Missio Dei Suburbia

Foundations of Church Planting

Scott Thomas, Director of Acts 29, listed out seven things he would do differently if he was planting a church today. You can also approaches that list as foundations for missional, Reformed churches that plant churches.

1. Expose the gospel to the fullest extend possible in every context, relationship, conflict and teaching.
2. Connect with God as you connect with culture.
3. Develop missional communities as expressions of the gospel in as many contexts as possible.
4. Develop young men for the mission of Jesus.
5. Train leaders relentlessly.
6. Get a coach.
7. Enjoy the journey of church planting.

Read more - Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

God's Goal is Your Pleasure

From 'Divine Support' in The Valley of Vision

Keep me walking steadfastly towards the country
    of everlasting delights,
    that paradise-land which is my true inheritance.
Support me by the strength of heaven
    that I may never turn back,
    or desire false pleasures
        that wilt and disappear into nothing.
As I pursue my heavenly journey by thy grace
    let me be known as a man with no aim
    but that of a burning desire for thee,
    and the good and salvation
        of my fellow men.

Why is this the land of pure delight? Because there is where we come face-to-face with the God who satisfies every desire (Psalm 16:11).

Ordinary Lives With Gospel Intentionality

Two of our core values at Christ Church are gospel and community - the book Total Church has been really helpful in shaping how these come together for us with this idea of people living ordinary lives with gospel intentionality. Over at the Resurgence blog, Tim Chester (one of the authors of Total Church) talks about the idea.

Mark Driscoll on ABC Nightline

Mark was just in the New York Time's magazine and now he's on ABC Nightline.

Good interview - can't expect much more out of one of the major networks.

The Church Does Everything That's Supposed to Be Bad

I really like David Brooks' work - yesterday's piece in the NYT included a reference to my all-time favorite baseball player and ended with this:

Institutions do all the things that are supposed to be bad. They impede personal exploration. They enforce conformity. But they often save us from our weaknesses and give meaning to life.

Yet another reason we're created to be deeply woven into the fabric of the local church.

Single Dudes and Church Planting

We've got a growing number of guys who are at UGA or just finished up who are seriously thinking about church planting. Most of them aren't married and would be the first to admit that there are no immediate prospects to change that in their world. Knowing how much I need my wife and love my boys, I get asked if a single man can and should plant a church. I'll let Scott Thomas, Director of Acts 29 (one of the groups we're partnered with along with the PCA), answer that question...

Parts 2 and 3...

Driscoll in NYT Magazine

Ed Marcelle, an A29 pastor in Troy, NY summarizes this article:

Overall the article is positive an places Mark rightly in context- plain spoken to a near pugnacity in the past, Calvinistic in response to consumerism (highlighted by a good quote by Ed Stetzer), and reclaiming masculine Jesus.  Mark is positioned between the liberal and fundamentalist.  A good place to be.  Mars Hill people are portrayed as your run of the mill Seattle hipster who believe the Gospel and the headship of men- something that seems to befuddle the writer. Calvinism is weakly explained, but, to be fair (as a former journalist i often find myself defending these guys) he is a journalist, not a theologian.  Peale and Osteen take it on the chin.  There is the author’s artistic eye representing what he sees as a disturbing metaphor of a giant screen with Mark cover a giant cross.  Ok…that alone would come as disturbing, but after all the ink is dry and the article read, Mark is placed as a generational leader, one who represents Christ as male, the Gos pel as meaningful, and culture as shared.  A leader I still willingly follow.

The Direction of Doctrine

Doctrine must not only be practical, it must also naturally point us to Jesus Christ.

Ed Welch, Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave. 40.

Christianity sans Coercion

'...no one gives himself freely and willingly to God's service  unless, having tasted his fatherly love, he is drawn to love and worship him in return.'

John Calvin, The Institutes of Christian Religion, 1.v.3

The Great Suburban Environmental Hazard

The greatest threat we face in the suburbs is our goodness. In our great quest to keep evil at arm's length - to avoid everything that threatens our safety, security, comfort and convenience - we make a god out of our goodness.

But until we own up to our over-confidence in said goodness, we'll never live with a clear conscience. Because it's not just the bad stuff that separates us from God; our goodness does as well. Because, when we're convinced that we're good, we don't seek the forgiveness, the rescue, the restoration that we need and can only be found in the mercy of Jesus Christ.

(HT: Paul David Tripp, Whiter Than Snow, 22)