Central African Republic. They live in a hot, semi-arid climate with zones ranging from sparse shrub lands to wooded grasslands. The Baggara tribes are of Arab descent and mainly speak the Shuwa dialect of the Arabic language. They entered western Sudan between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and have gradually moved east and west from there. By the eighteenth century, they were concentrated primarily to the north and east of Lake Chad. Their tribes continued moving eastward until they became widely scattered across the horizontal plains of West Africa. They have intermarried with the Negroid tribes who lived close to them. This mixture of blood has given the Baggara darker skin and thicker lips than other Arabs.

What are their beliefs?

The Baggara have been Muslims since the thirteenth century. They wear the clothes prescribed by the Muslim religion, and bury their dead facing Mecca, the "holy city" of Islam. The Baggara are a very superstitious people who believe strongly in evil spirits. Each morning a man sneezes in order to rid his nostrils of the evil spirit who slept there the night before. The Baggara also believe that men and women can be changed into animals such as were-crocodiles and were-hyenas.

What are their needs?

Some of the Baggara tribes have been targeted by missions agencies. Portions of the Bible have been translated into their language and some Christian broadcasts are also available to them. However, because the people are so devoted to the Islamic faith, very few of them have converted to Christianity. Also, the nomadic lifestyle of the Baggara makes it very difficult for missionaries to reach them. Concentrated prayer and evangelism efforts are necessary in order to penetrate the hearts of the Baggara with the Gospel.

Prayer Points:

Pray against the spirit of Islam that has kept the Baggara bound for many generations.
Pray that God will raise up long term workers to join those who have already responded.
Ask God to encourage and protect the small number of Muslims who have become Christians.
Pray that the Holy Spirit will complete the work begun in their hearts through adequate discipleship.
Ask the Lord to call out prayer teams to go and break up the soil through worship and intercession.
Pray that Christians living in West Africa will be stirred with vision for outreach and a genuine burden to reach out to the Baggara tribes.
Ask the Lord to raise up strong local churches among the Baggara.

Immigrants Fueling Growth of U.S. Cities

2007-04-06T06:43:00.000-04:00

According to a recent CBS News report, "Immi-grants are filling the void as domestic migrants are seeking opportunities in other places," said Mark Mather, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, a private research organization.

Immigrants long have flocked to major metropolitan areas and helped them grow. But increasingly, native-born Americans are moving from those areas and leaving immigrants to provide the only source of growth.

The New York metro area, which includes the suburbs, added 1 million immigrants from 2000 to 2006. Without those immigrants, the region would have lost nearly 600,000 people.

Without immigration, the Los Angeles metro area would have lost more than 200,000, the San Francisco area would have lost 188,000 and the Boston area would have lost 101,000.

The Census Bureau estimates annual population totals as of July 1, using local records of births and deaths, Internal Revenue Service records of people moving within the United States and census statistics on immigrants. The estimates released Thursday were for metropolitan areas, which generally include cities and their surrounding suburbs.

Among the findings:

Atlanta added more people than any other metro area from 2000 to 2006. The Atlanta area, which includes Sandy Springs and Marietta, Ga., added 890,000 people, putting its population at about 5.1 million. And for Atlanta, that means big problems. The city is struggling to keep up with demand for more roads and waterways, CBS News' Pete Combs reports. Gaining the most after Atlanta were Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Phoenix and Riverside, Calif.

On a percentage basis, St. George in southwest Utah was the fastest-growing metro area from 2000 to 2006. St. George's population jumped by 40 percent, to 126,000. The next highest percentage increases were in Greeley, Colo., Cape Coral, Fla., Bend, Ore., and Las Vegas.

The New Orleans area, still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, lost nearly 290,000 people from 2005 to 2006, reducing its population to just over 1 million. The Gulfport-Biloxi area in Mississippi, also hit hard by Katrina, lost nearly 27,000 people, dropping its population to 227,900.

Parts of the Rust Belt also had large declines. The Pittsburgh metro area led the way, losing 60,000 people from 2000 to 2006. Its population loss was followed by declines in Cleveland, Buffalo, N.Y., Youngstown, Ohio, and Scranton, Pa.

Houston edged past Miami to become the sixth-largest metro area, with about 5.5 million people. Miami slipped to seventh.

There are about 36 million immigrants in the U.S. About one-third are in the country illegally. The Census Bureau, however, does not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants."

Hakka of China

2007-04-06T06:24:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...

Hakka of China
Population: 32,694,000
Language: Chinese, Hakka
Religion: Buddhism and non-religious
Evangelical: 0.60%

Taking the Church Where it's Needed Most

Koiri of India

2007-03-28T16:27:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...
Koiri of India
Population: 6,885,000
Language: Bhojpuri
Religion: Hinduism
Evangelical: 0.00%

Taking the Church Where It's Needed Most

Kunbi of India

2007-03-27T13:53:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...
Kunbi of India
Population: 15,367,000
Language: Gujarati
Religion: Hinduism
Evangelical: 0.00%

The Lewa Kunbi people live in the Western Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. They have gotras such as Shendilya, Kashyap and Bharadwaj. They are known as Lewa Patil.

They speak the Marathi and Telegu languages and use the Devanagari script. A few of them also speak Hindi. The incidence of colour-blindness is reported in 5 percent of the Lewa Kunbi population.

The Lewa men are non-vegetarian but their women are vegetarian. Jowar is their staple cereal and they eat rice occasionally. The economy of the Lewa Kunbi is mainly based on agriculture. They either cultivate their own land or work for others on a share-cropping basis. They participate in the local weekly markets. The problem of alcoholism is prevalent among the men.

The Lewa Kunbis generally follow monogamy. The women contribute to the family economy as wage earners and take part in socio-religious activities. In a marriage a series of rituals are performed simultaneously at the bride and groom's residences. Marriage rituals include the thread wearing ceremony, the exchange of garlands and circumambulating the sacred fire seven times.

The Lewa Kunbi has an association, which looks after the socio-economic development of the community. They cremate the dead and observe death pollution for ten days.

The Lewa Kunbi worship both family and village deities. The Brahman officiates as a priest at their rituals. Their traditional customs prevent them from exchanging water and cooked food with certain communities, such as, the Bhangi, Chamar and Mahar. Ancestor worship is also prevalent among them. Diwali is the main festival celebrated by the Lewa Kunbi.

Pray:
- For the salvation of the Lewa Kunbi people and that God may send several Christian workers to work among them and meet their spiritual and physical needs.
- That the Lewa Kunbi people may be freed from alcoholism, ancestors' worship, colour- blindness and be able to accept all the communities without caste prejudice.

Text source: Copyright © India Missions Association - Edited by Philipose Vaidyar. Used with permission.

Taking the Church Where It's Needed Most

Taking the Church Where it's Needed Most

2007-03-25T07:43:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...
Nai, Muslim of Bangladesh
Population: 1,109,000
Language: Bengali
Religion: Islam
Evangelical: 0.00%

Theology and Church Planting

2007-03-25T06:45:00.000-04:00

Ed Stetzer, Dir. of Research for the NAMB, wrote an article on theology and missional church planting. This is an excerpt. Click on the link at the end of this excerpt for the full article.

How would we define church planting?

The best definition I know of which describes church planting is the word "missions." Church planters are missionaries. If church planting isn't about missions it's only about rearranging Christians. You can start a new church using attractive programs, dynamic worship, and fancy PowerPoint displays, but if all you're doing is drawing other Christians from other churches That's not missions. We call that "sheep-stealing," or "swapping chairs on the Titanic."

Church planting is about missions, reaching out to the unchurched.

The study of missions is called "missiology." Missiology includes the study of cultural and historical components, all of which we will study in this session. In order to understand church planting, there must be a theological base for our work. Otherwise, we simply end up establishing monuments to ourselves and our creativity. Calvin Guy wrote this:"We apply the pragmatic test to the work of the theologian. Does his theology motivate men to go into all the world and make disciples? Does it so undergird them that they, thus motivated, succeed in this primary purpose? Theology must stand the test of being known by its fruit."

