Recently a group from our church attended the Discipleship.org conference. We engaged with about 1,400 other “Discipleship First” folks to be encouraged by brothers and sisters from around the world and to hear the ways they grow disciples who make disciples.
 
Here are 5 key points that I walked away with from the conference:

1. What’s your end result? Not every discipling process has the same end goal. Some processes focus on becoming an essential learner and doer of the word. Others focus on helping people be firmly rooted in faith. Others help with specific problem areas of life. Still others are aimed at those super disciples who are going to change the world. Know who the people are you will disciple and what you want to see Jesus accomplish in their lives for that specific period of time.

​2. The Word of God is powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword (Hebrew 4:12). Make engagement with the Bible a central feature of your discipling process. What scriptures will you memorize together and why? What biblical readings will focus your attention?

3. The discipling leader sets the stage. As a discipler, you are inviting others to learn from your life. You determine the time, place, and the content. If they’re not willing to work with your schedule, they may not yet be ready to engage that level of discipling.

4. Discipling is best done in groups of 3 to 5 people of the same gender. The focus is on obeying scripture and reflecting on the interaction between scripture and doing. Being small in number and gender specific allows a greater flow of interaction, confession and accountability.

5. Any plan is more effective than no plan. There were 18 tracks at the 2018 Discipleship Conference, each led by a group with disciple making as their goal. Here are 3 of the plans presented:​

1. SOAP journaling method:  Scripture to read and write (about 10-minutes worth), Observations (what do people notice?), Application (what will they commit to do?) and Prayer (what do they need to pray to obey?)
2. HEAR journaling method by Robby Gallaty: Highlight, Explain, Apply, and Respond.
3. DBS (Discovery Bible Study). A simple discussion format that reads the text 3 times, then asks what it says about God, people, and what will we commit to do? 

What struck me is that discipling doesn’t need to be hard; it needs to done! Who will you disciple?

Does your church have a podium or a stage?
 
That may seem like a strange question, but it is important if your church is going to attract and hold 21st century people. One of the major concepts that drive 21st churches is that worship is an experience—not a service. Services are by nature stable events that follow a standard, non-changing script. Experiences, on the other hand, are intended to be adaptive, creative and designed to communicate a story.
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In many cases, the time prior to the evangelistic event is as important as the event itself.  This is your chance to train church members and have them identify and pray for their spiritually lost friends.

TO PREPARE YOUR CHURCH:
Communicate the Outreach Core Values. You might want to communicate that:

• We're holding this event to to help you share Christ with friends.
• Evangelism is a privilege and process. We'll be doing this regularly.
• Fruitfulness will be in proportion to faithful obedience and prayer.
• You(church members) are the best people to follow-up with new believers.

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​Help your people identify the spiritually lost that are in the natural path of their life.

• Give each person a 3 x 5 card and have them identify four non-Christian peers.
• Train them how to evaluate their effectiveness at the event by PAC(ing) it!

1. PRAY before and during the event for God’s work in the lives of our non-believing friends and for God’s help to genuinely express His love to those present.
2. ASK a conversational question of nonbeliever in attendance that will help you either cultivate, plant, or reap in that relationship.
3. CHALLENGE non-Christians to take their next step in yielding to Christ.  It may be just to come back next week or to consider thoughtfully the topic of the event.

 
IF THEIR FRIENDS COME, THEY NEED TO . . .

1. Pray during the event for their friend.
2. Introduce their friend to other church members, leaders and ministry staff, where applicable.
3. Be sensitive to where their friends are spiritually.
4. Be willing to ask a conversational question and challenge their friend forward in their relationship with Christ.
5. Enjoy the event.

 
IF THEIR FRIENDS DON'T COME, THEY CAN . . .

1. Pray during the event for all the guests.
2. Meet others’ friends and be genuinely friendly.
3. Serve others by helping out with details during the outreach.
4. Enjoy the event.
5. Be open to helping someone share Christ during the interaction time following the message-as God the opportunity.

