Experience is very important, but not ultimate. Wisdom comes with experience. In fact, I was just talking to some church planters today about learning from experience. Grace is found in experience. Yet, some people live by the conviction that the inexperienced have nothing to contribute. Their experience leads them to […]
Discipleship
Last week, Baptist Press released the article by Carol Pipes: “ACP: More Churches Reported; Baptisms Decline.” Media sources across the country quickly ran stories on the information found in the article. The Southern Baptist Convention added 294 churches in 2015. However, our membership declined by more than 200,000 people, with […]
Decline in Southern Baptist Numbers
The reporter made this horrific statement on the news today: “The church was completely destroyed by fire. . . .” What!? That’s terrible. Knowing the median worship attendance in the US is 75, I had a mental image of at least 75 people being burned simultaneously. Check Twitter. What? Nothing […]
Church Destroyed, Everyone Lives?
The concept of church multiplication movements is often discussed in missiological circles. Kingdom citizens desire to see “the word of the Lord. . . speed ahead and be honored” (2 Thes 3:1) and for new churches to be taught the “whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). Nathan Shank is my […]
Nathan Shank on Church Multiplication and Health
Evangelicals often talk about church planting. However, given the way most people speak about church planting and apply such methods to the field, I wonder if a great deal of evangelicals either prefer to avoid biblical guidelines when it comes to this ministry or simply do not know of the […]
Where Do Churches Come From?
The most critical issue in church planting work today is an ecclesiological issue. Theology affects field practices. A team’s understanding of biblical ecclesiology shapes everything accomplished in the present and for years to come. Across the world, many church planting teams, partnering churches, and mission agencies are attempting to plant […]