Cal Guy is telling us that if our theology doesn't motivate us to reach the lost, then truth is aborted. We simply have a set of principles that we think about but fail to live out. Our theology has become something we muse over, but we're unwilling to lay down our lives for it.

Theology must be missionary theology because therein lies the heart of God. It has been said that missiology is the mother of theology because theology was developed in an emerging missionary situation. Churches were being planted and divine missionary principles were being brought to their attention through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to meet needs and answer the questions of the people.

Stuart Murray in Church Planting: Laying Foundations seeks to provide a theological framework for church planting (often missing in church planting literature). Murray's argument:

Why Theology?

If you hire a carpenter to build a house, one of the first things you have to decide is if you want your house to be built up off the ground on blocks or on a concrete slab. A house built on blocks is kind of an old-fashioned method of building, but many people still like it because of the accessibility of pipes that need repairing or air conditioning duct work. But the problem with a house on blocks is that over time, the ground settles and the structure of the house can shift. It's not unusual in an old house like this to find cracks in walls and problems with the floor. But if a house is built on a solid concrete slab, that's a foundation that does not change. Theology is like the concrete slab. God says, "I am the LORD, and I do not change." [Malachi 3:6 NIV]

God's ways, God's plans, God's purposes are the unchanging foundation upon which we build.

Therefore, Theology is critical because the foundation determines the building.

The church is the Bride of Christ; therefore, it must be pleasing to Him. So we must be careful that everything we do is pleasing to Him. "Cutting edge" keeps changing. There are new methods coming out everyday that seem promising to the church planter. And we have to be careful not to develop a critical spirit towards ideas that may seem strange to us. New ideas are important to explore to a certain degree. But if we look simply to new ideas rather than unchanging biblical theology, we find ourselves following fads rather than the Father because cutting edge changes. Remember 45s and 8 track tapes? We must avoid building our ministry on cutting edge and opting rather for a solid theological foundation.

Theology is critical because it determines strategies and techniques.

God has no obligation to the success of anything outside of His will. Man-made innovations mean nothing to God unless they are created in the center of His will.

Theology is critical because it brings us to the principle of Missio Dei.Missio Dei means the mission of God.

God is a God of action. The acts of God are occurring around us on a daily basis. He is constantly active and on mission to a lost world. Therefore as servants of the Lord, we carry out our mission in the world realizing our work is Theocentric not anthropocentric.

It is not based on us but upon God. John Piper wrote in his book Let the Nations Be Glad, "God has set in motion a missionary movement that will reach to all peoples of the earth on the analogy of the universal spread of God's glory," and "missions is for the glory of Christ. Its goal is to reestablish the supremacy of Christ among the peoples of the world. . . The goal of Christ's mission and ours is that God might be glorified by the nations as they experience His mercy."

The emphasis in the Missio Dei is seeing where God is already at work and that our involvement with Him is ultimately for His glory. So the church is not an end in itself. It is simply the means God uses to accomplish His work.

We must shift our emphasis from the life of the local church to the needs of the world because therein lies the heart of God. Our work recognizes the need for Divine empowerment because ultimately anything we do that is lasting must come from God. And His heart becomes our heart. His passions become our passions.

Church planting reveals God's heart for the lost.

Ephesians 3:10 says: "His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, and according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence" (Ephesians 3:10 NIV).

God's instrument through which He carries out His plans for the world is the church. The task of the church is to be His missionary to the world. So the church is not so much a mission-sending agency; the church is missionary at its basic core.

We use the term "the missional church." Simply put, the missionary endeavor draws the church to reach to its community, or "Jerusalem" as Jesus called it. Simultaneously, it will send out missionaries to "Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8 NIV).
So the work of the church as a whole is missionary. The task must not be relegated to a chosen few when in reality we are all called as missionaries. Paul wrote: "And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors" (2 Corinthians 5:18 NIV).

This is our participation in the Missio Dei... the mission of God. It is the eternal faith once delivered unto the saints, God at work in the world, touching hearts and lives, our participation with Him seeing men and women converted, their lives changed by the power of the Gospel, and establishing New Testament congregations.

A church for Every People and the Gospel for Every Person

2007-03-24T08:20:00.000-04:00

According to AD2000 and Beyond:

"The Great Commission is a two-fold command. In Matthew 28:19,20 Jesus commands us to 'Go and make disciples of all nations (peoples)'. The focus is to establish disciples in mature fellowships among every people group. In Mark 16:15 Jesus gave the task of preaching the gospel to every person. The focus here is to present the Gospel to every individual. The watchword of 'a church for every people and the Gospel for every person' sums up this two-fold command."

The Joshua Project list of 'least reached peoples' was developed as a tool for measurement and mobilization. It establishes those peoples over 10,000 in number, and below 2% Evangelical or 5% Christian adherents, as most likely to need a church planting initiative. Approximately 1600 least reached peoples fit these criteria. The Joshua Project list has helped draw the attention of the Church to the neediest, most ignored, least resourced, and most challenging part of the unfinished task of world evangelization.

Praying Through the (10/40) Window initiatives were followed by specific commitments of church planting agencies to focus ministry on these peoples. Over the years the list became shorter, and at Amsterdam 2000 this year all the remaining peoples were embraced. About 99% of the world's population live in a people group that has a commitment for church planting team in the near future.

The vision is for a mission-minded church within every people. A goal was established as a basic minimum of a vital, witnessing congregation of at least 100 individuals within each people group. There are reports of such congregations in nearly 1/3 of the Joshua Project peoples.

Taking the Church Where its Needed Most

2007-03-23T10:09:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...

Dosadh, Hindu of India
Population: 4,788,000
Language: Hindi
Religion: Hinduism
Evangelical: 0.00%

Interesting Facts for Global Church Planters

2007-03-21T16:53:00.000-04:00

There are 9,608 ethnic people groups and 15,942 people-in-country groups, counting each group once per country of residence.
Of the 15,942 total groups, 6,430 are Least-Reached, totaling 2,576,038,000 individuals.
Of these 6,430 groups, 4,975 are in 10/40 Window countries. That means 77% of the unreached / least-reached people groups are in the 10/40 Window.
The largest least-reached group is the Japanese, with over 120,000,000 individuals.
3,285 groups are primarily Muslim, totaling nearly 1,300,000,000 individuals.
2,436 groups are primarily Hindu, totaling about 900,000,000 individuals.
561 groups are primarily Buddhist, totaling nearly 375,000,000 individuals.
6,486 groups are primarily Christian, totaling over 2,000,000,000 individuals. "Christian" is defined here as Christian adherents, not restricted to evangelicals.
The Mandarin Chinese is the largest people group, being in 98 countries with a total of about 793,000,000 individuals, and with 783,000,000 of those in China.
Jews are found in 130 countries, Arabs in 84 countries, and Chinese groups in 117 countries.

There is still lots of work to be done!

Unreached People Facts

2007-03-20T16:43:00.000-04:00

569 of Indonesia's 774 people groups do not have even Bible portions available in their primary language. The largest of these is the Banjar, 5,320,000

Taking the Church Where It's Needed Most

2007-03-20T16:34:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...
Yadava of India
Population: 54,584,000
Language: Hindi
Religion: Hinduism
Evangelical: 0.00%

The Yadava people from all over the country trace their descent to the Krishna of Yadu lineage. They are also known as Ala Golla, Poone Golla, Mong Golla, Idaiyar, Konarulu, Pillai, Nayudu, Naikan and Yadukulam, etc. The Yadava of the South speak Dravidian languages, practice Dravidian kinship. Those of the North speak languages of the Indo-Aryan family and are generally vegetarian. The Yadava consist of both landowning and landless people. Their traditional occupation is animal husbandry and selling its products. Child labour is common among them. Agriculture, business, trade and self-employment are their present occupation. Some Yadava are businessmen, teachers, doctors, engineers and political leaders. The Yadava live in joint families. They cremate dead and observe pollution period for thirteen days; however, in Kerala the Yadava community bury the dead and observed death pollution for six days. They have caste associations at the regional and national levels. The Yadava participate in the local traditional and socio-religious festivals. They are known to have more faith in astrology and talismans rather than in the services of a doctor. They have expertise in oral traditions like Sevagaridi or group singing in praise of the god Vishnu. Similarly, they are good in musical dance and mock-fighting with swords. Boys are favored for formal education.

