Dr. Michael Goheen led an excellent session that I wanted to post some of his comments and thoughts here. (The mp3 with the full session should be up in a week or so from the Acts 29 Regional Church Conference ).

1. Church with faithful and relevant worship.

a. Our worship ought to be missional (oriented to the world).
b. Our worship is an end in itself (oriented to God).

If you want to be relevant you are always in danger of absorbing the idols of your culture.  Trying to avoid this by using 'traditional' worship from the 17th Century only absorbs the idols of Enlightenment.  People may do this to avoid the pomo idol of emotionalism and others.

2. A church immersed in the biblical story

A story is the best way to tell people the way things really are.  History has a beginning, a goal and meaning.  We all will live out of some story.  It isn't a matter of whether, but which story.  The dominate story in western Christianity is idolatrist.   When the bible is broken into little bits or systematics these pieces fit into the listeners existing framework they've adopted.  It is possible to become a theologically orthodox, morally upright, warmly pious and driven by idolatry.

Why we like Paul but are afraid of Jesus.  We (in the West) like Paul more than Jesus.  We think he is systematics.  Paul takes one of the benefits (justification/adoption) that the Galatians & Romans needed to hear.  Of course, we don't understand Paul.  Authority of New Testament Scriptures  If you start with Jesus (Gospel & Kingdom) all these other things fall into this.  Paul (end of Acts) teaching the Kingdom of God.  We are previews of the Kingdom of God

3. A church devoted to communal prayer

Western Christians are generally a prayer-less people.  Our secular worldview has made us much better at planning than praying.

a. More we see the significance of prayer, the more significant small groups becomes.
b. More time we will spend time as leaders praying.

4. A church of well-trained leaders

A missional leader is one who can say, "Follow me as I follow Christ."  Often we look to someone who has the gifts, rather than if this person is following Christ and people are following them.

5. A church with parents trained to take up the task of nurturing children in faith

6. A church with small groups that nurture for mission in the world

Small groups have a tendency to become introverted, rather than praying/thinking/acting outwardly. Being the people of God for 'that place' as they go in their area and ask people what their needs are.  We want to love, pray and meet your needs.

7. A church that seeks and expresses the unity of body Christ

8 A church that understands its cultural context

The US and Canada more unaware of it's own story than any other culture.  (I'll do a full post on some ideas from this…)

The two dangerous myths in Christianity

1. Myth of a Christian culture
2. We are a secular neutral culture

Kraemer there is a tension between these idols and our true story.  The deeper the consciousness of the tension and the urge to take this yoke upon itself are felt, the healthier the Church is. The more oblivious of this tension the Church is, the more well established and at home in this world it feels, the more it is in deadly danger of being the salt that has lost its savour.Kraemer, Hendrik. 1956. The Communication of the Christian Faith. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 36.

9. A church trained for a missionary encounter in their callings in the world

Not one square inch exists that isn't claimed by Christ.

10.  Church that is deeply involved in the needs of their neighborhood and world.

11. Church trained to do evangelism in an organic (not methodological) way

Proselytizing vs. Evangelism "We spend more time trying to convince people rather than telling them the good news." The average person who becomes a Christian has had 8 encounters w/ other Christians.

12. Church committed to missions 

Missions is specific mission trips to unreached people.  Mission is what every church is on in their local community 

In the quiet of the night, Rick McKinley (pastor @ Imago Dei, church planter & author ) launches a blog.  Previously, he had resisted:

So…I am officially entering the blogoshphere. I have always resisted it since most of them that I read describe the types of cereal people enjoyed for breakfast and other odd details of their days events. 

Latest posts deal with the gospel, his sabbatical and gospel identity.  

There is nothing more beautiful than to see a city transformed by the Gospel. As a fellow laborer for seeing Gospel going forth, you are invited to the next Acts 29 regional event in San Diego, The Gospel Gone Public: Worldview·Mission·Preaching on Saturday, March 31, 2007 (this Saturday). Covered at this one-day conference will be topics that affect every pastor passionate about transforming San Diego with the Gospel, including the Church’s biblical mission (how to build your church for mission), how to prepare and preach Gospel-centered messages, Gospel transformation, and much more.

Sessions:

The 12 Musts of a Missional Church 

Gospel, Story, Worldview, and the Church’s Mission

Preparing & Preaching a Gospel Centered Message

Q/A with Dr. Michael W. Goheen Geneva Professor of Worldview and Religious Studies at Trinity Western University , co-author of The Drama Of Scripture: Finding Our Place In The Biblical Story and author of “As the Father Has Sent Me, I Am Sending You”: J.E. Lesslie Newbigin’s Missionary Ecclesiology. 

Acts 29 Vision & Values 

Learn more: San Diego Regional Acts 29 Conference  

This Sunday, Steve Trout from the Kaleo Counseling Center preached a message entitled, Gospel-Centered Counseling.  One idea he unpacked stuck with me:

How you see yourself tends to determine what you do & what/who you end up loving.

