By unSeminary.com: Thanks for joining us for this week’s unSeminary podcast. Today we’re talking with church planter and lead pastor Carl Kuhl from Mosaic Christian Church in Maryland. Mosaic was planted in the fall of 2008, launching first in a movie theater, and has become one of the fastest growing churches in the country.

When planting a new church, many leaders are tempted to copy culture from other churches and then create systems of their own. In reality we need to do just the opposite. Listen in as Carl shares some ways to help your church discover its culture and stay true to it.

Copy systems and create culture. // There’s nothing wrong with borrowing from other churches that are doing something well, especially when it comes to systems, such as assimilation, discipleship, and so on. When you are planting a new church, don’t be afraid to borrow from books, conferences or other churches for your church’s system development. Culture, on the other hand, can’t be borrowed. Spend your creative energy and focus on developing your own unique culture as a church, which will be greatly influenced by you as the leader, your experiences and personality, as well as the area where you are planting. Don’t lose your culture. // When Carl planted Mosaic Christian, the goal was to be a church where open brokenness is the thing that’s celebrated above all else. When a church knows what its thing is, it can be really powerful, but you have to stick to it with confidence. Churches can get lost when they try to be something they’re not or when they try to change their culture every few years. Go on a journey as a leader and a team to explore and arrive at this idea of what your church’s culture really is. Then hold on to it and build everything around that idea.Know where you are called to lead. // When you’re a leader, even of something like a small group, you have to love the thing you lead or you won’t last there. Don’t just believe in it or agree with it. If your heart isn’t drawn to it and doesn’t love it, it may not be the place for you. We need to identify as leaders: What type of church do I want to attend? What kind of community am I drawn to? These types of questions helped direct Carl when it came to creating the culture of Mosaic Christian. Embrace the culture. // Carl and his wife wanted to create a community that was on mission, but also a place where they’d find deep friendships themselves. Because open brokenness is such a part of Mosaic Christian’s culture, Carl knew he had to model that vulnerability in his own life as well. This meant talking about areas of personal struggle from the stage while preaching so others would see his honesty about his own brokenness. How are you modeling the the aspects of your church’s culture that you are asking others to embrace?Church planters don’t all look the same. // When Carl began to pursue planting a church, he felt like he didn’t fit the mold of what a church planter “should” be. He realized that most of what we’ve heard about church planting is wrong because we place God’s abilities in a box and limit the possible impact on the kingdom as a result. It inspired Carl to write a book based on his experiences, The Contrarian’s Guide to Church Planting, which is less of a how-to book and more about letting God use the gifts and wiring He’s given you. Don’t be limited by what a spiritual gift test says you should or shouldn’t do. Rather identify the things in you that can be used and pour gas on them. Most of all, be yourself and the unique leader God created you to be.

You can learn more about Mosaic Christian Church at www.mosaicchristian.org.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

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Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Red Letter Challenge

One of the best times of the year to start an all-in church series is the Sunday right after Easter. The team at Red Letter Challenge have become the 40-day church series experts…they created not only a 40-day church series, but offer unique daily challenges as well for everyone in your church to complete. It’s a fun, amazing time and many people take steps towards Jesus! Pastors, grab your free 40-day challenge book here and see what your church can do!

Source: Loving the Church You Serve with Carl Kuhl

The post Loving the Church You Serve with Carl Kuhl appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Healthy Growing Churches: Each generation that has ever lived believed that they were living in the most interesting and challenging time in history. The questions they had to answer were more significant than the previous generations, and the barriers to greater humanity were more overwhelming than any other age had ever experienced before them. The pace of cultural change appeared to unfold at a faster rate than any other time in days gone by.

The Challenge

Right now, in this generation, it is difficult to argue against the challenging culture in which we find ourselves embedded. In almost every category you can imagine, life is a constant challenge. The pace of change in our world right now is happening at a speed that makes keeping up a consistent challenge. Technology is changing the way we do everything. The economic landscape is shifting with every week that drops off the calendar. The changes in the culture of the U.S. alone can feel overwhelming. We could add to this list, but you get the point.

There is no question these changes are impacting the local church. It’s left church leaders across our country wrestling with how they navigate their way to higher levels of effectiveness in our unique cultural times. The pace of change demands that we re-imagine the relevance and role of the local church. How do we continue to morph to ensure the church continues to advance God’s redemptive cause?

The Answer

There are many answers to this pressing question as we seek to lead the local church forward in Her missional quest, but there is one answer that must ascend to the top of our lists. The local church must reclaim and live into the call to inspire, enlist, equip, and deploy everyday missionaries to be the hands and feet of Jesus where they live, work, and play.

This isn’t a new answer. Jesus was clear when He passionately spoke the words that we find in Matthew 28:19. This was Jesus’ plan A for reaching the world, and there is no plan B. Our calling as individuals is simple. Each follower of Christ should be walking another individual toward and across the line of faith into a personal relationship with God. It is then our responsibility to help them become an obedient follower of Jesus to see that process repeat to multiple generations of reproduction. It is the call of every local church to ensure there is a pathway and framework to ensure that reproducing disciples are being made and disciple-makers are being raised up and sent.

