Where to Start and Where to End

When I work with church planters it seems they want to talk about the vision that God's given them to plant a church. While it is critical to understand where you are headed and how you are going to get there, clarity of your vision is not the place to start when planting. 

Start with God's mission. God is a missionary God. The Father sent His Son to fulfill a specific mission on earth. The Father and Son sent the Spirit. And the Father, Son and Spirit sent the Church. 

The Church is not the end, but rather it is the means to the end!

Establishing churches (church planting) is not the end. The glory and greatness of God displayed among all peoples of the earth worshipping around the throne - that's what the end looks like. 

Planting churches needs to start with and end with this picture in mind.

Today's Missional Challenge: Focus on God's mission! Consider what would it look like for the mission of God to be fulfilled in your neighborhood, community or city. 

Related Posts: 

Missional Transformation

The Multiplication Cycle™: Coaching Guide 1

10 Ways to Grasp Jesus' Mission

Cultivating Missional Movements Workshop | June 13-14, 2013

The Cultivating Missional Movements Workshop

Have you caught the vision for missional ministry? If you’re ready for some serious help on implementing incarnational, missional ministry, come to the Cultivating Missional Movements Workshop, presented by Bob Logan and Dave DeVries.

1 ½ day open event

June 13-14, 2013 

Chicago

 

At this workshop, we’ll dig into all the systems necessary to start, support and multiply missional movements. How do you actually implement this vision in a way that results in true movements on a regional or national level?  Come join us and discover the practical strategies and action steps that get you where you want to go.

Here’s what you will take away from this 1 ½ day workshop:

• Con­nec­tion with others who have a sim­ilar vision and heart 
• A frame­work for how to move for­ward most effectively 
• Assess­ment of what’s cur­rently func­tioning well in your system 
• Iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of the key issues to address 
• Clar­i­fi­ca­tion of the strategic direc­tion and pri­ority actions 
• An imple­men­ta­tion coaching guide for your team to use moving forward

For implementation after the workshop, you’ll have enough clarity and resources to run on your own or you can take the opportunity to journey with others on an ongoing basis.  

 ***Note that The Cultivating Missional Movements Workshop is an implementation workshop. It’s designed for teams that have:

• Caught the vision for missional, incarnational ministry
• Committed to develop a multiplying movement   
• Begun taking some steps down that road

If you’re ready to take a more comprehensive, holistic approach to your sustaining a missional movement over the long haul, we can help you with the plan to get there. Register here.

Priced at $195 for a team of 1 to 3

***Early bird registration before May 31:  $150***

Early bird registrations before May 31^st 
receive a complimentary copy of The Missional Journey! 
Event venue: 3830 Ohio Ave. Saint Charles, IL 60174

Questions? Email us at info@missionaltoolkit.com.

Register here.

The Missional Journey book

I am thrilled to recommend The Missional Journey: Multiplying disciples and churches that transform the world. The book is written by my friend and mentor Bob Logan.

Here's a brief summary of what the book is about:

There are plenty of books about discipleship and about Christian living. Likewise, there are plenty of books about the church, about leading groups, and even about church planting. There are very few books that are about all of these things—and how the pieces fit together.

But that’s what The Missional Journey: multiplying disciples and churches that transform the world is all about. Everything is crammed into that subtitle: making disciples, starting churches, multiplying at every level, and making a difference in the world around us. Together, all of this adds up to a renewed vision for what the church could look like, from the grassroots up.

I first met Bob when Deanne and I were preparing to plant a church in Southern California nearly 25 years ago. Since then Bob has authored many books and helped church planters all over the world to join God in mission.

Over the past months, Bob and I have begun to collaborate on the development of resources that would advance missional movements globally. The Missional Journey book is the first to be released. When you read the book, you'll quickly discover that we've captured both of our voices. The main sections and flow of thought are provided by Bob with my personal commentary scattered throughout each chapter. I can best describe my contribution as if you and I were sitting down together as you are reading  the book. I would want to be saying to you - "This is important, don't miss this point." Or, "Let's pause a moment and reflect on that thought before reading anything else." Or, "Here's another thought or perspective on what Bob just said." Picture me as your coach right next to you as you are reading, and helping you to get the maximum out of what you are reading. 