Alternate names: Ala Golla, Poone Golla, Mong Golla, Idaiyar, Konarulu, Pillai, Nayudu and Naikan, Yadukulam

Pray for:

The salvation of the Yadava people and that God may send several Christian workers among them and meet their spiritual and physical needs.
The practice of child labour to end among the Yadava people.
Education to be made available to girls as well as the boys.
The Yadava people to seek the Living God and give up their faith in astrology and talismans.

Are You Praying for God's Glory to be Seen in Iraq?

2007-03-18T18:34:00.000-04:00

A broken and demoralized society is the fruit of a past harsh dictatorship and the present war against terrorism. A small Sunni Arab minority and an elite within it had repressed the Shi’ite majority in the south and Kurdish majority in the north. Efforts at establishing a national government with the help of the United States and the United Nations are slow and frought with murderous opposition.
Pray for:
The binding of the evil spiritual powers that brood over this land.
A viable, indigenous government to arise that unites and rebuilds the shattered country.
Adequate material and social help for the millions of refugees in Iran, Jordan, Turkey and the West.
The provision of the needs of children and young people. One million children are suffering from chronic malnutrition and 300,000 were estimated to have died.
The Christian community which is largely Assyrian with some Armenians. The Assyrians are descendants of the Nestorian or Ancient Church of the East; in two denominations since 1964. The Nestorian Church became one of the greatest missionary denominations of history, winning 6% of all of Asia’s population 1,000 years ago. It is reduced to less than 2 million in the world today through persecution, compromise and harassment. About one third of all Christians left Iraq in the 1990s and are a high proportion of the Iraqi refugee population. Pray for a restoration of their biblical heritage, present revival beginnings to spread and a vision for outreach. Many Assyrians are studying the Scriptures in ‘Light Clubs’ in the churches.
Most Assyrians are members of the Catholic-linked Chaldean Church and some became Evangelicals through the activity of foreign missionaries in the past 150 years. Pray for revival and growth in this Church. Only recently has there been an openness to reach the Muslim majority. There are now a growing number of Kurdish and Arab believers. Emigration is a major ‘disease’; pray for Christians willing to remain as lights in the darkness.
The few Evangelicals are mainly confined to the cities. They were persecuted in the 1960s and ‘70s and numbers declined. God gave revivals in the 1980s and house groups multiplied - from one in Baghdad to over 300 for a time. There are around 70 evangelical congregations in Iraq, but conversions are doing little more than replacing those who are emigrating. Pray for these believers, their walk with the Lord and their witness to non-Christians. A small but growing number of Arabs and Kurds are seeking the Lord, both in Iraq and among Iraqi refugees in Jordan and elsewhere.
Leadership for the churches is a desperate need. Many good leaders have had to flee. Some Iraqis are in training in Jordan, Lebanon and elsewhere. Pray that many may return to Iraq.
All peoples are unreached apart from Assyrian and Armenian minority groups. Pray specifically for:
The Shi’a Arabs of Basra and the south. There is no known direct witness to them.
The Sunni Arabs - few have heard the gospel.
The Madan or Marsh Arabs - There is no known outreach to them.
The Bedouin, Persians and Gypsies are all totally unreached.
The Kurds have caught the attention of the world. They have fought for survival and a national identity for 70 years. The period 1985-91 was particularly bloody and cruel. Iraqi atrocities have included the razing of 3,800 villages and towns (including 61 Christian Assyrian villages), destruction of the local economy, mining of fields, deportation of 500,000 to distant camps, and killing of up to 250,000. In the aftermath of the Gulf War in 1991 almost the entire Kurdish population became refugees.
The Church. Assyrian Christians have suffered much persecution, destruction of villages and intimidation first by Saddam and then by the Kurds. Assyrian Christians have been reduced by emigration to 45,000.
The growing number of Kurdish believers have also suffered intimidation and several have been martyred, but the little church fellowships are growing with new converts being added. Pray that a vibrant, united Kurdish Church might impact every part of Northern Iraq.
The unevangelized in Kurdish north: a) The Yezidi are a syncretistic offshoot of both Zoroastrianism and Islam. They speak Kurdish and are known as ‘devil’ worshippers. There are very few believers. b) The Turkoman are a distinct Turkic people numbering between 1 and 2.5 million, but ‘claimed’ by the Kurds as Kurds. There are no known believers.

Taking the Church to Where it is Needed Most

2007-03-18T18:11:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...
Bania of India
Population: 23,271,000
Language: Hindi
Religion: Hinduism
Evangelical: 0.00%

The Vania people are also called Bania or Mahajan. The word Vania is derived from 'Vaniji', which means 'trader' in Sanskrit. The Vania community has gotras such as Agarwal, Dasora, Dishawal, Kapol, Nagori, Vagada, Modh and Nagar. Many of these names are based on the names of the place they are from. The Agrawal, though they are settled mainly in North Gujarat, take their name from the Agar Town. The Jharola live in Eastern Gujarat and the come from Jalor of Rajashthan and Maharashtra. The titles used by the Vania are Shah, Shroff, Parikkh, Chokshi, Seth and Gandhi. The Vania community consists of two religious divisions, namely Vaishnava and Jain. Most of the groups of Vania are split into Visha meaning twenty and Dasha or ten. These subdivisions are further divided into Ekda and Bagda. The Bagda mostly live in villages, while Ekda live in villages and towns. They have an organization called the Mandal to look after the temples and the community's property. Business, trade, jewellery-making and agriculture are the traditional occupations of the Vania. Floor painting and folk songs represent the Vania's art and culture. The naming of the newborn ritual is performed by a Jangam priest by putting a thread around the infant's neck. The Vania are Hindu by religion. They are Vaishnavite and devotees of Shrinathji. A section of them are from the Jain community. The Vania maintain intercommunity linkages with the Brahman, Valand, Soni and other communities through trade and service. The Vania in the state of Maharashtra are mostly the followers of the Lingayat Cult. Alternate names: Bania or Mahajan. Religion: Hindu, Jain, Lingayat Cult. Pray: + For the salvation of the Vania people and that God may send several Christian workers among them and meet their spiritual and physical needs. + Pray for developmental and literacy programs among the people.

Taking the Church to Where it is Needed Most

2007-03-16T09:20:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...
Gadaria, Hindu of India
Population: 5,794,000
Language: Hindi
Religion: Hinduism
Evangelical: 0.00%

Biblical Rationale - Church Planting Among the Unreached

2007-03-15T09:51:00.000-04:00

“Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul (e) for the work to which I have called them.’ Then having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews). They also had John as their assistant.” Acts 13:1-5

“And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout the region.” Acts 13:49

“And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.’ So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” Acts 14:21-23.

“From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them (n), and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.” Acts 14:26-28

Acts 13 and 14 highlight the beginning, middle and end of Paul’s first missionary journey. These passages describe a dynamic interplay between the local church, missionary church planting teams, and the lost communities surrounding them that led to church planting movements. Paul’s first church planting mission illustrates that missional church planting environments are created by God when local churches and church planting teams intentionally engage unreached peoples with the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

These verses highlight several universal characteristics for which to look in an emerging missional church planting environment: believers using their spiritual gifts, genuine worship, fasting and prayer, discipleship, recognizing God’s call, sending out those called by God to a specific ministry task, accountability between the sent and the sending church, contextual evangelism and indigenous leadership development. Underlying all of these is a focus on the Kingdom of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit. In such environments rapid multiplication of believers and churches is most likely to occur.

Is God calling you to be part of a church-planting team to the unreached of the world?

Planting the Church Where it is Most Needed

2007-03-15T09:12:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...
Dubla of India
Population: 791,000
Language: Gujarati
Religion: Hinduism
Evangelical: 0.00%

What are their beliefs?

