One of the things I’m involved in next week is a panel on growing a “core group”. I put together a paper for the conference that talks about some of the things we did and some of things we wouldn’t do again. I thought it might be helpful to share some of it here piece by piece.

Plus I’ve always wanted to be cool and do a ‘blog series’ so this is my chance!

Building a Fire: Growing a group of people who ‘get it’

In 2008 we first started thinking about the possibility of starting a new church in Wollongong.

We began the whole process by getting together a group of people who really got why we wanted to do this and who were willing to give their lives to seeing a flood of disciples across the Illawarra. We wanted a group of people who ‘got it’.

This has happened in four stages. It has seemed to me a lot like how you would build a fire.

We started with tinder, key people who caught the spark of what it was we wanted to do.

Adding kindling meant finding any person who breathed in Wollongong who would meet us.

Then putting on logs meant laying down foundations with those who we had gathered over the year leading up to our launch.

Finally, burn… Launch. Something we haven’t seen yet, but are praying that under God he would cause our church to be a place that burns with a passion to see real, mission-hearted, gospel-gripped, bible-driven disciples right across the Illawarra, Australia and the world…

I have stuck my head up this morning just to say you need to listen to this!

It’s from a conference on evangelism in Canberra that The Geneva Push put together. The first 30 seconds from this talk are really helpful in shaping the way you see church, particularly in terms of church planting.

the rest is good too.

In particular listen to his answer at 4:50 to the question ‘What would you say to someone who was considering jumping in with a new church?’

But on Sunday night I used my kindle for a whole new function. I put all my sermon notes on my kindle as a pdf and used it rather than paper as I was preaching.

I usually write full text notes for sermons and I did that again on the kindle.

I left good spaces and made sure I got the font to the size I wanted. Overall it seemed to work really well. I imagine its going to be great for times when there is no pulpit and you need to hold all your stuff in one hand.
Its hard to see why I’ll ever go back.

I got the idea from Nathan Bingham. You can check out all his kindle ideas here.

There is lots of pain for those affected. Lots of unknowns for the region.
Julia Gillard is in Wollongong today surveying the damage and announcing some stuff for the future.

Be praying that those who have lost jobs will find relief so they can support their families.
Be praying that the gospel would go out in the Gong and that many would find real hope.

There is lots of pain for those affected. Lots of unknowns for the region.
Julia Gillard is in Wollongong today surveying the damage and announcing some stuff for the future.

Be praying that those who have lost jobs will find relief so they can support their families.
Be praying that the gospel would go out in the Gong and that many would find real hope.

It was great to spend some time with Jeff Vanderstelt yesterday talking about Soma Communities and its vision for Tacoma and the wider Seattle area. Something resonated for me with the time we had spent with Bob Cargo at Perimeter church in Atlanta, Mark Dever in DC, and also what Tim Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church has been doing in New York. There is a vision for their whole region.

And a strategy.
Each of these different ministries have a plan for how they are going to go about church planting around their city. Mark Dever told us of his desire to put evangelical pastors in mainline denominational churches in DC, Jeff Vanderstelt spoke of a missional community in every neighborhood, Perimeter are seeking churches all around the perimeter highway of Atlanta. Sometimes even planting right next door to their existing churches because they see the urgent need of their whole region coming to hear the gospel. I think thats important.
To be evangelising by church planting… and by doing it next door because we have a passion for God’s name to be made famous in a certain area, not ours.

It was great to spend some time with Jeff Vanderstelt yesterday talking about Soma Communities and its vision for Tacoma and the wider Seattle area. Something resonated for me with the time we had spent with Bob Cargo at Perimeter church in Atlanta, Mark Dever in DC, and also what Tim Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church has been doing in New York. There is a vision for their whole region.

And a strategy.
Each of these different ministries have a plan for how they are going to go about church planting around their city. Mark Dever told us of his desire to put evangelical pastors in mainline denominational churches in DC, Jeff Vanderstelt spoke of a missional community in every neighborhood, Perimeter are seeking churches all around the perimeter highway of Atlanta. Sometimes even planting right next door to their existing churches because they see the urgent need of their whole region coming to hear the gospel. I think thats important.
To be evangelising by church planting… and by doing it next door because we have a passion for God’s name to be made famous in a certain area, not ours.

Atlanta is different.

Mikey rented a car to drive. I navigated. There are six major (7 lanes each way) highways that go through atlanta. I almost died on all of them.

Perimeter Church in Atlanta have been planting churches for a long time. They started doing it 35 years ago and have been continually starting new churches and been involved in new networks of churches ever since. It was pretty cool to see a church that took seriously an vision to reach a whole city by systematic planting of churches. It was also great to chat through with Bob Cargo, the pastor for church planting some of the lessons learned along the way. 

Atlanta is different.

Mikey rented a car to drive. I navigated. There are six major (7 lanes each way) highways that go through atlanta. I almost died on all of them.

Perimeter Church in Atlanta have been planting churches for a long time. They started doing it 35 years ago and have been continually starting new churches and been involved in new networks of churches ever since. It was pretty cool to see a church that took seriously an vision to reach a whole city by systematic planting of churches. It was also great to chat through with Bob Cargo, the pastor for church planting some of the lessons learned along the way. 

