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  • November 30, 1999

Archives For November 30, 1999

Learn and Share

Charles Kiser —  June 9, 2008 — 2 Comments

This week Mission Alive, our church planting resource organization, is hosting a Strategy Lab for church planters. The lab is the last of three in a process of Mission Alive training modules: the first is the Discovery Lab, for the purpose of assessment; the second is the Theology Lab, for developing theological frameworks for the task of church planting.

The Strategy Lab functions to help planters think through their ministry plan for church planting—cultural analysis, ministry structures, processes of spiritual formation, connecting with non-Christians, etc. At the end of the Lab the planter couple presents their strategy for how the new church will take shape. This strategy becomes the foundation for what will actually happen when the planters hit the ground.

Julie and I first participated in the Strategy Lab in the fall of 2006. We received great training and developed a close bond with our fellow Lab participants (many of whom are now also starting new churches).

The most valuable tools we developed in the Lab were a process of spiritual formation (i.e., steps for facilitating spiritual growth from non-Christian to leader) and a leadership development track. We spent the majority of our apprenticeship period at Christ Journey and Sunrise fleshing out these two tools.

And now I’m headed back to the Strategy Lab to share with other planters what we’ve learned as we’ve applied some of the ideas of the Lab to our church planting context.

I hardly feel qualified for such a role given that we’re still learning so much. At the same time, I love this baton-passing element of Mission Alive. We’re always learning, and the best use of our learning is to share what we’re learning with others.

It reminds me of the Apostle Paul’s philosophy of ministry: “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2).

This rhythm of learning and sharing applies to all of us whether we’re church planters, parents, engineers or accountants. Indeed, the heart of discipleship is learning what it means to follow the way of Jesus and sharing what we’ve learned with others who are seeking to learn.

What are you learning that you can share? Please share it with me!

In Church Planting, Mission Alive
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Prayer for This and That

Charles Kiser —  April 21, 2008 — 12 Comments

We’re headed to Orlando, Florida today for the 2008 National New Church Conference. Leaders in church planting from all over the country will be there as resource people. Ryan and I are signed up for the “nuts and bolts” track. It promises to be a powerful event.

Please pray for us as we’re away from our wives…we don’t know how to live without them! Pray that they’ll manage alright, too, in our absence. Pray that we’ll hear from God through the people presenting at the conference.

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We’ve hired an ad firm to help us make a good decision about a church name and initial branding issues. We hit a bit of a brick wall when, after a month of brainstorming and the development of a couple church names, we received consistent negative feedback about the names from many of our Dallas friends.

So we’re back to the drawing board. This is a BIG decision for us, especially given the nature of the context we’re in. Making a good impression is important, whether we like it or not. Please pray that God will give us clarity on the name by the end of the month—by the time we’re ready to launch the first house church gathering…

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We have a timeline for the launch of our first house church. This weekend we’re throwing a big kickball/cookout kickoff party as a way of celebrating the launch. Weekly house church gatherings will start on Sunday nights following the weekend of the party. We’ve had fun thinking through what those gatherings will look like.

It’s our hope that this gathering will grow such that we can start another house church out of it, and that those house churches start other house churches that start other house churches. This is the heart of our methodology for ministry and vision for what church is. Out of the developing network of house churches we’ll start a regular worship gathering that will draw the network together for times of storytelling, celebration and encounter.

Please pray for this initial party and the first house church gathering on May 4. We’re constantly reminded that only God can bring this thing to life.

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We’ve been having some amazing conversations and experiences regarding justice issues in Dallas. I’ll share more about those next week.

In Church Planting, House Churches, Prayer
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Sent Ones

Charles Kiser —  January 30, 2008 — 5 Comments

We’re continuing to get settled in at the Dallas digs, and we continue to love it. I promise the pictures will come soon…unpacking is such a laborious task.

The events that took place this weekend were in some ways the culmination of six years of prayer and preparation.

On Sunday morning, we participated in a sending service at South MacArthur Church, our primary partner in church planting. Ryan Porche led worship; I preached. It was a reminder of our work together back at Highland Street Church in Memphis, and also a foretaste of the ways we’ll work together in Dallas in the coming months.

One of the South Mac elders offered a blessing for us; the Mission Action Team co-chair offered a charge; and a Richland Hills Church representative prayed on our behalf as the SMAC elders and staff, Mission Alive directors, and friends surrounded us.

It was a powerful moment.

We’re joining Abram, Moses, Isaiah, Jesus, Peter, Paul and many others in the sending of God for the sake of the world.

On Monday morning, Ryan Porche and I went with a group of five other ministers (a mentoring group led by Grady King, preaching minister at SMAC) to visit Lynn Anderson at his home in San Antonio. Lynn has been in the ministry of mentoring and equipping for the last ten years. For a seventy-one year old, he’s got the wisdom of a hundred-year old man and the mind and passion of a thirty-year old.

dudes.jpg

We spent a day and a half sharing our stories and talking about leadership, strategic planning, family boundaries and spiritual formation. And we ate. A lot.

Perhaps the most significant question Lynn asked us in our time together was, “Who are you mentoring?” All of us could quickly mention people who were mentoring us, but we were slower to mention people we were ourselves mentoring . But isn’t that the essence of discipleship—mentored to mentor?

Who are you mentoring?

In Church Planting, Mentoring, Mission, Richland Hills, South Mac
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National Community Church

Charles Kiser —  December 31, 2007 — Leave a comment

I wandered across the website of National Community Church through a friend’s blog. It caught my attention for several reasons: 1) over 70% of its participants are single 20-somethings; 2) nearly 70% of NCC people were previously unchurched or dechurched (i.e., grew up with religion but left it behind); 3) they meet in movie theaters all over the Washington DC area; 4) they own the largest coffee shop on Capitol Hill, Ebenezer’s.

I’m always excited to see churches that are reaching out to the young adult segment of the population, given we’re going to land right in the middle of the same segment. Check out the website and get a glimpse of how God is connecting with the next generation through NCC.

http://theaterchurch.com

In Church Planting, Models, Next Generation
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Circle of Hope

Charles Kiser —  December 17, 2007 — 2 Comments

One of the most frequent questions I get about our church planting project is, “What will it look like?” Church for the next generation will certainly take different shapes and forms than that of existing established churches.

My first answer is almost always, “To be honest, we’re trying to be good missionaries, so we have to begin by saying, ‘We’re not completely sure yet.’ We’ll know more as we know more about Uptown and the kind of people that live in its vicinity.”

Circle of Hope

My second thought is to point to recently-started churches that look and function in ways I imagine the new church we’ll start will look and function. We won’t cut and paste any one model, but it is invigorating to see churches with the kind of DNA we dream of allowing God to infuse into what we do.

One such church is Circle of Hope in Philadelphia, PA. My friends Robert and Ruth are a part of this church. It’s an urban church that meets all over greater Philadelphia. They’re geared for the next generation—young adults ages 18-35. They are passionately involved in social justice. They are organically structured by smaller communities of faith. I love what they’re doing. Check them out and tell me what you like (or don’t like): http://www.circleofhope.net.

 

In Church Planting, Mission, Models
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