Virtually all of the Dubla are Hindus. They look to the village bhagat (priest and medicine man) for spiritual guidance. He is thought to be the ultimate "good man," who is able to communicate with the gods. He is considered a friend, a philosopher, a guide, and a healer.

What are their needs?

Teachers, missionaries and humanitarian aid workers are needed to work among these precious people and share the love of Christ with them.

Prayer Points

Pray against the spirit of Hinduism that is keeping the Dubla bound. Ask God to raise up prayer teams who will break up the soil through worship and intercession. Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send forth faithful laborers to live and work among the Dubla. Ask God to grant His favor to missions agencies targeting the Dubla. Ask God to give the Dubla believers boldness to share the Gospel with their own people. Pray that God will reveal Himself to the Dubla through dreams and visions.

Planting the Church Where it is Most Needed

2007-03-14T14:52:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...
Tibetan Bhotia of India
Population: 7,100
Language: Tibetan, Central
Religion: Buddhism
Evangelical: 0.00%

The Least-Reached and Secular Humanists in America Need the Lord

2007-03-13T14:01:00.000-04:00

Never before has the climate for evangelism and church planting been riper for taking the love of Jesus to least-reached people right here in America! Not only are there over 800,000 least-reached people living within our shores, but there is a tremendous spiritual vacuum created by three generations influenced by secular humanism. People are searching for meaning, security and significance. New churches are timely, relevant and connect easily with their communities. Now is the time to plant more and better churches! Now is the time for existing churches to multiply and reap the harvest fields around them. Historically, church planting is proven to be the most effective form of evangelism.

Least-Reached in U.S.

2007-03-13T13:54:00.000-04:00

Reaching the least-reached in the United States with the love of Jesus

The Hindi People

2007-03-13T13:09:00.000-04:00

The Hindi people cluster has the greatest number of unreached groups (486, unreached population 408,643,000), then the Urdu Muslim (376, unreached population 36,2651,000).

Planting the Church Where it is Most Needed

2007-03-13T13:06:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the ...
Bishnoi of India
Population: 593,000
Language: Hindi
Religion: Hinduism
Evangelical: 0.00%

Definition of an Unreached People Group

2007-03-07T08:40:00.000-05:00

The Joshua Project gives the following definition of an Unreached or Least-reached People Group:

"A people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group."

The original Joshua Project editorial committee selected the critieria less than 2% Evangelical Christian and less than 5% Christian Adherents. While these percentage figures are somewhat arbitrary, there are some that suggest that the percentage of a population needed to be influenced to impact the whole group is 2%. Joshua Project uses the terms Unreached People Group (UPG) and Least-reached People Group interchangably.

If they are to be reached, churches must be planted.

Planting the Church Where it is Most Needed

2007-03-07T08:25:00.000-05:00

Please pray for the ...
Bedouin, Yahia of Morocco
Population: 99,000
Language: Arabic, Algerian Saharan Spoken
Religion: Islam
Evangelical: 0.00%

Planting the Church Where it is Most Needed

2007-03-06T17:08:00.000-05:00

Please pray for the ...
Arab, Tunisian of Tunisia
Population: 9,500,000
Language: Arabic, Tunisian Spoken
Religion: Islam
Evangelical: 0.00%

Planting the Church Where it is Most Needed

2007-03-05T21:48:00.000-05:00

Please pray for the ...
Wolof of Senegal
Population: 4,650,000
Language: Wolof
Religion: Islam
Evangelical: 0.00%

God Desires to Bless the Nations

2007-02-28T23:17:00.000-05:00

Psalm 67

God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us--that Thy way may be known on the earth, Thy salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise Thee, O God; let all the peoples praise Thee. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for Thou wilt judge the peoples with uprightness, and guide the nations on the earth. Let the peoples praise Thee, O God; let all the peoples praise Thee. The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.

Planting the Church Where it is Most Needed

2007-02-28T22:32:00.001-05:00

Please pray for the ...

Tigre of Eritrea
Population: 1,101,000
Language: Tigre
Religion: Islam
Evangelical: 0.00%

Planting the Church Where it is Most Needed

2007-02-26T11:18:00.001-05:00

Please pray for the ...

Konda Dhora of India
Population: 273,000
Language: Telugu
Religion: Hinduism
Evangelical: 0.00%

Unreached People of the Day

2007-02-25T09:48:00.000-05:00

Unreached People of the Day

Please pray for the ...
Sindh of United Kingdom
Population: 26,000
Language: Sindhi
Religion: Hinduism
Evangelical: 0.05%

Flight Attendant Marries Her Work and Passion

2007-02-25T09:36:00.000-05:00

Feb. 16: How do you help 500,000 children in 51 countries when you are not the boss, a millionaire or a power broker? As one woman shows NBC's Kerry Sanders, you begin by asking 'why not?'

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - “I'd just like to give you a warm welcome on American Airlines Flight 925 with nonstop service to San Salvador,” says veteran flight attendant Nancy Rivard just before takeoff.

It was 10 years ago when Nancy asked a simple question.

“I'm working on these flights every day, and I would see empty space in the overhead bin, empty space underneath in freight, empty seats, and I thought, why can't we use this to help others?” she says.

Initially, the airline answer was no, but Nancy would not give up. Eventually, she convinced executives any additional costs were outweighed by the greater good.

Today, her Airline Ambassadors International, mostly flight attendants from 12 airlines, travel the world with donated supplies and have helped:

Tsunami victims in Thailand.
The needy in Africa.
Transform a junkyard in Central America into a village.
Connect orphans in El Salvador with Americans.

For orphans like 9-year-old Caitlin Koppenhaver and her classmates, growing up without a family is a horrible pain.

Elaine Osbourne came to comfort hundreds of orphans.
“I used to think maybe I was supposed to take care of many instead of one,” she says.

Sometimes, just showing up is what matters, and which is why the Airline Ambassadors now welcome anyone who wants to help. “They don't have enough human interaction,” says Nancy as she holds an infant orphan in her arms. “We come here every month and just hold these babies.”

What do the ambassadors mean to the people here? “They're angels,” says San Salvador Orphanage Director Matilde de Quintana, “on this very difficult path we take in life.”

All because one flight attendant saw a need, wanted to help, and wouldn't take no for an answer.

© 2007 MSNBC Interactive

Planting the Church Where it is Most Needed

2007-02-24T13:41:00.000-05:00

Please pray for the ...

Tibetan, Jone of China
Population: 116,000
Language: Choni
Religion: Buddhism
Evangelical: 0.20%
Status: Unreached

China has the most unreached people

2007-02-24T13:39:00.000-05:00

China has the largest number of individuals whose primary language does not have Bible portions (181,873,000 individuals).

Jesus Did Not Despise the Little Things

2006-12-15T21:25:00.000-05:00

“He Did Not Despise the Little Things”
From Jesus CEO: Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary Leadership by Laurie Beth Jones
© 1995 Hyperion: New York (pages 76-78)
Posted by permission www.lauriebethjones.com

In the Old Testament a verse reads, "A day of little things, no doubt, but who would dare despise it?" Jesus did not despise the little things. When he set out to change the world, he chose only a dozen people to work with — not a cast of thousands, He packed value into every minute, every glance, every question, every encounter because he knew that out of little things come big ones.

I see such an impatience with and disregard for little things in business that it disturbs me. Yesterday I listened to a woman lament that her bosses had taken away a key sale from an employee and "given" it to another one because it somehow made the store's overall cost of sales lower. Were they thinking that was just a minor incident to this salesperson? By trying to inflate the bottom line, they had punctured her trust and morale. "It was just a little sale," they assured her. Yet by depriving her of her little sale, they were losing their real customer — the employee herself.

I worked once with a boss who didn't want me to spend so much time with clients. "Go after the big clients, Laurie," he said. "Leave the peanuts to the others." And yet when the numbers were totaled, my combination of small sales out totaled his few "big ones." I thought to myself (as I resigned to start my own company), "Dinosaurs became extinct—yet rabbits still abound."

