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Considering Church Planting? Consider the Church Planters Academy!

 

This November I'll be participating with a really diverse group of church planters in a Church Planters Academy. If you are at all thinking about planting a church, this could be a great event for you to participate in.

 

$100 off- This Week Only! Don't miss your chance to save $100 on registration for the Church Planters Academy, the premier event for anyone aspiring to start a church or faith community.  Come and learn from proven leaders like Doug Pagitt Nanette Sawyer Tim Conder Nadia Bolz-Weber Bob Hyatt Alise Barrymore Russell Rathbun Debbie Blue Joe Boyd Don and Pam Heatley Bruce Reyes-Chow Maggie Mraz Russell Rathbun Jay Bakker and Tim Keel.   November 10-12 in Minneapolis $149 (for a limited time!)   More information at ChurchPlantersAcademy.com

 

Rain and Shine- Brightest and Darkest Moments in Church Planting

A couple of months ago, I participated in a little conference here in PDX, co-sponsored by the Ecclesia Network and North West Church Planters. It was called Rain and Shine, and the point was to draw together, for two days, a group of church planters who would talk about the brightest and darkest moments they had experienced in Church planting. Everyone got 14 minutes to speak. Here's an edited version of what I presented- my highest and lowest moments in being a church planter. 

 

 

Probably like a lot of you, I came to church planting through the route of dissatisfaction and hurt. The angry young man. I grew tired of asking the same questions, banging my head against the same walls- tired of feeling hurt by the system and tired of seeing people I loved leave because they had been “hurt.” 

So, when we planted our church here in Portland about 7 years ago- like you did or will do, we secretly, inwardly held the idea, even if we outwardly disavowed it, that we were going to be the church that got things right.

It’s not so much we thought we were better or somehow the pinnacle of ecclesiastical evolution- it was simply that we thought we could learn from the mistakes of the churches we had come from and just do it differently. Seems so easy, right?

We were going to be organic, non-programmatic, we would listen, learn, love... and though we took careful pains to warn people as they came into our community that community hurts, again, secretly, we believed- we would be the church that would never hurt people. 

The question in our talks here at Rain and Shine is this: What are the darkest and brightest moments of church planting for you? And for me, there have been plenty of both- but probably the darkest has been over the last couple of years realizing that no matter what we do, we were going to be a church that hurt people. 

I first started getting an inkling of this when I noticed that though we saw many people coming into church and coming to Christ or coming BACK to Church or back to Christ through our community, we saw just as many for whom we were the last stop on the way out. They had grown up in the evangelical church, many were even pastor’s kids, and they would come to our community as this last ditch effort. We meet in a pub, we’re not happy clappy, we’re not trying to be slick or production-oriented- for a lot of them, we were something still Christian that they thought maybe they could stomach. We even had some tell us “This is my last try- if this doesn’t work, I’m out.” I mean, no pressure, right?

And time and time again, though we saw many stick and find what they were looking for, we saw just as many turn around and walk out the door again, some with real anger towards us, or towards me. And in trying to pin down why this would happen, we’ve never come to any real conclusions, other than that some people are just going to be hurt, no matter what you do- their issues with God and with church are going to bubble up. Which church in inconsequential- it could be any. And quite often, it’s going to be yours. 

But it hasn’t always been simply that some people were setting themselves up to be hurt- sometimes it was us- our choices, our actions. In dealing with people, with couples or individuals or even staff members, we made choices with the best of intentions that ended up alienating people, confirming their worst fears about church...hurting them. 

It wasn’t what we intended, we meant well, but we stepped wrong and someone else ended up getting blown out the doors. 

There have even been times when we knew- we knew- going into a situation-  there’s potential here for great hurt, and we as elders would circle up and discuss- how can we do this with the minimum amount of pain? How can we do this right? Only to have it blow up in our faces, to have our decisions and choices hurt people we loved very much. 

So what is MY darkest moment in church planting? My darkest moment in church planting was coming to the realization that no matter what I did, I was going to contribute to the hurt, the brokenness and pain that people had around church. I just was. We just were. 

We always wanted to be a part of people’s faith stories. It’s just that we wanted to be a part of the good bits- the place where people came to Jesus- not the place where they rejected Him. The place where people found community and had their faith in followers of Jesus restored- not the place that got to drive the final nail in the coffin.

And after instance after instance of seeing people leave- angry, hurt- of trying SO HARD to bring the least amount of pain to people through some really hard situations and instead finding ourselves somehow, inexplicably bringing the maximum amount, I’ve come to the hard but good realization, that we don’t get to pick which part of people’s stories we get to play. Yes- we get to pick whether or not we will act in love, with kindness, like Jesus to the best of our ability- I get that. But I’m telling you- there are times when I have felt and when you will feel as though we were in a tragic opera- that God was using us in someone else’s life and what He happened to need at the moment was not a soft place for them to land but a hammer and a chisel. God was going to use us to get some people where HE needed them- to a place of discomfort or even crisis. There have been times when I cried out to God- really? Really? We’re trying so hard with this person and still- it seems like all we can do is screw it up further- that everything we do just seems to make it worse. REALLY?

And if that’s all there was to this thing, I think I probably would have packed it in a long time ago...

The good news is, though there have been a lot of dark moments, a lot of times when I wondered if we were going to “make it”, if what we were doing was even worth the effort it took to “make it,” there have been a lot of bright moments as well- mostly centered around the times when we stopped trying to build the Church, and just rested in the joy of being the church. 

As I think back to those moments of gathering down at the river or creek to baptize people, of dancing for hours after marrying two people who met and fell in love in our community, of sitting with people and untangling some of the knots that they had encountered in life or faith, even of walking with some couples through some really deep water and seeing marriages actually make it, I’m glad that God has allowed me to even take part in this thing. Because though we often unintentionally hurt people, though we mess up, though God uses us in hard ways at times, He also is kind enough to let us share in the up times as well. The putting back together of what is broken and the healing of what was hurt. 

And I’ve been able to see that best and brightest in seeing how the Gospel actually works in community. How rather than sitting as a lifeless proposition on a page, the Gospel is actually the tool the Holy Spirit uses most as He brings us not just to a saving place of faith in Jesus, but to maturity and Christ-likeness. 

I have loved sitting with people who are describing to me their struggles with workaholism, or anger, or money, and realizing- Oh- the real issue here isn’t money, or work or whatever- the real issue is what you are asking it to do for you. To somehow save you, give you hope, give you worth. Let me tell you about Jesus. 

I’ve loved sitting with couples in crisis- well, I haven’t loved that part, but I’ve loved being able to tell them- I know, I know the hurt seems overwhelming and forgiveness seems like an impossibility right now, but I want you to think hard, to remember, to meditate on what Jesus has done for you- how and how much He’s forgiven you, and see if that doesn’t open up new possibilities for you here.

And most of all, I have loved realizing that even for me, at my darkest moments as a pastor and in church planting, the Gospel has something to say. Those moments laying awake in bed at 2:30am on Sunday night after preaching- when attendance was low, and giving non-existent and I’m feeling like: “After that sermon it will be a miracle if anyone comes back next week.” And realizing- that in getting so tied up in the metrics, in resting so much of the weight of my soul and my identity on results, on what happened, on how I was perceived and received, I was asking those things to do for me what only Jesus could- to tell me I was worth something, make me whole, save me. 

The Good News is that my people and their attendance, their applause, their approval are not my savior. Jesus is. 

And so my brightest moment of all in church planting has been realizing that the Gospel- this good news about Jesus and His kingdom isn’t just a truth we learn at the beginning of our spiritual journey... the Good News is the transformative engine of change in the world, not just for Non-Christians, but for Christians and even for pastors. Our communities and we ourselves will never outgrow needing to hear it, and so we’ll never get past needing to preach it to them, to others... to ourselves. 

 

In church planting, and in pastoring in this broken world hurt is inevitable- both to yourself and to those you are serving and reaching. Thank God we have in the Gospel the answer to the brokenness and hurt we inevitably experience and even in our best intentions bring to other people. Thank God for Jesus. 

Amen? 

 

After 7 years, a Sabbatical

When a friend told me last time at this year that traditionally, year 7 is the hardest year for church plants/church planters, I thought "hmmmm" and filed that away for future reference. We had just celebrated our 6 year mark as a church and I was already beginning to see signs of what he was talking about- both within our community and within my own soul. 

At 7, nothing is new anymore- and the energy that sustained you in your "newness" is scarce. People you thought might be with you forever, or at least for awhile longer begin to fade away in search of other things. Staff/leadership relationships begin to creak a bit with age. 

And if you are a church planter, after 7 years, you are tired. 

So many nights laying awake wondering where so-and-so went, if the marriage of your close friends is going to make it, if the faith someone you baptized who seemed so excited but now seems so not is going to make it... Week after week of set-up, admin, sermon prep, trying to coach, encourage or even cajole people into creating the kinds of ministries they are complaining to you about not having. Times when the tank is full and times when it is empty- but empty or full, you still have to pull something out of it for others. 

I knew going in this great adventure of church planting would be hard- what I couldn't see was how hard it would on my own heart and soul. How even the good and best parts of ministry still take so much out of you.  And especially how the hard parts take a toll- others second guessing your leadership decisions, complaining about things they could easily pitch in to change or create. Baptisms are wonderful, but just as often people say "I think I'm done with faith." Ministry is messy, and for most average, non-mega-church pastors, it's largely thankless.

Which is why I'm SO grateful for our elders and our community. 

Last summer, we began talking about the possiblity of me taking a sabbatical after our 7 year mark. It's a pretty standard practice in ministry to allow a pastor some extended time off after 7 years, and truthfully, I think that over the last year our elders have seen me fraying at the edges and really running out of steam. 

So, in mid-December it moved from discussion to instruction. They told me I needed to take some time away.

That was just what I needed to hear. 

Since then, I've been able to sleep better, rest more... Just knowing that a break was coming has enabled me not only to navigate some hard leadership waters these last few months, but even begin to crawl back a bit from the edges of exhaustion. At this point, I'm not only ready for a break, but feel as though I may actually have the energy to enjoy it. Which again, I'm grateful for...

So, we've announced to our community that from May through July I'm going to be taking a break from the work of ministry. Our family will still be around- I'm looking forward to actually just attending our church and sitting with my wife and kids in our gathering. It's been, uh... never, since we've been able to do that- I've been working at churches our entire marriage. While I hope to take a break from the work part, I really want to remain present in some ways- that is, take a break from work, not from community. I also want to visit some other communities and see what else God is doing here in PDX.

My spiritual director is going to help me with those parts with some regular check-ins to make sure I'm not sneaking in any work- physically or mentally. As he says, "Sabbatical" comes from "Sabbath."

And so, to that end, some things I hope to do on my Sabbatical:

1. Sleep 

2. Break this writer's block

3. Enjoy and be enjoyable to my family

4. Eat, Pray, Love

5. We're going to Disneyland!

6. Week at Richmond Hill Abbey in Richmond VA

7. Road trip with Jack, my 7 year old son

8. Sleep some more. 

 

And who knows... maybe some blogging too :)

 

Ecclesia Church Planter Bootcamp: Aggelos 2011

A theological and practical trajectory for missional church planting

aggelos is unique in comparison to other church planters training opportunities available.
First, there will not be hundreds of people here. More than likely, there will be somewhere between 20-30. This means plenty of room for dialog, conversation, and questions amidst all of the planned training.
Second, everyone stays, eats, and prays together for the week. Most people leave with better friendships, some of which will be life-long, because they started the church planting journey – in this way – together.
Third, there will be a host of different equippers with unique planting stories. This gathering (as in all we try to do) isn’t dominated by just a few individuals or models of church planting. You’ll hear from a variety of planters, both seasoned and new, and learn from their experiences and approaches.
Finally, we hope to provide a good balance of theology, theory, and practicality. Each component is vital
We hope you’ll join us in May!
Chris Backert (Director)
Details
Registration:
Contact Chris Backert: [email protected]
Date
May 9-13, 2011
Richmond, VA
Location
Richmond Hill Urban Retreat Center (www.richmondhillva.org). Richmond Hill is a former monastery, located in the heart of the city of Richmond. Most people will be sharing a room with one other person throughout the week. All meals are all included as part of our stay and will take place on the grounds.
Registration
Email [email protected] to confirm your spot followed by payment. A 20% deposit is required within two weeks of registration to qualify for rate and space.

