New Churches Podcast

Episode 624: While the words “church planting” don’t appear in the Bible, the entire context of the New Testament is entirely a church planting context. Host Ed Stetzer discusses the topic “Where is Church Planting in the Bible?” with Clint Clifton, the founding pastor of Pillar, a multiplying church in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., and NAMB’s senior director of resource and research strategy. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The biblical basis for the concept and practice of church planting Why new churches are so desperately needed in North America How to resolve the tension between the need for revitalizing existing churches and planting new ones Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches): We want to say church planting is in the Bible but those words – “church planting” – are not in the Bible. So how is it in the Bible if it’s not in the Bible? @edstetzer The trinity is a true concept that we don’t get from one passage of Scripture that uses the word. It comes from an overview of the entire scriptures. Church planting is a lot like that. The context of the New Testament is entirely a church planting context. @clintjclifton It is important is to see how the disciples responded to the Great Commission – not just by individually evangelizing but by going and planting churches. @edstetzer If the normative expression of New Testament Christianity was tied up in church planting and today only 5% of American churches are involved in planting, what’s wrong and how do we fix it? @edstetzer I see pictures of church planting in verses like Titus 1:5, that says “I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.” @edstetzer There’s clearly a pattern, particularly in the ministry of Paul. Once Paul has established a beachhead in a city, he would expect that those churches would then plant churches. This was the normative expression of New Testament Christianity. @edstetzer A lot of churches need to be revitalized, but people can spend countless hours, weeks, months, years revitalizing churches that don’t really want to be revitalized. It’s easier to birth a baby than it is to raise the dead. Stuck churches often want to stay stuck. @edstetzer If your members don’t know they’re being revitalized, then you’re not revitalizing. @clintjclifton I don’t think everybody should plant a church, but everyone can be part of church revitalization. @edstetzer Even when there are established churches, the apostolic impulse tells us to start something new and then we have higher percentage of people who are converts who are engaging people not otherwise engaged by the Church. @edstetzer There are models of church planting in the New Testament and we we talk a lot about models today. There are various expressions and models. even just in the New Testament. and not thinking about what we see going on around us today. @clintjclifton The reason that Jesus didn’t say in the Great Commission, “Go plant churches,” is because the church was a new concept. So Jesus said, “Go, baptize, teach and make disciples.” In essence saying, “Plant churches,” because that is the substance of what the local church does.” @clintjclifton I think about Jesus himself as the church planter. In Jesus’ gathering of the Twelve, all the elements of church existed, so in that way Jesus was a church planter. He planted a small church that multiplied a lot. Jesus himself is our true hero church planter. @clintjclifton I believe there is an explicit call to church planting in the New Testament, and that’s the Great Commission, because the apostles responded by planting new churches and because the substance of the Great Commission is the the essence of what the church does. @clintjclifton The disconnect is the Great Commission commands us to start new churches, so we would be disobedient if we weren’t involved in starting new churches. But beyond that, there is an obvious need for new churches. Eighty percent of churches are plateaued or declining. @clintjclifton Helpful Resources: Interested in learning more? Check out our free Church Planting Primer” Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? Please subscribe to the podcast Leave a rating and review on iTunes The post Where is Church Planting in the Bible? appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 623: Podcaster Mike Cosper’s groundbreaking series, “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill,” offers several crucial takeaways for pastors and church planters. In this second of two #NewChurches episodes, host Trevin Wax asks Cosper to share what he thinks church leaders should learn from one of the largest church planting movements in American history and its very public dissolution. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: Insights about “the most successful church planting generation in American history” The crucial role mutual trust plays in any model of church polity How a pastor can benefit from negative criticism What the real, lasting legacy of Mars Hill Seattle will be The danger of getting obsessed with horizons, instead of loving the people in front of you Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches): A lot of people went into church planting and found it to be extremely taxing in ways that were traumatic for them. Yet Leadership Network says Gen X was the most successful church planting generation in American history.  – @MikeCosper You have to define your terms. How do you measure life transformation? Are we talking about people living in community and confessing their sins to each other or are we talking about transfer growth and lots of baptisms? – @MikeCosper People talk about pastors having character flaws, but Luther broke some eggs to make his omelettes. He was a cultural warrior. People wanted to kill him. Don’t give me a one-to-one comparison that a guy living in a comfortable suburb, who treats his staff like garbage, is “just another Luther.” That’s not an excuse. – @MikeCosper For the most part, every stage of the Reformation was an attempt to move power, transcendence, access to God and the clarity of the gospel down to the people. We find all kinds of ways to excuse expressions of power, when power well-used throughout history is liberating for the people who live under the authority of the one who is expressing power. – @MikeCosper Any tried, true and tested church polity probably is going to function pretty well, but at the end of the day it has to be a system where people are invested who can trust one another. – @MikeCosper We’re slow to fire pastors when they exercise these abuses but we’re also slow to call out and discipline leaders at lower levels of the organization. We don’t want to hurt people’s feelings. We really want to give people the benefit of the doubt. – @MikeCosper We see that over and over in the Driscoll story. Older leaders feel compassion for Mark, see his talent, see what’s possible, so they give a ton of grace for a very long period of time with the hope their relationship is going to help him mature. We do that on a small scale all the time. – @MikeCosper A lot of church planters underestimate the strength of character that is required of them to endure the difficulties of church planting. – @TrevinWax You have to come back to the core idea, as a leader in the church, that I don’t have to get my way all the time. – @MikeCosper There’s an energy and adrenaline required to plant a church that’s completely exhausting. There’s a need to plow through really rough soil for a really long time in a lot of these church-planting situations. – @MikeCosper You need to find some relationships where you can go to people and say to them, “How do you experience me as a leader? How do you experience me as a friend? How do you experience me negatively? And believe them. That’s where I think we drop the ball. – @MikeCosper The short-term legacy of the Mars Hill story is a cautionary tale, but there’s a longer view that says the real, lasting legacy are hundreds of churches across the country that, thanks be to God, did not have the same leadership challenges and networks that have been influenced by the enthusiasm and energy around those hundreds of church plants. – @Trevin Wax Churches almost always have some kind of life cycle. It may be five years; it may be 150. Part of what’s cool about that is that it creates such a mystery about the long-term outcomes of our ministry. You may look at your ministry and think, “Man, what an absolute failure,” but Billy Graham 2.0 was on the front row of your church and felt a call to ministry. – @MikeCosper For church planters, there’s so much of the call to say, “Keep your head down and love the people who are in the room. Don’t get obsessed with the horizons.” – @MikeCosper Looking at the history of entrepreneurial church planting, I’ve become allergic to the word “vision,” because it goes everywhere and often ends up meaning whatever the lead pastor wants to make sure happens. It can become very distracting from the very simple things Scripture calls us to do. – @MikeCosper Did you miss Part 1 of the #NewChurches interview with Mike Cosper? Click here to hear his fascinating conversation with Trevin Wax about Cosper’s groundbreaking podcast series, “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill.” Helpful Resources: Listen to Mike Cosper’s podcasts, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill and Cultivated.  Learn more about Mike Cosper’s books on his Amazon.com author’s page.  Please subscribe to the podcast Leave a rating and review on iTunes Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? The post What Pastors Should Learn From ‘The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill’ appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 622: Podcaster Mike Cosper’s groundbreaking series, “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill,” takes you inside the story of Mars Hill Church in Seattle – from its founding as part of one of the largest church planting movements in American history to its very public dissolution – and the aftermath that followed. In this first of two episodes, host Trevin Wax asks Cosper to discuss the origins of the podcast, explore the wisdom of even making such a podcast and explain what he hopes the outcome of its production will be. In This Episode, You’ll Discover:  The “Rise and Fall” podcast reveals that God was doing a life-transforming work at Mars Hill Church, but interviews with people who lived the story also expose an environment that “left a lot to be desired” in terms of faithful biblical leadership.  