by Brad Blocksom | Sep 27, 2016 | Church Life, Church Planting, Cross-Cultural Ministry, Cultural Engagement, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Evangelism, Family, Leadership, Messy Church, Missional, Money, Practical Theology, Prayer, Preaching, Small Groups
I came across these podcasts and, quite frankly, they were pretty eye opening for me (they’re kind of all related). So I wanted to share them here and see if we could get some good discussion going in the comments below. And, here they are: This one talks about...
by Luke Geraty | Jan 27, 2016 | Church Life, Church Planting, Practical Theology, The Vineyard Movement
For the past two weeks I’ve been in the U.K. with my good friend Steve Nicholson. When I first announced to some friends that I’d be heading to England this year, they asked me why. My answer was simple: Steve is a pneumatological Jedi Knight. One would...
by Brad Blocksom | Jan 5, 2016 | Church Planting, Devotionals, Disciple Making, Leadership, Missional, Practical Theology, World Misions
2 Cor. 3:5-6 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives...
by Brad Blocksom | Sep 15, 2015 | Church Life, Church Planting, Devotionals, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Leadership, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology, Prayer, Small Groups, World Misions
Acts 20:11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. (ESV) It was Sunday. Paul had already preached past midnight. They continued to talk and share a meal together (perhaps two...
by Robby McAlpine | Aug 14, 2015 | Church Life, Church Planting, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Leadership, Missional, Practical Theology, Small Groups
No look back at Bob Girard’s Brethren, Hang Loose would be complete without revisiting the topic of house groups. “The ‘great revivals’ of American history were nearly always preceded and followed by small groups meeting for prayer and...
by Robby McAlpine | Aug 8, 2015 | Church Life, Church Planting, Discipleship, Leadership, Practical Theology, Revival, Small Groups
There really is nothing new under the sun, as these quotes from Brethren, Hang Loose ably demonstrate: “Every ministerial convention is more of the same. The pastors of the big, successful churches are there to tell you how it’s done, how to organize,...
by Robby McAlpine | Aug 7, 2015 | Church Life, Church Planting, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Leadership, Missional, Practical Theology, Small Groups
(Image source: Parable of the Hidden Treasure, Wikicommons) As I continue to re-read Bob Girard’s Brethren, Hang Loose, I find gems chock full o’ wisdom like this one: “The spiritual ministry of each individual member must be a spiritual ministry...
by Brad Blocksom | May 16, 2015 | Church Life, Church Planting, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Evangelism, Missional, Practical Theology, Prayer
There are, of course, two extremes on this issue. On the one hand we have the Fundamentalist approach: Circle the wagons! Its us against the world. Keep those sinners out of the church. They might have a bad influence on my children, and they might infect us lest sin...
by Brad Blocksom | May 5, 2015 | Church Planting, Devotionals, Evangelicalism, Evangelism, Healing, Leadership, Missional, Practical Theology, Prayer
Luke 13:19 It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” (ESV) Jesus answers His own question on “What is the kingdom of God like?”...
by Luke Geraty | Apr 17, 2015 | Church Life, Church Planting, Cultural Engagement, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelism, Leadership, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology, Small Town Church
At this year’s Society of Vineyard Scholars annual meeting, focused on “Thinking with the Church, Thinking with the Vineyard,” features a panel featuring three of our ThinkTheology.org contributors: Brad Blocksom, Kenny Burchard, and Luke Geraty....
by Luke Geraty | Apr 8, 2015 | Church Planting, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelism, Missional, Practical Theology
God cares about multiplication: “The first essential principle [of church growth] is to realize that God wants his lost children found and enfolded. Church growth explodes from the life-giving nature of the eternal God. Jesus Christ gave his disciples the Great...
by Brad Blocksom | Mar 25, 2015 | Church Planting, Cultural Engagement, Devotionals, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Healing, Missional, Practical Theology, Prayer, Preaching
Mark 6:12-13 So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. (ESV) Jesus sends out the twelve in pairs giving them His (not their own, inherent) authority to perform...
by Brad Blocksom | Feb 17, 2015 | Church Life, Church Planting, Cross-Cultural Ministry, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Evangelism, Leadership, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology
Bear with me for a minute: A guy (or gal) has a heart/gifting for evangelism. So what does he do? Does he become an evangelist? No she becomes the Pastor of a Church and endeavors to create an organization centered around her goal of soul-winning. She turns every...
by Luke Geraty | Nov 20, 2014 | Church Planting, Disciple Making, Missional, Practical Theology
Similar to what I argued recently about how a disciple making movement becomes a church planting movement, I was scanning through portions of one of my favorite books ever written… Total Church, by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis. If you do not own this book, stop...
by Luke Geraty | Nov 11, 2014 | Church Planting, Disciple Making, Missional, Practical Theology, The Vineyard Movement
While I love the complex issues related to deep theological frameworks, I also really appreciate that Jesus boiled down the alleged 613 Laws of the Old Testament to two things: love God, love people (Matt. 22:36-40). And while I can appreciate the numerous purposes,...
by James Henderson | Oct 14, 2014 | Church Life, Church Planting, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology
I’m not sure that house/organic/simple churches are the complete answer for reviving or “greening” the American Church. Historically, I can think of several movements in which small groups or house churches played a very positive role. For example, while the...
by Luke Geraty | Sep 26, 2014 | Church Life, Church Planting, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelism, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology, Small Groups, Small Town Church
As we’ve entered into the fall, our attendance at Trinity Christian Fellowship has been growing and we’re seeing new and old faces, together. It’s beautiful to see Jesus’ community gathered to experience the Spirit’s presence/empowerment....
by Brad Blocksom | Sep 2, 2014 | Church Life, Church Planting, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Evangelism, Leadership, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology, Prayer, Small Groups
We’ve been talking a lot here at Think Theology lately about Ekklesia (church) thanks to Kenny Burchard and Luke Geraty. So I think what I have to say today will fit right in along that vein. Now I understand all the practical, logistical reasons why churches go...
by Brad Blocksom | Aug 13, 2014 | Church Life, Church Planting, Conflict Resolution, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelism, Healing, Marriage, Missional, Practical Theology, Prayer, Small Groups
So last time we talked about the idea that “Butts in Seats” and “Decisions for Christ” may not be the best way to measure the success of the local church. And I proposed that we should focus not on church growth, but rather on discipleship as a...
by Brad Blocksom | Jul 29, 2014 | Church Life, Church Planting, Cultural Engagement, Disciple Making, Evangelicalism, Missional, Practical Theology, Small Groups
So I’m continuing to explore the idea of more organic forms of church. I came across this blog post entitled How the Local Movement is Revitalizing Church. Its basically about “reclaiming the ancient idea of the parish” – that’s right a...