More info here: http://www.ecclesianet.org/equipping/aggelos-2011

Why Church Planter Conferences are SO much better than Church Growth Conferences.

I've been incredibly blessed over the last couple of months to be able to attend two gatherings of Church Planters. The first was the Ecclesia Network's National Gathering and the second has been Christian Associates International's Leadership Summit.
I'll blog more in depth about both soon, but for now- it's got me thinking about why Church Planter conferences are so great and church growth/pastor's conferences are so not.
(By church growth/ pastors conferences I'm thinking of the big, national events with lots of big names, big ticket prices and big... Well, big EVERYTHING.)

Some reasons:

1. Church planter conferences tend toward collaboration, Church growth/pastor conferences toward competition.
The big question at pastor conferences? How big is yours? (Church that is). The feeling is very middle school, with people sizing themselves and others up, clear pecking orders, cool kids, nerds and outcasts... And plenty of comparing yourself against the superstar A-listers on the stage and the B-listers who get invited to tell how cool what they've got going is at the various breakout sessions.
It tends to be a different world at Church planter conferences- everyone is either at the same place or only one or two steps removed and can remember clearly and identify with where everyone else is at. The spirit tends to be sharing of stories and wisdom/ resources, rather than the "Let me tell you how I innovated our way to WINNING and how you can too!"

2. Church planter conferences are about encouragement- pastor conferences try, but because of their emphasis on celebrity, end up being demoralizing.

I'll say this- the big conferences TRY to encourage pastors/leaders, they really do. And often, in spite of the lasers and smoke machines, God does show up and brings encouragement. But because of the very nature of the big stage, the inaccessible superstars, the cutting-edge everything, the end result is often men and women who leave thinking "If only I could speak like that. If only MY church was like that. If only..." they go back not necessarily encouraged in what God is doing in their community/context, but determined about what THEY are going to do next- driven to "take it to the next level." And when, year after year, the "next level" is not reached, but growth, if at all remains slow, a certain "Why does this work for everyone else but ME?" tends to set in.
Church planter conferences, however, tend to do the opposite. They confirm God in the slow and steady, they help us see God in what is now- however small, however seemingly insignificant. And because of that, while I leave church growth/pastor conferences determined and with a list of things to change and to implement, I tend to leave church planter conferences not with new level of drivenness, but new levels of clarity- clarity about what I'm doing, where God is in it, and what I long to see God do next.

3. Church planter conferences are about connection and you meet new people, while growth/pastor conferences tend to be about resources and programs.

Church planter conferences, at least the ones I go to, tend to be smaller, and that means a different relational dynamic. I went to a large conference in Southern California for years, heard many amazing speakers, got a ton of great ideas- but never made a *friend* I didn't have already when I walked in the door. And generally, at the end of the day I came to realize- I could have saved a lot of money, listened to all these talks on the internet, bought the books the A and B Listers were inevitably selling, and gotten largely the same result and maybe better if I'd just taken those books and MP3s and sat by a pool somewhere.
But over the last three years of attending small church planter-oriented conferences, I've actually made friends. People who know my name, who pray for and encourage me when I need it. People who get the unique challenges I'm facing and that I can pick up the phone and call when I need to... And believe me, I have. I've found not just the latest resource or model, but an actual learning community I hope to be journeying with for a long, long time.

4. Church planter conferences are about the small ways we see the Kingdom breaking in, both personally and corporately. Pastor conferences tend to be showcases not of what God is doing, but the best and the latest of what WE are doing.

Gather with five thousand other pastors, pay hundreds of dollars to be there and you have a right to expect exactly what you will get: The best speakers and the latest methods and technology. Watch Ed Young Jr ride an elephant onto the stage? Heck yeah! See some guy dive off a hundred foot tower into a bucket of water? Why not? Listen to one of three sugar-stick messages this superstar is touring the circuit with this year? Absolutely.
This isn't to say there's not a sense of inviting experienced and authoritative people to speak to the church planting conferences. But those folks come for a lot less money, they tend to actually hang around and have conversations with people, and all in all, it ends up feeling like someone who actually wants to contribute to your ministry- not fly in, do their thing, grab their check and jet out.
The planter conferences look more like what we actually do- simple worship, dialogue, sometimes bad PowerPoint. But in spite of (and maybe partially because of?) all that, they tend to deepen - not distract you with THE SHOW. The church growth conferences dazzle, but they don't tend to deepen. They show you what you can have if you just spend more money, hire the right staff, adopt their model...

Am I exaggerating? Sure- a bit. But I'm editorializing here! :)
Does small mean better? No, not necessarily. Ive been to some great larger conferences and some scary smaller ones. Can and does God show up at Catalyst Or some conference with "!" in the title or "Q"? Sure (but even HE has to pay $800 to get into Q). If you can go, go. Have a good time- get out of things like that everything you can.
But understand- we try to convince people that what's flashy, what's new, what appeals to our consumer instincts isn't always what's best- that God (as Elijah found) is often heard in the still silence, not the flash and bang... And then we often turn around and choose exactly that. The glitz, the show, the "experience."
I've simply become convinced that there's a whole lot more to the small and non-slick than meets the eye. That maybe my time and money are better spent in smaller environments that can't "compete" with these big mega-conferences, but also offer some things they could never hope to.
And maybe, if you are in ministry, yours too?

7 years ago today...

Last year on this day, March 11th, right around this time, I was standing on the roof of a clinic in a village in rural Haiti, using a borrowed phone to try and call home.

This morning, one year later, using terrible hotel wifi, I finally managed to place a Skype call from Spain back home to Portland.

It wasn't long after we were married that Amy was prophetically saying to me, "I know someday you are going to be traveling- I can tell that's what God is going to do." At the time, it sounded exciting...

This week, as my plane left the Portland airport on its way to Madrid, Spain, I began to wonder how those men and women who basically travel for a living do it. Each time I leave home lately- it feels as though it gets harder and harder. More and more of my heart is tied up in every little Janie smile, every new Josie word, every Jack hug and every Amy kiss.

But, as she predicted, God has been taking me places. A few weeks ago it was an incredible time at the Ecclesia Network National Gathering with some of our elders from Evergreen. This week, it's Christian Associate's Leadership Summit here in Europe, where I'm taking the time to connect with church planters and learn from some new streams and new relationships. In a few more weeks, to Richmond, VA to help teach a church planter's bootcamp with/for Ecclesia.

I love new places, I love to see new things- it stimulates my brain in ways that are so very needed. But sometimes, like today, I feel acutely that pang of missing out.

Seven years ago today my son Jack was born. I love him more than he can know- and am extremely proud of the boy he is becoming. His heart is becoming wonderfully soft and he's proving quicker than most I know to turn a corner after getting angry, to come and say he's sorry- often cooling down way before even his daddy! He's got a generous spirit, a quick mind, and a fun-loving nature that doesn't stop.
Jack- I wouldn't want any other boy but you! I love you, guy- Happy Birthday!

Daddy will be home soon.

On Holy Ground at St. Arbucks

I have a new post up at Out of Ur- here's a sample and a link there...

 

 

Like many pastors I know, I have a love/hate relationship with Starbucks.

For seven years now, as I have labored to plant, grow, and guide a church, Starbucks has been my office, my meeting space, my cafeteria, and my retreat. I’m there most work days, and I’m even there most days off to get some reading or writing time in away from the house.

Yeah—if Starbucks disappeared, I’d notice.

As with anything, though, familiarity breeds contempt. The thousands of hours I have spent in Starbucks locations all over the Portland Metro area have left me feeling at times that I’d rather be anywhere else.Please, Lord, not another day on hard wooden chairs, sipping burnt-tasting coffee, and wondering when the employees will notice the BEEP-BEEP-BEEP of the safe that sets my teeth on edge every 20 minutes as it tells them it’s time to make another deposit...

And yet, week after week, I return. Occasionally I try new places, but nothing has ever stuck. Despite a certain weariness with the place, the convenience of Starbucks, the free Wi-Fi, and the ease with which I can meet people there all conspire to draw me back week after week.

But something else draws me back there. At times Starbucks has been more than a coffee shop for me. Much more...

 

Read the rest here...

 

It was 7 years ago today...

7 years ago today I woke up in a state of anxiety, sure I had to get a ton of resumés out ASAP. By the end of that day, I went to bed in a state of excitement, sure we were supposed to plant a church. 

I knew my time at the Big Church was coming to an end, but I had no idea of what came next. The relevant data facts were- 1. We had just bought a house 2. We had just gotten pregnant 3. I was pretty sure I wouldn't "fit" in most mainstream churches anymore. 

So when I was told we'd be making a "transition" in terms of my job at the Big Church, I knew something had to happen- I just didn't know what. I had a friend who had a job for me as a children's pastor- No... definitely not me (especially since at the time our child was -7 months old). A lot of churches were "interested"... but none were pulling the trigger, and even if they did, I was highly ambivalent about their style/paradigm of doing church.

God was definitely telling me that He wanted me back in pastoral ministry, but He sure wasn't making it easy. 

So that day, throughout various conversations with friends named Bj, Jim, Stephen, Johnny, Bernard, and Tim, it became clear: Time to put feet to faith and actually DO all the "new" church stuff I'd been talking about for a couple of years. 

They asked: So where are you going to plant this thing? I said, "Well, we live in the Murray Scholls area- maybe there's a school or something there..." 

Tim just shook his head and said, "No. No. No... The Lucky Lab in Multnomah Village." 

I thought about it for 10 seconds or so and said, "Yes. that's it."

And you know the rest of the story. 

Seven years.

Seven years of hoping God will move and seeing Him do just that, of trusting the process and rarely being disappointed, of learning hard lessons about the difference between what I/we think we have figured out and what we actually do. 

This last year has probably been the toughest- I feel like I've made more leadership/strategy mistakes in the last 10 months than in the 6 years previous. But in all of that I am simply reminded of both how much I need Jesus in this church endeavor and how much He shows up and perfects His grace in my weakness. 

Thank you God and thank you Evergreen for seven years of amazing adventure. I'm grateful today for people who love God more than church and so love the church God is building/using more than most other things. I'm thankful for people who say "Whether the car turns right or left, we're staying in it." I'm thankful for people who care enough to disagree without disengaging, for people who love others unselfishly and sacrificially, and for people who work hard to make a welcoming community. I'm especially thankful for those who have found and re-found and are finding and re-finding Jesus in and through our community. What a gift. 

And I'm thankful that it has never gotten easy. 

Because that would be boring, and if there's one thing this deal is not, it's rarely boring.

Who should plant a church?