The Most Significant Volunteer Organization on the Planet

The Church is the most significant volunteer organization on the planet. There are tens of thousands of volunteer hours available from people each week who claim Christ as their Savior. What if a significant portion of those volunteer hours were being leveraged by everyday missionaries living into their missionary call in the places where they live, work, and play? What if some of those hours were more effectively being used to raise up disciples who make disciples?

Our best path forward in our unique culture times is to lean into Jesus’ Plan A for reaching the world. Anything less than an all-in approach to disciple-making as church leaders will leave us with less of an impact going forward. Worst-case scenario, it will likely mean the continued decline and impact of the Church in America.

Make Disciples!

The encouraging dynamic at play in the American Church today is the growing number of church leaders and churches that are working hard to figure out how to make disciples who make disciples to multiple generations of reproduction. It certainly feels like the number of churches that are also wrestling with what it should look like for their church to multiply is at an all-time high.

Are you in the number? If not, then here are a few questions you must answer:

Do we have an intentional framework and pathway to ensure that these everyday missionaries (reproducing disciples of Jesus) are raised up and deployed?
How are you identifying the disciple-makers in your local setting and then empowering them to reach out and disciple others?
Are you prepared to send the called and qualified leaders to establish missional outposts, networks of missional communities, and new churches?

There are resources and tools to help. God has raised up an army of trainers to help each of us figure out how to navigate our way into and through the call of Matthew 28:19. Lean into these resources so you can reach maximum effectiveness in joining God in His redemptive cause in our unique cultural times.

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Source: Plan A

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By Justin Gravitt: Understanding your church’s culture is like doing a connect the dot worksheet, but with no dots and no lines. Instead, just information scattered on the page.

The challenge is to sort out the important information from the noise that seeks to hide it. Lack of clarity isn’t the only challenge. Every culture presents noise and information differently, and each can be interpreted in several relevant ways. In most cultures, we find that traditions, activities, and the urgent needs of the present prevent a true picture from emerging. The near-constant whirlwind of church activity often prevents transformational disciple making from happening. What separates culture experts from culture participants is their ability to see through the whirlwind of church activities. These cultural experts uncover relevant clues and discard the rest.

That’s not all they do. Culture experts find ways to connect the dots; to make connections, from here to there, from there to the next. It takes time. It is s l o w. Yes, cultural connect the dots pays off in big ways. In a church, cultural clarity can be drawn out by using a tool I call LEAP. When used carefully the image LEAPs off the page. When it does, it brings with it a new understanding, new actions, and eventually the right kind of change.

Exciting, right? Let’s look at the LEAP tool, so you can employ it in your culture and context.

L – What’s Lifted Up?

Every culture lifts up an ideal. In healthy cultures, the ideal is consistent with the big vision or goals of its leaders. It communicates to everyone about what’s most important in the culture. In unhealthy cultures what’s elevated is a subset of the main thing or, perhaps even unrelated to the main thing. Questions that help uncover what’s lifted up are: “Who has status here?” “How does someone else win influence here?” and “In the past, who were the culture’s heroes?”

Jesus repeatedly made it clear that He was on earth to do the will of God the Father (John 5:19, 10:37; Matt. 7:21, et al). He expected those who follow Him to do the same (Matt. 12:50) and told the disciples to do what He was doing over forty times in the Gospels.

E – What’s Expected?

Humans are social creatures. We long to connect. Cultures carry a set of expectations that help people understand what to do to fit in as well as what’s forbidden. Since these are deeply embedded in the culture’s DNA they are rarely mentioned. They are real nonetheless and function as a blueprint for belonging.

These are often as simple as how to dress and customs of socializing (norms of greeting, leaving, helping, etc.). However, they can be elaborate too, such as language, sequenced involvement, and prohibitions. These aren’t moral issues of right and wrong but are the difference between in and out. They communicate we (culture insiders) do this, they (culture outsiders) do that. To find the customs within a culture ask, “What should I do?” and “What shouldn’t I do?”

A – What’s Asked?

There are one or more asks in every culture, but they are more explicit in church cultures. Most of the time, an ask points backward to the goal the culture elevates and forward to the culture’s answer to how that goal is reached. In other words, what’s asked of people is also the way the culture proposes people are to reach the lifted-up goal. A culture that elevates faithfulness will ask people to fulfill specific obligations. A culture that elevates understanding will ask the people to proscribed things in proscribed ways.

Sometimes the ask is difficult to discern. This is especially true in churches that practice buffet-style ministry. In some cases this ask is implicit. Their ask may not be explicit, but the communication is clear, find something and get involved because we have something for you.

P – What’s Prioritized?

A culture’s heartbeat can be clearly heard when values collide. Every culture has lots of values, both expressed and unexpressed. Some of those values are lifted up to the top, while others function in a support role. The true character of a culture comes to light when a situation brings about a collision of those values. For example, when a people-first culture realizes that it’s only leader for the women’s ministry needs to step-back. Do the leaders encourage her to do so swiftly or to delay for the sake of the group? Or when a disciple making culture discovers a prominent disciple maker has drifted in predictable ways. Is he encouraged to be honest with those he’s influencing or to hide and find help in secret?

