We speak in stories.  Stories are the way people share what they really think and express who they are. Stories are the web that holds together a person's true beliefs. It is through these stories that we interact and communicate.   They are the currency to exchange ideas and as such are more important than 'facts'.  In an age of informational overload, Daniel Pink writes in A Whole New Mind:

"When facts become so widely available and instantly accessible, each one becomes less valuable. What begins to matter more is the ability to place these facts in context…"

It is through these stories that we interact and beliefs are challenged. God reveals Himself primarily in story and Jesus often teaches through story.  Christians need to understand the importance of this, including a greater understanding of their own story.

Here are three aspects of story that every Christian ought to know:

The Worldview story (Normative) : The worldview story is the driving story of a person's life. It is the story that shapes their interpretation of all things. This may be the humanist story or a postmodern story but none-the-less it interprets all other stories and life experiences. A Christian can recall when they became a Christian. Their whole life changed. This is because their worldview story changed. Christians not only have the greatest story ever told, but also each of our individual stories only make sense connected to the grand story as revealed in scripture. (Read: STORY AND BIBLICAL THEOLOGY PDF by Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen)

Our Person Story (Existential) : Often Christians assume their 'testimony' is simply a resume like collection of facts about their 'conversion'. This is because many Christians have a wrong view of the gospel. If we see the gospel simply as the entry into the Christian faith, our testimony is reduced to this. As we grow as Christians, our personal story includes the continual grace renewal that the gospel brings. It is the idols that, by grace, lose their grip on our lives. It is the suffering that softens our hearts to love others. It is God using circumstances to sanctify us. It is our identity being changed and conformed to the image of Christ. This is the story we speak to others daily in both word & deed.  (Read: To Be Told…Know Your Story. - Dr. Dan B. Allender)

Mission & Story (Situational) : When your worldview changes and your very values and identity change, how you live will change.  Loving others and sharing your story will be a natural result of your understanding of the gospel story.  Anything less than this is a rejection of the Biblical story.  This is because in your worldview, you will see God as a missionary god and you as a missionary too.  Christians ought become great listeners as well as story tellers. We must re-think evangelism to be the sharing of our story, God's story and listening to others stories.

Listen to the Sermon: Telling Gospel Stories (MP3 & PowerPoint)

Good read at Christianity Today about Donald Miller.  One quote I found interesting regarding the impact of Blue Like Jazz:

(Donald Miller) compares his experience to Paul speaking to the Athenians on Mars Hill. Paul understood Greek culture, he was winsome, and he could make an appeal for truth in a way that Greeks would receive. I point out that in that scenario, Don Miller is Paul, and evangelicals are the Greeks.

Miller nods. "I actually believe that I'm setting people free from something that is frustrating them."

Read Full Article:  A Better Storyteller -Donald Miller helps culturally conflicted evangelicals make peace with their faith.

The North America Church Planting Seminar is an inter-denominational training event designed to equip church planters, coaches and supervisors to start, grow and multiply healthy, gospel-centered churches that result in the spiritual, social and cultural transformation of entire cities and regions. Christian leaders from more than 30 countries, representing over 100 denominations and mission agencies, have taken this church planter training.  This conference will be hosted at John Piper's church.

I will be presenting a couple sessions at the conference dealing with Message and Media: Communicating the Gospel in Our Post-Christian World

Session 1: Communication in Our Post-Christian World
The culture is changing and it requires new methods of communication.  This session will help you learn how to effectively minister in a post-Christian context.   Come learn the 1) five values of this Post-Christian generation, the 2) ten idols that enslave them and 3) effective ways to communicate the eternal and unchanging gospel message.

Session 2: The Internet & The Sovereignty of God
Pax Romana, the Gutenberg printing press and the internet.  God has used major technological and cultural shifts to bring sweeping change.  As our culture moves increasingly online, this session will help your church effectively use the internet to be missionaries to unbelievers, gather the unchurched and connect with your community.  Come learn how to use this powerful tool to change the community in which you are called to plant a church.

