In regards to this morning’s Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast, yes I got a few mentions. Thanks Rick. Glad to see David Nicholas honored. He was a great man. He often turned up at our Young Leader events on the search for potential church planters. 2 memories of David stand out. At an…
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The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Church
Mike Cosper at Christianity Today has been dropping an amazing weekly podcast on the history of Mars Hill Church in Seattle (1996 – 2014) and what we can learn from it. Quality is superb and it includes a lot of voices from the church and from observers. If I can add a little correction the…
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Transcoding Church: Intro
And just like that, the global church was thrust into the biggest house church experiment ever seen in human history. Not quite the same as previous house church movements, most of our new aggregations of media-connected believers came about suddenly due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the necessity of isolation. But we find ourselves at…
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The Prodigal Project: Journey into the Emerging Church
In 2000AD an amazing book was published. All three authors just came on to my Facebook post to offer some thoughts. I thought I might bring that conversation over here before it gets lost inside FB. The book ‘Prodigal Project: Journey into the Emerging Church’ was published in 2000. It was written by Kiwi alt.…
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James Macdonald Tries to Sue Bloggers
Oh, that silly James Macdonald! He thinks he can sue bloggers into silence and not expect a backlash from other bloggers. HA HA HA. Last week he claimed he had ‘biblical’ reasons to take legal action against other Christians that are based on rethinking Bible passages according to today’s current litigious culture. And apparently Wayne…
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Willow Creek and Bill Hybels on Twitter
UPDATE (April 11, 2018) The Bill Hybels controversy was trending today on Twitter and Google searches. Rev. Hybels, the pastor of Willow Creek Church, one of the largest and most emulated churches in the country, retired last night, months before his planned retirement later this year, as a result of the controversy regarding sexual accusations. The…
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The Women Who Blogged and Brought a Heresy To It’s Knees.
How fitting that an unorthodox theological position running rampant for 30 years in evangelicalism, namely the complementarian doctrine of a hierarchically ordered Trinity based on authority/submission (ESS – Eternal Subordination of the Son) that has given rise to patriarchy, misogyny, clerical abuse by arrogant bully New Calvinist pastors, the silencing of women, the problematic ESV…
Read MoreWhy Earth Day Texas is the new SXSW for Baptists
I recently visited Texas and met with some of the key leaders of the Texas Baptists. I was encouraged to see some necessary transitions and changes but was quite shocked to see the presence of styrofoam cups at the coffee machine in the main HQ. I believe EDTx is the new SXSW for Texas Baptists…
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Outreach Trends for Next Year
In July of 2013, a well known Christian magazine that focuses on Christian outreach asked me what I thought they should cover in 2014. WHAT I SUGGESTED I suggested articles on urban agriculture, going off-grid, permaculture, voluntary simplicity, interaction with Muslims, nomads, social enterprise, DIY and self sufficiency, outreach that includes seekers rather than targets…
Read MoreEnough for All – My Bible Study
If you are in Germany then you might be joining the 100,000+ people in Hamburg for Kirchentag 2013 (Church Day) on May 1-5. If you make it to my session, please say hello afterwards. The Kirchentag folk do an absolutely incredible job of organizing and hosting a massive scale festival – the best organized I have…
Read MoreRick Warren sets up memorial fund
I have been thinking of Rick Warren all week. A dreadful loss. Praying peace on the family after the tragic suicide of their son Matthew. Rick Warren just set up the Matthew Warren Memorial Fund for Mental Illness. I hope the fund does well in raising awareness of this issue that affects so many, including…
Read MoreThoughts on Pope Francis
GREAT to hear waves of excitement over the new Pope. I am also excited about the appointment of Pope Francis, because . . . – he is from South America. – he is a humble man, riding the bus to work and refusing ecclesiastic titles. – he has a heart for the poor. – he…
Read MoreIf I was Pope
Wishing Pope Benedict XVI a smooth transition into his next phase of life as simply Joseph Ratzinger. What a surprise!! I was thinking of running for Pope. Change is good. I have been a Baptist, an Anglican, and a Presbyterian, but never a Catholic. And besides that, the Catholics have the coolest church buildings, especially…
Read More8 Thoughts on Lasting Out, not Burning Out
Greater productivity in ministry comes from lasting out and not burning out. A mentor once told me, “In your first year, you can do NO WRONG. In your second year, you can do NO RIGHT. In your third year, either you or your critics WILL LEAVE. In your fourth year, if you are still there,…
Read MoreLiverpool: Fresh Expressions Over One Third
New emerging church research on the Diocese of Liverpool just released by Church Army: “The proportion of fresh expressions of Church compared to parishes is 38.6%. If compared to the number of churches, which might be a closer comparison, that proportion is 30.4%. Either way, about a third of the ecclesial bodies in the diocesan…
Read MoreVideo: Bishop Justin Duckworth starts wearing purple
Here is my short video of Justin Duckworth getting installed as Bishop of Wellington last weekend. There’s some footage of the breakfast we all had with him in the morning, the ceremony at the Cathedral, some thoughts from Jenny Duckworth on the symbols, and some fun stuff. All in 5 minutes!! For the video of…
Read MoreBaptists in the house
It’s been an interesting weekend with a Baptist theme . We enjoyed having Rodney MaCann here a few times. Rodney has been National Leader of the Baptists for most the past decade, and has recently handed over the reigns to Craig Vernall. Rodney’s son, The Venerable Stu, is on the Ngatiawa team, where he functions, among…
Read MoreAs much as you need: An invitation to Kirchentag
I am about to accept an invitation to speak at Kirchentag which will happen in Hamburg next year. Every two years, 100,000 Protestants gather in a German city for this festival. In 2011 Kirchentag happened in Dresden and I had the privilege of being on a panel to talk about building and keeping relationships in…
Read MoreBlog banter on church leadership and fresh expressions
Up at 4am this morning. Interesting blog banter going on from 3 Brits: 1. Richard Passmore on Fresh Expressions “I think FE may actually hinder change in the longer term because of the gravitational pull of the institution and accompanying orthodoxy. I think we are already seeing dissenting voices being marginalised as FE spreads and…
Read MoreNO we are NOT living in a secluded commune!
How embarrassing! After all the news coverage we got last week, my friends and family now think I live in a COMMUNE! Yes, a flipping’ “commune”! When I was a kid in school at Orewa, one of our teachers was a bushy-bearded hippie who lived in a Puhoi commune. We thought that was weird. It…
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