More often than not, “partnering in missions,” means small churches give what little money they think they can afford to a larger church or a missions sending agency that will handle mobilization, screening, indoctrination, training, sending, and maintenance of missionaries on the field. This is not “partnering,” it’s outsourcing.

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Inviting Yourself

“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down,” Jesus said to the treed tax collector in Luke 19:5. “For I must stay at your house today.”
Jesus invited himself over to Zacchaeus’ house.
Usually, Jesus was invited in to people’s homes- the wedding party at Cana, Mary and Martha, Peter- they all requested that He visit. They had time to [...]

Filed under:Ministry

Metrics

Much of what I write here centers around metrics- how we measure what we do. I believe that our desire to have measurable results of some kind has driven our strategy into a deeply human-centered pragmatism. From numbers to feelings, we try everything to try to get a handle on what it is that God [...]

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Marketable Skills

For many would-be ministers, missionaries, and church planters, a full-time, paid position is not going to happen. Some might intentionally reject the paid-clergy model. Others might just not be able to raise the kind of funding that would allow them to quit their day jobs. Either way, lots of ministers are looking for ways to [...]

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Platform Diving

In missiological terms, it’s called a “platform.” It’s how you enter into the community, what you do, how you present yourself, in order to make a connection. Many missionaries aren’t “missionaries” at all, but doctors, teachers, businessmen, artists, social activists. A good platform allows for natural interaction with the people to whom you’re ministering while [...]

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If I Were Mark Driscoll

Obviously, I’m not Mark Driscoll. I couldn’t be, even if I tried. The man is an amazing communicator, a fearless preacher of the scriptures. Through his sermons, interviews, debates, and seminars, Pastor Mark makes the Truth understandable, accessible, and applicable for thousands of people on a regular basis.
Beyond the teachings of Mark Driscoll is the [...]

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The Counterintuitive Church (pt.3, Distribution)

PREVIOUSLY: The Gaps
Another way the church has fallen into the trap of pragmatism is the way we distribute our resources. Let me explain:
Say I’m in a mid-sized church that meets in small groups throughout the week. We only have so many leaders willing to  lead these groups. Of those who are willing, we’re likely that [...]

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The Counterintuitive Church (pt.2, The Gaps)

PREVIOUSLY: The Counterintuitive Church
Despite the Church’s current tendency toward extreme pragmatism, much of the life that Jesus calls us to is counter-intuitive.
But that doesn’t seem to stop us from depending (almost entirely!) on our human logic when it comes to our missiology. Why is that? Why would we assume that a counterintuitive God would [...]

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The Counterintuitive Church (pt.1)

“The first will be last,” Jesus said. “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” A quick perusal of Jesus’ words will turn up all sorts of instructions that don’t seem to line up with what we’d consider “common sense.” He told his followers to “Turn the other cheek” (didn’t He know about [...]

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The Devil Is In The Details

In the comments section of my last post Now Tell Us How You Really Feel, a reader asked about some of the details of my transition from the field back to the United States. In the past, I haven’t written as much about these sorts of details; partly to protect my anonymity, and partly out [...]

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What We Are Afraid Of

Fear is a powerful thing. It can cause us to do some very irrational things. Of all the threats that we face on a daily basis, we put more time, money, and effort into protecting ourselves from things that we find very scary, whether they are likely to happen to us or not. In Chapter [...]

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