It was July. People were in summer mode. The protestant exodus had taken its toll on our new church. So we decided to shake it up. We gave everyone two weeks notice. We told them to come to the building a half hour early (10:30am), make sure everyone had on walking shoes and bring wagons or strollers for the kids. We told them we were leaving the building for an adventure and a picnic after.

It was a hot one. I never would have thought more than half our normal attendees would come….(continued)

I live in a place where tomorrow has already arrived. And I can tell you from experience, what is working today (however one might define “working”) will not work tomorrow. As a strategy, attracting a large group of people to one room, one day a week (or multiple medium-sized rooms) to hear about Jesus, is over. I don’t mean that people no longer attend church on Sunday morning or Sunday evening. But a great gathering is not an effective long-term strategy for kingdom-growth. While everyone else seems to be doubling down and polishing up on what has worked, in the church I lead, I’m trying to sort out what will work…(continued)

In the attractional church world, “bling” matters. And most often our “religious bling” comes in the form of bigger and better church buildings fully equipped with the latest and greatest creature comforts: movie seating, HD video screens, cutting edge audio, coffee shops, indoor playgrounds, climbing walls…and yes even swimming pools!

No longer!

The swimming pool that I hang out at these days is the community swimming pool in my town home neighborhood. On any given summer day (and yes, even on Sundays) the pool is an active place, breaming with life and conversation. This is where we are doing church at these days…(continued)

Going back into the systematic church was odd at best. One of the churches has been resistant to working with “outsiders” and the idea that we were living in a post-Christian world was met with “Nonsense, all my friends are Christian.” Having to explain that that kind of thinking is actually the problem was an interesting task. But we found that there were people who were actually interested in learning about the Imago Dei and how the idea of a “sent and sending” God actually manifests itself in us as the Missio Dei. The other partner church was more receptive, with at least one person having recently become a Christian. They are showing signs of real transformation…(continued)