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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PREVIOUSLY: Let’s Be Clear
Some might read my commentary about widespread pragmatism in the American church today and ask, “So what?” Others might share my concern, but see few alternatives. I have never wanted to be merely a critic, so here I’d like to draw some conclusions. Next, I’ll try to share some ideas for [...]
Tags: Church, Counterintuitive, Megachurch, Pragmatism
PREVIOUSLY: Distribution
So far, three parts into my multi-part series on the counterintuitive nature of life in Christ, and I’ve yet to receive any comments accusing me of being too negative or of harboring jealousy over the megachurch’s success. Clearly, I’ve either offended (or bored) away everyone who disagrees with me, or I’ve not been clear. [...]
Tags: Counterintuitive, Megachurch, Pragmatism, video venues
This is the last (for now) part in a series of posts. I’m taking the long way around describing what I find to be a more missiologically sound church.
Whenever we talk about our theology of church, we usually look back to the “first church” that we read about in the book of Acts. Some read [...]
Tags: Jesus, Kingdom, Megachurch, Mom-and-Pop
Starbucks realizes that coffee drinkers are looking for local, unique, responsible, and sustainable. Independent coffee houses can be all of these things. It’s a lot harder for the mega-corporation, though. They’re too concerned with things like quality control, efficiency, brand, and, of course, money. The things that make Starbucks Starbucks are causing it’s current identity [...]
Tags: Kingdom, Megachurch, Mom-and-Pop, sustainability
In the comment thread of Ed Stetzer’s recent post introducing a series on megachurches, I wrote:
“I would argue that megachurches are intrinsically unhealthy because of the exorbitant building costs, reliance on attractional church programs, and the fact that your pastor doesn’t know your name.”
A couple of Ed’s readers responded to my comment with,
“I guess [...]
Tags: Ed Stetzer, First century, Megachurch
Unless writing a lot makes one a "writer," Ernest is a former missionary. After more than six years in Western Europe, he moved to Portland, where he drinks too much coffee and over-analyzes human behavior. For more about Ernest, visit the About page where you can read a long-time reader's interview with him. Or, if you don't mind waiting a very, very long time, send him an email.associations attrition Books change Church church planting Coke contextualization Counterintuitive denominations entering culture ethics Evolution Favors Fear Finances Giving gospel Hobby Humanitarian trips Impractical Insuffiecient resources Interesting Person Kingdom learning leaving Megachurch Missiology missional Missions Missions Strategy Mom-and-Pop Money Papers Person of Peace Pragmatism reintroduction Rules small churches threat Training UpStream worldview
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