A spoof while I am figuring on the book, "Love Wins" and a quote from "Jesus Mean and Wild: The Unexpected Love of an Untamable God," (Mark Gall)

"Pay Attention!"  When all is said and done, if your life still amounts to nothing at the end, your worthless soul will be snatched from you. (Mark 4:24-25)

There seems to be a need for balance in the understanding of the WORD and the Word made flesh.

Servant Evangelism

As we discuss and pray about becoming Missional ... Servant Evangelism (a.k.a. "Kindness Evangelism") is a way to make the transition.

Missional Kingdom

At the heart of EVERYTHING missional is Jesus! ... I heard S. M. Lockridge many years ago at the Louisiana Evangelism Conference, a recitation at Promise Keepers, and now on you tube.  We are to bring people to Jesus and He will bring them into community; if this is not our joy, then what are we about?

GOD-CENTERED CHURCH

As I seek to understand the "nature of the church" ... this is as close to a biblical presentation, a laying-out in a fresh way how to come TOGETHER as a body of believers.  The heart of the church is community and missional ... this study brings doctrine and experience to the crossroads.  I recommend it to all my fellow teachers-preachers and anyone serious about being a disciple in this generation.

Henry Blackaby says, “As important as Experiencing God has been to many people, A God Centered Church is a necessary sequel. Christians must make the transition from knowing and doing the will of God as individuals to knowing and doing the will of God within a corporate body of believers.”

Indeed, there is a corporate nature to salvation. God saves individuals but places them in community with one another—a community of believers. God is creating for Himself a people through whom He can accomplish His purposes in our world. Experiencing God Together help churches experience the fullness of life as a congregation, a manifest presence of God in their midst, and a love that could only come from above.

Dreams of God Inside

The second largest generation in history are now children and teens, and in 7 years the largest wave of them will be outside the window of their prime receptive years, making them the most critical segment of our society to reach. But will the same VBS programs and summer outreaches be enough? We believe there is one vastly overlooked key to winning the heart of this generation: the dreams of God inside.

heartbreaking stats

Eighty-five percent of all existing churches in America have either plateaued or are declining.

Of the 15% percent of churches that are growing, only 1% percent are growing by conversion growth. The rest grow by Christians transferring from other churches.

In the last thirteen years, there has been a 92% increase in the number of un-churched Americans.

Churches in American lose approximately 2,765,000 people each year.

Between 3,500 and 4,000 churches every year will close their doors for the last time.

Almost every denomination in America is declining because they have been unable to start enough healthy new churches to offset the number of churches closing.

Today there are approximately 200 million non-Christians in the US, the third largest mission field in the world!

During the decade of the 90’s, the US population increased 11.4% (24,153,000 people) while church membership declined 9.5% (4,498,242 people).

Currently, only half of all US churches add one new member through conversion growth.

At this rate, Christians are fast becoming an endangered breed in the US.



[Stats taken from John Herrington's Missional Church Planting Essentials seminar handout quoting Aubrey Malphurs' Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century, Justin Taylor's "How Many Americans Really attend Church Each Week," Georege Barna 2006, Charles Arn's "A Response to Dr. Rainer: What is the Key to Effective Evangelism in Journal of the American Society for Church Growth vol 6, 1995, p. 74, George Barna's Growing Your Church From the Outside In, and Neil Cole's Cultivating a Life for God, p. 11.]

another BAPTIST voice about "missional"

Ed Stetzer, one of our era's leading researchers pleading with the 2007 Southern Baptist Convention (my tribe of identity) ... to awaken to the culture of today, not yesterday.