Dear Friends,
It is inspiring to spend time with people who are passionate about planting new communities to reach and transform lives with the gospel of Jesus Christ. This month I have participated in –
A Church Planting Movements Summit in Manila: With a variety of partners, CCC launched Global Church Movements – with their equipping concept MC2 (missional communities multiplied). With a passion to fulfill the gospel commission given by Jesus – to make disciples who will make disciples, preparing people for the soon return of Jesus, over 100 people – representing countries from Iran, Turkey and all countries north and east of there (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, China, Mongolia, North and South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia etc). There were some not yet involved in church planting movements – but others who are part of movements planting 1,000s and tens of 1,000s of churches each year.
They shared key movement principles, how to ensure these are part of their DNA, resources for equipping planters and movement leaders, and how they could partner to prepare people for the coming of Jesus. Although there are variations – a basic definition of a church is: a minimum of 10 newly baptized believers from at least 3 different families who are meeting weekly to share the Word and worship, who are making other disciples and planting another church. They do not build buildings – and no church planters are paid. House church is a basic biblical principle in their thinking. The NT churches all met in homes – not because of persecution, but because such churches have natural/organic leadership systems and multiply easily!
The TEN Conference @ Small Boat Big Sea in Sydney: Over 100 people joined the Small Boat Big Sea community to celebrate 10 years of making a difference in Manly and northern beaches of Sydney. On Friday evening Ed Stetzer set the frames for the conference with the provocative statement: ‘most Christians are not engaged as participants in the mission of God’ and ‘churches have structured for passivity!’ He then led in a dynamic Bible exposition on 1 Peter 4, explaining –
‘ALL have gifts for ministry,
God intends ALL to use these gifts;
for this he empowers ALL,
to use these gifts to bring glory to his name’.
Michael Frost (co-author of The Shaping of Things to Come), who has been part of Small Boat Big Sea since its beginning, challenged all. The term missional is now being used by many. But most using the term are ‘not yet missional’. The missional conversation must be kept alive. It has its origins in missio Dei – ‘to be sent out’. ‘ This does not mean that we don’t gather. We do!’ Mike stated, ‘But gathering engages with the world around!’
Two challenges –
(1) Are we engaged with the people in the community? Do you count non-Christians – atheists, Buddhists, Muslims, etc as friends? Do you have dinner with them, go to movies with them, have them in our home – weekly?
(2) Are you part of a church or faith community that is planning to reproduce and multiply – this year? Healthy churches multiply. New churches reach new people! How are you involved?
Be courageous & faithful,
Peter Roennfeldt
CHURCH PLANTING NEWS – 26 Feb 2012
Sayings from the TEN Conference –
# Ed Stetzer (http://www.edstetzer.com/blog/) – ‘Passive spectators in church, rob God of glory.’
# Dan Kimball from Vintage Faith Church (http://www.vintagechurch.org/) – ‘It is very confusing for people looking into the church or Christianity from the outside! People don’t want to be like us!’
# Olivia MacLean – pastor of Solace (http://www.solacechurch.org.au/) – ‘We gather around the seven Christian spiritual practices of justice, Word, Spirit, everyday, holiness, relationships, and contemplation.’
# Tim Hein from CitySoul (http://citysoul.org.au/) – ‘What is holiness? Set apart! But Jesus lived in the most un-set apart way. Maybe the best terms would be present and distinct! We lose a sense of holiness if we are either too present or too distinct!’
# Jon Owen – author of Muddy Spiritual and UNOH team leader in western Sydney: ‘Avoid nexting – guessing what God might do!’ (and read his book http://unoh.org/urban-hope/2010/08/muddy-spirituality-jon-owen/)
# Elizabeth Scott, in a 10 minute talk entitled ‘Confessions of a Gen X Call Girl’: ‘If we want to be more like Jesus, we must experience the abandonment that he suffered … We need to normalize the faith crisis as something we will all experience.’
# Mike Frost of Small Boat Big Sea (http://smallboatbigsea.org/) – ‘Why do we want to get people to come to church meetings? Have we reduced the missio Dei – and the reign of God, to attendance at a church meeting?’
# Jon Owen – ‘Following Jesus is always a path of descent!’
Note: most of the talks will be online at http://smallboatbigsea.org/.
Resources (more resources & stories – www.newchurchlife.com)
Western Australian Church Planting Summits with Peter Roennfeldt : for more details contact WA Adventist Church Planting Coordinator, Marilyn Ostring [email protected] –
This weekend : Albany – March 2-4
Next weekend : Mt Newman – March 9-11
For resources to equip church planters in movements –
# The Timothy Initiative (TTi) http://ttionline.org/ – currently planting thousands of churches in 18 countries.
# Dynamic Church Planting International (DCPI) http://dcpi.org/ – with the vision of planting 5 million new churches.
# Download Planting Churches that Multiply – Conversation Guide from https://www.newchurchlife.com/index.php/resources/ for equipping teams in postmodern contexts.
Missional Communities Australia – discipleship workshop 6-8 March 2012 @ Crossway: For information and online registration is at www.missionalcommunities.com.au
Church planting in Europe by EuroChurch is worth a read. You can get a link to it and the PDF download from www.newchurchlife.com.
How Martin Luther Went Viral – a fascinating report and interview (if you missed this last time) by The Economist which planter Gordon Lethbridge alerted me to. It is excellent! Find the link at www.newchurchlife.com .
CHURCH PLANTING NEWS