Aren't many of us hounded by a sense that only the big things count? I personally have had to battle- a mindset that said whatever I did had to be the biggest and the best. I couldn't just write a poem—it had to be Ulysses. Recently, out at Gold Rock Ranch, my artist friend Willy was teaching a group of us how to carve soapstone. Having seen her so quickly and easily carve out lovely shapes of bears and birds, I took my raw chunk of soapstone and began to study it intently. As if reading my mind, Willy called out, "All right, group, let's break for the afternoon while Laurie carves The Last Supper." I laughed and laughed. It was true. I thought surely I had to create — was about to create—a masterpiece on my first try. What I ended up with looked like a mix between a dove and a rocking chair — a silly little thing. Yet any creative person knows not to despise the little things —the first brush stroke, the first word on paper, the first phone call to a prospective client or Friend....

Jesus did not spend his time creating operations manuals that could be franchised and duplicated by the millions. He hurried to see a little girl who was sick, focusing only on getting her well; he knew that one boy's loaf of bread had all the ingredients necessary to feed thousands.

He did not despise the little things.

Question:
How in your life or business are you “despising the day of little things”?

Question:
What deed of yours today would you want to see multiplied?

The Local Church's Role in Mission

2006-12-01T16:48:00.000-05:00

"The Local Church’s Role in Mission"
by Larry Reesor from Mission Frontiers (June 2000)

It is generally accepted that each individual who makes up the Body of Christ, His universal Church, is responsible to get the message of Christ's salvation to the world. Each of us is called to be a "world Christian." We must be reminded, however, that over 90 percent of the references to the church in the New Testament are to the local church. God values the life and ministry of local churches, the structure through which He primarily works. His work is primarily accomplished via relationships in and through local churches. Therefore, to put it succinctly, God's mandate to reach the world is primarily to individual believers who together comprise local churches...
More HERE

The City and Unreached Peoples by Harvie Conn

2006-11-25T16:37:00.000-05:00

The City and Unreached Peoples
by Harvie M. Conn

The following was a presentation by the late Harvie Conn at Urbana missions conference in 1987:

What is a city? For a North American white, a city is a melting pot. For a suburbanite it's a ghetto. For my next-door neighbor in inner-city Philadelphia, a city is "One large collection of nothings."

Now all these definitions are wrong, and they're all wrong for the same reason. Yuppie, suburbanite or black, most people can't see anything in the city except mathematical urban units of one. They're like the pastor I met once in our ministry in Korea. At a moment of truth he confided in me, "I have a very hard time telling all Americans apart. You look so alike." I think that's how we all see cities.

More of the article HERE

It is a two part article>>>

The City and Unreached Peoples Part 1: Here

The City and Unreached Peoples Part 2: Here

New Issue of thechurchplanter online!

2006-11-22T17:58:00.000-05:00

Our 11th issue of "thechurchplanter" is posted online for all to read. Click HERE to check it out.

If you would like to receive a hard copy or multiple copies please contact Mike and we'll get them out to you.

Recent Back Issues of "thechurchplanter":

Women & Church Planting

Essential Evangelists

Churches Planting Churches

Poverty

Who Can Plant a Church?

2006-11-09T10:23:00.000-05:00

In order to engage in church planting effectively, it is important to consider who can plant a church. Do only churches plant churches? What about denominations? What about an individual? For that matter, must an individual be ordained, formally trained, and sent out by an agency of the denomination? In both the New Testament and today, we see several patterns regarding the who of church planting. Check out the rest of the article HERE

Thanks to www.churchplants.com for this helpful article.

Multi-Cultural Church Planting Guide

2006-10-21T09:41:00.000-04:00

The multicultural church matches a need in our society. In the “Foreword” to Manuel Ortiz’ book One New People: Models for Developing a Multiethnic Church,Harvie M. Conn crystallizes this point: In a day of fear and mistrust the multiethnic (or multicultural) church is a sample of recomposition in Christ. E pluribus unum (“One out of many”) is a visionary slogan in politics; in the multiethnic church it is a response of the Holy Spirit to culture wars. It is well worth more than a quick glance by a fractured society seeking unity in too many superficial solutions, and by a church that often doesn’t realize the treasure it has been given.

The multicultural church prepares us for a picture of eternity. “And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9).In his book Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby counsels, “Find out where the Master is—then that is where you need to be. Find out what the Master is doing—then that is what you need to be doing.” God is already drawing people of every tribe and language and people and nation together to worship Him for all eternity. The multicultural church becomes an example of what can be done on earth and a foretaste of what will be in heaven. Is God calling you as a prayer supporter, a multicultural church planter, a church planting team member, a church planter’s mentor, or a helper from a partnering church? If “yes” or “maybe” is your answer to one of these, God may use this resource in and through your life.

The whole guide is available HERE

Great Bibliography and more in Church Planting Class Syllabus

2006-10-20T09:57:00.000-04:00

I found this syllabus online for the following class:

CHURCH PLANTING SEMINAR
by Steve Childers, Steve Ogne, Ed Stetzer & Others
Doctor Of Ministry Elective Course 2DME 853
ORLANDO, FL (HOTEL) WWW.GCA.CC
JANUARY 30 - FEBRUARY 3, 2006

This class was part of Reformed Theological Seminary (www.rts.edu) coursework. As you can see from the Teacher List, this is a good crew. The bibliography in this syllabus is excellent. I thought it was at least worth posting for that reason.

Check it out HERE

Reconciling Community

2006-10-18T13:50:00.000-04:00

When sociologists want to provide evidence that there is still a racial divide in our country, many times they look to the Church for the compelling facts. Maybe you've heard the saying before, "Eleven o'clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America." Though the Bible is the most multicultural piece of literature you'll ever put your hands on, the bride of Christ struggles to look like the first Christian Church in the book of Acts or the future kingdom of heaven where believers will live eternally.

I have the awesome privilege of serving as the senior pastor of The Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, Minn. In just over three short years, this ministry has grown to become an intergenerational, hip-hop, multiethnic, reconciling and urban community of close to 800. Our congregation at the time of this writing is about 60 percent European-American, 35 percent African-American, and the rest a mix of Latino, Asian and others.

As an African-American male in my mid-30s, I often wonder not only how I came to pastor this amazing church, but also how I live in what I consider the spiritual warfare of the racialized matrix in American society. Let me briefly guide you through an experience of corporate worship at The Sanctuary:
On this particular Sunday morning, an experience of corporate worship is about to begin that has been focused on racial reconciliation for the last seven weeks. The service begins with our worship leader giving an opening prayer and then leading a time of praise and worship, which includes hip-hop, soul, rock licks and urban gospel. It's interesting to me that our church is 60 percent European-Americans, yet most Sundays our praise and worship style is so diverse.

Before the sermon, our Reconciliation Design Team presents a dramatic, spoken word piece titled "Where I'm From." The piece is presented by a multiethnic group of women and men who tell their unique ethnic stories of their upbringing, faith and take on the world around them. They end the piece by asking in unison, "Where are you from?" After that, I preach a sermon titled "Reconciliation and Worship," which ends with an altar call of people from different backgrounds committing to and praying through being ambassadors of reconciliation in the world.

I realize in that moment that this is something special and out of the ordinary for a church in America. The Sanctuary is what I would call a post-black, post-white church. I think about this, and I grieve because I want so badly for the norm of the Church in America to be an ancient-future Church that lives in the tension and victory of the first Church in the book of Acts and the picture of heaven that we see in Revelation 7.

One might ask why it would be so important for the Church today to be a Christ-centered, multiethnic and reconciling community. Well, there is the sociological reason that we live in an ever-increasing multiethnic and multicultural society, and if the Church is going to be a relevant force of evangelism and mission in this reality, we must strive internally for the multiethnic faith community. This is not the most important reason though. The Church ought to be multiethnic because it's biblical. We see this through the Great Commission, as well as the early Church and future Church; we also must wrestle with the multiethnic Christ, who is the Bridegroom to the Church we are called to develop through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

The black church and the white church are the most visible pictures of our need to become one so that the world might know that the Father sent the Son (John 17:21).