"For instance, one middle-aged candidate didn't pass his denomination's assessment process; they thought he was too introverted and couldn't engage unchurched people. (They also rated him as a 'mediocre preacher'.) Upon further prayer and conversation, they revised that decision. He went on to plant a thriving church in the northeast. Today this pastor has launched an entire network of dynamic new church starts. That's the story of the introverted, bookish, 'mediocre preacher' named Tim Keller [pastor of the 5,000+ Redeemer in NYC]."

-Matthew Woodly, "A Calling Confirmed", Leadership Journal 

What do you REALLY want?

An interesting thing happened to me on the way to church planting. 

I got offered a 70k a year job out of the blue. 

Before we felt drawn (or pushed... pushed probably fits better!) to plant a new community here in Portland, I had been sending out a lot of resumes. I knew it was time to get out of the media job I had been doing and back into pastoral ministry, and to that end I was putting out the feelers far and wide. But... I kept being number 2. It came down time and again to me and someone else, and yet in the end- always someone else.

At about that time, God really grabbed my attention. I was told my media job would be ending, and I'd have 3 months to figure out what came next. We had just bought a house, gotten pregnant... mild panic began to set in. 

I woke up one morning, and was laying in bed, resolving to redouble my efforts at resume-sending, when my beautiful wife opened her eyes and the first words out of her mouth were, "Well, we could sell the car, sell the house..."

"Don't worry," I said, "I don't think it will get that bad. I'm sure we'll find something."

"No," she said, "I mean, so we can plant a church! It's what you've always said you wanted to do."

Always said, and never really had the nerve to do. 

Until that day. That was the first of many conversations that day which God used to move me from "I need to send resumes out" to "We need to plant a church." October 27th, 2003. It was a big day. 

About a week later, I got a call, though. It was someone offering me a job. No thanks, I told him. We're going to plant a church. 70k? Uh... no, no... we're going to plant a church. Over the next couple of weeks I kept getting the same call, from the same guy. It was as though my resolve to plant just triggered something in him- "That's EXACTLY the kind of person we want for this position!" he told me repeatedly.

I'll confess- there were a few moments where I looked at my pregnant wife and thought- really? Wouldn't the wise thing be to take this job? 

As I prayed it through, I felt God pretty clearly putting the question to me: Do you really want to plant a church? All this stuff you have been saying about the people who are missing from the standard evangelical churches in Portland, all this about My kingdom, about presenting the Good News of Jesus in ways that people who aren't part of the church world can grab ahold of... Did you mean it? Because here's a simple way out if you didn't."

I meant it. We turned down the offer, stepped out and planted a church community. But I've since seen that scenario played out time and again with new church planters. It seems to be something of a motif in the way God often (not always, but often) works. 

And I saw it again today in a very similar question I heard. This morning, to be exact. 

We're now in year 7 of our community, the year I've been told marks something of a speed bump for church planters/new communities. The year it gets hard. The year you either endure or fold. 

For us, it looks like a general season of churn, hard conversations, an uphill battle to flag some lagging enthusiasm, a need to refocus on mission... And lots of fun conversations about finances. 

Oh yes. 

We've never missed a paycheck in 7 years or been unable to pay another of our pastors. We all either do work on the side or raise support, so none of us look to the community for 100% of our income, and yet- it's still the majority and very much needed. Last month, when we saw the trend we realized- we may not be able to make payroll. Further, our treasurer, the only one with a real detailed view into who gives (someone's gotta do those tax statements!) let us know- so far this year, only 56% of Evergreeners had given anything at all. The conversation that came out of us letting the community know both of those facts was hard, but very good. In the end, people stepped up and we were actually OVER what we ask for from the community for the first time this year. 

All good? Not exactly- Maybe everyone just moved their giving from this month back a couple weeks and gave early? In any case, we're severely under budget again. And worse, it seems only about 15% of our community pitched in financially this month. 

That number is disheartening on a number of levels. Besides the fact that I needed to let my wife know we may not get a full paycheck this month (our other staff will- I'll make sure of that), it's discouraging enough when combined with some other trends we've noticed to tempt someone to ask "Are we really all in this together? Do we care? Or are we just playing church?"

I woke up this morning with a heavy heart, thinking about all of this- wondering what the answers to those questions were. As I lay there, I started praying "God, please... I want this thing we started to continue, to live on..."

And that's when I heard the familiar Voice: "Really? Why?" 

God was asking me- is this about building a church? An institution? Or is it about something, or Someone, else? All this stuff you have been saying about the people who are missing from the standard evangelical churches in Portland, all this about My kingdom, about presenting the Good News of Jesus in ways that people who aren't part of the church world can grab ahold of... Do you mean it?

And that's when I realized God had brought me full circle. 

Here in year seven, I feel God pretty clearly asking me- What do you really want? What's it about for you? 

I believe in church- but church isn't an end to itself. I want a paycheck this month, but I'm not going to start looking at the pastor porn of Ministry Job Boards and dreaming about other places where things might be more predictable. For me, Evergreen is a means to an end, and the end is Jesus. 

Here's what I really want: I want Jesus. I know church comes with Him (it is His body and bride after all), but first and foremost, I want Jesus. I want Evergreen to go on, not for my sake, but for His- and for the sake of those He is loving into the kingdom through our community. And that means I never get to pastor the fully committed, already mature and stable community that, in my weaker moments I daydream about. I'll always, to one extent or another, be dealing with questions like this, because I'll always be working to move hearts and minds (including my own) from places of immaturity towards growth and greater depth of commitment to Jesus and one another. 

So I'll ride this one out however long this "speedbump" time lasts. Where else would I go? What else would I do? For as long as God allows me, I'm on this ride, helping to lead this community, pointing our church towards loving each other, loving the city of Portland and loving Jesus... because it's the best way I know, given my gifts and callings, and until I hear otherwise, to serve Him. 

αγγελος 2010 Church Planter Training

This year I have the privilege to again help out with the Ecclesia Network's annual church planter training/Bootcamp. I'm so excited for the conversations, the missional energy and especially again being back at Richmond Hill, a former monastery and current community of prayer in the midst of Richmond. Such a peaceful place, and such a great time with current and future church planters. 

The teaching line up this year is fantastic- including some seasoned planters and two in particular I'm looking forward to spending some time with- David Fitch from Life on the Vine in Chicago-land and Jon Tyson from New York. 

If you are considering, about to or in the midst of church planting, you really need to come. 

Here's some more info: 

αγγελος is church planting training  that presents a theological and practical trajectory for missional church planting.

αγγελος is unique in comparison to other church planters training opportunities available.

First, there will not be hundreds of people here. More than likely, there will be somewhere between 20-30. This means plenty of room for dialog, conversation, and questions amidst all of the planned training.

Second, everyone stays, eats, and prays together for the week. Most people leave with better friendships, some of which will be life-long, because they started the church planting journey – in this way – together.

Third, there will be a host of different equippers with unique planting stories. This gathering (as in all we try to do) isn’t dominated by just a few individuals or models of church planting. You’ll hear from a variety of planters, both seasoned and new, and learn from their experiences and approaches.

Finally, we hope to provide a good balance of theology, theory, and practicality. Each component is vital
We hope you’ll join us in May!

Topics Covered:

• Planting Missional Churches
• Planting Equipping Churches
• Staying Healthy While Planting
• Developing a Philosophy of Discipleship
• Incarnational Ecclessiology: Reading Your City
• Developing Models & Approaches
• Developing Your Team
• Navigating Team Dynamics
• Fundraising for Church Planting
• Administrative & Legal Issues
• Keeping Heart Till the End ….

General Information

Location
Richmond Hill Urban Retreat Center (www.richmondhillva.org).
Richmond Hillis a former monastery, located in the heart of the city of Richmond. Most people will be sharing a room with one other person throughout the week. All meals are all included as part of our stay and will take place on the grounds.

Registration
Email [email protected] to confirm your spot followed by payment. A 20% deposit is required within two weeks of registration to qualify for rate and space. Full payment due May 1st, 2010.

More info HERE

Ecclesia Network National Gathering

 I had the privilege again this year to attend the Ecclesia Network National Gathering last week in Washington DC (okay, technically in Chevy Chase, MD). 

Ecclesia is a relational network of missionally-focused, theologically-centrist, Gospel-centered churches and church planters. By relational they mean that relationship comes first and foremost. The focus is on churches and planters being in relationship with one another- that means the way into the network is to be in relationship with someone already in the network and the way to participate is to continue building relationships with others in the network. By missionally-focused they mean that this a network of churches concerned with orienting themselves around the mission of the church- being a sign and foretaste of the Kingdom and what God is doing in the world. Theologically centrist, it's a group that takes Scripture seriously, yet focusing on the majors and leaving the rest up to individuals and their communities and open to women in leadership. And they are all about the Gospel.    

All that to say, it's Evergreen's tribe, and always a kick to get together with the men and women of Ecclesia. 

 The national gathering is also an expression of the more organic, main-thing-is-the-main-thing values of the network. Intentionally small (capped at 175 or so), extremely low-cost (less than $300 for the conference, all the meals, lodging...), and lo-fi (zero lasers and smokemachines, thankfully), there's plenty of time to connect conversationally over meals (and cigars), and the emphasis is on interaction with the presenters who are there for the whole time, not fly-in and then gone. Want to have lunch with Dallas Willard and talk about what he just presented? Yeah, you can do that. (In fact, Todd Hiestand totally dissed me to do just that!).

 But perhaps one of the big highlights for me these last two years, aside from some of the paradigm-shifting wisdom that's been crammed into my head by the likes of Dallas Willard, Mike Breen, and Jon Tyson has been the space that Ecclesia gives ordinary planters to address the whole group. This year, some of the best stuff of the conference came at the end as one pastor, one pastor's wife and some other church planters addressed the group with some things they've been learning. Hearing from Dallas Willard was great. Hearing from these folks? Even better. 

Love this gathering. Love this network. Hope you can be a part of both. 

Church Planting Opportunities in Virginia

Got this from Ecclesia- check it out if you are interested in planting in the VA...

There are several partially funded church planting opportunities throughout the state of Virginia (and Washington DC) available.  These new plants are being started in cooperation with the Baptist General Association of Virginia (www.vbmb.org) and the Ecclesia Network (www.ecclesianet.com).  We are looking for planters with a missional orientation and a high value for a contextual approach.  Prior experience in a church planting setting or start-up is advantageous, but not necessary.  Additional support will be established through partner churches and personal fundraising.  Everyone interested would need to be comfortable participating in skill and behavioral assessments (both electronic and in person) to determine church plant readiness.  If you are not quite Reformed enough for some other networks, this might be for you.  To discuss a full list of opportunities please contact Chris Backert ([email protected]).  Specific opportunities are available in ...

Winchester, VA - small university town of approximately 150,000 people 1 hour west of DC Metro area

Fairfax, VA - church planting opportunity near George Mason University

Petersburg, VA - small city located 30 minutes south of Richmond, VA.  Future growth potential of the area is high due to military relocation.  Facilities potentially available.

Hopewell, VA - suburb located between Richmond, VA and Petersburg, VA.  Future growth potential is high due to military relocation.  Facilities available.

South Richmond, VA - opportunity for new start located in the Woodland Heights neighborhood.  This is a diverse neighborhood in transition.  Facilities also available. 

Why You Should Plant a Church... Audio

A few years ago I wrote an article called Why You Should Plant a Church. It's gotten around the interwebs a bit, and I'm still regularly encouraged by folks I meet who tell me that article was a big piece of their story, their journey towards planting a church. 

Recently I got a chance to speak to a church planting bootcamp on that subject- Why Plant Churches? I basically reworked and supplemented that article for a roughly 40 min. talk.

