10 Types of Emerging Church

Very interesting summary of the different types of churches being planted today. Thanks Andrew for sharing your observations and experience.

10 Types of Emerging Church That Will No Longer Upset Your Grandfather by Andrew Jones.

Join Me at The Verge Conference

I hope you will join me at the Verge Conference in Austin, TX on February 4-6. If you have a heart and passion for starting missional communities, this is a "must attend" event! Presenters will include:

Francis Chan
Alan Hirsch
Hugh Halter
Dave Ferguson
George Patterson
Matt Carter
Dave Gibbons
Neil Cole
David Garrison... and more!

For more information click here! See you there!

First, Organize 1,000

Seth Godin is a business blogger but offers many interesting insights for pastors and especially church planters. Check out this blog post on "First, Organize 1,000."

Also, read his book Tribes. A great book on gathering a following!

Stop Trying to Reach Most People

This is a "must-read" from Will Mancini.

Stop Trying to Reach Most People

Great post Will!

More Observations About Millennials

The Pew Research Center is helping us understand more about the millennial generation. These are mostly twenty-something adults. Our church is focused on reaching the 30 year old male so this is vitally important information for us. Maybe you will find it helpful too.

Here are 3 more big things you need to know about the Millennials:

• They are the most ethnically and racially diverse cohort of adults in the nation's history: 18.5% are Hispanic; 14.2% are African American; 4.3% are Asian; 3.2% are mixed race or other; and 59.8% (a record low) are white.
• They are the first generation in human history who regard behaviors like tweeting and texting, along with websites like Facebook, YouTube, Google and Wikipedia, not as astonishing innovations of the digital era, but as everyday parts of their social lives and their search for understanding.
• They are the least religiously observant young adults since survey research began charting religious behavior.

Unfortunately, most churches in the U.S. are declining in attendance. This typically results when our churches are unable to reach the emerging generations and/or the changing communities around them. We must know and understand this new generation, and we must adapt our methods to be increasingly culturally relevant while always remaining Biblically faithful.

Do You Know the Millennials?

Pew Research has recently released some interesting data about Millennials. Just so you will know, Baby Boomers are now ages 46-64, GenX'ers are now ages 31-45, and Millennials start with teens and go up to 30 years of age.

One interesting fact about these Millennials is that they are more inclined toward trust in institutions than were either of their two predecessor generations (Boomers & X'ers) when they were coming of age. What are the implications of this for the church?

Another important observation is that they are starting out as the most politically progressive age group in modern history. In the 2008 election, Millennials voted for Barack Obama over John McCain by 66%-32%, while adults ages 30 and over split their votes 50%-49%. In the four decades since the development of Election Day exit polling, this is the largest gap ever seen in a presidential election between the votes of those under and over age 30.

From a generational standpoint in the U.S., twenty-somethings are the most unreached segment by the church. We need to know these young adults and discover ways to reach them with the gospel.

Do You Have Enough...

Do you ever feel like you don't have enough time? Enough people? Enough money? Enough opportunities, etc.?

Silly question, right? This is the daily mantra for most church planters. Take a look at this blog post, I Don't Have Enough.... I think you'll find it very encouraging!

Celebrate Small Wins

Having worked in business and church I can say with conviction that in the church we generally do not know how to measure success.

It’s easy in business, you must make a profit or you will not stay in business. You can celebrate small wins because you know they are the things that move you toward making a profit. However, in ministry “profit” is not the goal. In fact, many churches continue to generate income through tithes and offerings while never accomplishing much toward their mission. This is partly due to the fact that we are not clear on our mission!

In his excellent book 7 Practices of Effective Ministry, Andy Stanley states “It is possible for a church to become very efficient at doing ministry ineffectively.” This is because we do not have a clear picture of the end. We must work with the end in mind, or as Andy says it, we must clarify the win!

Yogi Berra once said “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” That characterizes many (if not most) churches in North America. When we don’t know where we’re going, we never know what or when to celebrate! We don’t know what the “small wins” are if and when they come. Without celebration, people lose vision, hope, and motivation.

In a church plant, we must have a plan of action! That plan must move us toward a clear vision and it must identify small wins along the way. These should be the focus of our intercessors (please tell me you have an intercession team), and they should be markers for celebration. I encourage planters to maintain a 90 Day Plan and to update it monthly. At least monthly you and your team should celebrate the small wins!

I Was Wrong About Church Buildings

Just read an excellent article by Dan Kimball entitled "I Was Wrong About Church Buildings." Every church planting leader needs to read this. Dan says:

If you had asked me eight years ago what I thought about church buildings, I would have said, "Who needs a building? The early church didn't have buildings, and we don't need them either!" But I was wrong... Read the article here.

The Essentials for Starting a Missional Church - December 11th

Our NEW seminar "The Essentials for Starting a Missional Church - 2010" is less than 2 weeks away. This will be a one-day intensive training for church planters, prospective church planters, and church planting teams. The date is Friday, December 11th! The location is Crossbridge Church, 1049 Eldridge Rd, Sugar Land, TX.

This seminar is built on over 20 years of church planting research and experience. In this power-packed day you will learn about the most critical issues that every church planting leader should be thinking about TODAY as they start a new church.

For more information and to register click here and go to our New Church Initiatives Website. Our call our office at 281-635-3086.