The black church historically is a community refuge, an institution of African-American empowerment and a place of escape from the remnants of racism and prejudice that have yet to be dismantled in our society. I believe that because of the history that the black church has in our country in terms of being prophetic, addressing social injustice and being bold and charismatic, it ought be one of the leading champions of the Christ-centered, multiethnic and reconciling church. This is truly what I mean by becoming a post-black church. Through taking a post-black church approach, the black church can also point other ethnic-specific churches to the biblical call to oneness and reconciliation.

Though not typically referred to as the white church, it remains the majority church in this country for the time being. Through the ever-increasing multiethnic and multiracial reality within our nation, however, the future of the white, dominant church is threatened.

By the black and white church embracing the mission and theology of reconciliation, we not only produce a church that is relevant to an ever-increasingly multiethnic and multicultural world, but we also become the beloved Church portrayed in Scripture. My prayer is that the multiethnic and Christ-centered Church would become the norm in America.

Efrem Smith is the pastor of The Sanctuary Covenant Church and is profiled in The RELEVANT Nation (RELEVANT Books).

From the 850 WORDS OF RELEVANT :: 10.16.06

Cross-Cultural Church Planting Models

2006-09-28T16:23:00.000-04:00

If you are thinking about how your church could cross-cultures and start an ethnic church, this article can help give you some ideas of different ways it could work.

Read on for more...

Urban Cross-Cultural Church Planting Models by Jerry L. Appleby (1986) Reprinted with permission from Association of Nazarenes in Social Research

No two situations are the same. Each neighborhood, language, and church needs its own action plan. Each plan becomes its own model.

Several churches have followed somewhat similar patterns. The following criteria have been used to select and describe models that can be used as examples.

There are actual churches that have examined by the author.

They are successful in that growth and evangelism have taken place. It might be said that the model "worked."

These models do not seem to have geographic sectional overtones or to have successful because of their geographic location.

Certain adaptations can be made to these models without loss of workability. All the characteristics may not fit a given situation, but the models can still be a usable plan.
These examples are not meant to be exhaustive, but illustrative. Other examples no doubt do exist. God given ingenuity will probably create more in the future.

Read the article here

Kurt in Mexico to encourage church planting at Equipo Internationale family conference.

2006-09-17T09:23:00.000-04:00

Kurt is on a ministry trip to Mexico for the next week with Martin Guerena, Phil Guerena, John Baker and Tony Webb to encourage pastors and their wives in their church planting goals and work. He will speaking each night and at the annual Equipo Internationale family conference.

Friday night the group attended the Mexican Independence Day fesitivites in Tacate where nearly 100,000 people gathered to celebrate. The evening ended with a magnificant fireworks display. To see pictures and more info of the trip throughout the trip, click on the following link: http://nwcmexicoeitrip2006.blogspot.com

Your prayer support this week is greatly appreciated.

Women & Church Planting Issue of Posted Online

2006-09-09T15:28:00.000-04:00

Our 10th issue of "thechurchplanter" on Women & Church Planting is posted online for all to read. Click HERE to check it out.

If you would like to receive a hard copy or multiple copies please contact Mike and we'll get them out to you.

Recent Back Issues of "thechurchplanter":

Essential Evangelists

Churches Planting Churches

Poverty

Living Stuff Before Organizational Stuff

Powerpoint Of My Baby Boomer Church Workshop

2006-09-09T15:04:00.000-04:00

I've had several people inquire about the powerpoint that I used for my Baby Boomer Church Workshop at our National FGBC Celebration. Well, it's posted now so you can glean the information you want. Click here (it's a 3MB show...so give it a minute or so to load. The back and forward buttons are at the bottom of the window along with a slide-show button to the bottom right so you can navigate through the presentation)

If you would like to purchase the audio of this presentation, click here for the website to order.

Up-coming Northeast Assessment Center- January 18-20, 2007

2006-08-31T20:37:00.000-04:00

GBNAM Northeast will host its sixth church Planter Candidate Assessment Center in PA on January 18-20, 2007.
The Center is a tremendous resource tool in assisting potential church planters evaluate their calling, ministry behavior, personality profile, leadership style, communication skills, and strengths and weaknesses in respect to church planting.

The overall goal is to assist each candidate to honestly evaluate their gifts and abilities regarding suitability for church planting. Candidates build relationships with assessor (pastors from the region) and begin to build a network of their greatest church-planting resource...other church planters.

Those who have participated in the assessment center have benefited greatly from this assessment process and highly recommend it to others. Many say the experience has been so positive that they would not consider starting a church without the assessment.

The Northeast has a trained quality assessment team. Several assessment resources are used during the process. A comprehensive composite rating is complied for each candidate with helpful recommendations for practical application.

Do you have an individual or couple in church that have interest in church planting? The assessment center is a vital beginning step in helping people identify a calling to church-planting. Please contact Jim if you want to recommend someone to this assessment-- (jksna@kcnet.org)

Listen to Church Planting workshops from FGBC Celebration 2006

2006-08-19T12:37:00.000-04:00

This year's National Celebration for the family of Grace Brethren Churches had the opportunity for many workshops lead by our GBNAM folks to talk about aspects of church planting. From grant writing to hospitality to starting churches. Lot's of experience to offer in these workshops.

Here's a list of the presentations connected with GBNAM:

The Aging Baby-Boomer Church - Kurt Miller

Grant-Writing for Christian Min. Pt. 1 - Jeffrey Rodman
Grant-Writing for Christian Min. Pt. 2 - Jeffrey Rodman

The Lost Art of Hospitality - Mike Jentes & Kevin & Siew-Choo Ong

Micropolitan Church Planting - Tony Webb

Strategizing for Mission at the Center of the World - Steve Galegor, Jr.

Launching New Churches - Ron Boehm & Jim Snavely

Click here for the website to order the copies you want.

New issue of "thechurchplanter" is in the mail to our Grace Brethren Churches

2006-08-18T12:49:00.000-04:00

Our 10th issue of "thechurchplanter" about Women & Church Planting is in the mail traveling to our Grace Brethren Churches all over the continent. If you would like to receive a copy, please email Mike with your snail mail address, and we'll be glad to mail you a copy.

Soon we will be posting the magazine on the GBNAM website.

New Issue of "thechurchplanter" hot off the press!

2006-07-26T16:48:00.000-04:00

Our 10th issue of "thechurchplanter" is hot off the press. It will take a bit of time to get them mailed out to all our churches, but there will be some preview copies available at our FGBC National Conference next week.

The Topic for this Issue is Women and Church Planting. Here is the cover...as a teaser. Be looking for it soon!

Recent Back Issues:

Essential Evangelists

Churches Planting Churches

Poverty

Living Stuff Before Organizational Stuff

Redeemer Urban Church Planting Center e-Newsletter Spring 2006

2006-07-12T13:40:00.000-04:00

This is an excellent newsletter about Church Planting from our friends at Redeemer Church in New York City.

The Movement - Redeemer Urban Church Planting Center e-Newsletter Spring 2006

The Aging Baby Boomer Church Workshop

2006-07-05T11:19:00.000-04:00

What is your church doing to meet the needs of the Baby Boomers in your community? We invite you to join us at this special seminar at National Conference: Celebrate’06!

The Aging Baby-Boomer Church

With the largest population of Americans approaching retirement, the church needs to respond to the challenge. Kurt Miller, our National Director of Church Planting, is encouraging the development of boomer-focused churches for the 55+ crowd. Whether your church is in decline or you desire to plant a new church, the church needs to get ahead of the curve and be creative in its approach to reaching and ministering to the growing number of seniors. How about a “Seniors Only” church? Come and see why this may just be the next generation of FGBC church development!

I'm on My Space too!

