What is Church?

Posted by: Jacob Friesen
Church: Gospel Mennonite Winnipeg
Date: July 21st, 2011

Presently I am reading a book in preparation for the Launch 2012 called “Organic Church”.   The writer has a very high view of the church but suggests that we need to go back to the basics of what Christ intended.  He is not the only one suggesting that maybe we have gotten off the trail somewhere.  I invite your discussion on some of the suggestions in the attached video.

This is discipleship – a fresh look at what church is.

preaching – a “third way”

Posted by: len hjalmarson
Church: Aylmer, Ontario Aylmer
Date: July 13th, 2011

Scot McKnight advocates a genuine “third way” to spiritual formation that moves beyond a Sunday focus.

“A genuine Third Way will get beyond the Sunday morning sermon as the primary form of spiritual formation and education in a local church, and neither Belcher (Deep Church) nor Pagitt (Preaching Re-Imagined) seem to approach preaching through the lens of a larger formational program with clearly defined outcomes. A genuine Third Way will form a well-rounded and adaptable formation program that guides all sermons, all teaching, and all activities in the church. Sermons will be seen as one part of the formational ministry of the church. In other words, Third Way preaching is rooted in the overall outcomes of the church.

“If you want to read a book that will rock the pastor’s and church’s world, but which is very clear and will make all kinds of suggestions, I recommend Maryellen Weimer: Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. I have been suggesting for some time that the biggest shift will come in churches when they take education (especially for adults) seriously. We can tweak sermons and Sunday services all we want, but the only real substantive shift will occur when a larger vision for formation and education are shaped by outcomes.

“What is most needed is a complete spiritual formation approach to the entire church and for each person; outcomes need to be formulated by the leaders and the church so that the whole approach is embraced. Within the overall approach to realizing outcomes, which I would say are loving God, loving others and a life of holiness, sermons play a role and sometimes an important one. But serious formative changes occur when the individual and the group participate in, activate, and integrate what is being taught. (By the way, that last sentence requires pages of discussion.) And these formative changes take place within a set of outcomes. And, perhaps most importantly, they take place with spiritual directors, pastors, teachers and friends who come alongside to help a person.”

Renovating the Church

Posted by: len hjalmarson
Church: Aylmer, Ontario Aylmer
Date: June 30th, 2011

I’ve been working my way through this confessional book by Mike Lueken and Kent Carlson, two pastoral leaders who grew a large church in southern California and then began asking questions about what “success” should really look like in terms of growth. That sent them on a journey in deeper formation in Christ, and it was a journey that took them on the dark road of encountering their own ambition and personal egos.

But there are other things in the book that have captured my attention. One of these is that in the process of “renovating” their church, they began to look at different models of leadership. I think these brothers have something to teach us. I take a look in more detail HERE.