If you are interested, here's the audio. Thanks to Ecclesia for having me and for posting this!

Bootcamp: Ecclesia Network

I got the opportunity to both teach and learn last week at a church planters bootcamp with the Ecclesia network. 

The bootcamp was held in Richmond VA, in a former convent that is now an intentional, ecumenical Christian community on a hill in the center of RIchmond. As the order that founded the place moved out (due to dwindling numbers), and the prospect of commercial development loomed, an Episcopal priest named Ben Campbell had a dream that the place would remain a center of prayer for the city of Richmond. Long story short, it is now a beautiful retreat center, residential community for pilgrims, and a place dedicated to prayer for the city at least 3 times daily. 

Some random thoughts...

I loved the rhythm of prayer- joining others at 7am, 12 pm and 5pm to pray, read Scripture, be quiet- even if only for fifteen minutes was very grounding for me. Though I felt a bit disconnected from the prayers (both in that the people and regions, elected officials and such they were praying for were largely unfamiliar to me, and in that I think after many years of doing this, the prayer lacks a certain... zest? fervency?... the practice and rhythm was still wonderful to be a part of. I felt "brought back" each time we engaged in it and connected to those around me. 

It made me think of ways I can be praying for our city and ways I can hopefully pull others someday into the same rhythms. Good stuff. 

I got to teach on "Why You Should Plant a Church" something I feel confident in, and "Creating a Culture of Discipleship" something I'm very much a learner in. Both went reasonably well- I basically took my Why You Should Plant a Church article and expanded it into a talk- which I know was probably odd for those there who had already read it (in fact, a couple told me reading it had been a significant step/piece in their journey towards church planting- always encouraging to hear how God has used your words...).

The discipleship talk was mostly me sharing what I've been learning over the last couple of years- that discipleship is mainly about one thing- helping people hear God's voice and respond appropriately. All the rest (doctrine, disciplines, service) will find a spot to enter the conversation as God brings those things up- but the main question is: Where are you hearing God's voice? Where are you sensing God's kingdom pushing in on you... or pulling you towards something? And how can I help you with that?

I missed my family terribly, but time away, time thinking/evaluating/dreaming, time praying, and time resting is always valuable. 

I hope they invite me back :)

For those interested: The Ecclesia Network is a gospel-centered, theologically centrist network committed to planting missional communities. I feel very much this is Evergreen's "tribe" in that they talk a lot about Jesus and the Gospel, tend to look and feel more emerging church-ish, and they welcome communities with women in leadership. 

In other words, if you want to align yourself with a network that sits squarely in the center of the "missional" stream of the emerging church conversation, check out the Ecclesia Network. 

Ecclesia Network day 1

I'm in Maryland at the Ecclesia Network National Gathering with David Fitch (with whom I am having a free-ranging, continuing argument about Tim Keller!), Jr Woodward, Todd Hiestand, John Chandler and others. We're in the pre-conference time, talking about the future of the Network, how it can resource church planters and church planting. Evergreen is not "officially" a part of this network, but they are courting us :), and honestly, I think this is our tribe. Ecclesia is Gospel-centered, missionally minded, theologically centrist and relationship focused. Some have described it as a less anal-retentive version of Acts 29 :)  They wanted me here and were actually generous enough to fly me out here, so here I am!

Already building some good connections, having some great conversations and looking forward to some good learnings this week. Here's the run down for today. 

2.00 – 3.45 - “Engaging: Missionary Strategies Then & Now” - Eddie Gibbs, Mike Breen
3.45 – 4.00 - Stretch Break
4.00 – 5.30 - “Organizing: Structures for Incarnational Church” - Breen
5.30 – 6.45 - Dinner
7.00 – 8.30 - “Challenges: Barriers to Mission in the Western Context” - Gibbs, Breen

In the next couple of days we'll also be hearing from Darrell Guder and Jon Tyson.

More in a bit...

Scared and excited... what's next?

About this time last year, we were a community approaching 120 adults, knowing that before too long our space in NW Portland simply wouldn’t hold us all, particularly our kids. 

The problem? We were out of Pubs in which to meet. We had started in SW, moved to SE, and then to NW as we outgrew each space in turn. So we prayed, discussed, dreamed and planned... and started the Hawthorne gathering, back in the second pub in which we had met, dividing the community into two worship gatherings, each with a primary teaching elder, but having the whole elder team/teaching team rotate between both spaces. 

We had some concerns- how would it work? Would we really be able to be one community in two locations? Would people step up and help do the work of the community that needed to be done? 


Fast forward... 

Evergreen has experienced fantastic growth this year of around 60%. We’re seeing people meet Jesus through our community, we’re seeing people reconnect to Jesus and to church community, and we’re continuing that wonderful Evergreen tradition- having lots of babies!

And so, here we are again- same time of year, same questions. About 190 adults and more kids (especially at Quimby) than we know what to do with. In addition, because of the hospitality and hard work of everyone at Hawthorne/the SE Gathering, not to mention its central location and smaller-than-the NW/Quimby meeting space, Hawthorne is filling up and is already at 80% capacity, that number at which things begin to get uncomfortable for folks. 

We gathered a few weeks ago to pray and listen, and to think specifically about the idea of a 3rd gathering. We’ve continued to pray and we’ve continued to listen, to God and to the other people in our community, and the elders are feeling as though, as another step on the road to preparing our community for sustainable church planting, we’re ready to move ahead with a third gathering. 

Can I be honest and say this scares me? 

The last time around, it was scary and exciting too- but maybe a little less on the scary side. We were packed out at Quimby, sending people just a few minutes away for a gathering at the same time, with Dustin, Chip and Tina heading over as elders and a bunch of really good people committed to making it work. 

This time (but I'm not going to go into ALL that I can see could go wrong here...), we'll be trying it without a dedicated teaching elder, but sharing the duties a bit more. We'll have to see who's on board to help us get it going, but right now, our Hawthorne gathering is the one that's fuller in terms of adults, and the Quimby gathering in terms of kids. I can see this new thing really working for parents with kids. My fear is not having enough Hawthorne people step up and make the switch, and still being packed out there... 

And yet- last time we did this, by everyone's estimation, it went smoother than any of us could have dreamed. People got behind it, were excited to help make something new and help make it their own... Aside from seeing that happen again, my dream is having another year of growth like this one, and getting to a place where we can start working with/training church planting apprentices with whom we can start launching out new communities all over Portland- wherever Evergreen people are living and loving their neighbors.  

We’re looking at and checking out a number of spaces, but so far, the church space we've met in for our prayer gatherings/Ash Wednesday gatherings and the occasional Christmas Eve is really appealing on a number of fronts, not least of which to the folks working with Children’s ministry who love the large, clean, dedicated space with multiple rooms as well as a large common area to work with, teach, and play with our kids. 

The opportunity to have a gathering in a different kind of space, at a time other than 10am Sunday morning is exciting- and scary. Once again, the same questions:  How will it work? Will we really be able to be one community in three locations? How will it change the dynamic of our community to have a worship gathering in a non-pub space? In (potentially) a CHURCH space??? Will people step up and help do the work of the community that needs to be done? 

We have an opportunity to “test drive” a Sunday evening gathering coming up. Every year, we get bumped from the Lab for the Worst Day and Best Day of the year rides. This year the Worst Day of the Year Ride is on Sunday, Feb 15th. Here’s what we’re thinking- we’ll cancel both Sunday morning gatherings (sleep in! Have breakfast with friends! Do a service project somewhere) and gather as one community that evening for a combined worship and baptism gathering. 

Lots to think about and lots to pray about. I had trouble sleeping last night. I have a feeling it won't be the last restless night for awhile...

Missional Leadership Development...

As elders, we're working through some next steps for our community, preparing to bring some ideas to the community for what we think is coming this next year and what we think we'll need to do to become not just a church that occasionally is able to plant another community, but a church-planting movement here in the city of Portland that consistently and sustainably replicates smaller communities of 40 or so people that grow and plant other communities by splitting or, as Evergreen is currently on track to do, replicating gatherings to get slightly larger so as to become a hub community that is able to train, resource, and send church planters and plants. 

But as excited as I am about that, what has really got my gears going right now are some things we are doing/thinking/dreaming about missional leadership and some ways I'm trying to move behind the scenes to help prepare and challenge our folks to impact the city and love the people of Portland. 

Over the last four years we've done a good job at being a church community that's made a real difference for many "formerly churched"- mainly because that part of our philosophy and vision was pretty well-defined in the heads of those of us who started Evergreen. 

And while I think that if we had never done anything more than be a place of healing and reconnection for those who had walked away from God and community it would probably be worth doing, we don't want to stop there. Our original vision was to be a community for the "unchurched and the formerly churched." 

To be a community that makes more of a difference for the unchurched, I think we're going to need to press forward and outward in relationship and missional living here in the city (as opposed to tweaking what we do on Sundays in the hopes of possibly luring the unchurched in to a worship gathering). 

An observation: I've never been a part of a church with

1. So many energetic, forward-thinking entrepreneurial types 

2. So many folks who have real, significant relationships with people so different from themselves in terms of faith

To me, this suggests two slightly different but very intertwined initiatives I want to begin leaning into over the next couple of years...

One is some Missional Leadership material we're working through with Dan Steigerwald and Casey Cerretani. I'm especially excited about this and bringing some formation and energy to unlocking some entrepreneurial/missional energy that is, I think, all around and in the Evergreen Community. 

Some of the stuff we're talking through:

Stirring a passion to join God on mission by encouraging sound missional theology, a God-surrendered heart, and a sense of communitas with other leaders (i.e. a heart-uniting bond from sharing in various faith-stretching endeavors for God)

Saturation listening- with Gospel-tuned ears, learning to listen and hear the resonant and discordant beats and rhythms of our city/neighborhoods.

Missionary training and role-modeling by those with influence to enable Christ-followers to meaningfully engage culture, to consistently sow shalom in our neighborhoods/cities and by God's grace see new disciples made. 

Commitment to deep discipleship via a practice-centered missional way of life

My dream would be to come out of this process with some concrete challenges, materials and channels to encourage evergreen people not only to live an intentional, Christ and others-focused lifestyle for the sake of those around them, but to be challenged, encouraged and resourced to begin new or partner with various existing initiatives here in PDX that are making a difference for its people and demonstrating the Gospel in real, tangible ways. 

The other piece is encouraging those among us with a genuine passion for and gift for conversing their faith with people who don't follow Jesus to begin to share not only that passion but ways it can be expressed. One of the challenges of being a community like Evergreen is that we know exactly how we don't want to do so many things... things like evangelism. The easy part is walking away from the coercive and emotionally manipulative "If you were to die tonight" kinds of methodologies we were guilted into practicing in our past. The hard part is replacing that with positive ways of conversing our faith with folks that don't come across as an intellectual wrestling match where we're just trying to pin someone down and get them to say "Jesus!" but rather respects the individual, their journey, and the working of the Holy Spirit in their life up to this point and yet clearly and appealingly presents both the person of Jesus and an invitation to come along with us and explore who He is in the context of first relationship with individuals and eventually with the community as a whole.

I'm excited about what is happening at Evergreen right now. I'm even more excited about the future, and what God can and wants to do in our community. 

Church (Planter) Chat!

Still one spot left for next Monday's  2:30pm (Pacific time) video chat on Shapevine (rm 2)! If you are a church planter and interesting in talking with a couple of other planters, jump on it- reserve the time with the widget below. 

Anyone else is totally welcome to join in via text chat...

Also- the groups spots for August and the individual spot for September is still open. 