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Time and again we see Jesus’ deepest values on display when life brings about value collisions. His love for the Jewish leaders is on full display at the cross when he pleads for God to forgive them, yet he didn’t allow that love to cloud what was right and wrong (John 7:17-24; Matt. 5:21-22, 27-28, et al).

The LEAP tool is effective for sorting the helpful information from the noise. Once you find it, connect the dots. Now, there’s an image on the page. You drew it with your own hand, but you aren’t the only author. The cultural picture was created with others and its meaning must be understood with others.

The process of understanding feels a lot like this: Where did we start? Why weren’t the dots, dots? Who decided to add all the other noise? Did we really focus on what was important? Are the lines too curved? Too straight? What if we missed something? What does this have to do with ________?

A culture can’t be intentionally shaped until it’s understood. The LEAP tool gives leaders the handles it needs to proactively understand a culture even while they live in it. As you put this tool to work in your culture be prepared to see things that are partly encouraging and partly discouraging. That’s normal. The difficult work of developing a disciple making culture is promoting the right changes from the center “dots” out.

I talk more about this in my new book, The Foundation of a Disciple Making Culture (a Discipleship.org Resource). Click here for a free download.

By Justin Gravitt

Used by permission. Originally posted here:

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Source: Connecting the Dots of Church Culture

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by unSeminary: Thanks for listening in to this week’s unSeminary podcast. I’m happy to be talking with Jonathan Brozozog, lead pastor at Passion Church in Minnesota.

Passion Church had small beginnings fifteen years ago, but stayed teachable and grew over time as a result. About six years ago God gave them a new vision and they allowed themselves to be flexible and step into it. The result has been tremendous growth and life change in their community.

Jonathan is with us today to talk about Passion Church’s development of their volunteer culture and how they’ve kept their culture strong as they’ve grown and gone multisite.

Touch humanity first. // Passion Church didn’t want to abandon the move of the Holy Spirit so they pursued God for a strategy. God led them to touch humanity first and introduce people to a relationship with Jesus before connecting them with the Holy Spirit and his gifts. This strategy led to many unconventional ways of reaching out to people in the community, from running a U-Haul franchise to running a web marketing company and even a driving school. You never know what sort of opportunities will allow you to connect with your community and serve them in unique ways. These venues opened the door for Passion Church to have a lot of networking opportunities in their area.A culture of volunteering. // When you focus on reaching lost people, they may not understand the concepts of tithing and biblical generosity, but chances are they are willing to volunteer. Jonathan notes that the new people coming wanted to love others and give through their actions, their time and their talents. And so Passion’s focus shifted to developing a strong volunteer culture. This also led to firing up their outreach culture so they were demonstrating God’s love in tangible ways rather than simply talking about it.Mercy forgives but grace empowers. // Passion Church communicates to people that what they’ve been through in their lives really empowers them into their destiny. As Jonathan says, when God heals your brokenness, he leaves the medicine (the Holy Spirit) inside you to heal someone else. Our journeys and our ups and downs make us a key to unlock somebody else’s destiny, and this is all through God’s grace. Share with people about what God has done in your life and point them to his grace, healing and restoration.Empower others where they are. // Ephesians 4 says its the work of the leaders to equip God’s people for the work of the ministry. Passion Church began to really empower their people right where they were to volunteer and serve. Even if they were new to the faith or still exploring, made mistakes or were still trying to figure out life, that didn’t disqualify them from serving. Being given opportunities to serve enabled people to see God working in and through their lives. This strong volunteer culture also extends to developing volunteer leaders, for example on the worship team which has no paid positions. This allows Passion Church to keep the staff lean as they empower others to use their gifts.Teach the culture. // Church culture happens by design, not default. One of the things Passion Church thought about as they grew and went multisite was how to keep their culture strong even at a new location. Jonathan and his team looked at several models that other churches were using and eventually and came up with their own system. Ultimately they created Passion Culture Courses—an online course for leaders, directors, and volunteers with about 250 videos and counting. These videos contain trainings for everything in their culture, explaining what it looks like, why they do what they do, and how culture informs how they respond to various scenarios. It has been important in maintaining the culture across the locations of Passion Church.Reinforce the culture. // Every Sunday night the staff and core volunteer leaders meet together for an hour for a “family huddle”. During the first 30 minutes, they share positives about each other and the campuses that reinforce the culture. Then they bring in several new leaders each week and pray and prophesy over them. Prayer is their first line of defense, not their last resort and has been integral for keeping their community strong. This huddle time has been a big part of helping everyone keep the heart right in their culture as it flows back out in service to others.

You can find out more about Paradise Church at www.passionchurch.com.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live!

Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: INJOY Stewardship Solutions

Craft customized church capital campaigns to fund new facilities, up-fit existing facilities, buy land, and pay off debt.

Find out how much your church could raise in a capital campaign led by INJOY Stewardship Solutions.