Session 2's title is a play of J.I. Packer's work, since a lot of reformed folks are there, I'm have to address the antinomy of internet outreach and God's sovereignty. :)  Let me know if you will be there…

View the other sessions & speakers such as Stetzer, Nabors, Childers, Ogne, etc (or view my mug shot). 

You know the commercial – sensual backdrop – good looking people tossing drinks back, maybe splashing in the pool, embracing in the moonlight – fade to black with the words, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” You have to admit, this is clever marketing. Las Vegas is just one of those notorious cities that conjure up all kinds of things in my mind: gambling, sex, prostitution, nude dancing, drugs, elicit affairs, fat Elvis, gangsters, and of course…CSI.

Until now, the grace of God is not one of the things that have crossed my mind when considering Vegas.

Read Full Article by Kaleo's worship guy:  Stripped: Uncensored Grace on the Streets of Vegas

Lately churches have spoken a lot about being relevant to the culture.  For many churches, this was a necessary first step.  We had to begin by taking a missionary posture to understand the prevailing worldview and the ideological shifts that occurred in the last decades.  Sadly, many churches have not even begun this process.  For many of those that have changed, we are seeing new forms of church being expressed, new missional postures, great dialog with non-believers and a real intentionality to live as 'reformissionaries'. 

So now many of you have relevant churches,  what do you do?  What are the next steps for your church? 

Here is one area I believe Christians need to grow.  The Christendom Ghost (meaning the view that America is a Christian nation) is quickly disappearing. The reality we enjoy of morality, law and order are all based on this ghost that will be gone in a generation or two.  Being relevant is only one part of our calling, we also need to be a witness to a lost world.  Pastors and lay leaders need to train the church in triperspectival apologetics. Let me unpack these three apologetic perspectives:

Coherence (Normative):  We need to understand 'how we can know truth' and the framework through which all reality makes sense.  For Christians, we must be saturated with the  Biblical story & worldview and Presuppositional apologetics.   Often reformed or Calvinists focus on this area heavily.  (Further blog posts on worldview: Gospel, Story, Worldview, and the Church’s Mission, The Urgency of Reading the Bible as One Story in the 21st Century, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity)

Correspondence (Situational): Science is the king of the day.  For example, evolution theory is the dominant framework that corresponds to reality.  Often non-believers use these evidences to dismiss Christianity to the place of values/preferences which are quite separate from scientific 'facts'.   Christians need to understand evidences and understand how creation and the resurrection are central to the correspondence of the Christian worldview.  Often Armenians champion this angle.  Yet we must know that evidences are not enough.  To quote David Fairchild, "Unbelief is not the absence of something it is the presence of something else, namely a spirit of opposition. It isn't merely intellectual; it is emotional. This attitude of opposition and disturbed emotions drives us to be hateful of the Gospel." (source: Sermon Understanding Unbelief )

Correlation (Existential): Christians ought to understand correlating impact of people's worldview (including their worldview created by their evidential arguments).  Often people's worldview comports to their emotional needs.  People accept what they want to live how they want.  Most people are walking contradictions in this realm. For example, a strict naturalist who rules out metaphysics still longs for love, hope & meaning.   Any story but the Biblical story must be shown for how the worldview wrecks havoc on how the adherent lives or worldview. (Read: Trilogy - Three Essential Books in One Volume by Francis Schaeffer)

I say all the above with one caveat, as Christians it is much more important that we are about 'Thesis' rather than 'Antithesis'.  We need to live out the gospel positively to show the strongest apologetic of the gospel.

Credits: Much of this came from a conversation with Tom Moller. 

Buzzard Blog: X-Ray Questions to identify your functional messiah/idols "The questions aim to help people identify the ungodly masters that occupy positions of authority in their heart. These questions reveal 'functional gods,' what or who actually controls their particular actions, thoughts, emotions, attitudes, memories, and anticipations."  From David Powlison's Seeing With New Eyes.  Read anything you can get from Powlison, the Tripp's or Ed Welch.

TallSkinnyKiwi: Pub Crawl for Jesus Churches urged to adopt-a-pub for a Pub Crawl in London.