In 2012 my wife, Katie, and I went through a Discovery Lab, our assessment event for potential church planters. Since then I’ve learned some about how other networks assess planters. It’s been interesting to see how much we have in common.Most assessment processes start with Chuck Ridley’s Church Planter Profile. He pinpointed 13 characteristics of successful church planters. He refers to the first six as “knock out factors,” or non negotiable.
I’ve always been drawn to church planting even though my training and most of my experience is in campus ministry. Really, it’s amazing how much overlap there is between the two. You see it when you get into Ridley’s competencies.
Church planters are missionaries. Campus ministers should approach their work with the same mentality. In fact, I think the six non-negotiables for church planters exist for campus ministers as well.
They are…

Preaching to the context of unbelief has not been normal. Try to find a book on the topic. Google: Preaching to Unbelief. You won't find much. Yet in our country where the Nones (those religiously unaffiliated) are the fastest growing segment of religious identification if we don't learn how to preach to unbelief we will lose our voice in society.
I was thoroughly schooled to preach to belief: 1) begin with the propositional truth of the biblical text, 2) describe and explain that truth to the audience, 3) illustrate that truth in action. That was the bones of the sermon. Deeper than this sermon structure is the sermon purpose. In preaching to belief the purpose is to confirm the already existing belief of the audience. We want our people to leave the worship experience confident in their belief and affirmed that they are right. But what happens today when people do not believe our presuppositions about God, Jesus, or the Bible? How do we connect with them in a way that recognizes their unbelief and provides room for us to engage one another around the question of belief? This is where preaching to unbelief enters.

​Here are 4 keys to help you explore the idea of preaching to unbelief:

1. Begin with a question. Where preaching to belief begins with a truth proposition preaching to unbelief begins by uncovering the question of unbelief. This may be the most challenging of these 4 keys because it means, as the spiritual guide, we must first explore our own unbelief. What in the biblical text do we find ourselves doubting? What is too hard to do? To difficult to understand? To good to be true? It takes courage to allow our own doubts arise so we can speak to them, but remind yourself that wherever your doubts lie many other people will have those same doubts. We must learn to cry out, "Lord! Help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24).
2. Don't assume knowledge. It is so easy for those of us who are preachers, who have dedicated ourselves to the biblical text or spent our lives in church pews, to forget that most people have little knowledge of the Bible. They don't know the stories. They don't know why this book has all these different chapters with funny names like 1 Thessalonians, Mark, or Philippians. And what in the world are these big and little numbers all over the page? People who are not yet believers need us to orient them, to give them background, to provide them a place to stand so they can engage the story of God.
3. Create a yearning future. Tim Keller describes the idea of defeater beliefs that keep people away from the gospel story. His conclusion is: A person must come to the point where he or she says, "that would be great if it were true--but is it?" As you preach to unbelief help your audience yearn for what could be. Help them see a future so appealing that they yearn for it to be true. Can a marriage actually be fulfilling? Can I really escape my addictions? Can life be worth living?
4. Ask them to test it. Every sermon is an invitation to test the Word of God to see if the God of the Word really is. If God is our creator, our Lord, the one who knows us better than any other, then what he says must make sense in life in some way. God's story challenges us. His call to our hearts is not shallow; it is a deep, powerful current pulling us deeper into Him. Invite your hearers to engage God. Ask them to try it out, to see what happens, then ask them to come back and share their experience of God. God is big enough to hear our questions. By asking people to test God you are giving God the space to work in their lives.

More people in America will be in church on Easter Sunday than any other Sunday of the year. Why? Easter represents spring, hope, and renewal. It's a time for family. And somewhere in the psyche of many Americans Easter still reminds them of church.
Still, consider that 39% of those who rarely attend religious services and 19% of those who only attend on religious holidays haven't decided if they will attend an Easter service or not. What can help them make that decision? You can--by inviting them to attend services with you.
Inviting people to a church service can be a scary thought for many people. Here's a few key steps to help your people gain confidence to invite their acquaintances to come to your Easter services.her with your church.