The zeitgeist of our age has caused this particular story to resonate far and wide. Nevertheless, this narrative, long-form, storytelling podcast is going to be a great resource and story-telling example for the church for many years to come.  Churches have become very centered on the personality of their lead pastor, but the role of the pastor is not to primarily put themselves on display, but to be a servant of the Word.  Pastors must focus on telling the heart of the gospel story but also have to realize they can’t control how their people take it in or what they do with it. When people go off in unintended directions, a pastor must have trustworthy, good critics and continue to be faithful with the work.  Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):  Catch Part 1 of #NewChurches’ interview with podcaster Mike Cosper, whose “Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Church” takes you inside that fascinating story. In the podcast, you hear from people who directly lived the story and recognized God was doing a life-transforming work but it also was an environment with a lot to be desired when it comes to what it means to faithfully lead. – @trevinwax  I definitely believed from the beginning that doing narrative, long-form, storytelling podcast was going to be a great resource for the church. – @MikeCosper  There’s something about the zeitgeist right now where this particular story is resonating far and beyond. – @MikeCosper  The pulpit attracts a certain kind of narcissistic personality and pastoral narcissism is an expanding phenomenon because of social media, sermon podcasting and the like. – @MikeCosper  Because church has become so personality-centered, churches identify so much with the personality of their lead pastor. – @MikeCosper  The role of the pastor is not to primarily put themselves on display. It’s to be someone who’s a servant of the Word, a servant of the gospel. – @MikeCosper  My hope is the greater legacy of the podcast is that it invites people to use the medium to tell all kinds of stories. The church has all kinds of beautiful stories to tell. – @MikeCosper  The danger of a lot of Christian storytelling is that we are so focused on getting to the redemptive part of the story that we end up skimming on the suffering or failure part of the story. – @MikeCosper  You have to focus on telling the heart of the story, but you know you can’t control how your audience takes it in or what they do with it. – @MikeCosper  As a pastor, you pour your heart into your church and love your people. But when people go off in weird directions, you can’t internalize that too much. You try to be faithful with the work.  – @MikeCosper  You have to have good critics you trust and then you put it in the Lord’s hands and go, “OK, I did the best I could with this.” – @MikeCosper  Helpful Resources:  Listen to Mike Cosper’s podcasts, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill and Cultivated.  Learn more about Mike Cosper’s books on his Amazon.com author’s page.  Please subscribe to the New Churches podcast  Leave a rating and review on iTunes  Visit newchurches.com and enroll in Church Planting Masterclass here.  The post Mike Cosper: Maker of ‘The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill’ appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 621: It’s hard to imagine a Christian today not knowing what church planting is all about, but the truth is the most-googled church planting question is “What is church planting?” A lot of folks out there don’t know anything about church planting but this episode with Rob Wilton, founding pastor of Vintage Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and NAMB City Missionary for Pittsburgh, can change that. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: A simple definition of “church planting.” The two primary reasons church planting is important. The difference between church starting and church planting. How to decide if and where to plant a church. Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches): Of the eight most-googled church planting questions, guess what’s No. 1? “What is church planting?” – @EdStetzer Starting new churches is important for two primary reasons. First there’s a great need. Second, because the Bible commands us to plant churches. – @EdStetzer I love J.D. Payne’s simple definition of church planting: “Evangelism that results in new churches.” – @robwiltontv I’m more a missionary who plants the gospel to see people reached by Jesus, who are trained up to become leaders of the church, then equipped to fulfill the Great Commission. – @robwiltontv Andy Stanley once said, “Don’t call me a church planter. I took a thousand people from my dad’s church and started a church.” So there is church starting. Church planting should be something more evangelistic. – @EdStetzer Most churches that are started are not planted; planting takes a certain intentionality. – @EdStetzer Vintage church came out of the harvest. My wife’s coworker came to faith in Jesus and then that movement