Church Relevance: Evangelical Christians Disliked by University Faculty Sadly, the title could also be 'Evangelical Christians disliked by Evangelical Christians'

The Western Church is in decline. Part of the challenge is the church is stuck in old models of ecclesiology based on Constantinian views of church.  The church is seen as a power structure seeking to 'attract' people from the outside to join.  This model is set to fail to change our culture, as author Alan Hirsch puts it:

A combination of recent research in Australia indicates that about 10-15 percent of that population is attracted to what we call the contemporary church growth model. In other words, this model has significant "market appeal" to about 12 percent of our population. The more successful forms of this model tend to be large, highly professionalized, and overwhelmingly middle class, and express themselves culturally using contemporary, "seeker friendly" language and middle-of-the-road music forms. (source: The Forgotten Ways)

In America, we may have a couple decades before we reach the 10-15 percent. Yet churches continue to try to one-up each other to create better programs, funnier messages, more creative marketing to capture people from this pool of seekers.  For example, Outreach magazine's June 2007 issue reported a seemingly encouraging statistic: 97% of Protestant churches reported doing something evangelistic within the year. (Source: Ellison Research's "Facts and Trends")  It was only when you dig deeper, the stat loses some punch:

• 70% did a Vacation Bible School
• 59% passed out literature such as tracts or magazines
• 56% held large events such as block parties and fall festivals

These are good things to do, but all of these are attractional-based evangelism that will reach people who share a similar worldview to Christians.  Meaning, when people hold a similar morality, view of absolutes and typically conservative background these events are effective.  For most others, they are ineffective.

In response to this, here are a few items I am thinking through: 

1. Corporate Gatherings are important to reflect the exaltation of Christ, just as mission moves us into a more incarnational mode.  We need multiple forms of gatherings to reflect the fullness of the church. I say this in contrast to some in the emerging movement who prefer to abolish larger corporate gatherings.  Yet, in stark contrast to most Evangelical churches the corporate gathering is not the center of the church universe.   Goheen writes: “There is a need to continue to struggle with communal patterns of ecclesial life that will enable the church corporately to be a preview of the kingdom. However, this should not be done at the expense of the mission of God’s people in their various and scattered callings. This continues to be the primary point of missionary engagement in Western culture.”   (HT: Brad Brisco) For a visual on this, view the Triperspectival Ecclesiology diagram. 

Triperspectival note: As Corporate gathering & Classes occur there is a greater emphasis on Normative (red circle).  Missional Communities and Home Groups have an emphasis on Existential (blue circle) while Tribal encounters (going with others to where non-believers live/meet) and being a missionary to people is more Situational (green circle).

2. You need to rethink the success of your church.  Too many pastors find their identity in the number of people that attend on Sundays.  Your church can have a great number of people attend on Sunday's but if this is where their connection to being the church ends, you may only be feeding the idols of consumerism.  Churches should spend much more emphasis on creating disciples to embody the gospel in daily life. Goheen quotes Newbigin as he writes: “I do not believe that the role of the Church in a secular society is primarily exercised in the corporate action of the churches as organized bodies in the political or cultural fields . . . On the contrary, I believe that it is [exercised] through the action of Christian lay people playing their roles as citizens, workers, managers, legislators.” (HT: Brad Brisco)

3. Bible Studies are great, but to reach people churches need to form missional communities.  Small gatherings of people who are a committed to a neighborhood.  It is these people who pray for the area, are deeply committed to the needs and express this in acts of love and mercy.  These people need to be an active hermeneutic of the gospel on display for unbelievers to see.  This paradigm will require active engagement in a neighborhood to build trust and reach those who are open or spiritually curious. 

4. Churches that aren't actively embodying the gospel to tribes of people will only reach seekers.  Hirsch calls mission going out and incarnation as going deep.  We need to develop a culture in our church of mission and pastors, elders and deacons need to model how to be incarnational to reach people groups who do not respond to attractional ministries.  We need to create a new missionary mindset in our people.  It will be these individuals living out the gospel who embed in tribes of people who will be able to reach those who doubt, hold to alternative faiths or even stand in opposition to the Christian message.  The more extreme the resistance, the more relational mission becomes and often is only able to be bridged by specific people who either come from a similar background or somehow develop a connection based on other extenuating factors.