Source: Keeping Culture White Hot as Your Church Grows with Jonathan Brozozog

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by Healthy Growing Churches: A few weeks ago, we shared the story of River City Church and how they are doing church differently. Today, we want to share the story of The Tampa Underground Network. As we’ve stated before, we hope that by sharing these stories with you dreams, vision, and newfound faith would permeate your hearts and minds. Ultimately, our goal is for us to work together to build the Body of Christ in stronger and more effective ways.

The Underground’s Story

In 2006, Brian Sanders, along with about 50 others, left their traditional churches to pursue together a different vision for how the church should look. At least, this was the vision given to them by the Spirit for how they should do things differently, and therefore, add greater depth to the Church as a whole. They left with a love for the Western church, but “hoped for more than Sunday morning worship and middle-class Christianity.” 

With a passion for the poor and the lost, The Underground works to “empower communities to reach and serve the people who exist at the margins of the church as we know it.” They believe that intimacy with God means committing to His mission, which leads to “prioritizing both those in poverty and those without knowledge of His saving grace.” 

Discipleship is of utmost significance to The Underground. They help empower people to pray and seek to know their unique calling and then find a community where they can pour themselves out. At the heart of this vision is the micro-church. As people find their true callings, they can get to work mobilizing communities to meet needs there and to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus and His kingdom.

Theology

One of the best places to discover The Underground’s theology is in Brian Sanders’ book, Underground Church, which we highly recommend. Flip to the back to Appendix A, and you find their “Manifesto,” or statement of belief. As one who senses the call and is starting a micro-church movement in my community in South Carolina, this book has been transformational in my thinking and planning.

The following is what The Underground’s website states regarding their Theology:

Theologically, we are orthodox and evangelical. Being an independent church plant (not coming from any denomination) we are anchored by the ancient and historical creeds of the church. The first and simplest creed: Jesus is Lord. We seek to place Jesus Christ as the head of this church, and to establish and submit to his supremacy in all things.

We acknowledge both the historical significance and the prophetic call of the Lausanne Covenant (1974), agreeing with it completely, and the reaffirmations of the Manila Manifesto (1989). These creedal/confessional documents serve to anchor our theological commitments while also expressing our missional and evangelical convictions. We stand to be both challenged and guided by these core expressions of theological commitment as we try to grow and mature into the church that God has destined us to be.

Learn More

The very best way to get to know this incredible ministry network is to watch this video. You will not regret the time spent watching!

What’s Happening Now?

The Underground now supports and encourages 100s of micro-churches across 6 continents.

The Underground also has 12 global sister movements. You can click here and find out more about each of these movements.

Most importantly, people from all walks of life are making a difference in their various communities by becoming empowered and supported to live their God-sized, God-given dreams!

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Source: Fresh Expressions: Tampa Underground Network

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by Healthy Growing Churches: Back in May, I had the privilege of interviewing Ryan Sidhom, the lead pastor of River City Church in Vancouver, Washington (USA). As we explore creative, fresh expressions of the church, we thought his story and the church’s mission, vision, and rhythm were so inspiring that we needed to share it with you.

The Dream to Plant a Church

In June of 2016, Ryan and his wife, Clarissa, took a trip to Portland and began to tour the city in search of the area in which they would plant a church. Although they knew God was pulling them towards the Portland, Oregon area, the entire time they were there, nothing felt right. They then journeyed right outside of the city into Vancouver, WA. As the couple explored this city, they knew that “this was it!” They had found the place they would plant River City Church.

Returning home to Tennessee, planning got underway. Ryan and Clarissa worked to develop a prospectus, decided on the mission and vision of the church, and planned their departure from Tennessee and move to Vancouver. Their first day in Vancouver was May 1st, 2017. This husband and wife duo hit the ground running. As River City Church, they began making connections with people and learning more about the culture in Vancouver. What was discovered was that the prospectus created from the start didn’t make sense within the context of the community they were called to serve.

Community Survey

Ryan and Clarissa started surveying the people within the community. With willing hearts to serve and to meet the people where they were, what they discovered changed the way they would approach this fresh expression of church. Two items on the Community Survey stood out:

Families needed things to do with one another on the weekends. With most households in the Vancouver/Portland area requiring two incomes, family quality time was in high demand.
Millennials, who are a large part of the population in Vancouver, were searching for purpose and belonging and were genuinely interested in volunteer opportunities. They wanted to do things to help their community. River City Church knew they would need to help this population find hope in Jesus and belonging and purpose in serving together.

Why Do Church Differently?

I asked Ryan about how River City Church was different from other churches of which he had been apart. Ryan wanted to create a church that was more relational than attractional. That means putting relationships first. The beautiful thing that develops due to that priority is the church becomes attractional as more profound and deeper relationships form.

Ryan also realized early on that he was not there to bring the south to Washington. Instead, the whole purpose for being there was to bring Jesus, fully and completely. Ryan said they ended up adjusting everything they’d planned, except for Jesus. River City Church would require a vastly different rhythm to reach those away from Christ.

Mission Statement and Tagline

I love the mission of River City Church! The Mission Statement is:

Encountering the Author of Love and Engaging Our Community in that Love

The Tagline of River City Church is:

Changed by Love

One of the many stories Ryan told me regarding the truth of the words above occurred at their Sunday gathering on May 5th, or Cinco de Mayo. With many cities and towns in America having higher rates of Hispanic migration, Ryan and Clarissa had already decided that they would have live Spanish translation available for their Hispanic neighbors during all gatherings. On this special holiday in Hispanic culture, the decision was made to flip the script.

