Missio Dei Suburbia

How Do You Measure Success?

Yesterday morning, a bunch of us passed along this note on Twitter: 'Over 80% of church plants in the US fail but churches in the Acts 29 church planting network have a 95% success rate.' That news is both exciting and humbling for those of us in A29 who are well aware that we're not that smart and we're not particularly more gifted than some of the guys who have crashed and burned in planting.

A few minutes after I tossed out that information, I had someone I respect push back a little, wondering if our definition of success lines up with how Jesus defines success, pointing me to John 4:35-38. If you read that text and listen to the stories of people whose church plants have shut down, it's hard to ignore the work of God in proverbially making lemonade out of lemons.

So how do we define success?

Seth Godin talks about a hierarchy of success and the critical importance of attitude:

• Why are you doing this at all?
• What's your bias in dealing with people and problems?
• How do you deal with failure?
• When will you quit?
• How do you treat competitors?
• What personality are you looking for in the people you hire?
• What's it like to work for you? Why? Is that a deliberate choice?
• What sort of decisions do you make when no one is looking?

Over at the Desiring God blog, Mike Thate reminds us that:

there is an outright war over who gets to define “success.” There is some irony in this story in that my flight originated in Manhattan, a monument to success. But what is success? And who gets to define it? While success benchmarks are of course both entirely natural and often helpful—e.g. a manager’s use of statistical evaluation to determine a batting lineup or pitching rotation or a trader’s measuring financial turn on investment to evaluate market share—they should also be held in suspicion. Who is defining it? Once success is defined, desired outcomes and lifestyles are set for many. In this sense, they can become totalizing and subsuming.

And finally, Skye Jethani reminds us that our success - our legitimacy - is found in what Jesus has done for us.

On Campus - Leadership Nuggets

Benson Hines has put together a list of 'leadership nuggets' based on what he learned and experienced during his first year working in campus ministry. Definitely worth a look if your mission is on campus - as ministry staff or a student.

Christ Community Church - Tribe or Mission?

The next few months are going to determine the identity and rhythm of life for Christ Community Church - will we embrace and live out our existence as a tribe or a mission?

From Tullian:

There’s a radical difference between tribal and missionary mindsets. The highest value of the tribal-minded is self-protection. Since these people feel safest around those just like them, they ask, “How can I protect myself from those who are different?” They intentionally surround themselves with those who think the way they think, like the things they like, and despise the things they despise.

We all seek out sameness, as John Seel notes: “We cope by settling into our safe intellectual cliques—our favorite blog, cable channel, or e-zine—where our own views are reinforced and applauded. Without really trying, we can easily lose sight of the wider horizon and fail to listen to those who do not think as we do.”

As a result, tribally minded people live with a sense of superiority, looking down on those who are unlike them. This is the “fashionable” posture of our culture.

In contrast, the highest aim of mission-minded people is not self-protection but self-sacrifice. Mission-minded people exist not primarily for themselves but for others. They’re willing to set aside personal preferences in service to those with different preferences. They’re willing to be inconvenienced, discomforted, and spent for the well-being of others.

Driscoll Interviews Chandler

Innovation3 Summaries

The good people at Leadership Network hosted a conference earlier this year called Innovation3 - and did something brilliant for all of us who weren't able to make it.

Attached are one-page summaries of the main sessions and breakouts. Tremendous resource.

HT: Tony Stiff

Risk & Failure

Turning Your Biggest Idol into Your Biggest Benefit (Tim Keller)
How to Zig When Others Zag (Stacy Spencer)
Righteous Risk & Repentence (Mark Driscoll)
Try. Fail. Learn. Adjust. (Craig Groeschel)
What is Failure? (Pete Briscoe)
Audio/Notes #1 from Session
Audio/Notes #2 from Session

Shaping the Culture

Monkey and the Fish: An Alternative and Contrarian Way (Dave Gibbons)
Courage to Change (John Jenkins)
Engaging Culture and Deeping Your Church (Matt Chandler)
Audio/Notes #1 from Session
Audio/Notes #2 from Session

The Dangerous Church

Provacative Leaders for a Dangerous Church (Nancy Ortberg)
20/20 Vision (John Bishop)
The Church on the Other side: What Does the Dangerous Church Look Like? (Ed Stetzer)
Catching up with the Rest of the World (Bob Roberts)
Audio/Notes #1 from Session
Audio/Notes #2 from Session

Missional Community

Lovin' Every Minute Of It (Dino Rizzo)
Challenging People to a Missional Lifestyle (Matt Carter)
The Foundations of Missional Community (Reggie McNeal)
What is the Church? (Neil Cole)
Audio/Notes from Session