For most traditional or evangelical churches moving from a Sunday event with some mid-week Bible Studies to a church who takes mission seriously will be difficult.  It will take people completely out of their comfort zone and require both great patience and love as Christians move into active relationships with non-believers.  This is difficult being many mature Christians have completely isolated themselves from the unbelieving world.  For many Christians there will need to be a complete shift in ideology and a conversion to mission in order for this to occur.  Sadly, churches who go through this process will end up losing people unwilling to follow their leaders as they follow Christ.  But ultimately this transition is critical for the Western Church to once again move to the margins of society where we began and were able to completely change the Roman world through decentralized missional living.

There is a lot of conversation lately around missional ecclesiology.  From The Shaping of Things to Come and the Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch to Dr. Michael Goheen's Missional Ecclesiology sessions at our church conference based on Lesslie Newbigin, who many trace the emerging movement to (had a conversation with Andrew Jones about that).   One of Hirsch's general points is:

Churches currently can only reach about 12% of the population.  Unless the way people do church changes toward mission it will not reach the culture.   If we do not change the church will be in a state of radical decline.

So where does that leave us?  One challenge is we can react and determine to re-think how church is done and move to a more organic house church movement.  I don't know if that is the right reaction.  It seems to me that being the church, we benefit from 3 expressions as the people of God.  This is the case based on our triperspectival or multiperspectival understanding of all reality.  But here is a quick intro:

All reality must be seen through 3 primary perspectives: Normative, Situational & Existential.  These three are an epistemological lens which are required to see true reality.  The gospel for example is expressed triperspectivally as News/Truth (Normative), a change of identity/grace (Existential) and as an alternative Kingdom way of living (situational).  To 'preach the gospel' means to express all three of these, which goes far beyond limiting the gospel to 'individual personal salvation' a western/consumeristic mentality.  (For a collection of our articles on this see Michael Foster's post.)

So how does this triperspective view impact ecclesiology?  Here is one way we are looking to live this out: (view Triperspectival/Missional Ecclesiology Diagram)

1. Normative/Corporate: The people of God need to gather to hear the Word preached.  Elders who through prayer and study of the Word are charged with preaching/teaching the people (yes they can also learn elsewhere, but this is a part of eldering).  These are people gathering to 'devote themselves to the apostles' teaching'.  This is a corporate gathering. 

2. Existential/Intimate: The people of God are actively involved in each other's lives through the practice of discipling, equipping, accountability and fellowship.  A small group of people may gather around shared challenges (new parents, learning more about aspects of Christianity, etc.) This is where Hirsch is dead on, that we need to simplify the way we do church but raise the bar on how we disciple.  We should be less concerned with how many people show up on a Sunday (attractional) and be much more concerned with how many people are actively being discipled as followers of Christ so they may be incarnational.  These acts are often done in small groups, one-on-one and are often 2-3 people.

3.  Situational/Group:  The people of God are the only people group created to be other-centered (listen to Goheen's session).  Often this is where evangelism equipping, & pastoringand teaching theology on mission is done.  We are called to be on mission.  As an expression and foretaste of the Kingdom, we are to meet locally and engage in communities and tribes of people.  Here a small group (8 or so) gather and gospel one another, pray for specific locations and tell & live out the gospel in a community through word & deed ministries.  People live out their faith together in such a way that they are in close connection to un-believers.  

One of the dangers of new ideas are often we can react to another extreme.  Do we really need to abandon larger 'Sunday Service' gatherings in order to be an emerging movement of God through a house church type expression?  I believe we can make a strong Biblical case that as believers corporate, intimate and small gatherings are all part of what it means to be the Church.  It is through these that we can grow in the knowledge of God, live out the gospel together and be a sent people seeking to make disciples of all nations. We need to come to a place of triperspectival ecclesiology.