The Bible would agree.  Think about how much time is spent on identity, new names or even (as Steve pointed out) in the 6-chapter book of Ephesians there are 20 different mentions of a Christians new identity.  

Saints, the beloved, adopted, co-inheritors, Jesus workmanship, fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, a dwelling place for God…

It seems much of the work of a pastor is helping Christians believe this new reality so thoroughly it shapes how they live.  Sadly, in a world where many Sunday's messages are dedicated to how to live in response to Biblical principles, the identity created is a religious people.  These people must put on the outward works-based righteousness because it is the identity being told to them each Sunday.

Identity work is critical. The powerful nature of the gospel is that instead of pressing against someones will, which may lead to outward change, you can help people see they are a new man now alive in Christ.  They are ambassadors, fellow heirs, saints, a dwelling place for God almighty, beloved and accepted in Jesus Christ.  If more Christians believed this, how different would we live out this inward reality in how we live and love others?

Of course, many of us have to first believe this too… 

10 Ways to Keep Me from Discovering Your Church (ChurchRedone)

10 Ways to Avoid Building Community Within the Church (Askingy)

BONUS LINK: Integral Mission Topic: Technology for the Good of the Church (Sent to me by Justin Browne @ Redeemer)

Our church has been rethinking our hospitality ministry.  One of the things we asked our people was, what questions do you typically ask new guests to our church?  It was amazing, upon reflection many of the questions asked, were more centered on us (the church).  Eg. What did you think about our service?  How did you find out about our church?  These setup an air of, I want to ask you questions to find out more about us.  The second question in particular was common to ask where people heard about us from.  It can come across as a form of market research to see what are effective ways we target new people.  I could just see a drop down box to select: Website, Direct Mail, etc.  Now, I know this isn't the heart of our people when they ask.  Typically, it could be they want to know if a friend invited them or if they read about us on the internet as a point of conversation.  Are there better questions to ask?  Here is a new question that may do a better job:

What brought you to church today?

The point of the question is to listen to the guest, learn about them and possibly discern ministry opportunity.  If we are to minister to and love guests, it is good to know what brought them.  Did they return to church after many years?  Did they find out a family member passed away?  Are they looking for a new church because they came to a place of conviction about their last church?  Did they just move to the area?  Did they just become a Christian?  It seems like this is a more effective way to really listen to our guests and begin a conversation where we can love and pray for them based on where they are at.

There is a lot of talk among churches as being 'relevant'.  I urge you to go beyond being 'relevant to our culture' to seeking to transform the city you live in.   At Kaleo Church we see the gospel story as a salvational message, means for ongoing grace renewal by God and the announcement of God's Kingdom on earth.  We must see the good news as a call to bring shalom in our cities and be a city within a city that is a foretaste of the eternal Kingdom to come.   Here are a few resources that have been suggested to us: 

The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World

To Live in Peace: Biblical Faith and the Changing Inner City

Communities First (including a theology of development) 

Asset Based Community Development (pdf)  ABCD Institute website

The 2007 Multi-Site Church Conference just wrapped up.  The conference looked at why do multi-site, different models of multi-site and specifically the Redeemer NY (multi-site) and the Harbor Presbyterian (multi-congregational & multi-site) models.  (No video venues)  Here are some ideas from the conference:

Launching a second site only increases a church costs 35-45% (with a pastor preaching these two locations each Sunday).

If you are going to launch a second service you must provide an equal level of excellence in these four areas or people may return to the first site: worship, preaching, fellowship, children.  Fellowship will take a hit, in terms of splitting people but they must see this as being on mission. 

To go multi-site you must have a movement leader who provides (1) integrity to vision, (2) vitality to mission and (3) unity in the sites.  

[Generis a sponsor led this session but I thought it was interesting] If you conduct a campaign to raise money in your church, their are three types of people who will give Major, Leadership & Congregation gifts.  I wont' go into too many details but typically the congregational represent 56-85% of the total givers yet only 15-25% of the total raised.  Just preaching on tithing isn't enough, stewardship needs to be a ministry in your church.  Many Major donors feel it unwise to tithe what they could, because the church could become dependent on it.  They are willing to donate for one-time events or projects.

Six Key Questions to ask to determine if you should go multi-site or not

1. Does multi-site ministry fit with your vision & values?  (For example, if you are bridging  together different cultures into one multi-cultural service, to go multi-site can actually harm your vision.)

2. Would the multi-site model best fit your context & gifts?

3. Is your leadership enthusiastic to do this?  (Going multi-site can cause some people to feel overwhelmed or even feel threatened by their loss of influence and power.)

4. Is your key leadership in place to support this goal & vision?

5. Have you effectively communicated your vision?

6. Is the pastor and his wife ready/willing/able to do this?  (Multi-site will have a big impact on your ministry style and patterns.) 