Breakout Sessions

Branding Your Church (Dawn Nicole Baldwin)
Branding Your Church (Dawn Nicole Baldwin) (audio/notes)
Church Planting and Multi-Site (Billy Hornsby, Matt Hannon, Bill Heck, Steve Robbins)
Church Planting and Multi-Site (Dave Ferguson, Mark Driscoll, Greg Surratt)
Church Planting and Multi-Site (Dave Ferguson, Mark Driscoll, Greg Surratt) (audio/notes)
Church Planting and Multi-Site (Dave Ferguson, Mark Driscoll, Greg Surratt)
Church Planting Workshop (Rickie Bradshaw, Brian Bloye, Tim Hawks)
Church Planting Workshop (Rickie Bradshaw, Brian Bloye, Tim Hawks) (audio/notes)
Encore Generation Workshop (Bambi Encarnacion, Dave McClamma, Dave McElheran)
Encore Generation Workshop (Bambi Encarnacion, Dave McClamma, Dave McElheran) (audio/notes)
European Church Planting (Ed Stetzer, Matt Wilson, Greg Holder)
European Church Planting (Ed Stetzer, Matt Wilson, Greg Holder) (audio/notes)
Externally Focused Workshop (Laurie Beshore, Chip Sweney, Ian Vickers)
Externally Focused Workshop (Laurie Beshore, Chip Sweney, Ian Vickers) (audio/notes 1)
Externally Focused Workshop (Laurie Beshore, Chip Sweney, Ian Vickers) (audio/notes 2)
Externally Focused Workshop (Laurie Beshore, Chip Sweney, Ian Vickers) (audio/notes 3)
Externally Focused Women's Ministry (Wendy Ferrin, Claudia McGuire, Sibyl Towner)
Generous Churches Workshop (Scott Ridout, Ron Jones, Gunnar Johnson)
Generous Churches Workshop (Scott Ridout, Ron Jones, Gunnar Johnson) (audio/notes)
Global Ministry Workshop (Bob Roberts, Dave Gibbons, Brian Bloye)
Global Ministry Workshop (Bob Roberts, Dave Gibbons, Brian Bloye) (audio/notes)
Mad Church Disease (Anne Jackson)
Mad Church Disease (Anne Jackson) (audio/notes)
Megachurch Attenders: Why They Come and Why Some Stay (Warren Bird, Scott Thumma)
Megachurch Attenders: Why They Come and Why Some Stay (Warren Bird, Scott Thumma) (audio/notes 1)
Megachurch Attenders: Why They Come and Why Some Stay (Warren Bird, Scott Thumma) (audio/notes 2)
Missional Community Transformation (Laurie Beshore, Stacy Spencer)
Missional Renaissance Workshop (Gary Gaddini, Bryan Mills, Brian Tome)
Missional Renaissance Workshop (Gary Gaddini, Bryan Mills, Brian Tome) (audio/notes 1)
Missional Renaissance Workshop (Gary Gaddini, Bryan Mills, Brian Tome) (audio/notes 2)
Missional Community Transformation (audio/notes)
Missional Matters (audio/notes)
Multi-Cultural, Multi-Ethnic Church (Mark DeYmaz, Doug Murrell, Art Lucero)
Multi-Cultural, Multi-Ethnic Church (Mark DeYmaz, Doug Murrell, Art Lucero) (audio/notes)
Multi-site Workshop (Larry Osborne, Dave Ferguson, Mark Driscoll)
Multi-site Workshop (Larry Osborne, Dave Ferguson, Mark Driscoll) (audio/notes 1)
Multi-site Workshop (Larry Osborne, Dave Ferguson, Mark Driscoll) (audio/notes 2)
Multi-site Workshop (Dave Browning, Troy Gramling, Greg Surratt)
Normalizing Absurdity (Will Mancini)
Normalizing Absurdity (Will Mancini) (audio/notes)
Recovery Ministries Workshop (Teresa McBean, Jorge, Acevedo, Matthew Russell)
Recovery Ministries Workshop (Teresa McBean, Jorge, Acevedo, Matthew Russell) (audio/notes)
Success to Significance Workshop (Wayne Smith, Mark Bankford, Russell Rainey, Linda Slaton)
Success to Significance Workshop (Wayne Smith, Mark Bankford, Russell Rainey, Linda Slaton) (audio/notes)
Success to Significance Workshop (Wayne Smith, Mark Bankford, Russell Rainey, Linda Slaton) (audio/notes 2)
Technology/Blogging/Social Networks (audio/notes)
The Church in the City, For the City (Darrin Patrick, Matt Chandler, Matt Carter)
The Church in the City, For the City (Darrin Patrick, Matt Chandler, Matt Carter) (audio/notes)
The Emerging Missional Church (Neil Cole, Reggie McNeal)
Unconventional Innovation (Greg Atkinson)
Unconventional Innovation (Greg Atkinson) (audio/notes)
Women's Leadership Workshop (Missy Hannon, Jennifer Lefforge, Linda Slaton)
Women's Leadership Workshop (Missy Hannon, Jennifer Lefforge, Linda Slaton) (audio/notes)
Worship & Arts Breakout (Chris Seay)
Worship & Arts Breakout (Chris Seay) (audio/notes)