​1. Pray for the people by name before inviting them. Prayer turns God's attention to these people and opens their hearts to God. We believe that God works supernaturally to make people ready to receive our invitations.
2. Be specific. People really do need specific, accurate information to make decisions. Tell them what time to be ready, how long, and briefly what to expect. Church is a scary place for people who are not or have never been part of a church. Take the mystery out of the invitation by giving them a good idea of what they will experience. By doing this it also helps them know you are really serious about  your invitation. And don't forget to talk about how they can dress. Help them dress in a way that they will feel comfortable and not stick out abnormally at your church.
3. Pick them up at their house that morning and ride to church together. It's easy to just expect your guests to find their way, but how much better to make it a shared event. You, after all, are their guide for the day. Introduce them to people. Show them around. Minimize their fear and discomfort by being their tour guide to faith.
4. Put something in their hands. Even in our electronically saturated, social media world don't underestimate the power of a piece of paper stuck on the refrigerator. If your church has printed information cards great. Circle the date, time, and put your name and phone on it for your friend. If you don't have a printed card give them a handwritten note with the same information, the name of your church and when you'll come by to pick them up.
5. Arrange a time to visit with them later about their experience. This can be a phone call, a cup of coffee, a lunch date, or even a hallway conversation. Thank them again for coming. Ask them what stood out to them. Ask them what questions the experience raised in their minds (then be ready to listen carefully). Assume they do have questions so they won't feel awkward about not understanding everything. Finally, ask them how they might see themselves connecting furt

We don’t often put those three names together in the same sentence. Yet the idea of the third space—those places where community forms, distinguished from home (first space) and work (second space—is a powerful concept becoming part of the the conversation among those for whom church continues to be an important third space.
Yet somehow the idea of church as a third space doesn’t quite feel like it makes sense. Our church is currently exploring the idea of third space as part of our mission focus to “create places where people can experience life with God.” The conversation has raised questions like:
Can church be a third space and do we need a third space that is separate and distinct from church?
Ray Oldenburg, the popularizer of the third space idea, defines third spaces as those settings “beyond home and work in which people relax in good company and do so on a regular basis.”
Oldenburg suggests that third spaces are characterized by:

• Ready accessibility, they are welcoming, comfortable and easy to find
• Neutral ground, there is little or no obligation to a larger idea
• Conversation is the main activity: playful, witty, common and valued
• Wholesome atmosphere, they are not snobby, pretentious, or out of local character
• People whom you know come and go as they please

City planners and environmental designers also suggest that third spaces are places of food and drink, music and art, health and wellness.


Because of Starbucks we often identify coffee shops as the most common third places. But coffee shops are often not nearly as active third places as other opportunities. In our town the local Foundation of the Arts may be one of the most vibrant third places around. They have collected a great community of volunteers and attenders. Cafes and homegrown restaurants serve as third places. Sporting leagues, hobby clubs, and schools provide great third place opportunities. Service programs that serve people with specific needs—like reading programs, recovery groups, and food banks—often generate their own third place communities.
Can Church be a Third Place?
There’s a lot about church that characterizes it as a third place. In earlier years churches were main street institutions, sitting right downtown where they were daily entities as people worked, were schooled, and played. In fact, churches were often the center piece of social life. They were where you went to see friends, to engage in conversation, and to enjoy fellowship and entertainment. I think James Emery White is on the right track when he suggests that early Christians occupied third spaces such as the Jewish temple, the synagogues, and even the marketplaces of the first century world.
For those of us who are Christians church is one of our significant third places. Church is where we gather, we talk, we relax. In our large worship gatherings we find significance in numbers and outlets for our interests and needs. In our smaller gatherings we connect in relationships that are close and affirming. As I reflect on my life church has been my most significant and ever present third place experience.
Do we need a third space separate and distinct from church?
For the last thirty years or so our country has experienced a growing antagonism towards Christian faith with a commensurate barrier between those whom we would wish to influence towards Jesus and the very faith that gathers those of us who believe as church. Our church as third place is often considered hostile and neither welcoming or accessible to those not of our faith tribe. Faith removes the neutrality so essential to third place context.
If we are to gain the opportunity to influence those estranged to faith in Jesus most likely we are going to need to begin by engaging in their significant third places. Their third places are bridging opportunities where we get to know one another as we develop significant conversations. We’ve got to go to them, to their places and spaces, to build enough credibility to help them feel comfortable enough to come to our places.​

