a blog by Keelan Cook
"We need more planters." I hear it more than in the past. I can remember, only a few years ago, speaking with representatives at some of our national church planting agencies (and even some of the smaller church planting networks) and hearing they were at capacity. At the time, the conversation was centered on increased…
Continue reading ➞ Moving Past the Rhetoric of Multiplication
Is it just me, or does it seem like church leaders are always trying to get their congregation excited about something? Sometimes it is a new sermon series, or a new initiative. Often, it is a building project or a new ministry the church plans to start or support. Regardless, I'm willing to wager, there…
Continue reading ➞ Does your church still have an apostolic passion?
This week, I received an email I wanted to share concerning ESL ministries in local churches. The email was in response to an article I wrote a while back entitled Turn Your ESL Ministry into a Church Planting Machine. For their part, a local church here in Texas is working hard to come up with…
Continue reading ➞ Common Questions about ESL and Church Planting
In a little over 25 years, the majority face of America will be a different color. According to a research report by the Brookings Institute, the United States will be "minority white" by 2045, when America's white population will dip below 50 percent for the first time. White population numbers as a percentage of the…
Continue reading ➞ “Minority white” by 2045: What does this mean for U.S. church ministry?
"The new immigrants represent not the de-Christianization of American society but the de-Europeanization of American Christianity" (Warner, "Immigrants and the Faith They Bring", 2004). That's a quote from an article written a little over 10 years ago. At the time, Stephen Warner, a sociologist, was making a fairly startling claim. Americans were starting to get…
Continue reading ➞ The de-Europeanization of American Christianity
I learned a new term this week: vacation move. A vacation move is when a person or family picks up and moves to another city but has no intention of staying in that city long term. Vacationer movers pack up their life and head off to another city, most often because it sounds like a…
I hope I can talk about this without sounding like I have an axe to grind. Fortunately, our organization is in the coaching business, not the funding business, when it comes to church plants. In my previous position, I worked at a seminary. Again, we did a lot to train church planters, but seminaries do…
Continue reading ➞ Church Planter: Don’t lose your integrity in fundraising.
They are calling it global fluency. In a recent article from Brad McDearmon of the Brookings Institute, he discusses the city of Columbus, OH and their recent training by the Global Fluency Institute. The purpose of this training is to help cities become more "culturally competent and globally fluent, allowing them to successfully interact with…
Are you planting a church or a worship service? Some of you may be offended that I even asked that question. Odds are, you will see and agree with the dilemma I propose in this article. Others may not understand the distinction I just made, and this is for their benefit. Too often, I watch…
Continue reading ➞ Are we planting churches or worship services?
God wants more laborers. We all know the passage. “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest” (Mt. 9:37-38). Matthew records this exhortation from Jesus on the heels of some commentary. He tells us that Jesus saw the crowds…
