It is important that when we establish any type of new missional community it must be one that can be easily reproducible, in fact as we set it up we must be thinking about the next one.
The Multiplication Urgency
The Shopping Centre or the Town Centre Shops?
In the process of promoting Unbounded Church type Missional Communities, I get to talk with many church leaders. It is a privilege to share in their struggles in missional endeavour and perhaps to give some encouragement, but often also a great frustration. This is because, despite a common passion to see the lost won for … Continue reading The Shopping Centre or the Town Centre Shops?
The ‘Great Commission’ Without the ‘Great Permission’
Many churches quite rightly place a high emphasis on what is often called the “Great Commission” as an essential part of their Mission Statement. That is Jesus instruction to his disciples to “Go and make disciples” as we read in Matthew 28:19. This mission component usually results in a significant effort to make disciples by … Continue reading The ‘Great Commission’ Without the ‘Great Permission’
The Kingdom and the Darkness
A year or so ago I visited my great grandmother’s church. A very old stone building set in a stonewalled, grave-filled enclosure in an English hayfield. Weather-faded headstones spoke of centuries of ‘saints’ that had walked this place. But it was on the inside, in the cold, small space of worship that the ‘overwhelming’ happened. … Continue reading The Kingdom and the Darkness
‘Blowing in the Wind
“The Wind blows wherever it pleases, You hear its sound but you cannot tell Where it has come from or where it is going” As I write this I am sitting on my patio listening to the sound of the wind blowing through the Gum trees around my house. The sound varies with the … Continue reading ‘Blowing in the Wind
Tis the Season for Axes and Bullets
Phew! It’s finished, all that planning, all that effort, the multitude of resource-draining Christmas ‘outreach’ activities (with exhortations to invite a friend), Carol Services (with exhortations to invite a friend), Gingerbread Houses (with exhortations to invite a friend), Beach Missions (with exhortations to come along to help). Thank goodness, it’s now time to have a … Continue reading Tis the Season for Axes and Bullets
Don’t Mention the War!
The Cunard ship the Queen Mary was a floating palace when it started to carry the exceedingly rich across the north Atlantic before the second world war. It was fitted out in the most opulent and sumptuous manner, with the finest materials that money could buy, with staterooms that were fit for a King. Then … Continue reading Don’t Mention the War!
Multiplication is a Many Splendoured Thing
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian population is growing at the rate of 1.5% per year, whereas church attendance is in significant decline. It is true that in some areas (e.g. the Anglican Diocese of Sydney) attendance is so far keeping pace with population growth, however, this is mostly due to what … Continue reading Multiplication is a Many Splendoured Thing
Holy Discontent In the Strangeness of It
It’s Saturday which means by amazing logic tomorrow is Sunday! Sunday is when most ‘church’ happens in Australia and here are some facts about it all. • Tens of thousands of Christians will be happily filing into their church buildings for ‘worship’ although Amos 5:21-24 might sometimes cast just a little doubt on the unreflected … Continue reading Holy Discontent In the Strangeness of It
The Parable of Woolworths and the Micawber Principle
I saw a headline in a Christian magazine recently which read “The best ideas come from Jesus” and I thought – that’s right they do, especially I have found in the business world when I worked with a consulting engineering company. In such a company, a mid-sized one, the central issue was that we always … Continue reading The Parable of Woolworths and the Micawber Principle
