Disciplemaking that Reproduces Archives

Antioch 2.0 and Hawaii

This is a response from John Honold to the three blogs regarding Paul and his time in the school of Tyrannus. My model church in the Book of Acts has been Antioch – a church that “evangelized” [Acts 11:21], “organized” [Acts 11:26], and “deputized” [Acts 13:2-3] with a result of the incredible spread of the…

Disciplemaking and the Church at Laodicea

Isn’t Laodicea that lukewarm church we encounter in the Apocalypse? I never knew that Paul addressed those folks through a disciple named Ephaphras in his letter to the Colossians. Also, I didn’t know that the church in Hierapolis was in the New Testament. Being an aging Baby Boomer, we’re supposed to know just about everything…

Multiplying To the Ends of the Earth

Culture can be confusing but not insurmountable if we learn to adapt. Americans celebrate Christmas by decorating houses, lawns and trees. Brits eat plumb pudding. In Estonia, families gather in their saunas. Liberians decorate palm trees with bells. Ethiopians celebrate on January 7. So what’s this all about? I’ve been looking at a chart of…

Inside the Movement Maker’s Dilemma

I was taught to be a hearer, not a doer. Mixing college lessons with peer reflection did a job on me. Perhaps a story from my long lost youth best illustrates this. Toss together the Great Commission with a need-for-speed and you may relate. As a youth pastor (told you it was long ago) we…

A Final Rant About Church As a Family—At Least for a While

Church as family is easy in a microchurch but not so easy when we do small groups in a larger church. Why is this? I just came from a “convention” of microchurch planters. There were about 35 who gathered on the back lanai of a coffee shop for informal roving conversations. Evening meetings featured five…

The F-word: From Aspirational to Actual

“Language shapes culture. The F-word can be as much ‘aspirational’ as it is descriptive of a present reality.” Jim Love commenting on the blog, “When NOT to Use the F-Word.” Jim is right. Language shapes culture. The F word is often aspirational. However, aspiration without action leads nowhere. Along with language, we need exemplary behaviors…

Numbers Do Count

Does the term, “trickle-down disciplemaking” suggest anything to you? Here’s why it does for me. “I’m too busy to make disciples, personally. I delegate that to staff.” Those words should be engraved in granite somewhere. Why? Because so many evangelical pastors repeat them. Of course, that means they’ve relegated the great commission to just another…

Disciplemaking Groups Seldom Plant Churches and Churches Rarely Make Disciples

Disciplemaking groups seldom plant, and churches rarely make disciples. Strong statement? Yes. Generalization? Also true. Untruth? Not! We send our kids to college only to watch many fall away from the faith. They lack a firm foundation. Churches spend big money on hardware and programs in an honest attempt to support families. Too often, this…

Root Culture of Communication

A friend recently revealed the “secret sauce” of Hope Chapels. He told me, “this is something you never teach, but I learned it from you anyway.” So much for making disciples… He said the secret sauce is that we established a root culture of communication at every level in our movement. He discovered it in…

Becoming an Everyday Missionary Network Leader

We live as “sojourners” in this world. Even as “strangers and aliens.” I find that alien word a little–well, alien. But we are outsiders to our culture. This positions each of us as everyday missionaries. My overseas experience suggests that we learn to address a foreign culture with humility and grace. We need to consider…