Christmas! Don't we seem to have a love-hate relationship with Christmas? We are reminded over and over that Christmas is "the hap-, hap-, happiest time of the year" yet we know that for many people Christmas is emotionally challenging. On one hand Christmas celebrates a divine event of salvation while on the other the traffic snarls on the shopping roads and the incessant commercialization wears us thin. And then there is the circumstance that until recently-and sometimes still-my fellowship of churches had decided that we shouldn't celebrate Christmas or most any holiday for that matter. In this blog I lift my voice to give a resounding YES, let us celebrate Christmas--and with gusto.  So to encourage you and lift your spirits here are 12 reasons I believe churches should publicly, visually, and with heartfelt enthusiasm celebrate Christmas and a suggestion of what we can do for every reason:
#12: Because there are two months of anticipation. Easter and Christmas are the two holiday seasons that fill our cultural calendar. From Halloween to New Years people are thinking and preparing for what is coming. What a great time for vibrant, life-touching sermon series.
#11: Invite people together: it's PARTY time. People are ready for invitations in the Christmas season. Having parties is what we do. It's easy, it's not awkward, to invite because peoples' social walls have lowered. We took one of our neighbors to a local production of White Christmas who had yet to accept any other invitation we had offered. Invite people to parties where they can rub shoulders and make friends with people who are Christians.
#10: Families come together. Christmas is family time. As the colder, darker months take hold families turn to traditions that hold them together. We tell more stories, play more games, and work more puzzles together at Christmas. Christmas togetherness opens opportunities to see how life is treating those dear to us and to lend an encouraging ear or a helping hand. Create events that give families something faith-building to experience together.​

#9: Christmas calls people to pay attention to one another through the giving of gifts. Even those bizarre white elephant parties require some thoughtfulness, to those who we care for even more so. When people are in this gift giving mood it is so much easier to raise conversations of faith. How are you celebrating Christmas? What blessings have you encountered this year? Open spiritual conversations with the people around you.
#8: The world is more aware God. There are over 2 billion Christians spread around the world in every continent, country, and nearly every culture. At Christmas season the decorations, the colors, symbols become more religious. These symbols can be deeply meaningful confessions of faith displayed in ways that at other times of the year might be hidden or even dangerous. Give a gift in the name of Jesus to someone in another country.
#7: Christmas brings heaven near. Think of the songs: Silent Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, and Joy to the World. The star at the top of the Christmas tree is intended to light the way to Jesus just as the star of Bethlehem did the night Jesus was born. People are more ready to look for the way back to faith at Christmas. Invite people you know who are not active believers to a celebration Christmas event.
#6: Peace is magnified. In the pre-dawn hours of Christmas 1914 British private Frank Sumter heard the German troops singing Silent Night. Soon the British troops joined in. On Christmas Day German and British soldiers came out of their trenches to share the Khaki Chum's Christmas truce in the no man's land of the battlefield. To whom will you bring the presence of peace?
#5: Because people are more willing to take themselves and their children to Christmas services than any day of the year, other than Easter. Let's give them the opportunity to worship God! Hold an expressly Christmas worship service.
#4: It causes children (and adults) to ask to hear the story. Watching so many Christmas movies this year I am amazed at the overt and explicit language and statements of faith many make. For some reason these faith statements in God or Jesus are considered acceptable at Christmas when they are not at other times of the year. People want to hear the Christmas story of the baby born in the manger. Make the nativity story part of your daily vocabulary during Christmas.
#3 - Christmas focuses the attention of the world on something beyond itself. In a self-serving world service to others gets noticed. This year our church staff carried over 60 poinsettias to the local elementary school we care for. Oh the joy on the children's faces to see all those flowers and the delight of the faculty and staff, many who said, "No one has ever done this for us before!" Spread the joy and serve someone this Christmas.
#2:  Jesus, the Messiah, was born. That's the point of Christmas--right? Let's emphasize it. Christmas occurs close to the Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year. At this dark, cold time in North America Jesus shines brightly as the light of the world. Be a beacon of light; share the source of your faith with others.
#1: God came down to live among us. Yes, his name was Immanuel, God With Us. And we are his people. He invites us to join the heavenly chorus of angels "I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The savior has been born!" Let God live within you so brightly people will ask, "Why are you different?"
Merry Christmas to all and blessed New Year,

