Books @ Leadership Network

missional is different than evangelistic

Timothy Cowen, Pastor of Rock Hill Baptist Church, has been blogging about the missional church, and contrasts a church that's missional versus one that's evangelistic. To make that distinction, he writes in "Being Missional: Is there really a difference?":

In his book The Present Future, Reggie McNeal reveals the contrasts in the different ways leaders can think about the church and its ministry. McNeal reveals the different paradigms that pastors can have as they fulfill their ministry in the church. Being missional is first a shift in thinking about the nature of the church. Once a missional understanding is adopted, the way we do church begins to change. A missional church stresses community transformation over growing the church, turning members into missionaries over turning members into ministers, and recovering Christian mission over doing church better.

Though the book was first published in 2003, The Present Future in many ways does map out the transition of how we do church today, by mapping out six new realities that churches are now wrestling through:
The Collapse of the Church Culture, The Shift from Church Growth to Kingdom Growth, A New Reformation: Releasing God’s People, The Return to Spiritual Formation, The Shift from Planning to Preparation, and The Rise of Apostolic Leadership. (these are the 6 main chapter titles from the book.)

ChristianAudio.com hosts an audio podcast with the first chapter of The Present Future with Reggie McNeal:

Greenville Church of Christ (Greenville, NC) is in the middle of blogging through the book, talking out loud about the tough questions: How do we deconvert from Churchianity to Christianity? How Do We Transform Our Community? How do we turn members into missionaries? How Do We Develop Followers of Jesus?

How is your church finding your way through these new realities?

multi-site redux

A whole new wave of conversations abuzz about the multi-site churches, and from our vantage point here, amazing to see how the book Multi-Site Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations is being played out in more and more churches. Dave Ferguson declares that Multi-Site Church Moves From Innovators To Early Adopters.

Mark Driscoll shares personally about his health concerns due to Mars Hill becoming a very fast-growing multi-site church:

So, I have been conserving energy for my family and church, but some Sundays are brutal. I find myself nodding off on the side of the stage before one of the four services I preach live. ... One thing I am certain of following my recent travels is that the multiple-site church phenomenon and video services are here to stay. Dead churches will be revitalized more and more by larger churches establishing services in them through the use of video. An entirely new form of church planting seems to be emerging that, along with traditional church planting, will help to add healthy new churches.

Internet Monk's interview with Noel Heikkinen is particularly insightful on his reaction to Mark Driscoll's "confessional". Noel is one of five pastors at Riverview Church, led by a pastoral team, in contrast to many churches that have one solo senior pastor.

Plus, John Piper at Bethlehem Baptist Church is going to video venues too, to the chagrin of those over at Boar's Head Tavern, while PaleoEvangelical has a more measured reaction:

To some readers, this whole concept of pre-recorded messages piped to daughter churches from the mother ship probably sounds like the stuff of squishy evangelicalism. Even Joel Osteen hasn't gone this far yet! Some might even argue that the multiple-site approach John Piper's Bethlehem Baptist Church has developed is similarly unhealthy. But before we start throwing stones, maybe we should ask what is qualitatively different between multiple sites and multiple services.

And, the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) denomination hosted its own multi-site church conference, and Drew Goodmanson summarizes:

The conference looked at why do multi-site, different models of multi-site and specifically the Redeemer NY (multi-site) and the Harbor Presbyterian (multi-congregational & multi-site) models. (No video venues) ... Launching a second site only increases a church costs 35-45% (with a pastor preaching these two locations each Sunday). ... If you are going to launch a second service you must provide an equal level of excellence in these four areas or people may return to the first site: worship, preaching, fellowship, children. ... To go multi-site you must have a movement leader...

Drew also provides a great list of 6 key questions to discuss about going multi-site (or not).

[update] News flash: Church of Christ is launching their first multi-site, by merging two Texas area congregations, Highland Oaks church and Pitman Creek church.

So, what do you think? I'm finding that churches of all sizes are running into facility issues, and while multi-site is a viable solution, there may be others that work too. Is your church considering multi-site or some other method?

the Next Media Revolution

Rex Miller, author of The Millennium Matrix: Reclaiming the Past, Reframing the Future of the Church , presented this talk titled "The Next Media Revolution: Going Native with the iGeneration" at the recent National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Convention.

Listen/ download the presentation audio (53:08).

Download the presentation notes (PDF) to have it on hand while you listen to the talk. The talk itself gives you a quick dive and an animated presentation that was preceded by a new generation song; the book gives you a clearly detailed analysis on the generational and cultural shifts that shows us how the church must communicate differently today.

interview with Brian Bailey

Thrilled to talk with Brian Bailey earlier today, who co-authored The Blogging Church with Terry Storch. Hear him talk about the back story behind the book, comparing writing a book with the instant-publishing of blogging, and the extra chapter he would write if he had the time *grin*.

[Download MP3 audio of this interview] (11:12)

And welcome Larry Baxter to the blogosphere, as he started blogging at "Step Up to the Call," with encouragement from The Blogging Church book:

Overall the book is an excellent mix of why and how. Tips and discussion topics I found most interesting include: Don't bury the good stuff; Who is the blog for; the ten steps to a bad blog; pros and cons of comments; what problem are you trying to solve; what is the return on ministry; share the why behind the what; and, should my church become a blogging church.

Other book mentions this week:

Bob Hyatt-- "But in reading through this, it's actually a nice mix of a philosophy of blogging, interviews with prominant ministry-types who blog, and good technical and tips and tricks for getting up and running as well as doing it right/avoiding common mistakes."

Mark Oestreicher -- "... the book is a good onramp for pastors and ministries considering how blogging may or may not be helpful to their ministry. in fact, i think the biggest strength of the book is that it directly addresses most, if not all, the questions churches and ministry leaders would raise when considering a blog."

Also see this interview excerpt with Brian, "How to's of Blogging for Churches" by Cindy Solomon in Christian Advance.