. 

Coaching for/Chat with Church Planters

I meet with a lot of church planters/potential church planters. It's usually something I enjoy a lot- It's not that I know everything about this gig, but if someone is looking for insight into how we've done what we have, the mistakes/lessons we've learned, some encouragement along the way... well, I've got that. 

One thing I'm looking to do is more intentional coaching with local church planters- I've got some things happening there, but as a supplement, I'm wanting to offer some time to anyone who wants it. I'm making two slots a month available- one is a one-on-one iChat (or Skype if we absolutely have to) with any church planter who's somewhere between core group and year three of their plant. All I want to know is that you've started gathering some folks/have some kind of plan in place- even if the details are very vague. In other words, I'm not looking to talk to folks who might maybe someday be thinking about praying about planting a church. Yeah?

The other time is a video chat on Shapevine.com in one of their Video Chat rooms (room 2 if its available, room 3 if it's not). This one would be me and two church planters who are anywhere along the process just talking church planting- peer coaching if you will. The nice thing with that one is that while there's just the three video slots, any number of people can join in via text/chat...

I'm opening up July/August/Sep now, so if you think this might be interesting to you, grab a slot...

OM- Original Missional...

I'm in one of those less-than-active brain periods. Trying hard to get up and running, but... That's a big part of why I haven't been very present in the Missional Synchoblog stuff taking place over the last few days. Lots of good discussion going on...

There's probably nothing more important for us to discuss as followers of Jesus than what we are to be about. Some focus on what we should be (and believe). Some on what we should do. To my way of thinking, the nexus of those two things is where both the tension and the power of the Christian life exists. 

And while I'm not a huge back-to-the-first-century guy (the church grows and matures, yeah?) I do think at times it's helpful to ask some questions about what the first church did and how they grew- about what that nexus of be and do looked like to the first people who followed Jesus.

And as I read their story in Acts, I love the idea that for them, a huge part of missional was... planting churches. Telling people about Jesus while simultaneously organizing those people into groups dedicated to loving God, loving each other and loving the people around them. Worshiping together, sharing communion, collecting money for the poor and to support the work of the community, appointing elders, caring for each other, reading Scripture together...

I know that a lot of people want to talk about missional as getting out of the church. I get the desire to be freed from the walls of institution. I seriously doubt that the Apostle Paul had in mind the mind and soul numbing institutional bureaucracy of where much of Church in the West has ended up. 

But...

"Missional" to the very first followers of Jesus looked like planting churches. Argue all you want about what the "right" way to do that might be. House, simple, mega... I have my opinions and so do you. The church is in serious need of reform (and truth be told- that's always been true. And it always will be). Reform it, renew it, revitalize it, contextualize it... But an indispensable element to "Life in the Way of Jesus" is and will always be the Body of Christ- followers of Jesus gathering together to do and be all those things listed above- a community that together loves God, loves one another and loves the world. 

We all have our problems with the Church but like Augustine said "She's a whore... and she's my mother." At the end of the day, take Church out of the equation and pretty soon, you have no Missional. Not that the Spirit and the Word don't accomplish anything in our lives, but... 

Having an engine and gasoline are good things, but if you don't have a chassis to put them in, you still aren't going to get anywhere.  

Here's something I wrote a couple of years ago:

Two and a half years in, and I still believe in the Church. 
And not just my particular community... Church with that capital C, you know?

There are a lot of reasons why people plant churches... some good, some less-than-good. The comforting thing to me is that in spite of the mixed grab bag of reasons we bring to this endeavor, whether it be pride, or ambition, or desperation, God still uses all that. He still finds pleasure in His people trying to do something that matters, trying to live out Christian community in the hopes that they'll be able to follow Christ together in a way that makes a difference for those around them.

My friend Ollie, when he was being ordained in the Anglican church was asked "Why do you want to be a priest?" His answer was, "Because I can't do anything else!"

The examining board was impressed and passed him thru, and it wasn't until later that he realized their mistake.

They had misunderstood... He wasn't saying he had a huge burden to be a priest, to minister to others, to lead... He was saying that he honestly felt like he wouldn't even be a Christian if he didn't approach it that way- it was too hard for him.

That's kind of how I feel about church.

I need it.

And yeah, that's an admission of weakness.

When I think about the christian life, I really don't think I'd be doing much at all disconnected from a Christian community. If there weren't people all trying to get on the same page with me, struggling through similar issues, talking things out, praying for me, encouraging me, at times correcting me... I think my spiritual life would be pretty academic. Maybe some blips on the radar now & again... but I have a feeling I would settle into a comfortable life with the god of my choosing and completely miss the God who tends to whisper through brothers and sisters and the spoken Word and times of worship, and community dinners and all the rest. Maybe you are different than me. Maybe you could survive being a free-range Christian... but not me. I need community. I need church. And I have a feeling that a lot of people are like me...

And maybe that's a big reason why church matters.

In spite of all the "issues", in spite of the hard work it takes to sustain community, in spite of all the voices questioning whether we really need church...

So, I agree with all (okay- most!) of the definitions of Missional I'm reading out there... and I'll add my $.02. 

Missional is... planting church communities that live out the Gospel in and for the cities and communities in which God has placed them. 

Church Pirates!

Ahoy!

Lots of buzz around Ed Young Jr's Church Pirates video...

Yeah...

So many issues here...

I get what Ed is saying. I'm in no way in favor of people being divisive, leading a group of people away from a church community against the wishes of the rest of the community and/or the elders. 

But that being said, there are a number of things about this that really bother me. 

Mostly that Ed's philosophy here, in addition to being somewhat incoherent at the end, is so far from what is needed and actually works that I really question his contention that he's in favor of church planting. Seems like Ed has fallen into the mentality of most large church guys- "We love church planting... over THERE." Where is "over there"? 

Anywhere but within driving distance of my church.

Specifically, some things in this are just (to quote Ed) "totally whack."

1. Church plants need to happen far from the place where the planter began in ministry. 

Really? What we're asking for is that church planters learn how to do ministry, put down roots, get to know people in a certain area and then... leave? Go someplace where they know few or no people, are out of touch with the local culture and events and then have to learn all that from the ground up? 

Please. The best place to plant a church is where you are at, where you know people and people know you.

I recognize that certain people are called to plant churches in totally new frontiers and reach unreached people. Absolutely. 

But if the choice is between me planting a church in my home town or being forced by the insecurity of other leaders to plant a church a couple of hours away in unfamiliar territory, let me do it where I know the lay of the land and can get through the learning curve to effectiveness much, much quicker. 

That may be more personally threatening to established leaders, but it feels a lot more like kingdom thinking to me. 

2. The people belong to the pastor. Anything else is sheep stealing.

 

Yeah... I'm as protective as the next guy or gal of evergreen people. I don't want anyone hurting them, messing with them, leading them into either wrong teaching or wrong action... but- I hold them with an open hand. They belong to Jesus, not me. They are adults and can make real, reasonable choices in terms of where they are going to be best used in the Mission Dei. I may look big picture for both them and the community as a whole and then work behind the scenes to encourage someone to either stay or go, but that's because I believe it's what's best in that particular case. 

But when it comes down to it- evergreen people are a gift to the community- we're stewards of each other. And if they genuinely connect with a leader different than me, well... that's good, actually. More on that in a minute.

3. You know church pirates who took 20 years to "make their moves." 

You've got to be kidding me. 

So let me get this straight- these guys found some big healthy church, got on staff, and stealthily waited 20 years before hatching their nefarious scheme. The Manchurian Pastor, as it were. 

Could it be that these guys found themselves needing to strike out and start something new... but weren't given permission? Could what you call piracy have been a mixture of frustration caused by a number of different things in the original church, failure in the leadership to see apostolic gifting and impulses in emerging leaders, and failure of those emerging leaders to handle their frustration in a non-divisive manner? 

Look, as I said- I get what Ed is saying. There are divisive and non divisive ways of doing this. But my contention is that the best way to avoid the divisive version of church planting is to build it into the DNA of your community and to give permission. 

One of my pitches to people I want to come and plant churches out of evergreen is this: Come, work your way into leadership in our community, start pastoring people, build a community out of "my" community, and when you, they and us (the elders) feel like it's the right time, we'll bless you and send you off. 

Sounds just like Ed's description of Church Pirates, but with a couple of crucial differences...

In our model, we're not only expecting this to happen, but inviting it. And by inviting it, every thing becomes above board. No one feels the need to go underground and "sheep steal" when the elders of a community are in fact encouraging them to be people's pastor, to love them, shepherd them and when the time is right, launch out with them. 

I think Ed is speaking from a place of pain. I wish the solution was a simple as he thinks, that is, coming up with a catchy phrase like "church pirates" and talking about it on the internet. 

The real solution is for established leaders to change the way they view emerging leaders and to quit doing leadership in such a way that young men and women feel like they have to wrestle the baton out of the hands of a previous generation just to do what they feel like God is calling them to do. 

A better solution to the problem that Ed is flailing at here is a permission giving ethos that gives mentoring, a place to grow in leadership and skills and can then ask for (and get) patience out of emerging leaders that might not be as ready as they think. 

In my mind, that's a win on all sides. 

Arrrh. 

20 years? 

weary of doing good...

There's a point in every relationship where a choice is made...

You get past the initial excitement of something new, past the enjoyment of the superficial, and you  are suddenly faced with the reality that all real relationships are hard work and you need to choose whether to muscle through the hard part to the deeper relationship beyond it (and the other harder parts/deeper parts- it's cyclical) or whether you are going to strike out towards newer, greener pastures.

Think about Garafalo's character in Reality Bites saying "I want first kisses, I want passion the whole way through."

Yeah, that would be nice.
Totally unrealistic, but nice.

prayer...

I don't often post things to pray about, but I know many church planters read this blog and can relate, so...

If you think of it today, pray for Drew and his family. No accidents, or health crises, thankfully- but something weighing on them nonetheless. Drew planted a church about a year and a half ago called Vox, and worked hard at pastoring while also working hard outside the church to support his family. In October, the father of one of his community members contacted Drew about making a sizeable contribution to their community.
It seemed like an answer to his family's prayer- a way to give full time attention to shepherding and building their community. They rearranged certain details of their lives in anticipation of this money coming in, but now it seems there might be a hitch in the works. It hasn't yet been forthcoming and it seems like it may not be any time soon...

Pray, if you would for God's provision, and for peace. This is a terrible time of year to have to worry about putting food on the table. Pray that God pushes this man to follow through with his generous promise, or that in some other way, Drew's family will be cared for, be it another job or something else.

Thanks...

Church planting interview, pt 1...

By no means do I consider myself an expert in church planting. I'm stumbling through this thing trying to keep from hurting too many people (or myself) in the process, just trying to be faithful to what I hear God calling me/us/the Church to. But Dustin (D-Ball!!) asked me to do this interview for him for seminary. So...

What types of tasks are involved in church planting?

Just about everything- web design and admin, speaking, counseling, organization and administration including setting up non-profits, finance, motivation, teaching and preaching... starting with a blank slate is a unique challenge, in that what most church communities have defined and up and running and only needs maintenance and the occasional redesign/tweak, the church panter has to start, to begin ex nihilo, as it were. A very different skill set between those who start things and those who maintain/change them later. But that's really the next question...

What skills are needed to do church planting well?

taxonomy- people who want you and people who need you...

As a pastor, a fact of life that you come to grips with (or better come to grips with) pretty quickly is that your supply of avaliable time is exceeded by the amount of people and needs that demand that time.

I've been thinking in taxonomies lately... maybe I'll be writing about a few of them.

