Researchers asked 1094 Australians who do not regard themselves as Christians: How open are you to changing your religious worldview? A majority of 51% are not open at all. So you can agonize over how to change the 51% who are resistant, or you can change your perspective and ask, How do we connect with [...]
Category Archives: Principles
Generosity and the spread of the gospel
28 September, 2011 – 12:12 AM
A while ago I heard this short talk by Simon Pillar on the link between generosity and the spread of the gospel. The Gospels and Acts identify many people who used their wealth for the advance of the Christian movement. It’s a bootleg recording from the Arrow graduation dinner so the quality is less than [...]
Why we can’t change the world
24 September, 2011 – 9:48 PM
Most of the books on the topic of Changing the World were written in the last twenty years. Before 1900 we can’t find any books written on changing the world in the previous 500 years. OK I jumped on the bandwagon and called my book, Movements that Change the World. Who says we’re going to [...]
Salvation by faith and mission by works?
8 July, 2011 – 12:20 AM
Working on this next book got me thinking. . . Are we saved by faith, only to carry out our mission by works? Pull down off your shelves every book you have on evangelism, church planting or mission. Flip through them. What premise are they based on? Who is the main character in their story [...]
Organization vs movement vs philosophy
16 June, 2011 – 11:12 PM
Some wisdom from Seth Godin: An organization uses structure and resources and power to make things happen. Organizations hire people, issue policies, buy things, erect buildings, earn market share and get things done. Your company is probably an organization. A movement has an emotional heart. A movement might use an organization, but it can replace [...]
The espistle of St Barnabas to Ronald on the matter of money and movements
19 March, 2011 – 10:06 PM
Let’s drop in on an email exchange between “St Barney” (recently cannonized) and one of his CPM workers in the field. It’s on the topic of centralized funding and location for training church planters. Your situation may differ, but the principles here don’t. Hi Ronald Thanks for explaining the situation. It sounds like it would [...]
Lessons from the French Canadian revival
7 January, 2011 – 11:35 PM
Don Carson recently spoke at the In The Chute conference. He gave a great history of French Canada and all the social and spiritual pressures that lead up to a time of remarkable revival in the 1970s. He shared lessons from the lean years and lessons from the years of rapid growth. You can read [...]
Sparking CPMs: 1. Head.
2 September, 2010 – 8:46 PM
I caught up with Barney via skype recently and talked to him about the qualities required to spark church planting movements. He gave me four that he looks for: 1. Head: Knowing 2. Heart: Being 3. Hands: Doing 4. House: Relating In this podcast he introduces the first one—Head: Knowing. You can download the mp3 [...]
First principle
19 August, 2010 – 11:22 PM
Sean makes an important point—we cannot expect “results” just because we apply certain principles. I’ve been in the book of Acts for at least a year now. Here’s the heart of what I’m learning—mission is not about us. It’s about the continuing ministry of the Risen Lord. Luke is the only Gospel writer who also [...]
Why movements start with “Why?”
14 May, 2010 – 10:38 AM
Movements don’t begin with “How?” and “What?” they begin with “Why?” Before it is anything else, a movement is a cause. Simon Sinek explains why. Nice to watch a presenter who has done away with the distraction of tedious Powerpoint slides. HT: presentationzen “Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action” (Simon [...]