I had a chance to hear Alan Hirsch and ask him a few questions at a dinner at the NNCC.  On the plane ride back (with layovers) I'm reading through his book, The Forgotten Ways.  If you blog, I'm sure you have seen a lot of conversation about it.  I recommend you pick up a copy of the book, it is a very important voice in the conversation of the Western church.

Scot McKnight comments (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)or Jordan Cooper review here. (HT: Reformissionary ) Others sources: TallSkinnyKiwi & the Official Forgotten Ways site.

During the National New Church Conference, I was able to be part of a 'bloggers round table' with Shawn Lovejoy, Ben Arment, Tadd Grandstaff and Mark Batterson.  It was clear when we met for the first time, that we didn't know much of each other (Derek Brown was the one guy I knew), but at the round table, these bloggers were the influencers that many people read.  I had the chance to connect and after the session speak more with Ben Arment.  One comment that I enjoyed from him, when he was explaining more about who they were was:

We are the Arminianism Acts 29 equivalent.  Where you are reformed, we believe in evangelism by any means necessary.  We will try whatever works.

Ben is serious about reaching all people with the message of Jesus Christ.  It's good to see a Kingdom that includes people with various passions, convictions and talents seeking to spread this message.  

The audio for the sessions for the Acts 29 Regional Church Conference are up.  The sessions include: 

For the Sake of the World: A Missional Ecclesiology (Newbigin’s Missional Logic)

Speaker: Michael W. Goheen

The people of God have always been chosen for the sake of the world. When they forget that they forget their God-given missional identity. This will be explored both narratively and systematically. Narratively, we will look at the role of God’s people in the Bible. Systematically, we will ask what a missional ecclesiology looks like.

Audio: For the Sake of the World: A Missional Ecclesiology

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

Speaker: Michael W. Goheen

This session will explore the relationship between the four terms in this title–gospel, story, worldview, and the church’s mission. What will be examined is the following: The gospel is the climax and lens of the biblical story which claims to be the true story of the world. The church’s place in that story is bearing witness in life, word, and deed to the end of the story. Worldview has helped to recover the comprehensive scope of the gospel to equip the church for its all-embracing mission in the world.

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

Preparing & Preaching a Gospel Centered Message

Speaker: Richard Kaufmann

How do you prepare and deliver a gospel-centered message? Dr. Kaufmann shares from his years of preaching, his time with Dr. Tim Keller and experience leading a church planting movement 4 pieces of wisdom to help ensure your sermons are well prepared and geared at heart-transformation.

Audio: Preparing & Preaching a Gospel Centered Message

Acts 29 Values & Mission

Speaker: David Fairchild

A session for churches, church planters and others who are interested in learning more about Acts 29 as a movement. Are you seeking to plant a church or to help plant other churches? Come learn about Acts 29’s values and mission.

Audio: Acts 29 Values & Mission

One of the cool things working at Monk Development is we are able to do most of our work with churches and ministries.  I've posted a number of the churches we've done using Ekklesia 360 Church CMS, but here are a few ministries we are working with:

Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals  is an organization of individuals that believes Evangelicals have largely forgotten the foundations of the Christian Gospel and is dedicated to calling on the Protestant churches, especially those that call themselves Reformed, to return to the principles of the Protestant Reformation. To that end, they produce print and internet resources, broadcast radio programs (The Bible Study Hour, Every Last Word, and Dr. Barnhouse & the Bible) and hold conferences (Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology, Princeton regional Conference on Reformed Theology, Reformation Societies) aimed at educating different segments of the Christian population.  The Alliance consists of a who's who of pastors/theologians such as Dr. R. C. SPROUL, Dr. ALBERT MOHLER, Mr. C.J. MAHANEY, Dr. JOHN MACARTHUR, Dr. MARK DEVER, Mr. JERRY BRIDGES and many others.

The Alliance was formed in 1994, out of what was known as Evangelical Ministries, when the late Dr. James Montgomery Boice, then senior pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and teacher on "The Bible Study Hour" radio program, called together a group of like-minded pastor-theologians from a variety of denominations to unite in a common cause to help revive a passion "for the truth of the Gospel" within the church.