of reaching people who were far from God, who weren’t plugged into a church, formed Vintage Church. – @robwiltontv Church planting is about getting a church started where there is a need for one. – @robwiltontv You’re looking for places where there might not be a gathering community. Or it might be because there’s an underrepresented gospel presence because of decline. Sometimes the need is because of growth. Sometimes there are churches that are not connecting with a significant segment of people. – @EdStetzer I like the word “plant” because it requires a soil of lostness in which a church plant would grow. Where are those pockets of lostness where ultimately a church plant can begin and thrive? – @EdStetzer How should I decide where to plant a church? Start by putting your “yes” on the table. Let God put it on the map. Be obedient to his call to that place and to that people. This is not some sort of manmade job career choice. This is a call of God. – @EdStetzer As you walk through the Word, there’s prayer, there’s your passions, your performance, people and places. God works through all those things. God always breaks my heart for a people. – @robwiltontv A key part of church planting is it’s not about creating a place for you to preach. It’s not about “I’m really excited about a building.” It’s a call to a people. – @EdStetzer At the end of the day this is about organizing the mission to be as effective as possible to fulfill the Great Commission. We want to go into towns and plant seeds of the gospel to see those people saved. Then we raise up leaders to mobilize for the ministry, so we plant churches that plant churches that plant churches. – @robwiltontv Helpful Resources: Please subscribe to the podcast Leave a rating and review on iTunes Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer” Are you ready to enroll in our Church Planting Masterclass? The post What is Church Planting? appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode 620: It’s no secret that church planting is tough. Church planters and the pastors of the churches that send them need trustworthy guidance and we think we have a unique opportunity here to convene some of the best thought leadership across denominational and network lines to help us see lots of churches planted in North America and beyond. We are excited to announce the relaunch of NewChurches.com, now powered by Send Network. Send Network is behind NewChurches.com and we are excited to provide free resources from church planting experts across the evangelical landscape who offer new insights and best practices on how to plant and multiply churches. As churches produce disciples, it’s natural for those disciples to multiply themselves but it’s also natural for new churches to form where there are new disciples being made. Another way of saying it… Churches make disciples and disciples make churches. In This Episode, You’ll Discover: The website will provide free resources from church planting experts across the evangelical landscape who offer new insights and best practices on how to plant and multiply churches. This podcast will continue to offer trustworthy guidance from some of the best thought leadership—across denominational and network lines—for the kingdom cause of multiplying church plants in North America and beyond. We are extremely excited about Church Planting Masterclass. Church leaders like Matt Chandler, Heather Thompson Day, David Platt, Trillia Newbell, J.D. Greear, and DA Horton and more give brief “TED talk”-like instruction covering everything an aspiring church planter needs to know. Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches): “NewChurches.com will share free resources for church planters who want to plant churches that are sharing the good news of the gospel and making a difference for Jesus” – @edstetzer “NewChurches.com wants church planters to be remarkably fruitful, not caught up in learning things others already have learned, so they can focus on being simply faithful.” – @edstetzer “Send Network wants to see healthy, multiplying churches in every community across North America … new churches everywhere for everyone.” – @dhati “I want to be the last generation that has to leave the urban context to find discipleship.” – @dhati “NewChurches.com is here to come alongside and resource pastors and planters to see church multiplication happen.” – @TrevinWax “We want to mobilize church planters, resource them well, be in constant communication with people on the front lines of church planting and deliver the supplies to other front-line ministers.” – @TrevinWax “We are broadening the table at the New Churches podcast, hearing from men and women from different cultures, contexts and backgrounds. We want church planters to be challenged and broadened.” – @edstetzer “This will be a ‘FUBU’ – for us, by us – podcast for church planters struggling with the same issues others have struggled with.” – @dhati Helpful Resources: Please subscribe to the podcast Leave a rating and review on iTunes Visit newchurches.com and enroll in Church Planting Masterclass here. The post Introducing the New NewChurches.com appeared first on New Churches. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.