A blog designed to develop missional leaders
By Ed Stetzer God is on mission to glorify Himself. In the first post I explained that missional effectiveness is embracing the totality of the missio Dei—including its message, movement, and marks—and enacting it in the life of a local church. I don’t know about you, but I have been on many honey-do runs in the... Continue Reading →
By Ed Stetzer What is mission? What is missions? What is missional? Like most people, I want what I buy to work and be effective at what it was created to do. For instance, I have a smartphone that keeps track of my life. I call, text, surf the web, tweet, Facebook, use Maps to... Continue Reading →
By Jeff Vanderstelt It all began in a boat on a lake with a few fishing poles. It was there, surrounded by the lazy water, my dad and I would have a key conversation that would change the trajectory of my life. My dad was giving me a simple update on his life and shared... Continue Reading →
By Karl Vaters Church attendance should be a tool to help people draw closer to Jesus. Not the other way around. I have a confession to make. As a pastor, I have too much invested in getting people to attend church. My salary depends on it. My reputation depends on it. My sense of self-worth... Continue Reading →
This is part two of the article published in the previous post. Do our actions match our words? We say we want to see churches planted from out of the harvest, but our actions and our leadership practices do not often match our words. And the sad thing is that even when faced with such inconsistencies,... Continue Reading →
By J. D. Payne I recently spoke with a church-planting leader for a particular denomination. As we talked over coffee, he inquired about the direction of our church when it comes to church planting. My response was to describe our future missionary labors in terms like we read about in Acts 13-14; 16; 20; 1... Continue Reading →
By Howard Culbertson "Though [a mustard seed] is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” -- Matthew 13:32 Matthew 13 contains over half a dozen of Jesus’ parables about the Kingdom. Jesus... Continue Reading →
By Karl Vaters Different sizes of churches serve different functions. And they face different challenges. Small churches are not just smaller versions of big churches. Every size has value, but different sizes serve different functions in the body of Christ. They also have different challenges and they tend to make different kinds of mistakes. Here... Continue Reading →
By Eddie Cole The American evangelical process is shifting. “Churches aren’t growing because of conversions. Churches are just swapping sheep.” Have you ever heard someone make this claim or something like it? I have—way too many times, from pastors and church members alike. What do we make of this kind of comment, and how do... Continue Reading →
Transform the Globe 