It was bound to happen.  I spent a season as a columnist writing a weekly column called the Sheep & Goats for the San Diego Reader, which 'reviews' churches and other places of worship.  This last Sunday, Matthew Lickona came (the new columnist and much better writer than I ever was!) and reviewed Kaleo Church.  It could of gone a lot of ways, but Lickona focused on the experience one may have visiting Kaleo, particularly the sermon and the centrality of the gospel & grace:

But preaching the Gospel, he said, was essential and more important than telling stories and teasing out meanings and lessons. "The Gospel is news about what Jesus has done; it is not advice about how to live. Why? Because we are saved by grace. News is about something that is done; teaching is about something you do. If my role is to teach you about what to do, then what I'm saying is that you can be saved by following my teaching." Christianity, argued Fairchild, is unique among world religions in that it is not about following a teaching, but about believing in particular historical events concerning Jesus. "We're saved by grace, by something that's been done for you." If not, "that puts you on the hook: earn your own salvation. If Jesus Christ did not live, then we are in grave, grave trouble."

Full Article: Kaleo Church @ the San Diego Reader 

Ed Stetzer's full 47-page 2007 Church Planting Survivability & Health Study (pdf) is now available. See previous post for summaries: Church Planting and Survivability, How Many Church Plants Really Survive—and Why?, 10 Factors for Higher Attendance in Church Plants

Including the fourth major portion dealing with baptism. Higher Baptisms in Church Plants

Buildings, baptisms, and budgets—the benchmarks most people use to evaluate church health. But are these the best measures? There are many who question which is most appropriate, but we wanted to see church plants that are reaching the lost through conversions. In most cases for denominations in our study, that was measured in baptisms.

Thanks Ed for the work on this! 

Many of you may have seen this, but you can check out a podcast of Ed Stetzer & Mark Driscoll in preparation for the National New Churches Conference. Also, Acts 29's blog got pimped , so you can see the new digs & read more about Mark Driscoll in an interview there.

This is based on the Developing Leaders to lead from Harbor.  How do you develop leaders at your church?  This is a common challenge for churches, who must utilize the volunteer pool to lead important ministries in their church.  Harbor Presbyterian, Kaleo Church and a group of other church planters meet monthly to discuss these types of challenges.  Here are a few thoughts from this meeting:

3 Questions to ask prior to selecting leaders

1. Can they do the job?  Do they have the capability, giftedness, track record, competency, and theological training.  NORMATIVE

2. Will they do the job? Character/Motivation EXISTENTIAL

3. Do they fit?  Compatibility to co-workers, fit in context/culture SITUATIONAL  

Systemic & Personal Leadership Development

How are you developing leaders personally and does your church have a systemic leadership development component built into its design? Your church should be developing leaders through the whole church and ministry process.  Jesus did this both and created twelve disciples who had a group of 120 when the church waited for the Holy Spirit.  There also was a 1 to 10 leader to person ratio.

Moving from Pragmatism to Prayer in Recruiting Leaders

Pray prior to meeting with a potential ministry volunteer who you have identified through some personal connection. Avoid the pragmatism of seeking to just 'delegate a task'.  Tell them based on your knowledge of them why you believe this ministry is a good fit for them, their personal growth and use of gifts.  Ask them to pray if they will respond to this call.  Be motivated to do this because of love for them.

At our monthly pastors meeting a story was shared that I thought helpful.  This occurred prior to the pastor going up to preach in their head.

Satan - You know you were sick this week.  You shouldn't set yourself up by expecting too much this week.  Lower your expectations.

Pastor - That is true, I was sick and didn't quite have the time and energy I wanted.

Satan - Also, you weren't quite faithful with your devotions this week.  Do you really think God will bless you?

Pastor - That is true too.  My devotions seemed to lack connection with God.  How can He bless me EXCEPT while all that you say is true, you are leaving out one part of this, the GOSPEL.  Through Jesus, God is strong in my weakness, I will trust in that rather than focus on my illness.   Secondly, I don't earn approval through working for a righteousness on my own.   Through Christ I am already approved, loved and accepted by God. 

Preachers, don't believe the partial truths of the great deceiver.  

Brian Thomas, Kaleo Church's worship lead and founder Semper Reformanda Records began a series asking worship leaders 10 questions.  Check out the first one: 10 Questions for Worship Leaders

10 Factors for Higher Attendance in Church Plants is up as part 3 of the Church Planting Survivability and Health Study.  Why do some church plants grow large with others struggle to gather people?  Are there any common factors that these growing churches share?  This survey looked at over 1,000 church plants and hundreds of interviews.  Here are the common characteristics:

The Location Factor
The Ministry Factor
The Promotion Factor
The Training Factor
The Expectations Factor
The Financial Factor
The Staff Factor
The Missions Factor
The Leadership Factor
The Achievement Factor

Read the whole report:  10 Factors for Higher Attendance in Church Plants