When people gathered for the music and message on Cinco de Mayo, they were greeted with a Mariachi-style worship band. The entire service was in Spanish; therefore, the English speakers got the opportunity to wear the headphones feeding them the live translation of the message. After service ended, the entire church was met outside by a fantastic food truck serving tacos. The day was special for everyone involved!

Service

Service is at the core of what happens at River City Church. From the very first day in Vancouver, they started serving the community as River City Church even though they hadn’t yet launched their first service. In fact, the official launch of Sunday services was Easter Sunday of 2019. This launch was two years after the move to Vancouver!

Ryan talked to me about the importance of serving without expecting anything in return. One story he told me was about a local public elementary school there. He had reached out to the principal hoping to support the needs of teachers and students. Initially, the principal would hardly enter into discussions with Ryan as Separation of Church and State is a prominent value in Vancouver, WA.  As the church began meeting the needs of those in that school, over time, the principal’s heart softened. This year River City Church was able to host a giant Easter Egg Hunt on the property of that school where they were able to meet and serve over 600 people!

Rhythm

It was refreshingly apparent in my conversation with Ryan that the most important voice he listens to when thinking of mission and vision for his church is that of the Holy Spirit. There is a Sunday to Sunday rhythm that River City Church follows that is different from any other church I’ve encountered. I would even call it a brave leap of faith. Each month, they follow this Sunday Schedule:

1st Sunday: Study – This is a worship service where there is music and study of the Bible and its life principles.
2nd Sunday: Serve – The entire church gathers for a family-friendly volunteer project. It is a different project each month.
3rd Sunday: Study – This is a worship service where there is music and study of the Bible and its life principles. The difference here from week one is the individual teaching is typically one who is being discipled, equipped, empowered, and eventually sent out to start another church.
4th Sunday: Play – This service is infused with fun! It is a family-friendly gathering where you may experience a game day, a comedy show, holiday parties, and other creative ideas to bring families together and build tighter community.
5th Sunday: Next Generation – In this service, kids, youth, and college ministries take over the service.

Would having this type of rhythm in your church be scary? With this church rhythm, a pastor would have faithfully risk relinquishing a lot of control. Ryan, who self-admittedly is a bit of a control freak, has had to adjust to the freedom of prayerfully letting go. He has to be able to trust those he’s discipled who are speaking on the Sundays he isn’t. He has to train up and trust his volunteers on the Serve and Play Sundays when the entire community is invited to be served and to have fun. Ryan and the whole team at River City Church have to be willing to get their hands dirty and commit to engaging the daily lives of those far from Jesus no matter how messy the lives of those people.

Vision

River City Church has a courageous vision. Their goal is to plant 32 churches in 20 years. Due to those aspirations, the church is keenly aware of the need to develop and mature believers into leaders and leaders into future pastors. You can see this vision coming to life within the rhythm of the church where on the 3rd Sunday of the month, a future church planter delivers the message.

Marked By Generosity

River City Church also aspires to be a church that is “Marked by Generosity.” A great example of this is what they do with their visitor cards. Many of us likely have a mug, t-shirt, pen, or cup from a church we once visited with a friend. But when someone new comes to River City and fills out the visitor card, that person gets to choose a charity they would like to support. The church then donates $5 to that charity. But wait. There’s more! When that visitor returns for a second time, the church donates another $10 to that charity! (Also, take note of the “Where Are You?” section where individuals can indicate where they are on their spiritual journey, all the way from “Not Curious” to “Disciple-Maker”).

Dedication to People and Small Businesses

A significant part of the vision for River City Church is its dedication to people and small businesses in the community. Ryan says it this way, “The Gospel doesn’t just redeem people, but it has the power to redeem entire communities!” He believes that the church should be friends with and support those running small businesses in the community. This concept has already made a significant impact even before the church officially launched earlier this year. One local business is a bubble tea shop. The owner there has seen the value River City Church has brought to the community through service and support. Though she is not a follower of Jesus, she has become a monthly supporter of the church! “The Gospel doesn’t just redeem people, but it has the power to redeem entire communities!”

The church’s vision of supporting and reaching the community is so big that even though the church had the fortune of inheriting the building where gatherings now take place, one of the first things they did when moving in was to vacate the office area there. The official office of the church can be found out in “the public square,” or the local coffee shop.

What Next?

So as you’ve read through pieces and parts of River City Church’s story, what do you do with that information? Are there risks you’ve been dreaming about taking that you’ve pushed to the side? I encourage you to genuinely listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. We know statistics indicate the church in America is on a sharp decline. We take hope in the truth that there is fresh Spirit-infused creativity that we must tap into to see the Church not just survive but thrive in the decades to come. And we do this not for our fame or glory but the glory of Jesus Christ!

