Advice to a Church Planter

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 15, 2008 in Church, Church Planting | 12 comments

A church planter asked about how/where to plant.  Here is my response:

Go somewhere where a church plant will take you and help you plant. Be mentored first. Plant with a team, a group who are on mission and have that dna. Don't plant in such a way that you become forced to try to 'market' to Christians in order to get tithe up and pay yourself.  Plant a church that seeks to be a gospel-centered, city-changing movement.  Start one relationship at a time.

What advice would you give a church planter? 

Living at the Crossroads: Church & Mission Kairos

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 1, 2008 in Church, Church Planting | 0 comments

Kaleo is hosting a conference March 25-27. Here is a brief synopsis:

Living at the Crossroads: Church and Mission Kairos

The church is at a crossroads. The cultural landscape is shifting and it requires thought into how to be a relevant witness in this time. This conference will prepare you to understand the current cultural story, where it is heading, and to equip your church community to be a relevant witness in our time.

Dates: March 25-27, 2008

Location: San Diego

This is not a primer on the materials we are going to cover. Conference attendees should be prepared to bring a working knowledge of missional ecclesiology and gospel witness.  People who are leading missional churches across the country will be joining us and participating in the discussions.

We have chosen a non-traditional conference format. We have set aside considerable amount of time for discussions to occur for those seriously thinking through these important issues. We also desire those who attend to contribute to the discussion. To encourage this type of intimate and intentional exchange we are limiting the conference size to 60 people. Come with questions and observations on how we might be both faithful and relevant in this time.

Our hope is that this isn’t just another conference you attend as a passive listener and walk away with about 2% retention and very little time to work out what you’ve learned in your context. We want to ask key gospel-missional-communal questions to draw out the implications of mission as God’s grace-saved people who exist for God and the world.

Register for this ChurchBootcamp Conference

GCA – Live Blogging

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jan 29, 2008 in Church, Church Planting | 0 comments

I'm at the Global Church Advancement Conference (GCA) this week and am encouraged to see "the stodgy old dudes at GCA are finally shedding their blog-norance" (as Bart put it) and do live blogging of the conference.  Alex Chediak (author, professor and former Piper apprentice) is posting on several sessions.  Go check it at the GCA Blog which just launched.

Strategy for City-wide Discipleship & Planting Organic Churches

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Dec 27, 2007 in Church, Church Planting, Leadership, Ministry Design | 4 comments

I'm working on a couple new posts for after the new year, until then enjoy a couple posts from others:

The Tyrannus Effect – Paul’s Neglected Strategy for City-wide Discipleship : Jeremy Pryor writes that "In a little known passage in Acts 19 we get the clearest glimpse of what Paul spent his days doing when he wanted to plant churches in a city."

Seven Principles for Planting Organic Churches : Tim Chester continues his reflections on Organic Church.

GCA – Church Planting Conferences

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Dec 20, 2007 in Church, Church Planting, General Technology | 2 comments

The GCA Church Planting Conference is around the corner: January 28 – February 1 in Orlando, Florida.  This is one of the most gospel-centered & missional church planting conferences I attend each year.  If you have not made your way to one of these, it may be time for you to attend.

Highlights:

Emerging Ministries: Church Planting in the Emerging Culture led by Chan Kilgore and Daniel Montgomery

Evangelism: Making Room: A Trinitarian Reflection on Evangelism and Cultural Engagement with the Gospel led by Martin Ban

Gospel-Centered Preaching: Transformational Communication led by Larry Kirk (Excellent for any of you Keller fans.   Kirk basis his material from this vein.)

Multi-Site Church Planting led by Doug Swagerty and Russ Kapusinski (For those of you are interested in examining a Multi-site approach.)

Developing A Regional Planting Network led by Steve Childers & Tom Wood (For those of you who want to start a movement.)

Plus many others such as Scotty Smith, Randy Nabors and Stu Batstone (get your hands on the Sonship stuff.  All our elders and their wives are going to go through this.)

I will be conducting two sessions again this year:

Communication in Our Post-Christian World – This year 30% more Jesus!  A lot more ideas learned from over the year to expand on communicating the timeless message of the gospel in our changing culture. The culture is shifting rapidly, learn about these shifts.  How do we effectively communicate and reach post-Christians, with an emphasis on Gen X & younger…

The Internet & The Sovereignty of God – As our culture moves increasingly online, this session will help your church effectively use the internet to be missionaries to unbelievers, gather the un-churched and connect with your community.

This year my sessions are head-to-head with Ed Stetzer.  I'd like to think it's two heavy-weights pitted against each other in the time slot, but I'm the underdog little guy.  So buy his books, attend my sessions!  Plus, chances are he'll be speaking at the next 10 conferences you attend anyway.

Leadership Development in Community – Kings

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Dec 17, 2007 in Church, Church Planting, Leadership, Ministry Design | 0 comments

This is the final post dealing with individual leadership development toward a missional ecclesiology.  As stated, Kaleo Church seeks to create organic (systemic) leadership development as well as deliberate/intentional (systematic) discipleship to those who seek to grow in using their gifts in the community.  We see the people expressing these gifts as in three categories of Prophets, Priests & Kings. 

You can download the example of a Deacon (pdf), which are typically more Kingly oriented.  The Kingly track would also lead to Ministry Leaders and Domain Engagers. 

See also: Priests & Prophets

Definitions

Prophetic type – an emphasis on the unchanging truths of God’s character, the gospel message and the mission of the Church.
Priestly type – an emphasis on the care of the soul and caring for one another.
Kingly type – an emphasis on the tangible working out of the mission through structures, strategic thinking and hands on activity