Have you ever heard of the 3-hump camel? At our Multiplying Church Cohort meeting at the University Church of Christ, Malibu, CA, Tom Nebel, author of Leading Church Multiplication, prepped us on how to set a growth calendar for a church around Special Sundays. View Tom’s presentation under Resources for Multiplying Churches.

The 3-Humped Camel and Special Sundays
There is a rhythm to the church calendar. Some times of year people around us are more willing to consider attending a church: at the start of the school year, Christmas, Easter, and Mother's Day are typical seasons. Tom suggests that your church should identify three seasons in your church calendar where you can promote seeker-sensitive activities. In between these "humps" are the times when you intentionally you affirm new commitments and increase the discipleship strength of your committed.
You're probably familiar with the one-off Friends Day approach where you encourage your people to invite friends, co-workers, and relatives to come with them. That's fine, but Tom encouraged us to make better use of special days by making them the beginning of 3 or 4 week special preaching series on topics of particular interest for people looking for spiritual answers.
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Three Benefits of Special Sundays
1.  Special Sundays give your people the opportunity to invite others to come with them. Your people are your best advertisement for your church. Churches that grow are churches whose members are constantly inviting their networks to come with them. Give your people reason to make statements like these: "Wow, we had a great day yesterday at church." "Our preacher really touched me with his lesson; I could hardly wait to share some of those thoughts with you today." Or "I wish you could have been with me  at church this week, the lesson was so helpful to me. I know it would help you too." These sort of statements are like irrigation, they water the desire to investigate God.
2. Special Sundays create an attendance surge. Visitors are good but often those who will return and stick because of Special Sundays will be people who are already part of your church network but irregular in their participation. Special Sundays lets you see the size of your network and gives your irregular attenders opportunity to develop an attendance habit.
3. Special Sundays give people chances to reboot--to recommit--to their spiritual journey. Life sometimes just wears people down. A period of intense work, sickness, or even vacation may get people off track of their habit to be at church. We're also seeing the decline of church attendance among committed Christians. Special Sundays give people regularly occurring reasons to encounter God again, to experience his refreshing presence in their lives.
For more information on helping your church grow check out the Beyond 200 overview on the Kairos website.
The 3-Humped Camel and Special Sundays
There is a rhythm to the church calendar. Some times of year people around us are more willing to consider attending a church: at the start of the school year, Christmas, Easter, and Mother's Day are typical seasons. Tom suggests that your church should identify three seasons in your church calendar where you can promote seeker-sensitive activities. In between these "humps" are the times when you intentionally you affirm new commitments and increase the discipleship strength of your committed.
You're probably familiar with the one-off Friends Day approach where you encourage your people to invite friends, co-workers, and relatives to come with them. That's fine, but Tom encouraged us to make better use of special days by making them the beginning of 3 or 4 week special preaching series on topics of particular interest for people looking for spiritual answers.
Three Benefits of Special Sundays
1.  Special Sundays give your people the opportunity to invite others to come with them. Your people are your best advertisement for your church. Churches that grow are churches whose members are constantly inviting their networks to come with them. Give your people reason to make statements like these: "Wow, we had a great day yesterday at church." "Our preacher really touched me with his lesson; I could hardly wait to share some of those thoughts with you today." Or "I wish you could have been with me  at church this week, the lesson was so helpful to me. I know it would help you too." These sort of statements are like irrigation, they water the desire to investigate God.
2. Special Sundays create an attendance surge. Visitors are good but often those who will return and stick because of Special Sundays will be people who are already part of your church network but irregular in their participation. Special Sundays lets you see the size of your network and gives your irregular attenders opportunity to develop an attendance habit.
3. Special Sundays give people chances to reboot--to recommit--to their spiritual journey. Life sometimes just wears people down. A period of intense work, sickness, or even vacation may get people off track of their habit to be at church. We're also seeing the decline of church attendance among committed Christians. Special Sundays give people regularly occurring reasons to encounter God again, to experience his refreshing presence in their lives.
For more information on helping your church grow check out the Beyond 200 overview on the Kairos website.