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Source: Fresh Expressions: River City Church

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by Healthy Growing Churches: On July 11th, 2017 the Barna Group published an article on their website that began with this paragraph:

“It may come as no surprise that the influence of Christianity in the United States is waning. Rates of church attendance, religious affiliation, belief in God, prayer and Bible-reading have all been dropping for decades. By consequence, the role of religion in public life has been slowly diminishing, and the church no longer functions with the cultural authority it held in times past. These are unique days for the church in America as it learns what it means to flourish in a new “Post-Christian” era.”

Before I could read on, I was already processing an important question:

What does it look like going forward for the Church in America to flourish in a post-Christian era?

This question deserves more than just some mental attention, but it must become a significant matter of prayer for every follower of Jesus. Church leaders, it’s time to circle up and figure out how to advance the Gospel in the new American landscape.

We have to start thinking in terms of a paradigm shift for the Church. Some of our deeply held assumptions regarding Church need to be unlearned if we hope to reach the growing harvest in America. It will also likely require a new posture for those who desire Kingdom impact in both the current cultural reality and into the future.

Fresh Expressions

Currently, there are pioneers of the faith who are experimenting with what many are beginning to refer to as “fresh expressions of the church.” Freshexpressionus.org is one network working hard to empower, resource, and celebrate the growing number of fresh expressions of the church.

They define these fresh expressions of the Church this way:

“A Fresh Expression is a form of church for our changing culture, established primarily for the benefit of those who are not yet part of any church.”

They go on to add:

“Fresh Expressions is an international movement of missionary disciples cultivating new kinds of church alongside existing congregations to more effectively engage our growing post-Christian society.”

These expressions of church are taking many different forms. There are many creative variations of the Church emerging, and God is calling up creative and courageous people to generate new pathways for people to explore and discover all the fullness of Jesus. People searching for God have more accessible options to meet Jesus within contexts they understand rather than them trying to fit into a one-size-fits-all model. Gatherings take place in coffeehouses meant to be an epicenter for disciple-making. Group meetings may also include weekly dinners that foster an intentional spiritual conversation, where people can come and feel free to wrestle with some of the difficult truths of Scripture. Some churches are meeting in bars to attract those who may never feel comfortable stepping into a church building.

Micro-Churches or Missional Communities

Francis Chan’s book, Letters to the Church, (amongst others) has inspired pioneers of the faith to launch networks of what is commonly referred to as micro-churches or missional communities. These fresh expressions of church are the most basic expressions of the church that are seeking to be the hands and feet of Jesus in their neighborhoods and cities. These fresh expressions include individuals deeply passionate and committed to both meeting the needs of those in the margins and making disciples who make disciples.

The Tampa Underground Network

The Underground Network in Tampa, Florida has been a tremendous kingdom resource for those seeking to launch a network of micro-churches or missional communities. Brian Sanders, one of the founders of the movement, went back and took a deeper look at the way the early Church functioned and then designed ecclesiastical minimums accordingly. They say it this way:

“When believers work together in sincere worship and genuine community to accomplish part of the mission of God, they are the church.”

As you read that statement, I hope your mind races with the plethora of fresh expressions of church that could change the world for Jesus. What would happen if the Church empowered everyday missionaries to launch fresh expressions of the church in the places where they live, work, and play? Is there any doubt that even asking the question puts a huge smile on the face of our heavenly Father?

The post Fresh Expressions of the Church appeared first on Healthy Growing Churches.

Source: Fresh Expressions of the Church

The post Fresh Expressions of the Church appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by unSeminary: Welcome to back to the unSeminary podcast. I’m excited to have Chris Wignall joining us today. He is the Executive Director of the Catalyst Foundation.

The job of the Catalyst Foundation is to come alongside leaders of charities and churches to help them understand, assess and improve the culture in their organizations in super practical ways. Chris has been working with Catalyst Foundation for 11 and a half years now.

Today Chris is with us to talk about a resource that will help you assess the health of your church’s culture.

Murky organizational culture. // Most mid-size and larger organizations tend to have a solid strategy and execution with their systems and policies, but something still may not be right. The team from Catalyst Foundation comes in to help organizations find a way to become really practical about what to do today, tomorrow, and on a regular basis to make culture tangible.REACTIONS. // If culture isn’t working, we tend not to notice right away. To help solve the culture problems in a church, someone from the team at Catalyst Foundation will sit with leadership and talk about what’s happening at a church. A starting point to see how the culture at your church is would be to write the word R-E-A-C-T down the left side of a paper. Across the top, write I-O-N-S. This framework is the REACTIONS dashboard. The 5 words down the side are the reasons for a healthy culture: Reason, Energy, Alignment, Clarity, and Trust. Reason: do we all know and care about the reason for the organization? Energy: what’s the energy level? Do people have something to give and are they choosing to give it where we are? Alignment: are we all pulling together in the same direction? Clarity: do I know how information, resource and responsibility flows to me and from me? Trust: do we trust people in the organization – both their character and their competence? Score your church in each of these five areas under: I—Individual, O—Organization, N—Network (ex. Congregation, Denomination, etc.), S—Special/Specific.Celebrate what’s working. // After learning what is and what is not working at your church and determining where growth is needed, the team at the Catalyst Foundation encourages the church to celebrate what parts are working for them. More often than not, we as leaders tend to focus on the problems and figuring out how to solve them, but it’s also important to celebrate the good work in the church and what is working well.Work together. // As a leader you do your assessment on the REACTION dashboard, but it’s also helpful if the board or staff team does it together. Then you can talk about what concerns everyone or what is working. Some of us are aware of areas where we need help, but there may also be areas which are blind spots where we need someone else to provide input and wisdom.REACTION Dashboard. //Chris wrote a book, The REACTION Dashboard: The simple tool leaders use to understand, assess, and improve organizational culture. The first half of the book is fictionalized stories of a group of leaders who come together and share their challenges with the organizational culture. They build the REACTION dashboard together and gain insights from each other. The second half is a workbook style with ideas to help you in your own culture assessment.

