Without Diplomatic Immunity

It’s not easy being an official representative of one nation to another. Diplomatic emissaries often find themselves in difficult situations- delivering bad news to hostile hosts. Miscommunication, even between friendly states, can be costly. Good ambassadors work hard to learn local culture and language in order to be effective communicators, but when the message isn’t what they [...]

You’re Afraid

Dear Pastor, I’ve always been perplexed by your lack of direct involvement in international missions. It’s not that you shy away from preaching about international issues. You often encourage social action- you’ve led your church’s campaign to help local public schools. You support a child in a poverty-stricken village in Malaysia. You’ve raised money to [...]

Real Christians are Going Christians

I spend a lot of time thinking about how we market missions. I know there are lots of people out there trying to advocate for unreached people and raise support for missionaries working among them. But usually, it seems that missions marketers (they prefer the word “mobilizers) appeal to the “doing” side of things. They [...]

The Counterintuitive Church (pt. 8, The Impractical Churches Among Us)

PREVIOUSLY: Impractical Spaces Lest you think these last few posts reflected only the thoughts of a lone anonymous cynic, I’d like to introduce you to some of the many other intentionally impractical leaders among us: When he started the Evergreen Community in Portland, Oregon, Bob Hyatt had a vision- he knew what he wanted his [...]

Tags: Counterintuitive, Impractical

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 [...]

Tags: Counterintuitive, Pragmatism, Values

Watch Your Language

You shouldn’t compare ministries. If we’re all obediently doing what God leads us to do, such comparison shouldn’t even enter our minds. Nevertheless, we compare. Consider the words we use when we describe the work we’re involved in. We always seem to point out the huge population of the cities we work in. We spout [...]

To My Missionary Colleagues

Dear Missionary (or “Believer Actively Working Toward Building the Kingdom,” for those of you who don’t like or use the word, “missionary”), Although I like to think that my entire blog is written with you as its intended audience, I realize that my thoughts here can sometimes come across as talking about you rather than [...]

Tags: Communicating with supporters.

Call It What You Will…

Recently, there’s been some discussion regarding the use of the term “missional.” Some claim that its a useful way to distinguish incarnational ministries from those which are more attractional. Others point out that unlike the “come see” approaches to church, so-called “missional” ministries aren’t especially productive. I’ve written about the

What Works vs. What’s Best

I’m convinced that ministry these days is far too pragmatic. Missionaries desperate to see tangible results busy themselves searching for “what works.” Missions strategies and approaches to ministry are almost always based on whether or not they seem likely to produce results. On a pretty regular basis, I receive advice from colleagues and supporters on [...]

Multi-site Church is Bad Missiology

Your church cannot be missional and have video venues. There, I’ve said it. I know it’s contrary to what Mark Driscoll and Matt Chandler and others are saying and doing. The multi-site trend continues to grow among churches in the United States. It’s been discussed and debated at length in the blogosphere. Perhaps the best [...]

Tags: church planting, Multi-site