Here's one example of what that looks like: 

I also put together the study guides at the end of each chapter. These will help you take what you are processing and put it into action. 

You can download the pdf of chapter 4 of The Missional Journey here.

You can purchase The Missional Journey in print here or a digital version on kindle, iBooks or nook. 

For more on collaborative resources with Logan Leadership, visit missionaltoolkit.com. 

Today's Missional Challenge:  Read The Missional Journey and discover ways that you can engage the culture, form communities, develop leadership, and multiply movements. 

Related Posts: 

Bob Logan on Church Planting and Making Disciples
Bob Logan's Blog
Pre-Conversion Discipleship

The Missional Planter: Living Outside the Walls (Exponential 2013 Workshop)

For the past several years I have loved attending the Exponential Conference in Orlando. I don't normally love going to conferences, but this one in particular offers several things that attract me to come back each year. 

1. The topic: Church Planting - this is something that I am passionate about and have given my life to advance. 

2. The friends - each year I have the opportunity to connect with network and denominational leaders, as well as church planters that I've coached and trained. This has begun particularly meaningful to me. 

3. The sunshine - now that I live in Bellevue, Washington, the opportunity to enjoy sunny Florida is more attractive. 

4. Influence - each year I look for opportunities to influence church planters to make disciples who make disciples. 

The Missional Planter: Living Outside the Walls

This year I am pinch hitting for Chris Seay (who can't be there) and leading a workshop for church planters on Tuesday afternoon at 4:30pm. I know it's late in the day and many people are going to be hungry and ready to get dinner - but consider joining me as we focus on this important topic of how church planters can personally engage in making disciples. It's so easy to get consumed with the responsibilities of leading a church and caring for members and getting ready for Sunday worship gatherings. 

Too many planters talk missional; not as many walk the walk. What does it look like for a church planter to live missionally? How does it impact your schedule? Your friendships? Your family and small group? Your weekends? Your church? In this workshop, Dave DeVries shares how to personally engage in the harvest field and helps you shape your heart and schedule to be more missionally focused.Time: Tuesday 4:30-5:30pmLocation: Main Building WC-132/134

I strongly believe that church planters and pastors need to be the lead disciplemakers in their churches. They need to model an example to be followed. This is what we are going to focus on for an hour on Tuesday, April 23 at Exponential. I hope you'll consider joining me. 

Today's Missional Challenge: Don't just focus on being the leader - focus on being the lead disciplemaker in your church. 

Related Posts:

Why Attend a Conference

Church Planting, Time Management and The Multiplication Cycle™

Calendars vs. Milestones

Have You Baptized Anyone?

Recently I had the opportunity to teach on disciplemaking at Adelphia Bible School in Ravensdale, Washington. As we unpacked the individual phrases in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, I asked the students, "Have you baptized anyone?" There were only a small percentage of hands that were raised. 

This isn't a surprise. In many churches, baptizing is reserved for the clergy. However, nowhere in the New Testament do we see instructions or restrictions that limit who can baptize. 

I told the students that if they were to be obedient followers of Jesus, they should be making disciples, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commanded. I challenged them to plan to baptize those they were discipling. 

I received an email the next week from Lauren who wrote to tell me what had happened to her…

Hi Dave! I wanted to thank you for bringing up the baptism part of Jesus' commission to his disciples. I was never really aware of that because I had never seen it practiced; I had only ever seen pastors or elders baptize people.
One of the girls I have been investing in these past couple weeks at youth group is getting baptized next Sunday and asked me to baptize her and I'm so excited! Without your class and training I would not have been as prepared or peaceful about this. If you could pray for me as I move forward into a mentoring position with her and her friend, Sam and Aja, could you keep me in your prayers to remain a faithful and consistent leader?
Thanks again!
-Lauren T.

I was so thrilled to hear the news. (and I asked her permission to share this with you)

Have you baptized anyone?

How does baptizing fit into your disciplemaking process? 

Is baptizing new disciples of Jesus a goal for you this year?

Should it be?

Today's Missional Challenge: Make it your goal to be obedient to Jesus. Plan to be personally involved in making disciples, baptizing and teaching to obey all that Jesus commanded. 

Related Posts: 

Measuring Success in Your Church

Be Baptizers

First Make Disciples