Church Planting (Page 28)
Planting New Churches
NCC is going through the process of independence from the ‘mother ship’ and, all things being well, we should have full autonomy by January 2012. This is my fourth year at Niddrie and I am already thinking about what the future holds for us here as a congregation. Stetzer says: ‘I’m disappointed when gifted church planters have not, after three…
Community Service?
This term has become synonymous (in more progressive church circles at least) with the term ‘missional living’. In Niddrie, Community Service is something imposed upon you by the courts in the place of a prison sentence. When I was sentenced to community service back in the late 80’s (for burglary) I had to spend 40 hours of my life cleaning toilets,…
Niddrie Bike Project
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7XrclRj1LE&feature=related]
Planting Missional Churches
I have just finished reading Stetzer’s latest book, ‘Planting Missional Churches – Planting a church that’s biblically sound and reaching people in culture.’ I have been reviewing it piece by piece, particularly with regard to the ’10 Marks of an Effective Plant’ series. As with all books there are good bits and there are bad.…
Influencing not controlling our teams
Another interesting perspective on leadership. http://theresurgence.com/2011/02/15/the-fast-eat-the-slow-and-influence-beats-control
Getting killed by middle men!
Interesting video on ensuring that your church is not killed off by policy makers. http://theresurgence.com/2011/05/12/the-mistake-of-leading-from-the-middle
Incarnational Opportunities!
A large forest in Africa has been destroyed to provide the paper for the thousands of articles written on the benefits of ‘incarnational’ ministry. In church planting contexts such as ours it is an important consideration. Should the minister live on the estate which he is trying to reach? There is a glaringly obvious response from most of us to that question…
What makes a good church planter?
There are lots of church planting ‘agencies’ and ‘movements’ around at the moment. It seems to be in vogue like never before – or perhaps I am only just noticing it! Regardless, there seems to be endless views on how we assess church planters and what type of person would be ‘successful’ in this type of ministry. One such process…
‘Settled’ Pastor v ‘Itchy’ Planter
I have moved around a few churches in my 12 years in pastoral ministry. My first ministry saw explosive growth in the youth ministry but ended badly when I resigned my position. My next church in inner city Birmingham was an altogether happier affair and I have great memories of my time there. My…
Reaching out to ALL of Niddrie
Niddrie is changing. When I first came here four years ago the community was much more clearly defined. Families had been living here for generations and the ‘mission’ (as our church building was called and still is today despite the name change!) has been here for almost 100 years. It was pretty easy to identify the ‘community’. In response to…