by Kenny Burchard | Aug 12, 2014 | Church Life, Church Planting, Messy Church, Missional, Money, Practical Theology, Short-term
I’ve been doing a series of posts on my own ecclesial journey recently, and I think this one fits within that series as a sub-post geared toward answering a frequently-asked question among believers who are in simple churches. “Simple Church” is...
by Kenny Burchard | Aug 10, 2014 | Church Life, Church Planting, Disciple Making, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology
This is part three in an emerging series. If you’re just starting here, you’re not up to speed. Context is everything, so I hope you’ll go back and read part one and part two first. If you have your homework done, feel free to read on… Also,...
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...
by Robby McAlpine | Jul 26, 2014 | Church Planting, Cultural Engagement, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Leadership, Missional, Practical Theology
So, you want to become more intentionally missional. You’ve heard the stories of amazing missional endeavors, and the incredible fruit they’ve seen. You want to be more intentionally incarnational. You’ve read books, watched videos online, scrolled through websites...
by Brad Blocksom | Jul 22, 2014 | Church Planting, Conflict Resolution, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology, Small Groups, Theological Training
Yep, I’ve been reading up some on the organic church movement as well as perusing that ever dependable source of indisputable facts on the internet – the Blogsphere & Facebook! Truth be told, there is a lot that really attracts me about more organic...
by Luke Geraty | Jul 20, 2014 | Church Planting, Leadership, Practical Theology
Over the past eight years I’ve taken a number of different approaches to having a leadership/ministry/staff team. In this post I want to share a few of the things that I’ve learned over the years from my experience, both positive and negative, and the...
by Brad Blocksom | Jul 9, 2014 | Church Planting, Devotionals, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology, Prayer
Daniel 9:3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. (ESV) This is no whimsical prayer! it is a seeking of God which means abandoning ourselves. It is repentant, sorrowful, confessing sin...
by Luke Geraty | May 21, 2014 | Church Planting, Cross-Cultural Ministry, Cultural Engagement, Disciple Making, Evangelism, Leadership, Missional, Practical Theology, Small Town Church
Here’s a quick round up of some short articles I’ve written or contributed to in regards to small town rural church ministry: Ministry Longevity in Small Towns – Bob Logan was kind enough to allow me to reflect on the importance of ministry longevity...
by Luke Geraty | Apr 15, 2014 | Church Planting, Cultural Engagement, Evangelism, Messy Church, Missional, Small Town Church
For those of you interested in small town missional theology, I’ve written a piece for Multiply Vineyard called “Small Town Missiology: Contextualization & Outreach.” Feel free to head over there and read it. I’m convinced that we need to...
by Robby McAlpine | Mar 23, 2014 | Church Planting, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Missional, Practical Theology
My wife’s people are Mennonites from the Kiev. They immigrated to Canada to escape the Bolsheviks during Russia’s great revolution, and settled mostly in Manitoba (which is as close to Siberia’s weather as Canada could offer). They have their own unique language (Low...
by Luke Geraty | Mar 21, 2014 | Church Planting, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelism, Missional, Practical Theology, Small Town Church
What is a disciple? Some people say that a disciple is someone who is “following Jesus together as their Master and Teacher so that they may become just like Jesus.” Years ago, Walter Henrichsen said that Disciples are Made Not Born. Jesus himself said that the...
by Kenny Burchard | Mar 18, 2014 | Church Planting, Practical Theology
Quiz: Which text in the New Testament gives us the imperative to plant churches? If you have an answer, share it in the comment section. In the meantime, keep reading! Church Planting Model #1: In 2001, my wife and I accepted the generous gift of free...
by Kenny Burchard | Sep 21, 2013 | Church Planting, Ecclesiology, Missional, Small Town Church
Were it not for the idea of the “Mobile Church,” the number of Christian congregations in the United States would be significantly diminished. I don’t know the current stats, but mobile churches are everywhere. In small towns and large cities across...
by Luke Geraty | Apr 18, 2013 | Church Planting, Conflict Resolution, Leadership, Theological Training
A friend of mine asked me the following question: “Would you go work in a church under another pastor where you have a masters and he only has a bible college degree?” I think this is actually a very important question. I think it’s entirely possible...
by Luke Geraty | Mar 28, 2013 | Church Planting, Cultural Engagement, Leadership, Practical Theology, Theological Training
I am cautious about pragmatic practitioners and scholars. I fear that any attempt to explain this may alienate people I love and care for, as well as trust. But I also believe that it’s helpful for different perspectives to interact and communicate about their...
by Luke Geraty | Mar 19, 2013 | Across the Web, Church Planting, Cultural Engagement, Leadership, Missional, Pneumatology, Technology, Theological Training
My good friend, Brian Fulthorp, has written a blog post that I think raises some good issues – “On Promoting Theological Education.” His concerns are related to a new ministry focus by The Gospel Coalition (TGC) called “Theological Famine...
by Luke Geraty | Mar 1, 2013 | Church Planting, Cultural Engagement, Small Town Church
I did my final MDiv Practical Theology project on rural church ministry. This is back when the whole “Emerging Church” thing was going on, so I basically took a lot of the ideas floating around and tried to contextualize it and reflect upon it with a small...
by Luke Geraty | Sep 15, 2012 | Church Planting, Ecclesiology, Small Town Church
I’m fortunate to pastor in a rural church that has a really great building (and it’s paid off baby!!!) Okay, sorry. I was getting a little excited there. But along with a nice building, there is a really nice sized office with the title...
by Able Baker | Sep 5, 2012 | Church Planting, Leadership, Small Town Church
Among the comments from a recent blog article I wrote (11 Mental, Emotional & Spiritual Challenges Unique to Rural Pastors) a guy named Joe asked “what advice would you give someone leaving suburbia to do ministry in a rural context?” There is so much I could talk...
by Luke Geraty | Sep 4, 2012 | Church Planting, Cultural Engagement, Small Town Church, Theological Training
One of the questions raised in the comment section of Able’s infamous blog on the 11 mental, emotional, & spiritual challenges unique to rural pastors was a question: “So what advice would you give to someone contemplating leaving a suburban ministry...