2006-06-28T15:52:00.000-04:00

Guess what, I've got a place on MySpace too. Stop by at http://www.myspace.com/thechurchplanter

Church Planting Class August 14-18

2006-06-28T12:57:00.000-04:00

Church Planting Class Offered

Grace Brethren North American Missions and Grace Theological Seminary together are offering a week-long church-planting class this summer, August 14 – 18!

Location: Winona Lake, IN

Dates: August 14-18, 2006

Reasonable housing available; contact Ron Boehm (midwest_ron@mac.com)

Registration deadline: July 17th

More information: CLICK HERE

Spouses may attend class at no charge (if no academic credit is desired) and are encouraged to do so.

http://web.mac.com/midwest_ron/iWeb/MissionWork/GTS.html

MICROpolitan Church Planting Initiative in Ohio

2006-06-18T17:39:00.000-04:00

Southwest Grace and Tony Webb have sponsored Micropolitan Church Planting Summits to catalyze a church planting movement in Ohio with the dream of seeing a church a day being planted. Below is a link about the Micropolitan Church Planting Initiative.

www.churchaday.com/micropolitan/microhome.htm

Churches and the IRS

2006-06-16T17:25:00.000-04:00

Churches and the IRS

Churches--if they meet the requirements of a 501(c)(3--are granted with the privileges of tax-exempt status without having to apply for a 501(c)(3). We thought it would be helpful for you to have some documentation about what the IRS says about churches.

Check HERE for a compilation of important and relevant statements from the IRS about Churches and some ideas and hints for doing things legally in setting up your church for tax-exempt status.

Here's the link: http://www.churchaday.com/ChurchesandIRS.pdf

Important IRS Publications for Churches

2006-06-16T16:22:00.000-04:00

We put together a list of important publications by the IRS for Churches. These are helpful documents if you are starting a church, to know what the Federal Tax laws are and what you can do legally.

Check out the list below or click HERE for a PDF document to download and print:

Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations: Benefits and Responsibilities Under the Federal Tax Law

Publication 1828 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf

This publication is a quick reference guide of federal tax law and procedures for churches and religious organizations to help them voluntarily comply with tax rules.

Applying for 501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Status

Publication 4220 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4220.pdf

This publication presents general guidelines for organizations that seek tax-exempt status from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Although a church is not required to apply for 501(c)(3) to be exempt from federal income tax or to receive tax deductible contributions, the church may find it advantageous to obtain recognition of exemption.

Another important document with more specifics is Publication 557: Tax-Exempt Status for Your Organization http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p557.pdf

Compliance Guide for 501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Status

IRS Publication 4221 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4221.pdf

This publication presents general compliance guidelines for recordkeeping, reporting, and disclosure requirements that apply to organizations that have tax-exempt status from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Charitable Contributions—Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements
IRS Publication 1771 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1771.pdf

This publication explains the federal tax law for organizations such as charities and churches that receive tax-deductible charitable contributions and for taxpayers who make contributions.

Social Security and Other Information for the Members of the Clergy and Religious Workers

Publication 517 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p517.pdf

Unrelated Business Income Tax

Even though an organization is tax exempt, it still may be liable for tax on its unrelated business income. Unrelated business income is income from a trade or business, regularly carried on, that is not substantially related to the performance by the organization of its exempt purpose or function except that the organization needs the profits derived from this activity.

More details found at http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=96104,00.html

________________________________________

IRS website
www.irs.gov

If you are setting up your church, there is a really helpful page on the IRS website about the “Life Cycle of a Public Charity.” It goes through a step-by-step order of what to do with links to the specific instructions. You can find it at the following link: http://www.irs.gov/charities/charitable/article/0,,id=122670,00.html

What are Church Planting Movements?

2006-06-06T17:02:00.000-04:00

What is a Church Planting Movement?
by David Garrison from the booklet called Church Planting Movements

A simple, concise definition of a Church Planting Movement (CPM) is a rapid and multiplicative increase of indigenous churches planting churches within a given people group or population segment.

There are several key components to this definition. The first is rapid. As a movement, a Church Planting Movement occurs with rapid increases in new church starts. Saturation church planting over decades and even centuries is good, but doesn’t qualify as a Church Planting Movement.

Secondly, there is a multiplicative increase. This means that the increase in churches is not simply incremental growth—adding a few churches every year or so. Instead, it compounds with two churches becoming four, four churches becoming eight to 10 and so forth. Multiplicative increase is only possible when new churches are being started by the churches themselves–rather than by professional church planters or missionaries.

Finally, they are indigenous churches. This means they are generated from within rather than from without. This is not to say that the gospel is able to spring up intuitively within a people group. The gospel always enters a people group from the outside; this is the task of the missionary. However, in a Church Planting Movement the momentum quickly becomes indigenous so that the initiative and drive of the movement comes from within the people group rather than from outsiders.

If this definition isn’t enough, we might also clarify what a Church Planting Movement is not....

Click HERE for more

Biblical Basis for Church Planting

2006-06-06T16:48:00.000-04:00

Kurt Miller gave a presentation where he ran through the Biblical Basis for Church Planting. Below are the items he mentioned:

Church planting is based on the biblical mission of God.
Mission describes everything. We needto be reminded that “while we are going, make disciples” (Matt 28:19). The assumption of God was that his disciples would all live on mission. God lives on mission. Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son…” We must live on mission because our God is a sending God. He operates on mission.

Church planting is based on the teachings of our Lord.
Remember the parable of Jesus about the master who prepared a great dinner for his guests. Many turned down his invitation to eat, so the master said, “Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (Luke 14:23).

Church planting is based on the Lord’s commission.
The main part of His Great Commission is “making disciples” (Matt 28:19). This is what Jesus asks. He is the one who commissions making disciples and the gathering of those disciples into new churches.

Church planting is based on God’s plan for building the church.
Ephesians 2:19-22 “…you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” God is building the church this way. Jesus said, “I will build my Church” (Matt. 16:18 NASB)

Church planting is based on an apostolic gift and function.
Paul was an apostle. He was the starter of many churches. But Paul wasn’t just an apostle. Consider 1 Timothy 2:7, “And for this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” Paul functioned in at least three roles as mentioned in this passage. In a similar way, I (Kurt) seem to play a multiple role. Primarily I’m an evangelist, but I serve in an apostolic function to see new churches started. 1 Corinthians 12:28 gives us order for church planting, “And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers,…” The apostolic gift and function leads the way for church planting.

Church planting is based on God’s initiative.
God makes it grow. Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6). He is the initiator. He is the most interested in this enterprise. The apostolic and evangelistic functions are “seed-scatterers.” The more seed scattered, the more reaping will result. The more reaping is glory to God.

Church planting is based on the mission of the local church.
Every living thing reproduces after its kind. Churches reproduce churches. Additionally, churches must be active evangelistically and socially. For far too long we have held these as opposites in church work. These two functions of church life must go together. Evangelism and church planting are part of the mission of the local church.

Listen to the words of Emil Bruner, “As the fire exists by burning so the church exists by mission.” Both neighborhood evangelism as well as cross-cultural evangelism should be given equal emphasis. Both the home mission and the foreign mission must be emphasized in the total missionary involvement of the local church.

Theodore Williams explains it clearly in his book, The Local Church and Mission: “A church that has no concern for cross-cultural evangelism is not fulfilling its mission.” He emphasizes this point from a quotation from the constitution of the Church Of South India which he feels states this point beautifully: “Every congregation of the people of God is basic to mission in its neighborhood and to the ends of the earth. The mission of the local church does not end with the mere proclamation of the gospel. There must be the planting of churches among the people to whom the gospel is proclaimed. The mission of the local church is evangelization with a view to planting churches in the neighborhood and in the world. Local churches reproduce themselves in their neighborhood and on the mission field.”

Church planting is based on the growth pattern of the New Testament church.
The book of Acts documented with numerical figures the growth of the early church. Somebody was counting. The pattern in the New Testament was growth—an increase in numbers of disciples.