You can find out more about Chris’s book at www.reactiondashboard.com and www.catalystfoundation.ca. Connect with Chris on Twitter @ChrisWignall and Instagram @ChrisWignall.

Lightning Round

Something You Wish They Taught // Facilitation – meetings are a really big part of what we do, but too many leaders don’t know how to lead a conversation where you’re not dominating it yourself.

Influential Book // Slow Kingdom Coming: Practices for Doing Justice, Loving Mercy and Walking Humbly in the World by Kent Annan

Downloadable Resource // REACTION Worksheet

Contact // website catalystfoundation.ca or on Twitter and Instagram

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

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Source: Understand, Assess, and Improve the Culture in Your Church with Chris Wignall

The post Understand, Assess, and Improve the Culture in Your Church with Chris Wignall appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by unSeminary: The difference between churches that are growing and those that aren’t is prevailing churches enable their people to invite friends to church.

Growing churches are full of people who invite their friends.

What separates churches that have plateaued or are in decline from those that are seeing growth is that growing churches are inviting churches.

“Invitability” describes how a church is growing its ability to have its people invite friends and family. It’s a key approach at the core of thriving churches.

How likely are people in your church to invite their friends and family to attend your church?

What are you doing to encourage your people to invite others to your church?

What tools have you given to your people to enable them to help create the culture of invitation you are developing?

Do your people understand that a part of being a follower of Jesus is reaching out to the world around them? That being an “inviter” is an essential part of every Christian’s life?

Here are five questions about church invitability to consider as you think about how this dynamic impacts the growth of your church.

Wait… invitability isn’t a real word. Right?

True! It’s totally made up. We created it to capture this idea that some churches seem to be easier for people to invite their friends to than others. I imagine a scale of invitability. On one end is a church whose people don’t ever invite friends to join them on Sunday while on the other end of the spectrum are churches that are growing because its people are constantly saying to their friends, “You have got to see what’s happening at my church this weekend!”

Even though invitability isn’t a real word, its meaning has a very real impact at your church. In fact, the invite culture of your church is at the very heart of your church’s ability to reach its full redemptive potential.

Why is invitability an important factor in church growth?

On average, only 2% of people invited a friend to church in the last year. [ref]

The factor separating churches that are growing from those that aren’t is that growing churches have a robust invite culture. They are high invitability churches. Their people are more likely to be active in asking their friends and family to attend.

A sustained strategy for church growth needs to be built around invitability. Rather than looking at the latest shiny marketing tool, church leaders who are working for continual growth focus their efforts on increasing the invite culture of their churches.

The local church is the only organization in the world that exists for people beyond its walls. Our mandate is to be constantly looking to consider the needs of other people and inviting them into a relationship with Jesus. Unless our churches have a strong approach to increasing invitability we will fail to live out the mandate that Jesus called us to in the Great Commission.

Inviting someone to church is just a first step towards discipleship and evangelism. Invitation shouldn’t be reserved for “super-Christians” who see it as their duty, but it needs to become a normal practice for all Christians!

How can a church leader measure the level of invitability at their church?

The best way to start your journey towards understanding invitability and its impact on your church is to explore your experience with inviting people to your church. Start by exploring your own experiences with inviting as well as those of people close to you. Take a few minutes and answer these questions to gauge the level of invitability at your church:

When was the last time you invited someone to your church?If it was recently, what happened when you asked? What happened when your friend came to church?If you haven’t recently invited someone, why not? What is holding you back?Think of the last time someone at your church invited a friend and told you about it. Did they indicate that it was a positive or a negative experience? What part of that experience went well?What part of that experience was negative?How urgently does your church sense the need to reach the community around you?If it’s low urgency, what can you do to increase the vision for community impact at your church?If it’s high urgency, are you connecting with and making an impact in the community and consistently inviting people to church?

What invitability factors of your church are people most likely to talk to their friends about?