But this one is in my head this morning- both as something that is currently guiding me and something that needs to guide me more and more- as my kids get older and as my church community grows, who gets my time?

First, my wife. She needs more of my time than she's getting right now. More of my attention, too.
Next, my kids. Jack is definitely getting to the point where dad's attention is becoming more and more important. I think to Jane I'm still the one who doesn't have breasts, but still... both of them need Dad.

Next is my family here in town- my mom, my stepdad. They need more of me than they are currently getting...

My church community needs me. It's my calling, my passion and my job, all wrapped up into one.
So, here's how I break that down...

please God, no...

I'm going to tell you about a dream I had last night, and I swear to you right up front- I'm not kidding. If you read my blog much, about halfway in you'll be tempted to think I'm pulling your collective leg, but such is not the case.

I woke up last night sometime between 1 and 1:30 and was unable to get back to sleep. The dream I had been having just prior to waking up got my mind going, and there was no way I was going to be able to get back under...

The dream?

It all made sense in my head...

top 5...

What's the Best Reason to Plant Churches?
	Never candidate with a search committee again!
	You can finally use all that cool emerging lingo! (It's not a "service"... it's a "gathering"!)
	No more freakin' TPS Reports...
	Free pound of coffee a week from Starbucks! (Just kidding, but wouldn't that be cool?)
	Because Jesus is the hope of the world, the Church is His Plan A... and there is no Plan B.
Make Free Polls

Church Planter books...

Read Frost and Hirsch... it will ruin you for church as usual.
The Shaping of Things to Come

Read Exiles, by Frost... it will help you draw a picture for your people of what missional living looks like.

Exiles

What else? What's a MUST READ for church planters?

(Here's a bibliography from Ed Stetzer's organization...)

comment from Drew...

Drew left this comment on the Church Planting by Wind and Fire post...

Bob, I'm feeling you on this one also.

It's a myth that there is a prototypical "church planter" out there. After meeting 30-40 other church planters, I can see an array of differences in personality, leadership quality, direction, and style. Not all were risk-takers, or entrepreneurial, or any other "essential" church planter quality. I tire of the new lists that [endlessly] come out trying to describe these vital parts of a church planter.

Here's my hunch: we look at those who do things we haven't considered doing and think, "Man, they're entrepreneurial!" or "Wow, they're a risk-taker!" In reality, they just believe that they're called and are responding to that.

It's usually in hindsight that we call people adventurous or entrepreneurial. At least that's what we call the "successful" ones. The unsucessful ones? Weak. Naive. Over-zealous.

We're too obsessed with labeling the next thing that "works" and taking it apart to examine it with empirical enthusiasm. We forget the things that line up with what you wrote, Bob. Moses was a known murderer and couldn't speak well. Gideon was a wimp.

Should we consider what we're doing and strive to get better at it? Yes. But many times, you don't know the path until you're on it... you don't know if you're cut out for church-planting until you're planting a church.

plant, dagnabbit...

Wow... that's, uh... You should totally plant a church!

Maybe if I look at it from back here...

church planting by wind and fire...

(Ed. note: This started out as a post on "Who SHOULDN'T Plant a Church... sigh... there's something in me that refuses to let me write like that. I think I'm constitutionally incapable of doing anything but encouraging people to plant churches and trust that God will let my words take root where they need and nowhere else... )

While I want to do everything in my power to encourage church planting, I have to admit, Kevin Cawley is right. Not everyone should plant a church.

Poll

Web Polls by Vizu

church planting week @ bob.blog...

Awhile ago I wrote an article called Why YOU Should Plant a Church. You should check it out.
You should also check out Kevin Cawley's response.

In it, he brings up two main ideas- not everyone is gifted, called, or even qualified to plant a church, an idea, by the way, with which I wholeheartedly agree.

He also challenges me on my definition of success/failure, but I'm sticking to my guns on that one...

More on who SHOULDN'T plant a church later today...

church planting week @ bob.blog...

Let's talk church planting...

Why, why not, how, how not...

Maybe I'll get around to writing that long awaited "Why YOU Shouldn't Plant a Church!" :)

But first...

(If the poll below looks like an amazon ad, my apologies... it's a glitch. Stupid poll...
Click here to actually see it)

Web Polls by Vizu

two years plus and counting...

yeah... two years plus and counting. That's about how long it takes for us all to figure out that there simply isn't any way for a church community that inhabits the sphere of reality to match up to the one that inhabits our hopes and dreams.

Two years plus and we begin to see that yes, we all hurt each other. We all disappoint one another. In fact, it's tough to spend any time at all in close proximity to someone, and not be disappointed at some point. Two years is more than enough to learn that...
More than enough time to find out how tough it is to put yourself out there to a community and not get the response you'd hoped or wished for, even if that response might have been perfectly reasonable... or unreasonable as our expectations often get.

Two years is a long time to hang in there, whether we're right in the thick of things, or hanging back on the fringes... whether we're trying hard...or not. Just long enough to set in stark contrast the differences between the church of the mind and the church we actually create.

Not thinking of anyone in particular- I promise. Just praying for our community as a whole tonight. Feeling the need- like there's some choppy water around the corner. Praying for patience with one another, for longsuffering with each other's faults, even those of the people with the title of pastor or elder. Praying for hearts that love the Body of Christ, even with its rough spots and see that facing this life and all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune is always better with community, and so that community is worth working for, praying for and sacrificing for... even if it lets us down and disappoints us.

Just praying...

starting out...

Got this email from someone who read one of my articles:

Hi, my name is Lee anne and just wanted to tell you I loved your transparency and simplicity in your article. My husband and I would like to do something similar but are needing that extra push. Could you give a few more details of your experience of starting? Did you have a building or did you meet in your home? Did you invite new people you met or did you already have some core people? What was the meeting like? What did you do w/ children? Thanks so much and bless you, Lee anne

You know, one of the things that helps me sleep at night is knowing that God has let me have a very, very, very small part in starting a large number of churches around the world- not throgh big efforts or funding, but just through writing and sharing ideas and hopes for what church could be...
So thanks for the encouragement, Lee Anne and others.

Here's how it all went down...

from the email file...

I'm trying to work through some of the emails I have filed for future answer... here's one from a church planter:

"Hi, I belong to the pastor's wives website and a fellow pw introduced me to an article you wrote on "why shouldn't you plant a church?" I just wanted to let you know what an encouragement it was to read your article and I pray you are blessed. We, too, are church planting. The Lord called us to it or we never would have undertaken it. I had no idea how difficult it was going to be....from the financial end to the shepherding end. My husband and I are discouraged and we're trying to keep on going. I think I am more discouraged than he is. It is so much more than what we thought would be involved. We had been involved in various positions in leadership before this. (from co-pastoring with another couple to associate pastoring........and I was also director for women's ministry in 2 previous churches.) Do you have any tips on church planting at all? We opened our small church plant on Dec. 18th and it is still small. I don't expect a huge group, but even 15-20 would be nice. Any suggestions you have would be appreciated and welcomed. Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Marie Parker"

A couple of thoughts...

answers

I get a lot of email from church planters/prospective church planters. It's been a really busy couple of months and I've been filing them in a folder to answer later. But then I dropped my PowerBook... So, after spending a couple hours Saturday sifting through the 1300+ emails I was able to recover from the server (from March on), I am committing to getting back to some of these. I'll answer here so we can all help, eh? Kenny writes:

Hey Bob, I just read your article on the ooze. I wanted to tell you how much it blessed and encouraged me. I'm a 23 year old seminary student at Southern Seminary in Louisville Ky. This is my first year and I recently graduated from Campbellsville Univesity in Ky with a bachelors in Educational Christian Ministry. My heart is no doubt in Revival and Evangelism. Though seminary is cool and all it's actually been a very burdensome time for me here.

Best of bob.blog: Why YOU Should Plant a Church

Here's an article that was actually written a bit out of frustration, but I think has ended up being helpful for a lot of people... I'll repost it now, and let you know I'm developing some thoughts on Who SHOULDN'T Plant a Church. Hopefully I'll write that up soon...
But for now...

Why YOU Should Plant a Church

In the early days of our church planting adventure I spent some time seeking out other church planters, hoping for some wisdom and encouragement. Man, did I get a wake up call.

A new way of helping church planters?

Hmmmmm... a thought is going around in my head.

What if...

Hmmm.
Have you seen Kiva? It's a very, very cool way of using Paypal and small micro loans to help people in Africa start up small businesses and improve their lives. I think you should give me $.99 out of your Starbucks money, but give them a bit more than $.99 out of what you tithe.

At any rate, it's a great model, using a lot of small amounts from many people to make a difference for various individuals.

What if...

What if we did this for church planters? You know, not $250,000 to fund three years and 6 full time staff, but maybe when someone like The Evergreen Community is starting out, or Vox, or Phos Hilaron, they could ask for enough to buy a projector, get a laptop, a piece of equipment they might need or some stuff for children's ministry...

Especially for those of us who launch out without any denominational support and no big backers, this could be a very cool idea...
And it would give small churches and individuals the opportunity to invest in church planting, even before they are able to plant churches on their own.

Huh.

Is this a good idea, or a crazy one?

The Dangers of Easter...

Our Easter gathering was good... Nothing really different or special in the gathering itself (other than that we did announcements at the end), just a good time of shaking off the sorrow of Good Friday and embracing the joy of the resurrection. We ended up having more people than we've ever had at a gathering, which was very cool, though it always surprises me when it happens (okay- it's a bit less surprising on Easter...)

But this weekend got me thinking... There are some dangers for the soul of a community surrounding Easter time.
And the soul of a pastor, I think.

I want us to be careful of how we think, talk and act around times like this last weekend.

Remember, Little Pastor- Easter is not a marketing opportunity. The resurrection of the Son of God is not an opportunity to pimp our programs or build our flock, even under the guise of "concern for lost". And it's not about me. (Please wait a minute while I repeat that a few times to myself... ) Heaven forbid we should ever do community in such a way that our main avenue for people coming to Christ is hearing the Gospel preached from the mouth of one person, rather than hearing the Gospel preached from the mouths (and lives) of the whole community. If, in your community, more people are becoming Christians on Sunday than during the rest of the week, I think you may have a problem.

Times like Easter and Christmas are dangerous for us in that we begin to see them as something different than what they really are for the life of a community. This is where the Christian calendar really helps, I think- focusing our communal life on the events of the life of Christ all year around, rather than seeing "two big outreach event Sundays!" every year in Christmas and Easter.

Yeah, a lot of people come to a Sunday service once or twice and year, and they are more likely to come on Easter than just about any other time than Christmas. And yes, the Holy Spirit is amazing, drawing people to Himself even through our goofy Easter pageants and songs (or, our smoke machines and laser shows, if that's your thing...).

The danger in giving in to the impulse to do something radically different and humongous big and special at these times is what we communicate both to our community and those we are inviting to become a part of our community. What we subtly communicate (and sometimes not so subtly) to our people is that their job is to invite people who are not in our churches to come on Sunday morning so that the Pastor and the drama team and the worship guy and the Holy Spirit can take a whack at them.

I know that's overstating, but believe me... I've been there. And that's what "event evangelism" communicates, I think. Further, it often (unintentionally) communicates that it's not the job of the average person to be introducing people to Jesus. Leave it to the pros with the degrees and the training and the gifts.

"You get 'em to church... we'll get 'em to Jesus!"

How disempowering is that for people?

