There’s a board at Hope Chapel Kaneohe Bay that lists just some of the churches that have been planted out of that church. How do they do it? Ralph Moore uses a baseball image to describe the difference between success and failure. Success requires: 1. A willingness to learn from mistakes. 2. Lots of chances [...]
Tag Archives: Case studies
Where it all began. . .
Ralph Moore was 25 years old when he planted the first Hope Chapel in Manhattan Beach, California. It was 1972. He had no guaranteed income, a car with 154,000 miles on the clock, a wife and infant son. He had short hair and wore a three piece suit at a time where everyone else had [...]
Lessons from a church planting movement
All we know how to do is make disciples but now we have 700 churches. Ralph Moore There is a scarcity of dynamic church planting movements in the Western world. That’s why Ralph Moore and the Hope Chapel movement got my attention. Not only have they planted around 700 churches in since 1972, but many [...]
The fundamentalist delusion
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion Here’s Richard Dawkins, sword flailing, mowing down [...]
Wilson Carlile and the Church Army
This week I’m in Sydney speaking at the national conference of the Church Army Australia on movements. I did some research on the Church Army and their founder Wilson Carlile. An inspiring tale. Carlile left school at fourteen to make his fortune which he did by the time he was twenty six. Then came the [...]
First there was the pdf, then the book, now the movie. . .
The remarkable story of how the Southern Baptists are fueling indigenous church planting movements around the world. Make sure you get the free pdf and buy the book here. Christianity moves southChurch Planting Movements
10 questions for Gary Hourigan
Recently caught up with Gary Hourigan at the next1000 Summit. Gary’s learning about church planting movements by doing it. So he seemed a good candidate for 10 Questions. . . 1. What’s your background? Back in 1983 my wife Terri and I were feeling the pressures of life. She met an old friend who invited [...]
A church planting movement stalls
Martin Robinson‘s account of the rise and fall of a national church planting movement in Britain: What happened? and Why?. BTW no photo of Martin this time as I’m sure it’s bad luck to have three bald guys in a row. Four counting Bozo the clown. Church Planting MovementsMartin Robinson
Trouble in the Chapel
Christianity Today is carrying a disturbing report of deep rooted and systemic problems within the Calvary Chapel movement founded by Chuck Smith. See: Day of Reckoning: Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel face an uncertain future. According to CT a once dynamic church planting movement of over 1000 churches is in serious trouble. Why? Sounds like [...]
Aztec collapse
Almost five hundred years ago, Hernando Cortez walked into the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City, and presented their leader, Montezuma II with an ultimatum. Give me your gold or you’ll die. Cortex had been amazed by the great highways leading to the city, it’s complex aqueducts, sheer size and beauty of it’s temples and [...]