Firstly, at Capitol Hill church is all day. Because of their ecclesiology they don’t have multiple congregations. They only have the one group of people who all do church together. This means that they have almost 1000 people in church at once.

While having one congregation, they have multiple events on a Sunday that everyone is encouraged to attend.

At 9:30 they have an adult Bible training class for all members. There were ten different electives and there is a curriculum for Biblical theology, Old Testament, New Testament, Doctrine, Missions and others.

At 10:30 there is the main public gathering. Very formal. Lots of guys in ties and girls in dresses. One highlight was Trip Lee leading the service. No hip hop though   Lots of Hymns and songs. Lots of prayer. Mack Stiles preached from Mark 6. It was good.

Then at 6:00pm they have an evening prayer and praise service. Everyone turns up again in their casual clothes. This was great. People share out the front of church and someone prays for them. Real community/family vibe. The church prayed for Mikey and I and for Geneva as well as church planting in Wollongong. Very nice. warm fuzzys. Matt Schmucker preached on Zechariah 10:2.

Firstly, at Capitol Hill church is all day. Because of their ecclesiology they don’t have multiple congregations. They only have the one group of people who all do church together. This means that they have almost 1000 people in church at once.

While having one congregation, they have multiple events on a Sunday that everyone is encouraged to attend.

At 9:30 they have an adult Bible training class for all members. There were ten different electives and there is a curriculum for Biblical theology, Old Testament, New Testament, Doctrine, Missions and others.

At 10:30 there is the main public gathering. Very formal. Lots of guys in ties and girls in dresses. One highlight was Trip Lee leading the service. No hip hop though   Lots of Hymns and songs. Lots of prayer. Mack Stiles preached from Mark 6. It was good.

Then at 6:00pm they have an evening prayer and praise service. Everyone turns up again in their casual clothes. This was great. People share out the front of church and someone prays for them. Real community/family vibe. The church prayed for Mikey and I and for Geneva as well as church planting in Wollongong. Very nice. warm fuzzys. Matt Schmucker preached on Zechariah 10:2.

For the short time we were there people kept coming in and out. People like CJ Mahaney and Mack Stiles. Good place to hang.

Yesterday Mark took Mikey and I out for lunch and schooled us on church discipline, congregationalism, and governance. At one point after presenting my views on church discipline I asked him what he thought. He said…
‘Well, I think its wrong. I think its against Jesus and against the Bible and unchristian… But you are still a brother and I love you.’

The whole day went a bit like that. I kind of liked it.

For the short time we were there people kept coming in and out. People like CJ Mahaney and Mack Stiles. Good place to hang.

Yesterday Mark took Mikey and I out for lunch and schooled us on church discipline, congregationalism, and governance. At one point after presenting my views on church discipline I asked him what he thought. He said…
‘Well, I think its wrong. I think its against Jesus and against the Bible and unchristian… But you are still a brother and I love you.’

The whole day went a bit like that. I kind of liked it.

In terms of tourist stuff we’ve seen all the buildings (Abe lincoln, white house, library of congress, capitol building) seen a couple of museums (national history, natural history), seen a zoo (this sucked) and the National portrait gallery.

One thing that has struck me is how much revolution is a part of the culture here. American history is shaped by revolutions. revolution against the english, the emancipation of slavery, women’s rights, anti-war revolutions. Everything is a revolution.
Wondering how much this shapes the whole culture here. American friends? What do you reckon?

In terms of tourist stuff we’ve seen all the buildings (Abe lincoln, white house, library of congress, capitol building) seen a couple of museums (national history, natural history), seen a zoo (this sucked) and the National portrait gallery.

One thing that has struck me is how much revolution is a part of the culture here. American history is shaped by revolutions. revolution against the english, the emancipation of slavery, women’s rights, anti-war revolutions. Everything is a revolution.
Wondering how much this shapes the whole culture here. American friends? What do you reckon?

I was with those guys for just one night but it was great.

I was with those guys for just one night but it was great.

Before I left I got to have a chat with Jon Tyson from Trinity Grace church about lessons they have learned there. A couple of things that I’ll share now:

Almost every guy I have met here who is planting came from a big megachurch (not all from the same one) and thought they could just roll the same thing out here. But New York is different. Jon shared with me humbly about the lessons they had to learn to be a church that reached New Yorkers instead of something else.

Secondly, one little conversation we had about the “missional community” model of doing small groups (life on life, missional, intentional living, quasi-house church stuff) led to him saying that he thinks missional communities are a contextual model. They work with young crew but they don’t work well with families. Better to just encourage people with the gospel and send them out with urgency rather than laying on guilt about not being in a specific form of “missional community”.
I think there is some wisdom there.

Before I left I got to have a chat with Jon Tyson from Trinity Grace church about lessons they have learned there. A couple of things that I’ll share now:

Almost every guy I have met here who is planting came from a big megachurch (not all from the same one) and thought they could just roll the same thing out here. But New York is different. Jon shared with me humbly about the lessons they had to learn to be a church that reached New Yorkers instead of something else.

Secondly, one little conversation we had about the “missional community” model of doing small groups (life on life, missional, intentional living, quasi-house church stuff) led to him saying that he thinks missional communities are a contextual model. They work with young crew but they don’t work well with families. Better to just encourage people with the gospel and send them out with urgency rather than laying on guilt about not being in a specific form of “missional community”.
I think there is some wisdom there.