A recent study by Gallup asked people to rate the reasons they attend church. [ref] It would be fair to infer from this study that these top four factors are the ones that those who are inviting people to your church talk about the most. Churches that are looking to increase their invitability would be wise to invest time, effort and energy into these four areas:

Sermons that teach you more about scripturePeople are looking for transcendent truth, not a repackaged TED Talk. This probably goes without saying, but at the core of churches with high invitability is teaching that is based on the Bible. These churches are teaching timeless truths. Sermons that help you connect faith to your own lifeIt’s not enough to just teach from the ancient text but people need us to connect it to today’s reality. Churches with high invitability have learned that when they handle the Bible their teaching also needs to answer the question, “What difference does this make in my life today?” Spiritual programs geared towards children and teenagersNearly 9 out of 10 adults will be parents at some point in their lifetime. [ref] Raising kids is a universal human experience. Every parent worries about their kids and wants the best for the next generation. Churches with high invitability know the importance of passing the message of Jesus on to the next generation in a compelling manner. Lots of community outreach and volunteer opportunitiesPeople want to make a difference in their world. We all want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. We’re eager to be a part of a church that serves the community around us.

How can a church leader learn more about church invitability?

How “invitable” is your church?

How is invitability connected to church growth?

What can you do to gain momentum in seeing your church reach more people this year?

Invitability is at the core of prevailing churches. The first step to reaching more people is understanding how invitable is your church. Church leaders who want to see their churches grow should be wrestling with invitability and its impact.

unSeminary is launching the 5 Day Church Invitability Challenge in May to help you gain a better understanding of your church and its level of invitability.

The best part? The challenge only takes a few minutes each day.

Each day you will receive a short video and exercise that you can complete in a matter of minutes.

This challenge is designed to help your church gain momentum in reaching more people in your community. At the end of the five days you will have deeper understanding of invitability and how to increase it in your church.

[Click here to sign up for the FREE 5 Day Church Invitability Challenge!]

Source: 5 Questions About Invitability And Its Impact on Your Church

The post 5 Questions About Invitability And Its Impact on Your Church appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Beth Ehlert: In our previous post, we began a discussion about improving toxic culture. We defined two significant terms to help us understand where we may stand as leaders–transformational leadership and transactional leadership. Now, let’s dive into more detail as we unpack this vital issue in church culture.

It Starts With You.

If you want to see a toxic culture change, be the type of leader who is continually learning and adapting to things not only inside yourself and the church but in the culture of the community as well. Consider how to bring others along with you on the journey. As a pastor, begin seeing your staff as partners in the process, rather than employees.

Consider the APEST model in Ephesians 4. Some are called to be Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, and Teachers. Know where it is you are in your understanding of your specific calling and contribution to your organization and also value the contributions of other leaders. Your leadership team should ideally have people who represent different roles for the church to be healthy and multiplication-minded.

Know Yourself.

Strengths: What strengths do you bring to the transformational process of your church?
Weaknesses: Are you a cultural transformer? If not, find someone who is!

Recently, I walked through the central office of a multi-site megachurch in my community. As I toured this office, what I saw gave me so much hope for the future of this church. I was able to meet and engage with the pastoral team, all of whom have very different functions with regards to APEST. As they worked through issues and wrestled together over what was best for their congregation, I saw them stop at various times to pray and ask the Spirit for direction. My hope was to see this trickle down to their teams.

Know Your Team.

Each person on your team has unique talents, passions, and spiritual gifts. Do you know what they are? Do you know how to most effectively utilize the plethora of resources God has placed on your team? Encourage those on your God has called you to lead to develop and mature these unique attributes continually.

It may start with you, but having a healthy team is foundational to a captivating culture. Are there members of your team who seem disengaged? Find out why. Pursue safe, open and transparent conversation, and pray for the wisdom and discernment needed.

Is discipleship happening within your teams? Do you see mentoring happening? As I walked through the church I mentioned above and saw such health in leadership; I wondered whether I would see this same culture amongst the teams there. As people huddled up working on various projects, I noticed that at times they would just stop what they were doing and pray together. It was such an encouraging, positive experience to see the way the leadership culture (remember, it starts with you) informed and shaped the team culture.

Know Your Organization.

Your organization has a culture, good or bad. It also has a history, certain assets and liabilities, and specific traditions. Proceed in changing your organizational culture with intentional, small changes that ultimately lead to a more significant impact.

The church I’ve mentioned in this post did not always have such a healthy culture. In the past, they had a lone ranger-style leader who ultimately became addicted to his own power and influence. That made a significant negative impact on my community. It has now been a little over four years since the difficult decision to remove this leader from his position of authority. Positive change is happening, but the church had to be a bit delicate about it especially at first because of the history and traditions that had developed over time due to this leader’s bad habits.

Deep Change

Many organizations require really deep change. The majority of transformational leaders never get to experience the cultural change they seek in their own lifetime. (Think of Abraham Lincoln’s story). Are you willing to work through the change required of you, even knowing you may never get to see the end result?

Think about Moses. He went through so much to get the people of Israel to the Promised Land, but he never got to enter it. He knew he wouldn’t be able to go in, because of his temper and his killing of a man in Egypt. But knowing he wouldn’t be allowed to go in did not stop Moses from leading the people there.

Where are you willing to lead people, even if you don’t get to experience it with them?

The post Challenging and Improving Toxic Culture – Part 2 appeared first on Healthy Growing Churches.

Source: Challenging and Improving Toxic Culture – Part 2

The post Challenging and Improving Toxic Culture – Part 2 appeared first on Passion for Planting.