It has been a long time since I felt like writing. And I came across an article I wrote some time ago called “The 3 f’s of church planting” the entire article left me very ‘flat’… you see what I did there? Yeah I know not very ‘funny’…...

Contextualize, contextualize, contextualize. I hear this word a lot. I hear it from the emerging Church movement. I hear it from the evangelical pragmatics, (that’s what Robert Webber calls them in his book ‘Young Evangelicals’). I hear it from training colleges… What...

An amazing parable but sadly the truth does indeed hurt! “ship wrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown”… watch the video and say the those words out loud. Get the Flash Player to see this video.

The noise is getting louder each day! The boisterous opponents of the Church are becoming increasingly vocal: ‘All the Church wants is money!’ ‘Fanatics like them cause wars!’ ‘Bunch of hypocrites!’ ‘They don’t know how to have fun! ‘The...

TED provides a wealth of information and inspiration, it shows the best and worse of humanity. I was amazed to discover that Billy Graham was once one of the key note speakers, and despite his age, when it was given, the message is still relevant and insightful. Christians should be involved...

If you get frustrated with people telling you, “slow and steady wins the race”, and you have a sense God’s church should be busting out all over the place, then you will find Viral Churches, by Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird, a welcome relief. As they say, “This book can...

In Australia there is a growing phenomenon I like to call own-little-world-itis that is hazardous to evangelism and disciple-making. One of the symptoms of said phenomenon is the trend to activate your remote controlled garage door on the final approach to your house, and hit it again while...

FIRE2010 Saturday PM session… ‘the other track’ by John Tanner

FIRE2010 Saturday AM session… ‘power power power’ by Colin Stoodley

FIRE2010 Friday ‘I am ok with that?’ ‘Are you ok with that?’ The question we need to ask… a lot. by Dean Thomas

I don’t always verbalise it – but I watch what’s going on around me so I can learn from it. I think the right way to say it is that I “wonder” about things a lot. Anyway, I’d like to share one of these “wonderings” with you as it relates to the Kingdom of God. I believe there was a subtle...

I came across an article the other day from the ‘Boston Globe’ talking about the increasing difficulty of making new discoveries. I discovered (no pun intended) that until recently no one has really tried to measure the increasing difficulty of discovery. The name given to this new type of...

About six years ago the German football team was at a crossroads. They were playing what many people thought was a boring brand of the beautiful game. They were a defensive team and while they could sometimes win on the counter when it came to winning a game with their own strategy they...

Recently on the “Church Planting Village” website, Tom Cheyney posted an article outlining the traits of churches that multiply. He called these churches “sending” churches and gave a simple outline that might be a useful leadership discussion. Check the site...

(the first of three conversation starters outlining the key features in the process of beginning new faith communities that lead to multiplication).  The phases of church planting have been discussed before and I am not introducing anything new to you in these articles. But for the past few...

I blame people like Barna for ruining my life… I have tuned in and dropped out. I have been in the ‘ministry’ now for some time and as I reflect on those years, I wonder how could I have been so wrong on so many things? In all of those years I experienced a degree of...

In the first article I discussed some of the background to the issue. Here, I will explore some of the details in the expression of worship that may enable men to more easily access worship. Males and females are obviously different. This is not going to be an extract from a biology textbook...

Why are missionaries allowed to get away with so much when it comes to communicating the Gospel in the context of those they serve? What would happen in our communities if we lived out their missional strategies here at home? How would that impact how we talk? How we dress? How we serve? How...

Recently I sat around a table talking about a variety of subjects of interest and there was a moment when we talked about worship. One contributor leaned back, put his hands behind his head and said, “Blah, blah, blah!” The essence of his response was, as I understand it, most males don’t get...

Since my parents moved interstate I don’t see them much. I was afraid that with the move into a small country town they would somehow just give up on following Jesus. But it seems the reverse has happened. So when Dad asked me to take him to a large Christian Bookstore during his recent...

I don’t believe anyone deliberately chooses less in life. We may unwittingly choose it because we feel unworthy of anything more, but never because we actually prefer less. No. There is, in fact, a long journey through badly handled decisions and deep disappointment before we reach less. The...

For those of you who know me personally you would know that I really struggled through my bible college years… and I mean struggle. Every year a new intake of students would enter in the college and every year the students who have been around the longest would have to help integrate...

Today I’m re-assessing [deep breath]. I talk so much about the need for revolution. The need to stop perpetuating an institutional commitment apart from its cultural context, and to start living out the Gospel in the culture in which many are lost and facing a Christless eternity. I...

Contextualize, contextualize, contextualize. I hear this word a lot. I hear it from the emerging Church movement. I hear it from the evangelical pragmatics, (that’s what Robert Webber calls them in his book ‘Young Evangelicals’). I hear it from training colleges… What...

So many of us are under-estimated in life! Have you ever felt that people just can’t see what you know is inside you?… or at least what you hope is there? I had this experience this week, someone I spend time with thinks I’m a drop kick. Now I know at times I act like a drop kick,...

Have you ever read a non-fiction book which is un-put-downable? If a quick survey of my close circle of Christian friends is anything to go by, books like James Rutz’s MegaShift are few and far between. The preface includes the challenge, ‘If you read it with an open heart, I...

I chat online with men and women involved in house churches, church planters and other pioneers creating new ministries. And I speak in the old-fashioned way to peers involved in ‘normal’ pastorates. Whenever the subject of emerging church or emerging ministries arises, we...

From science we recognize that there are capacities and limitations to our own perceptions. From the early 20th century two guys named Donald Broadbent and Thomas Kuhn did separate studies and discovered we have filtering processes that both allow and prevent information from coming in to our...

Growing up I feared with a passion school report card day. To this day my father has not seen all of my report cards. Last week my four year old son brought his first report card home from kindergarten. How is that possible? How do you prepare a report on a four year old who can’t read...

Some people love the Church, some are suspicious of the Church and still others hate it with a vengeance!But which Church do they love or hate? Is it the greying, largely traditional Church; the aggressive, contemporary mega or regional Church; or the almost hidden (no buildings) emerging...