I would much rather we both explicitly and implicitly communicate a model that looks more like befriending people, enfolding them into the rhythms of our lives, sharing the highs/lows and how our faith informs those with them, integrating them into home groups and movie nights and the big events of our lives... and how natural would it be after all that love and enfolding that they become a part of our community, even before they believe? And then... that they believe, having seen it lived and tested and the reality of a life of faith, as opposed to simply a special sunday morning where the band rocks extra hard and the pastor has a few more funny stories than normal?

Easter is dangerous for those of us who are trying to avoid an attractional model of church because the attractional model reaches its zenith... or maybe its nadir... every year at Easter as thousands of churches try to do "something special" in the hopes that their people will invite others to come and be bait-n-switched into a relationship with Jesus... and we, trying hard to do something a bit more simple and organic, are tempted to abandon the rhythms of our community in a misguided effort to "keep up."

Yeah... I said "bait 'n' switch" because that's what it is. More than simply communicate to our people that it's not their job, we communicate something to those we would love to see become part of our community... And it's not a positive message. In fact, if we're not careful, we could end up really disappointing some people. How?
By "offering" them less on subsequent visits. Less pizzazz... less oomph. I'd be kind of pissed off if the first week I went was Cirque Du Soleil and the next week was Phil and Ted's Bargain Rate Circus, you know?

I was super impressed to see another church planter dial it down a bit this year after hearing the disappointment of some people who came to Easter services last year and when coming back the next week were faced with a completely different (and less exciting) offering.

Look, I'm not saying we shouldn't take advantage of increased visitor attendance and preach the Gospel and hope that God does something amazing in people's lives...

I'm just saying that if that's your strategy- wait for someone to wander within range of your Gospel cannons and then fire on them in hopes of scoring a hit, or worse yet, doing some cool things in the hopes that they might be lured within range, then I think there a better way. Less defined, less able to be controlled by the pastors, less able to brag about at pastor's conferences or have a book written about it... but better. People loving people into your community and into relationship with Jesus.

It doesn't take mailers, banners, and Cirque Du Soleil every week. Just a bunch of loving, welcoming Christ followers. People who genuinely care. People who are seeking relationships with other people, and sharing life with them. A competent all-community gathering where things work well so as not to be a distraction from what God wants to do that morning, sure... but less of a focus on Sunday mornings as the center of community and more of a focus on the community and its revolving around Jesus Himself.

I remain convinced that what we win people with, we win them to.

update: Andrew Seely has some good and similar thoughts here

Evergreen and Advertising...

Different sized (and aged) churches require different approaches to advertising and publicity.

From the very beginning, we avoided advertising at evergreen... our thought was simply that if we didn't grow by the quality of our relationships (as opposed to the quality of our advertising), we didn't deserve to grow.

Now, that's a pretty hard line, and needs some nuancing. This stance meant that though we have never advertised in print media, doing the postcard route or taking out adds in places, I did go to lengths to have a decent presence on the internet. We also spend maybe $5 a month on google ad words. The thought was that if people are actively looking for us, they should be able to find us.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw some thoughts along a similar vein from Tim Keller's Redeemer Church in New York. Though their policy comes from a slightly different place (they are big enough, in their minds, and want to focus on planting churches rather than growing ever larger) there are similarities... and they say it much better than I do.

Their policy is:

We do not provide interviews or participate in stories; we do not desire publicity that will raise our profile. This policy exists for these reasons:

1) Anything that raises Redeemer's profile pulls Christians out of their own churches to visit or join us. This is a bad neighbor policy; the City needs many different churches, not one big mega-church, something we are going to great pains to avoid becoming.

2) If Redeemer becomes a “Christian tourist destination," our limited seating will be filled with those who already believe in Jesus, leaving no room for genuine seekers. We are already turning people away at one service, and seating is tight at others. Therefore, we do not want any publicity that would fill our seats with curious believers.

3) Redeemer would prefer that seekers come as the result of relationship (i.e., they are accompanying a friend who is then available to discuss things with them following the service.) To come into a church like Redeemer is not an easy thing, and although publicity might result in a few non-believer walk-ins, we would prefer there to be none at all.

4) Redeemer’s message is nuanced and non-political. We want to present the gospel and have people make up their minds about whether Jesus is God or not, rather than convincing them to espouse a point of view about this or that hot-button issue. Since this is somewhat different than the approach of some other evangelical churches, we don’t want to say or do anything that would give the impression that we fit into the storyline that the media currently has about evangelicals. This would tend to obscure and falsify our real message.

Some thoughts...

On number 1- this has been a tough one for us. It's been our hope that evergreen will be built as a community of unchurched and formerly churched folks. Of course, our core group was made up of Christians, though we tried to draw mainly people who were in some kind of transition, at the end of their rope with church as usual, perhaps even in danger of becoming "formerly churched." And recently, a big influx of growth has come from people moving into the area. Many find us on the web before they ever hit portland.

Now, I realize that this is somewhat different coming from an established church as opposed to a new church plant... I respect Redeemer's decision not to raise their profile in this way. But, I would urge new churches to think similarly. If you can't build a community because you and the people you are planting the church with are connecting with people, loving them, inviting them into community, well...

Advertising you do has a less than 1% effectiveness rate. Send out 1000 mailers and maybe 5-7 people might check out your community because of it. Considering the fact that less than 10% of your visitors are going to come back and be a part of your community, and when you consider the percentage of that small number that is likely to be either unchurched or formerly churched, well... It's seems as though you might be better off doing something besides the mailer thing. It's too expensive for the returns on the investment.

On number 2- This is starting to become an issue for us as well... each week we have anywhere from 8 to 12 visitors... this for a church that right now averages 85-95 people a week. A lot of people are just coming to see the pub church thing. Not quite sure what to do about that.
Occasionally, I get a little miffed when I'm talking to someone on a Sunday morning (being honest here...) and I realize they are a tourist, someone just seeing what we're about, but with no real intention of becoming a part of our community. I always think about the others I (and the rest of our welcoming community) could have spent my time with...

On number 3- I understand why Redeemer would say that they prefer to have no non-christians just "walk in." When you reach that large size where someone is more likely to go unnoticed than be welcomed, it makes sense. Of course, what makes even more sense to me is to avoid getting to that size in the first place through church planting :)

So while we don't advertise or do mailers, it's been cool to have been featured in Willamette Week twice so far- once in a story with Donald Miller and once as the "Best Church That Meets In A Bar." That's the kind of advertising I love (even though the second got my name wrong...). Since they don't exactly distribute Willamette Week (it's an "alternative" paper) in the foyers of local churches, it pretty much guaranteed that the people we would love to see come to evergreen, saw us.

As I said, "Different sized (and aged) churches require different approaches to advertising and publicity." For both us and Redeemer, advertising is not desired. For them, where they are at, even free publicity is avoided. We love it. I recently advised a new church planter to think about a targeted direct mail thing. Each community is individual, but I think by and large, paid advertising is unhelpful for the reasons above.

Just some thoughts... sorry if they didn't exactly cohere :)

Sane Planting pt 2- The Dough.

So, the comments in my 10 Keys to Sane Church Planting have, not surprisingly, revolved around the money issue... which is fine. We need to talk about this stuff.

Dave asked:

"all this $$ talk raises an issue?
are people giving of their finances?
what do you do with that?

does saving the money allow you to invest in other "ministries"/social causes?

i'd like to hear a discussion of church planters talk about how they handle the whole offering thing and distribution of the collection?"

I can only answer for us... the beauty part of all this, a place where God has really done some cool things for evergreen is in the area of finances.

First, the groundwork. We had a church who was about 6 months older than us bless us during our early days. They gave us that $600 sound system, they gave us $500 once and I think $1200 another time. Now, this was a church that was barely making it themselves. But I had led worship for them, they loved us, wanted us to do well and were willing to sacrifice to help us.

Huge lesson for me.

We decided that was the way to go: "It is possible to give freely and become more wealthy, but those who are stingy will lose everything. The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed."-Prov 11:24-25

In light of that, from the very beginning we decided to give away 10% of our offerings to the poor, to people who were not us. We started supporting another church in town called the Bridge that does a lot for homeless teens. We started giving to Blanket Coverage that feeds/clothes people downtown. And now, we've started seeing our own evergreen stuff for the poor springing up. We've also been able to help out some folks inside our community who were struggling financially.

This (instead of endless sermon series on giving) would be how we would teach on the subject. I hoped (and I think it's worked out pretty well) that people would intuit that what we did as a community, they should be doing as individuals. We also decided that as giving increased, we would raise the actual percentage we gave away. We're at about 12% now. By talking about increasing our giving as a community, we were able to (subtly... or not so subtly, now that I think about it) communicate our hope that we would increase our giving as individuals...

Two years in, and I've never had to preach on tithing. Whew! Doesn't mean it might not happen at some point, but so far, so good... (*fingers crossed*)
Side point- we've also never "taken an offering." The box at the back of the room has sufficed :)

So, the people gave, right from the beginning. I told Amy, my wife, I would get 2 jobs at St. Arbucks to make this work if I needed to (we had a baby less than a month before we "launched"). But I didn't need to (thank the Lord!). The people of evergreen gave to the point where in month 3 I was able to start taking a full salary and we haven't looked back since.

And that's been huge- I know I could have worked somehwere and still planted a church. I just can't imagine how difficult that would have been to split my time, energy, mojo so many ways. Being able to devote myself full-time to getting this thing off the ground, connecting with people, preparing for Sundays, working on our web presence, etc is, I think, a contributing factor to what we've been able to become over the last two years.

The other thing we did was this- I found an associate pastor and a worship pastor who were both young, employable, banging their heads against the glass ceiling of age/experience and the rear ends of all those in line ahead of them, and I told them, "I can't pay you (yet), but I can make you my associate/worship pastor and as soon as we're able..."

We were able to start paying our worship guy fairly quickly... not much, but a nice addition to his full time pay from work. Our associate worked in a family business for two years, and just this month has gone full time for evergreen. And pretty much, right when our numbers needed it. It's gotten bigger than I know how to handle alone, and while he's made great contributions doing this pastor gig on his days off/evenings, at full time he's going to help us even more in many, many ways....

I worked out of Starbucks and until this very month, our "office" expenses consisted of a T-Mobile internet subscription for use there. We just rented an office (that we've already outgrown!), but at $215 a month, you can't beat that :)

Our Sunday rent as a community has gone up slightly, when we moved to the other side of town in October, but it's still low compared to what churches in schools and places like that are paying.

So, to answer Dave's question. Yeah- we have money to give away, and our staff has been able to grow organically with our community. It's nice that we've been able to spend our money on people first and everything else second... And we have avoided the "gap" between what we as a community have given and what we would have needed had we started out with a bang!, a full contingent of staff and a wad from someone else.

Now, that's not to say we did it "right" and everyone else did it "wrong." I have friends, good friends, who planted with the support of organizations/other churches, etc. And they're doing fine, thank you.

I'm just saying that you don't need it.

And if someone offers it to you, maybe take it... but be smart. Watch out for the "strings." Take the money and they'll want you to do it their way. Which is fine if their way is also your way, but if you are reading emerging church blogs, it probably isn't :)

the dark, sticky place deep down in the corner of my soul

Allow me to give you a bit of insight into one of the barren places in the heart of someone who knows better... should know better... but struggles nonetheless.

I'm a church planter. A pastor. I love my community. I love my people. I love other communities... but not like I should, I think. Because if I did, I'm not sure I would feel like I do sometimes.

How's that?

Competitive.

"It's kingdom, not competition."

How many times have I repeated that to myself? How many more times am I going to have to repeat that to myself before I get it?

Some transparency...

