The First Stage in Planting Fresh Expressions of Church Is Listening
Once we have listened to God and our community, this moves us into the loving and serving stage of a fresh expression.
Once we have listened to God and our community, this moves us into the loving and serving stage of a fresh expression.
Jesus is a blended ecology, the life of heaven and mud-stuff. The church is his blended ecology, a colony of heaven, in, with, for, and among a sin-marred valley.
Paul recognizes that the gospel makes possible a reconciliation that heals the disastrous effects of the fall.
The gospel calls all of God’s people to engage in acts of witness to the surrounding world.
Futurefitting is about restructuring the local church to reflect the diverse singularity of the triune God for the purpose of local mission.
The church is called to profusely and generatively cast the seeds of God’s love into the world.
The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus reenact and fulfill the Old Testament story.
We are to pray and work for the coming of the kingdom here and now, in every nook and niche of creation.
Talking to a secular about life, then about limitations, then about various spiritualities, all the while letting them be the ones to shift the conversation, is a very rewarding part of the dinner church experience.
A focus solely on compassionate ministry can inoculate a Christ-follower from ever becoming a bold and effective witness for Jesus.
In launching His ministry with a quote from Isaiah, Jesus was, in essence, giving a mission statement. It is also a perfect model for holistic mission.
Because fresh expression of church will be such a new concept to so many in your congregation, it should be helpful to anticipate some of the questions they likely will ask.