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Recent research tells us that 78 percent of the population would be willing to listen if anyone wanted to tell them about Jesus Christ. Almost 90 percent of these same people say they have close friends who are Christians. Johnny Hunt, President of the Southern Baptist Convention shares insight on how four very different churches are passionate, creative, intentional and relentless in their pursuit of engaging people for Christ. To read the article, click here. How does your church engage the community for sharing Christ? What are the challenges that you're facing? To add a comment below, sign-in to the Missional Network site. First time users, click here to join.
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Jesus started it. By allowing twelve disciples to follow Him around, eat with Him, drink with Him, teach with Him, and heal with Him, Jesus ensured that the gospel spread far beyond Galilee. Paul kept it going. By mentoring Timothy and Titus—by traveling with them, evangelizing with them, praying for them, and writing to them—he ensured that Gentile churches grew stronger and multiplied.
Recently, church planters are re-discovering the importance of sharing what they've learned and experienced with new church planters. This mentoring relationship has created momentum for new churches to launch and become healthy, thriving communities of faith. Click here to read more.
Are you part of a successful church planting story that resulted from a mentoring relationship? Is it part of your churches' DNA to train and mentor rising church planters?
To add a comment, sign-in to the Missional Network site. First time users, click here to join.
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What can we learn from Chick-fil-a that translates to church planting? I'm not certain, but this story found in Monday Morning Insight's newsletter, explains how one church planter has embraced the Northpoint model and is thriving in a franchised church in Nashville, Tennessee. To read the complete article, click on the link below. What do you think?
Re-thinking the Franchised Church
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I am a little overwhelmed as I hear of friends and family who are hurting. Some are experiencing the tragic loss of a child, others are struggling through life-threatening diseases, and many young families are hurting from the after-effects of broken marital relationships. I am reminded that we live in a broken world filled with pain. During a recent mission trip to South Africa, I met an amazing couple, Mac and Di. A few weeks after our mission trip, Mac was diagnosed with lung cancer. He has experienced intense pain both emotionally and physically, and his cancer has not responded well to treatment. Di, said in a recent e-mail, "I am just glad that this world is not God’s final plan 'cause it’s quite a mess!" When I read her email, I thought, "She's right, it is a mess." We live in a broken world, filled with broken people. No one in this world is exempt from pain and disappointment. Income, social status, power, popularity, or fame can't shield us from the effects of a broken world. The big question we must consider is, "How are we responding to the pain we experience in our circumstances?" As one friend put it recently, "My problems remind me to hold on tight to Jesus everyday." That is the answer. Hold on tight to Jesus, know that each day is a gift, and be relieved to know that there's more than this life, ahead of us. God ultimately holds us tight through our circumstances and won't let go. When life is a mess, remember Jesus' words in Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
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Several months ago a group of missional leaders came together to form NAMB’s Young Leader Task Force. This task force was really more about a mindset than age or ministry style. Leaders from various backgrounds, ethnicities, and ministry paradigms were invited to discuss ideas and thoughts on how NAMB could be more effective in assisting missional churches in sharing Christ and starting new churches. The unifying vision was that they were missional-minded. They understood that to reach a community, you must create ministry environments that are culturally relevant to the community that it is reaching. We appreciate their commitment to missional thinking and involvement in growing together with us in doing Kingdom work. In response to the task force recommendations we launched the Missional Network website, an online and relational community of ministry leaders connecting and sharing dreams, ideas, best practices, and resources. We would like to invite you to join the conversation and participate in making the network an active community of leaders helping each other. If you’d like to blog on the Missional Network site, here’s six simple guidelines:
1. Respect your audience. Don't use ethnic slurs, obscenity, or personal insults.
2. Show proper consideration for others' privacy and for topics that may be considered ojectionable or inflammatory. Don’t use this site for gossip.
3. Be the first to correct your own mistakes, and don't alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so.
4. Do add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective on how other leaders can be more effective in planting churches and evangelizing through innovation, best practices, and wise choices.
5. Share what your church is doing right, lessons learned, challenges, and successes.
6. Share your insights on culture, church, and trends that will engage other leaders and benefit their ministries.
If you are interested in blogging on the Missional Network, please reply to this blog with your request.
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Missional. It’s the new buzzword for many of today’s church leaders. Over the last two years, the term has grown in popularity and has been used in various contexts. Even though missional is the buzzword of the day, the concept has been around much longer. Actually, it has been around for centuries.
Missionaries learned long ago that to reach a people group for Christ, they would need to understand their culture. By understanding the natives' beliefs, traditions, and values, they could eat, drink and talk like them. Then they could share the love of Christ within the context of the natives’ culture. Missional leaders and churches are ones that are viewing the world through missional lenses; they are missionaries—understanding the culture, leading biblically faithful and culturally relevant churches, and thinking in missionary ways about their contexts.
So, what does a missional church look like? Here’s a definition that we’ve adopted that helps us get our arms around the term. A missional church is a biblically faithful and culturally appropriate reproducing community of disciples sent on mission by God to advance His kingdom among all peoples. Nothing in the definition has to do with age, dress code or worship style. They may not all look the same but they do have the same mission. The missional church simply adopts biblical guidelines as they discover new ways to reach people in the context of their community’s culture. They understand their communities and are intentionally creating environments that break down barriers and connect people with a loving God.
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