Other Resources

Bloye, Brian -- Engage
Bloye, Brian -- Strategically Targeting an Unchurched Community
Cole, Neil - A Dangerous Question
Johnson, Gunner -- The Three Big Questions that Every Church Has to Answer About Stewardship
Jones, Ron -- What They Don't Teach in Seminary about Raising Money
McClamma, Dave -- Creating Multiple Opportunities for Boomers and Builders to Lead and Serve
Montgomery, Daniel -- Why Being Missional Matters
Spencer, Stacy -- How to Zig When Others Zag
Stetzer, Ed -- Thinking Toward the Future

Radical Change

From Seth Godin:

If you're not happy with what you've got, what radical changes are you willing to make to change what you're getting?

.design Instructions

Tomorrow night, we're hosting our next .design event. For those of you who are coming, you'll need to download the three documents below - start with the '.design instructions' file and go from there.

Download design_instructions.doc

Download designed.for.the.church.xls

Download designed.for.the.world.xls

If you have any questions, leave a comment or drop me an email or a Facebook message.

Driscoll Interviews Piper

You absolutely need to take the time to watch this - may the Gospel have this kind of impact on me by the time I hit 60.

To Deaconness...Or Not To Deaconness

Christ Community Church is part of both the Acts 29 Network and the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Within the PCA, there is an ongoing dialogue about the role of women in the church, particular as it relates to the office or position of deacon. Below are the differing opinions of two men for whom I have the utmost respect:

Tim Keller - The Case for Commissioning (Not Ordaining) Deaconnesses

Ligon Duncan - The Case for Our Current Policy on Female Deacons

Christ-Centered Cultural Leadership

John Seel via Tullian:

The dynamics of cultural change are complex, but not unknown. They are gradual and often taken-for-granted, but not undetectable. They are more like the tides than a tidal wave.

There are requirements for effective Christ-centered cultural leadership.

First, individuals must be appropriately transformed and trained: theologically grounded, spiritually empowered, and culturally discerning. Second, individuals must be members of local churches that assist them in maintaining a kingdom perspective and hold them personally accountable in their public and private callings. Third, individuals must be strategically located within the reality-defining institutions of society — the academy, art, media, advertising, and entertainment. And finally, individuals must seek to winsomely mobilize their professional strategic institutional networks for kingdom purposes — serving human flourishing more than sectarian interests.

Sociologist Michael Lindsay in his book, “Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite,” assesses evangelical social location without assessing their preparation or accountability. What are the potential results when individuals who refer to themselves as evangelicals secure positions of national influence, but are not theologically grounded, spiritually empowered, or culturally discerning? What happens when their influence is used with the best of intentions for narrow evangelical ends rather than the common good?

Dallas Willard warns, “The real presence of Christ as a world-governing force will come solely as his called out people occupy their stations in the holiness and power characteristic of him, as they demonstrate to the world the way to live that is best in every respect.”

Sustained cultural change is impossible unless there is real character change. An evangelical church that focuses on evangelism rather than discipleship does not create character change. We consistently produce self-righteous Pharisees, not apprentices of Jesus. We have the results that our system is designed to produce. When noted evangelical leaders go off the rails, we lament their personal failure without taking stock of the theologically superficial, therapeutically grounded, celebrity-oriented, consumer-driven religious movement that they lead. The American Dream and Republican politics are not the contours of the kingdom of God. They may fill churches and sell books — telling us what we want to hear — but they do not further the work of Jesus or cultural renewal. Poet Steven Phillips writes,

Woe, woe! to those who placidly suspire
Drowned in security, remote from fire;
Who under the dim sky and whispering trees
By peaceful slopes and passing streams have ease.
No sacred pang disturbs their secular life,
Eluding splendor and escaping strife;
They die not, for they lived not…
To those whom he doth love God hath not sent
Such dread security, such sad content…
But he hath branded on such souls his name.
And he will know them by the scars of flame.
So fear not grief, fear not the anguished, thou,
The paining heart, the clasped and prostrate brow;
This is the emblem, and this is the sign
By which God singles thee for fields divine.

Evangelicals are coming out of the shadows. But are we ready for prime time? We need the right people in the right places with the right stuff. It’s show time and I fear we are not ready.