Design Partner: Designwise

Services: Content Management System, Application Development, E-Commerce.  The Alliance  brought Monk Development in to build an e-commerce resource site (ReformedResources.org) to host 60 years of reformed resources, including conferences, videos, digital downloads, books and others. 

Launch: 2nd Quarter 2007 

Enjoying God Ministries

Enjoying God Ministries (EGM) exists "to proclaim the power of truth and the truth about power." This isn't just a catchy phrase. It reflects both what is lacking in the church today and what is burning in Sam Storm's heart.

EGM exists to serve the body of Christ. Their aim is to be a resource not only for pastors and leaders but for all Christians who long to dig more deeply into the Word of God and to experience the fullness of the Spirit's power. Enjoying God Ministries is a non-profit ministry organization of Dr. Sam Storms who brings over 30 years of ministry to believers seeking a deeper and more passionate relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Design Partner: DesignWise Studios

Services: Content Management System, User Interface, Content, Ecommerce, Application Development

Launch:  Enjoying God Ministries

CFCC Job Boards

Center for Church Communication is the parent company for Church Marketing Sucks.

Churches have the greatest story ever told, but no one's listening. We think there's a communication problem. That remarkable story is lost thanks in part to poor research, little or no planning, bad clip art, cheesy photos and ignorable ads.  We believe there's a better way. It's not simply flashy designs or catchy slogans, but effective and authentic communication. If we can't communicate, how can we fulfill the great commission? We want the Church to matter. We want your church to matter.

We help the church by offering information, resources, advice and starting the conversation about church communication. We are a non-profit organized by communications professionals who have been serving the church and mainstream clients since 1998.

Services: Content Management System, Application Development, E-Commerce.  Monk built a job board to allow users to post freelance gigs and full-time positions in the church communication space.

Launch: 2nd Quarter 2007 

Pastors Edge

Pastors Edge is the web ministry of Dr. James Merritt, a pastor and two time president elect of the Southern Baptist Denomination. Pastors Edge was birthed out of Dr. Merritt's desire to help pastors across the country preach God's Word with power. His passion is to offer the best resources available for the price in order to help congregations across the country flourish.

Design Partner: Designwise

Services: Content Management System, Application Development, E-Commerce

Launch: Pastors Edge 

Quote from Michael Goheen @ our Acts 29 Regional Event:

The danger of the internet isn't necessarily the porn, but the continued wasting of time to find the next great thing.

Ouch! 

I'm sure this is something I will need to rethink (or repent of), but from a conversation an idea came up: creating a tithing brokerage firm.  People could come and talk about their tithe portfolio.  The client comes in and states:

I'd like to be 1/3 International missions, 1/4 in church planting, 1/4 inner city and please diversify the rest amongst…

The brokers would ensure these guidelines are met, investigate potential organizations, present these to the client and ensure the monies are being used appropriately.  I imagine if you could build up enough clients you could start managing a pretty significant yearly giving amount.  Of course, these funds should came after your support of the local church.   

Dr. Richard Kaufmann, movement leader at Harbor Presbyterian led the session Preparing & Preaching a Gospel Centered Message @ the Acts 29 Regional Conference.  In this session, he said (I believe he was quoting someone, but I don't recall who) that there are four idols that drive most people.  These are:

Power

Control

Approval

Comfort 

Which one do you seek?  Kaufmann said a good way to find out is to see which one you'd give up to 'earn' another.  Meaning, would you give up people liking you (approval) in order for them to respect you (power)? 

The danger with these idols is that idols always disappoint

    They are weak: They can't deliver when you succeed; they can only raise the bar. They can't forgive you when you fail; they can only lower the boom.
    They are harmful: They hurt you spiritually, emotionally and physically.  They hurt others by undermining your ability to love.
    They are Grievous: Most importantly, by going after these idols/other lovers you are saying to God: "Jesus is not enough.  I also need _________ in order to be happy.

This is where we need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily.