The importance of planning as a process
So often in planning, people try to focus on the plan itself– the end result. What’s actually much more important is the engagement of people in the discernment process, seeking God, and walking together through the discovery of what God wants them to do....Planning and evaluation: ministry flow charts
You can use your ministry planning and evaluation process to cooperate with what God is doing. Charts like the ones below (taken from my book Releasing Your Church’s Potential) can help you develop a framework that guides your ministry priorities and decisions...
Alpha as a church planting tool?
Alpha– although not originally designed as an approach to church planting– is particularly well suited to that role. (If you’re not familiar with Alpha, you can find out more here.) It’s a relational, postmodern process geared toward people who don’t...
Using small town strategy in urban areas?
We’ve just completed a series on church planting and incarnational living in small towns and rural areas. The concept is small handfuls of people in each geographic community who meet together regularly, yet are networked with similar groups across the region. Imagine...
Sometimes it helps to draw a picture
Here’s a thought following yesterday’s blog entry where I wrote about the book The Back of the Napkin. I was once coaching a church planter who is much more of an artist-type person. He wanted to reach the arts community, which was in a downtown area. He had trouble...The muddled middle
Today, a client’s perspective on how coaching has helped him. From guest blogger Ryan Bearschell of The Salvation Army. I have this common time period every day from 1-4 pm where I’m just no good. I’m tired and unproductive– I call it my “brainless time” or my...
Focused discipleship
This blog entry is part of a series of three that focuses on the three environments for making disciples: peer-to-peer discipleship, guided discipleship, and focused discipleship. Each of these represents a relational, intentional way to make disciples within our...