I thought this was an interesting short video – Terry Virgo talking about the difference between being ‘apostolic’ and ‘missional’ – and about misconceptions of what it means to be an Apostle in the contemporary church.
From Jubilee Church on Vimeo.
HT: Adrian Warnock
What is the right motivation for planting a church? Neil Cole considers this very question in a recent post on his Cole-Slaw blog:
….we must get back to seeing church as a fruit of evangelism not the other way around. The Bible never commanded us to plant a church or even instructed us in church planting. The gospel (the good news of the intimate reality, redemption and rule of Jesus daily) is the seed we plant, not a church. If we sow the gospel much, we will reap many more disciples and a whole lot more churches will be started as well.
Of course we must also shift to a more holistic understanding of the gospel and the kingdom of God than we have had. Simply throwing out a lot of tracts or shouting at people on a megaphone is not likely to reap spiritual disciples or churches. Jesus brought the kingdom with him to the people who needed it most in a very incarnational and transformational manner. That is what He instructed us to be about.
Stop planting churches, start planting Jesus. Don’t build churches, that is not your job or mine. Jesus said, “I will build my church.” What He told us to do is to “Preach the gospel,” and make disciples (or followers) of Jesus. To risk being cliche: the horse must come before the cart. The seed must come before the tree, and the fruit will follow. Plant Jesus, and let him start the churches. Frankly, He is better at it than we are anyway.
Read the full article here.
Good stuff from Perry Noble’s blog – four questions church planters must answer:
#1 – Cool or Called?
In other words…are you going to plant a church “there” because it is the cool place…or because you honestly feel a genuine call from God to go there?
#2 – Problems or Potential?
Are you going to begin your church plant by declaring the problems that other churches have…OR the potential that you believe that your church has?
#3 – Vacation or Vision?
Do you think your church plant is going to be easy…that people are automatically going to buy into your vision…that you will receive zero resistance? If so…you’re in for a HUGE wake up call. Planting a church is not a vacation but rather something that initiated from God through a white hot vision that allows a leader to roll up his sleeves and do whatever it takes to make something happen! (If you aren’t willing to work…church planting isn’t for you!)
#4 – Imitation or Revelation?
Do you want to do what you are about to do because you saw it done somewhere else and thought it would be really cool to do…OR because you know without a doubt that you have heard the voice of God and feel like you might explode if you don’t do what He’s calling you to?
Read the original post here.
Deliberate Disciple 