When you enter a home, greet the family, 'Peace.' If your greeting is received, then it's a good place to stay. But if it's not received, take it back and get out. Don't impose yourself. Luke 10:5-6 (The Message).
The Person of Peace concept has become a significant strategy for entering into new communities with the gospel. It's particularly prevalent in US church planting and international CPM (Church Planting Movements) strategies. Sometimes the Person of Peace concept is presented like its the miracle bullet for evangelizing. Other times it is presented as a demand to make someone into your person of peace.
Here's some things we've learned about the Person of Peace strategy from ten years of mission work in Kenya and ten years working with Kairos Church Planting.
1.  We meet Persons of Peace as we go on mission. Luke 10 begins with Jesus sending out 70 disciples, 2 by 2 with a mission: proclaim "the kingdom of God is near!" These disciples were on a mission. They were going. As they went into these villages and towns they would meet people. Some of these people would turn out to be persons of peace. We need to be on our mission if we are to expect people of peace.
2. Persons of Peace are gifts from God. Jesus didn't say "think about someone you know . . ." His command was go, do your work, and as you do it some people you encounter will accept the message. I see people of peace as gifts from God. They encourage us. They connect with us. They resource us. But they don't really do these things because of the close relationship they have with us (though often the relationship does become close). They support us because they connect with the message! They are God's gifts of provision so the mission can be accomplished. We should pray for these gifts of God because we need them so the mission can happen.
3. Persons of Peace drive the mission forward.  The idea that the person of peace is someone who likes you and whom you like is quite attractive. But  I've worked with some persons of peace with whom I didn't really resonate. We could work together. We respected one another. But we weren't really friends. In spite of this, these persons of peace really opened up relationship networks for the gospel in their communities. Despite the fact we were not really friends these people propelled the mission of the gospel forward.

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This week a church planter and I were coaching on networking strategies. How do you go about entering into a new community and finding those Persons of Peace?
Here's some ideas we came up with:
1. Ask people who know your community to help you understand it. These are people like realtors, school principals (particularly elementary schools), and police officers. Tell them who you are, what you are doing (this is your confession of faith as a planter), and how they can help you. If they agree they've begun to show signs of a person of peace because they are helping the mission.
2. Invite people to work alongside you in service events for your community. There are many good organizations, non-profits, and already existing activities in a community that always need help. You can become a resource for them (i.e., you're their person of peace). As you invite people into the activities of these already existing groups you also let them know you are doing this because you are starting a new church and you believe a church is a helping contributor to the community. When you do this you are building an identity and giving the people you invite the opportunity to connect with that identity. So, when someone asks, "Why are you here helping?" you want them to be able to say, "I was invited by Joe who is planting a new church here."
3. Organize special events that gather people, then let them know what you're doing as a church planter and invite them to next steps. The key, again, is to not hide anything. Be up front with who you are (a church planter, a Christian, a Jesus follower) and what you are doing (starting a new church). Take the mystery out of the picture. Give clear invitations to learn more. This provides people the opportunity to grow into becoming Persons of Peace.
My experience has been that most of the Persons of Peace with whom I have worked didn't come fully engaged. They learned about me and about my mission over time and with exposure. God gradually formed them into Persons of Peace.
I pray you keep your eyes open for those budding Persons of Peace in your community, your life, and your ministry. Receive them with joy. They are God's gifts to you for His glory.