I often don't have a problem with this. I'm usually able to keep a level head. In fact, just yesterday, I saw someone I hadn't seen at our gathering in a couple of weeks. As we chatted a bit, she told me she had visited another community the week previous and really liked it. In fact, she thought from now on, she might divide her time and her Sundays between us and them. When I heard that, I immediately told her "No! Don't do that! If evergreen isn't home for you, go be a part of that community. But pick one community and commit. Dig in, know them and be known by them. But don't split yourself..."

Like I said, I often don't have a problem with this.
But not always.

This feeling, this resurgance of the darker part of me was brought on by a comment someone made to me today that made me feel as though perhaps they were going to jump over to another community in town. The hard part is that
a. I have been excited about this person being a part of evergreen and
b. they were introduced to this other community through us sending a group of people there to feed the homeless teens they work with.

I try to hold our people with an open hand, knowing that ultimately they are God's, not "ours" and that some people will journey with us forever, some just for a short time. We're not the community for everyone. I know that.

But... this brings up the competitive feeling in me. The dark, rank part of my nature that sees church as a zero-sum game and people as units to be counted, added, listed... possessed.

Yeah. Competition.

Which is complete crap. I have less and less of a problem with the people who come to us from a certain very large, very well-known emergent-esque church here in town (I hear "Yeah... we used to go over there, but it was getting too big" at least once a week). So why worry when some people trickle down to a slightly smaller community we are serving?

Why would this affect me like this?

I don't know.

It just does.

Damn that dark, sticky place deep down in the corner of my soul...

"Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a right spirit within me."

Please.

One Prayer... my answer.

A few days ago, I asked:
"Say you had some reasonable solomon-like assurance that God would answer affirmatively ONE prayer that you prayed as a pastor/for your church community...
What would you pray?"

We had some interesting answers...

"I pray for growth unto maturity for those in my fellowship."

"I would pray for my church to be an eternal spring of churches that were also eternal springs. Does that even make sense?

Oooh! And I'd pray for a lifetime supply of Bananas Foster. Who needs wisdom when you have dessert like that?!"

"wisdom :) I mean, if a community has wisdom, the rest will follow..."

"Love, not for each other only, but for the world around them. Whether we grow or not, if we are sharing Christ's love for the community, His Kingdom can't help but grow."

and...

"The PRAYER OF JABEZ, baby! Yeah!"

Yeah...

Expand my boundaries Lord!

But seriously... on the matter of the Prayer of Jabez for The Chuch Planting Heart™

I was praying with another church planter this morning and had a little gut check. I was praying for growth for his community (and throwing in a prayer for growth for ours) when my mind was zoomed back to the parable we looked at this last Sunday in Luke 19... you know- the one where Jesus says: "but to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away."

Whoa... faithful with what you have before you are given more?

That should probably be in the Church Planter's Handbook© somehwere...

But back to the question at hand. Say I had just

one

prayer for my community that I KNEW would be answered "yes"...

What would it be?

I thought about the above and feel like they all capture a part of it... but as I walked and thought about this, an old memory verse from elementary school kept popping into my head (rendered here in appropriate King James Version English that we memorized everything in)...

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus"

Ahh... I think that's what I'll pray. That we as a community, we as individuals will have the mind of Christ.
And what does that mean? Well... in the context (Phil 2), it means unity, loving each other, working together with one heart and purpose... it means selflessness and servanthood. It means "In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing, so that no one can speak a word of blame against you. You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of crooked and perverse people. Let your lives shine brightly before them."

Yeah... the mind of Christ. For God, for each other and for the world. To not only be Jesus to them but to see them/think of them/PRAY for them as Jesus did.

That's my answer, I think.

And the Award for Most Disturbing Paragraph Related to Church Planting Ever goes to...

"“They’re partners with us in our model but they’re completely different 501© 3 organizations with their own elders and their own systems of government,” Lane explains. “A strategic partner will look and feel very similar to North Point. They’ll use Andy on video; they’ll use some of our same termoniology with KidStuf and Waumba Land.” A strategic partner agrees to use Andy’s messages at least half the time. . . . There are currently 6 such partnerships: 4 in Georgia, one in Alabama, and one in Michigan. Only one of them was an existing church. . . . To become a strategic partner they require an existing church to shut down for 3 months, send their staff to train at North Point, and then reopen with new enthusiasm.”

I will say this... It's encouraging to at least hear the phrase "their own elders"... but as for all the rest...

Whoa.

ht

if Solomon was a church planter...

Thinking...

Say you had some reasonable solomon-like assurance that God would answer affirmatively ONE prayer that you prayed as a pastor/for your church community...

What would you pray?

children...

I got an email from an e-friend, another church planter who (if I follow the story right from his blog) is re-booting their church plant.
He asked:

Hey Bob, my crew is looking for gathering space and I, like you, like hanging out in bars – uh, while that’s true for me, I mean I love the whole idea of using the community’s gathering point…

My question for you is what do you do with kids in the Lab? Not having been to that pub myself (but having tried their beers), is there separate space for them? Or do you include them with the gathering?

Yes and yes!

Here's the story... when we started, one of the things I put into the category of "Don't do for the people the ministry they should do for themselves" was kid's ministry. In our core group phase (a month or two before our first child was born) I'd look around at the group and say things like "We're going to have a kid soon. I was wondering what you guys are thinking of doing about that." They'd look at each other and say things like, "Uh... Well we thought that was your job."
Nope.

So, as we started at the Multnomah Village Lucky Lab, we put a patch of carpet in the back, someone else got a tub of toys, and that was it. The Patch. The kids would hang inthe back, parents would sit with them, others would take turns hanging out with them.
This was fine up to the point where the number of kids started to mean too much noise. We had a lot of weeks where it was clearly an issue... but I wasn't going to solve the problem (not that I really could, and not that it was exactly a "problem", but you know what I mean).

When we reached a tipping point and it was clear to everyone that we needed to do something, I volunteered to talk to the management about letting us use a bit of space downstairs. They were amenable, so I told the community that we could move The Patch downstairs if they liked, but it would mean a couple of things...
1st- a sign up sheet. We were all going to be responsible. Everyone. Not just selected volunteers, but the whole community. We were going to need to take turns hanging with the kids.
2nd- background checks. Before signing up, everyone would need to get the background check. We have a lawyer in the community who graciously volunteered to handle this part.

When we moved the Patch downstairs, we supplemented with an area in the back of our gathering for older kids (5-10) who were old enough to hang with us, but might need to keep their hands busy.

When we moved to the new location, we continued the same setup of a place for smaller kids and an area in the back of the gathering for the bigger kids. we have access to a side room where we put the Patch, and some tables in the back with drawing and Play Dough.

Now... the Patch has mainly been kids hanging out and playing. Our gathering is about an hour and 20 minutes or so, and that's been hard sometimes for some of the little ones. It's mainly been babysitting.

But recently, some people in the community have stepped up and begun to put some structure into place- some stories, activities, etc. All "lay" run... and very, very cool.
While we hope that the littlest evergreeners will be well cared for in the Patch, we're also hoping that most older kids (especially those over 7) will hang with us throughout the gatherings and grow up being a part of and included in what we do...

Here's something I wrote awhile ago on this:

Like in all things at the Evergreen Community, we are attempting to move away from a program-based approach to children's ministry. As a community, we want to take good care of the children among us. But one thing we don't want to see happen is have our gatherings become a place where people walk in the door and quickly begin to split along gender and age/ demographic lines (women over there, kids 6-12 over there, single men with no pets or houseplants over there...)

Our hope is that the children of our community will worship with us and become an integral part of our gatherings. This is going to be a challenge for those in our community raised in churches where the kids were kept out of sight (and perhaps more to the point, out of hearing.) It's going to require special patience and servanthood on our part to allow the young among us to sit in our gatherings, paying attention when they can, and being kids the rest of the time. It's also going to take a recovery of the idea that parents are the chief spiritual educators of their children, with the help of the church community, and not the other way around. We want to avoid outsourcing the spiritual education and discipleship of our community's children to paid professionals.

So what will children's ministry look like @ Evergreen? For now, we have a separate room where the very small and where those who need to can hang out and be occupied, but still feel as though they are connected to the community as a whole. The Kid's area is the responsibility of the whole community. Everyone is encouraged (ahem!) to get their background check and sign up on the calendar in the back of the room on Sundays, or here on our forum. (If you want info on the background check, email info(at)evergreenlife(dot)org.)
Also, we'd love to see people without kids take on the role of asking parents if kids can sit with them, either with the group or in the back of the room, and helping those kids through the things we do in our gatherings- speaking, singing, praying, listening... and coloring too.

The main challenge of this approach is that it requires a community to give up the (usually unspoken, sometimes not) idea that children's ministry is a "draw." I know that we've "lost" people who have come looking for a more developed kid's ministry. I've challenged them to stay and create what it is that they wanted... but some people aren't up for that.

My main concern isn't that we'll lose people who want more than we offer, but that when people from evergreen do step up and create something cool, those who come later will view it as a program our community "offers" them and will feel a sense of entitlement. I try to counteract that when and as I can...

I don't know if we're doing it "right." I know it's definitely not the ChurchPlanter 101™ way of doing things. I don't even know if it will be a net positive for our community in the long run... but my suspicion is that if we as a community are forced to re-invent certain wheels, it will be better for us in the long run.

Seven Questions, pt 3/4

3) Is the community you serve connected with a denomination? if "yes," what do you see as the benefits and problems with that relationship, and if "no," what do you believe are the benefits and problems with not being connected?

No, we aren’t connected with any organizations. We briefly pursued Acts 29, but quickly saw that our stance on women in leadership was a deal breaker for them, so…

We tend to pursue informal ties and relationships with other church communities, so we don’t feel completely disconnected. We have supported another church in town, The Bridge, almost from our beginning, and I meet with other pastors regularly. We’re not in a vacuum.

To be honest, I feel as though the future is post-denominational... At least the denominations we have now! More and more people are connecting to churches in spite of their denominational affiliation and not because of it. While denominations can provide money and support, they also serve up a lot of strings and red tape. And those are things we could do without… We started small, not needing a lot of seed money, and simply have never seen or felt the need to associate ourselves with a denomination. Very few people have ever asked me about denominational affiliation… it’s just not on the radar for those we seem to be reaching.

4) What would you say are the two hardest things connected to planting an emerging/postmodern community of faith?

Well, there’s no game plan, no road map. We’ve thrown out all the “how to’s” of advertising and marketing and even of how church normally functions. We haven’t started with a completely blank page… but darn close.

I think postmoderns need an open source community, one they can help create and tinker with and change… and that’s a challenge because it means re-inventing a lot of wheels- wheels that don’t necessarily need to be reinvented (we could buy some great children’s curriculum somewhere, for instance), but our community will be better because we’ve gone through the process of making things our own and making our own things. But it’s also a challenge for the whole community, to watch the ditches on the side of the road and make sure that in our rethinking and reinventing we don’t drift off into weird heresies or become so individualized that we lose sight of “one another.”

Also, we’re talking about people who have mostly not been connected with church, intentionally left church at one point, or would have left it soon. There’s a lot of issues there, and even some bitterness. It's hard, having by and large worked through our "anger phase" with church, to remember that others who are just coming now are still in process on that and need us to be understanding of the hurt they are expressing about Christian subculture and church in general.

We’ve had some people come to evergreen and find healing from past church hurts and abuses. Sometimes the baggage is too much and they end up spinning out again. We do our best, but not everyone connects with the community and some people find us “too much like church” (!) and others “not enough like church.”