In our circles, we are often uncomfortable with the growth because we are concerned about the quality of the disciples. It is good for us to recognize the “quality and quantity” tension won’t go away. There were certainly problems with the Church Growth Movement heightening the attention to the quantity aspect. At the same time, God expects us to see disciples being made and churches being planted. We must make quality disciples and more of them. Let’s celebrate the tension.

Church planting is based on the nature of the gospel.
Start in Romans 1:16; “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” The Gospel is the power! Paul goes on expounding this in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”(NIV).
The faithful and effective communication of the Gospel should win people to Jesus and the planting of churches. We need to ask an important question, “Why aren’t more people coming to Jesus and more churches being planted?”

Church planting is based on the work of the Holy Spirit.
We see the example in Acts 13:1-3, where God in the person of the Holy Spirit sent out the first missionaries. They were to reproduce around the world. That is the work of the Spirit. The missionary or the evangelist should live in conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit. No amount of study, training and experience would substitute for the power of the Holy Spirit.

Philip Hogan of the Assemblies of God has rightly emphasized this fact. “I am persuaded to believe, that after taking advantage of every tool, pursuing every possible human plan, all one needs to do to find plenty of service is simply to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. When one engages this truth and begins to live by its principle, there will be whole communities, whole cities, whole nations, whole cultures and whole segments of pagan religions that will suddenly be thrust open to the Gospel witness...”

The Lausanne Covenant states, “The Father sent the Spirit to bear witness to his Son; without this witness, ours is futile. Conviction of sin, faith in Christ, new birth, and Christian growth are all the Spirit’s work. Further, the Holy Spirit is a missionary spirit; thus evangelism should arise spontaneously from a Spirit-filled Church. A Church that is not a missionary Church is contradicting itself and quenching the Spirit. Worldwide evangelization will become a realistic possibility only when the Spirit renews the Church in truth and wisdom, faith, holiness, love and power.”

(Presentation by Kurt Miller to the Fellowship Council of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches Feb 2005)

Why YOU Should Plant a Church

2006-06-06T16:42:00.000-04:00

There seem to be two distinct schools of thought in the church planting community. The first is “This is hard. Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t look like you’ve got what it takes… I’m not so sure you should do this! Have you prayed about it?"

Gee… thanks.

The second school of thought starts off sounding much like the first, but then takes a dramatic turn: “This is hard. What do you need? How can I help you? Man, what an adventure! Let me pray for you.”

Do you hear the difference?
For more click HERE

Why Plant Churches? by Tim Keller

2006-05-22T23:34:00.000-04:00

The normal response to discussions about church planting is something like this:

A. 'We already have plenty of churches that have lots and lots of room for all the new people who have come to the area. Let's get them filled before we go off building any new ones."

B. 'Every church in this community used to be more full than it is now. The churchgoing public is a 'shrinking pie'. A new church here will just take people from churches already hurting and weaken everyone.'

C. 'Help the churches that are struggling first. A new church doesn't help the ones we have that are just keeping their nose above water. We need better churches, not more churches.'

These statements appear to be 'common sense' to many people, but they rest on several wrong assumptions. The error of this thinking will become clear if we ask 'Why is church planting so crucially important?' (more here)

Statistical Illusion- new study confirms that we go to church much less than we say

2006-05-20T10:39:00.000-04:00

The following article was passed on to me by Clive Craigen and it's worth the read. Check it out:

Statistical Illusion
New study confirms that we go to church much less than we say.by Bob Smietana | posted 05/02/2006 09:30 a.m.
From Christianity Today.

Did you go to church this week? That's the question that Gallup pollsters have been asking Americans for more than 75 years. And each year since 1939, about 40 percent of those polled have said yes. (The actual question: "Did you yourself happen to attend church or synagogue in the last seven days?")

That doesn't mean that, on any given Sunday, 118 million Americans (40 percent of the population) will actually be in church. According to sociologists who study religion, the actual number of people in church each week in the United States is significantly lower than the Gallup Poll indicates. Just how low is a matter of some debate. More here

Church Planting Class offered August 14-18

2006-05-19T12:52:00.000-04:00

Partnership on Church Planting Class between Grace Theological Seminary and Grace Brethren North American Missions

Course Title: Seminar in North American Church Planting (MI 700)

Description: This seminar introduces the student to the basic understanding and skills necessary to start a congregation in any North American cultural context. It takes the student from call through self-assessment to reaching and bringing together a group of 25-75 individuals committed to being a church. A separate training track is planned to train developmental pastors to take a congregation beyond the 75 barrier through developmental pastoral ministry. Informed by David Garrison’s concepts of church multiplication, it seeks to train church-planters to form new congregations aggressively and rapidly with a dependence upon follow-on pastoral church developers. Some attention is given to participants who desire to pursue a founding pastor model as well. Students will be expected to engage the experience both intellectually and spiritually with significant encouragement given to building spiritual community within the class and Work Groups.

Date of Class: August 14-18, 2006

Credits:
Three hour course credit from Grace Theological Seminary if accepted into the program.There is also opportunity to audit the class if graduate credit is not desired.

Questions:

Check out the following page with interviews of students from the last class and more here

For registration questions contact Jessie Schroder, Grace Seminary Admissions Coordinator at 1-800-544-7223, extension 6413 or by email at schrodjl@grace.edu .

Interview about Church Planting

2006-05-17T14:03:00.000-04:00

Our GBNAM missionary Ron Boehm recently got me behind a microphone and recorded some thoughts about church planting. I shared a bit about radical transformation, evangelism and gave three key ideas for anyone thinking about planting a church.

Check out the following link HERE

Evangelists Gathering 2

2006-05-15T13:06:00.000-04:00

Because of a variety of reasons, the Evangelists Gathering 2 has been postponed until the fall. Stay tuned to my blog for breaking information.

Church as “Place” or “Service”

2006-04-21T23:57:00.000-04:00

This article was passed on to us as top notch from GBNAM missionary Clive Craigen:

Church as “Place” or “Service” By Gailyn Van Rheenen

Increasingly Christians in North America are thinking about “church planting.” This phrase “church planting,” however, carries its own baggage.

I have found that many church leaders assume that the first step in church planting is purchasing a piece of property and constructing a church building. A church defined as “a place where things happen”... (more here)

The Missional Church by Tim Keller

2006-04-21T23:05:00.000-04:00

I ran across this short article by Tim Keller. It is a solid, short explanation of the "Missional" Church. Here's a little teaser for you:

In the West for nearly 1,000 years, the relationship of (Anglo-European) Christian churches to the broader culture was a relationship known as "Christendom." The institutions of society "Christianized" people, and stigmatized non-Christian belief and behavior. Though people were "Christianized" by the culture, they were not regenerated or converted with the Gospel. The church's job was then to challenge persons into a vital, living relation with Christ... (more here)

Reflecting on the Gospel

2006-04-21T15:48:00.000-04:00

"I have been reading poems, romances, vision literature, legends and myths all my life. I know what they are like. And I know none of them are like this. There are only two possible views of these gospel texts. Either this is reportage pretty close to the facts, nearly as close as Boswell. Or else, some unknown writer in the second century without known predecessors or any successors suddenly anticipated the whole technique of modern novelistic, realistic narrative. The reader who doesn't see this has simply not learned how to read." – C.S. Lewis

"Mary (Magdalene) was on the outside of everything. And this is the gospel. The gospel is that God's salvation does not come on the basis of merit, it does not come on the basis of pedigree, and it does not come on the basis of race, class, gender, or any other pecking order. What is the gospel? The gospel is not that the good are in and the bad are out. The gospel is that the humble are in and the proud are out. The gospel is not that you give God a perfect record but that he gives you a perfect record. The gospel is that it is not your past that is the determining factor in your relationship with God but it is Christ's past and his record that is the determining factor. He chooses the Mary's of this world so that us non-Mary's will get it. And so will the other Mary's." – Timothy Keller

A Church Planting Resource Website by Ed Stetzer

2006-04-05T11:47:00.000-04:00

At GBNAM, we highly recommend Ed Stetzer's book Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age. In addition to that book, Ed has a webpage with helpful articles, links and more. You can check it out at www.newchurches.com