Category Archives: change

Church Launcher Resources

Posted on September 18, 2007 | Leave a comment

I’ll start a section on our http://www.jacobs-well.net website with resources that other church developers may want to take a look at. But for now they are there with no navigation route to them, you just have to type in the address accurately.

Discontinuity Teasers (to help get your leadership thinking in terms that allow God to always shake things open. www.jacobs-well.net/discontinuityteasers

A copy of our Vision in a diagram. www.jacobs-well.net/visiondiagram

A description of the bullseye in our target, Jack & Jill. By knowing and understanding them well we can better and more meaningfully serve them. http://www.jacobs-well.net/jackandjill

jack-jill.jpg

jacobs-well-vision-diagram.jpg

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Posted in change, church, church launching, church transitions, emerging church, jacob's well, marketing

One Year Old & 1st Sunday Evening Gathering

Posted on September 16, 2007 | 1 comment

what-if.gif

What if people actually came to our new service?

All I can say is that it feels a lot better being on this side of the launch of our evening service than on the other side. We launched as a community on September 17 of 2006 and today we added a service at 6 pm. We need the space, and we have heard from many who work Sunday mornings (stats say 30% of working adults are working on Sunday!) and others who have never had a “go to church” tradition find getting around to do anything on Sunday morning is an obstacle. Then there are the people who are gone for the weekend and can be back for an evening service.

Anyway, today was it. Not a smashing success in terms of numbers (68 in the Commons Room Gathering) but the spirit was alive and it felt very positive. We had quite a few people who had never been part of Jacob’s Well before, who loved the gathering and were thrilled that an evening service like this was available to them.

I think our total for the day was nearly 300, so that is pretty amazing. But it was really a lot of work. And we have a long, long way to go.

Thanks to all the people who have worked tirelessly to make this happen. If I try to name you all I’ll forget some. I know there were people I didn’t even recognize in some roles today. That is incredible. Thanks everyone! Soli Deo Gloria.

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Posted in change, church, church transitions, family, jacob's well, marketing, pastor, public, sabbath, sailing, water, what if

Pray for me in Philly

Posted on September 16, 2007 | 1 comment

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I’m flying to Philadelphia tomorrow (Monday) to co-lead the Next Initiative Church Launching Conference (www.nextinitiative.net) with Randy Smith (www.discoverychurchnj.com) for 150 or so church developer type people and their launch teams, and for others who are transitioning churches from declining to a new start. I’m glad to do it and feel ready to present the material because it is stuff I’ve worked with for quite a few years. But my presence will be much more the confessions of a precarious pastor than an expert practitioner. I suppose that is equally helpful. I’m also glad for the opportunity to connect with some very bright people and have time to pick their brains to help with some of the growing pains we have at Jacob’s Well.

Anyway, this conference really is a big deal for the people attending. Many of them are truly turning their lives upside down to launch a new church somewhere. Pray that what I say and do may be helpful to them.

If you will be keeping me in your prayers (the conference is Tuesday and Wednesday) leave a short comment below. I can use the encouragement!

Thanks!

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Posted in change, church, church launching, church transitions

Discontinuous Pencil?

Posted on September 4, 2007 | Leave a comment

pencil-in-water.jpg

Okay, so I got asked what the picture of the pencil in the glass of water (could you tell what it was?) had to do with a culture of discontinuity. Well, the pencil is discontinuous as it goes from air to water… at least our perception of it is.

Water is baptism. Baptism is entering the Body of Christ, the Church (capital “C”hurch), which is a point of radical discontinuity for us, even though we (like the pencil) are still the same person on both sides. Baptism is a mark of discontinuity for the church. And baptismal waters never stop running. God’s claiming, changing, shaping, reviving power is always at work within us as individuals and communities. Seems like a great graphic to me.

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Posted in baptism, change, church

Discontinuity Culture

Posted on September 4, 2007 | Leave a comment

It occurs to me that one of the things we are trying to do at Jacob’s Well is something I’ve tried to bring into the established churches for the last dozen years. The “what if” concept has helped me see how the emerging church needs a ‘culture of discontinuity.’

discontinuous pencilA “what if…” church, filled with “what if…” Christ-followers has a culture of discontinuity rather than of continuity. They are rooted in where they have been, but they don’t take their foundation as an anchor. Rather it is a springboard to what God has next for them. They live out possibilities in the name of Christ. That means status quo, equilibrium, ‘the way we’ve always done it’ aren’t goals. Change is sought, not fought.

I developed a series of “Discontinuity Teasers” years ago that I’ve used with our staff at Bethlehem and many other staffs and groups of church leaders to help them see the possibilities of a culture of discontinuity, and how to develop that sort of thinking in their organization. I’ll post it in the “church transitions/resources” portion of our website (link below). Check it out and let me know if it is helpful, or how you would improve it. It is quite a few years old and wasn’t designed for an emerging church, but for an established church.

www.jacobs-well.net/discontinuityteasers

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Posted in change, church, church transitions, emerging church, jacob's well, precarious, what if