The Telegraph (UK) has a story about a flamenco-dancing priest in Spain. According to the story Fr. Pepe is wildly popular and especially with the ladies. They love it when, as part of the mass, he dances the flamenco. It’s no . . . Continue reading →
Church Growth
The Next Big Church Thing
One of the hottest restaurants in my hometown of Chicago is Next. Chef Grant Achatz’s first restaurant, Alinea, has three Michelin stars and is regarded as one of the best restaurants in the world. Achatz wanted his second restaurant, Next, to be . . . Continue reading →
Your God Is Too Small (To Reach Millennials)
Chasing coolness won’t work. In my experience, churches that try to be cool end up with a pathetic facsimile of what was cool about 10 years ago. And if you’ve got a congregation of businessmen and soccer moms, donning a hip veneer . . . Continue reading →
Messages To Millennials (2): Church
In part 1 we looked at the some of the challenges Millennials face relative to marriage. According to the recent Pew Study, Millennials identify with organized religion at a lower rate than previous generations. To quote Billy Joel, they “didn’t start the . . . Continue reading →
A Message From A Millennial To The Boomers
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Lutheran Baby Boomer, Hi. Sir. Ma’am. I hear you say a lot of things about people my age in the church, people 30 and under. I hear you say them and I really am listening–mostly–but in my head, . . . Continue reading →
Must We “Translate” the Gospel?
David Fitch says and assumes, “yes,” but I doubt it. The “missional” movements are not really fundamentally different from the middle-class, pedestrian “church growth” movements of 25 years ago. They all seem to assume that accommodation is something that we do as . . . Continue reading →
How Large Should A Congregation Be?
A faithful HB reader wrote to ask about a good problem. His confessional Reformed congregation is growing. The question is how to proceed? Should the congregation expand the building or seek to establish new daughter congregations? Below is my reply. § It . . . Continue reading →
Progress In Cincinnati
Guest post by Zac Wyse, who is a licentiate in the United Reformed Churches. He’s a recent WSC graduate and he’s planting a new congregation in Cincinnati. § We are a new church that belongs to a growing federation called the United . . . Continue reading →
Strategic, Authentic, and Confessional
Introduction: What Do You Want? I spent an encouraging evening with a enthusiastic group of young people at pastor’s house recently. Over dinner we discussed the challenges of planting Reformed Churches. We agreed that whatever we do we need to be strategic, we . . . Continue reading →
On Saving the City (UPDATED Again)
UPDATED 11 May (see below) 10 May 2013 (see below) Original Post 6 May 2013 So I Googled “redeeming the city” and produced 5 million results. The first link, from 2006, captures the spirit and the rhetoric of the movement. The writer . . . Continue reading →
Dever on the Problem with Buildings, Bodies, and Budgets
(HT: Rich Barcellos)
A Reformed Work in Tepeyac, Costa Rica
Rev. Bill Green (WSC ‘1983) spoke to the adult class at EURC today about the work in Tepeyac, Costa Rica and particularly about the need for international church planting to build institutions in order to help facilitate the work for the long . . . Continue reading →
Glimpses Into Modern Missions in Jerusalem
David Zadok is a WSC grad who is working in Israel with HaGefen Publishing. You can hear interviews with David here and here. The following is from his latest newsletter:
Transcript: Keller on Gospel "Eco-Systems"
Thanks to Bill Schweitzer for transcribing this talk by Tim Keller that was given recently to at Renew South Florida. Thanks to Jon Payne for sending it along. Lots of good, interesting, and thoughtful stuff here but can you find the missing . . . Continue reading →
A Confessional Alternative to the PCA's Strategic Plan From the NW Georgia Presbytery (Updated)
UPDATE 27 MAY 2010 David W. Hall, pastor of Midway Presbyterian Church (PCA), Powder Springs, GA offers some “Answers to Questions” about the overture. The overture is now online (PDF). ORIGINAL POST 24 MAY 2010 On April 30, 2010 the Rev Dr . . . Continue reading →
Is the Strategic Plan Presbyterian?
“There are some attributes of a thing that can be altered without compromising its basic character. You could remove the stone cladding of Buckingham Palace to reveal the red brick underneath and it would still be Buckingham Palace. Yet if you painted the White . . . Continue reading →
Using the Common to Advance the Sacred or Using the Sacred to Advance the Common?
One need not be a Christian to observe truths about the way organizations work. Those true observations are what I mean by “common” (not neutral). They are true because they are observations about the nature of God’s general process, even if they . . . Continue reading →
Thoughts on the PCA’s Proposed Strategic Plan
Martin Hedman is a graduate of Westminster Seminary California and he’s a PCA church planter in the LA metro. He’s also had significant training as an “industrial engineer.” These, he says, are the “efficiency experts.” As a pastor, church planter, and a . . . Continue reading →
What If "Church Growth" Methods Were Built on a False Premise?
According to this piece by Kevin DeYoung, they are.
Video: Bob Godfrey on "Church Growth"
Links here.