Neil Cole's Blog, page 18

Long Live Organic Church! A Response 5

One of the common questions I am asked about organic churches is regarding their lifespan. In discussing the longevity of organic church movements, we must address the fact that organic church communities typically have far shorter lifespan than more established institutional expressions. I do not deny this even though we've only been at it for ten years now so we hardly have any empirical data. I believe, however, that a movement's longevity is not determined by the lifespan of the churches ...

Long Live Organic Church! A Response 4

Suicidal Tendencies?

Church Multiplication Associates having figured out the content represented in this article so far, has attempted to live by these principles. We remain vibrant and alive because we choose to not maintain our life. In fact, as an organization goes, we have consistently made suicidal corporate decisions. Well, perhaps suicidal is too strong a word, we simply haven't fought to stay alive or preserve our organizational life.

We have many resources we have spent money, time and...

Long Live Organic Church! A Response 3

The Sin of Self-Preservation

While we clearly avoid a theology of death, the opposite is not a theology of life, for life is not what you will find in churches that strive to avoid death at all costs. I don't know how it happened, but sometime in history we bought into a theology of safe. We think that we should do what is safe, for ourselves, for our families, and for our churches. In fact, we are convinced that anything that is unsafe must be outside of God's will and is thoroughly un-Americ...

Long Live Organic Church! A Response 2

The Inevitability of Institutionalization

Galli points out that every movement has an expiration date and that their actions will inevitably produce unwanted consequences in the future. I will not refute his point as history is soundly in support of his hypothesis. We have wondered about this for some time now. asked If it is impossible to stop the death, is it at least possible to delay the decay of institutionalization?

Ten years ago we were not a movement. Back then we were just a few of us...

Church 3.0 is coming, in more ways than one

Just a little over a week until I see my first copy of Church 3.0. We will have copies on hand at the Verge conference in Austin the first week of February.

Here is the copy for the jacket that they wrote up in case you are curious about what the book is all about:

Church 3.0

When Neil Cole's best-selling book Organic Church was first published, it described one of the fastest growing and most innovative segments of contemporary Christianity.

In Church 3.0, Cole makes the argument that Christiani...

Long Live OC! A Response

My wife is very health conscious and buys groceries at places that sell organic food. I found out quickly that organic groceries go bad more quickly than those that contain artificial preservatives. Is that true for all things organic, even churches? Will our movement eventually die? Is there an expiration date for organic church?

Christianity Today's Mark Galli wrote an article in his online SoulWork column last week titled "Long Live Organic Church!" In it he expresses some admiration but al...

Response to CT

I have been asked to write a response to the Galli article in Christianity Today, so I am working on it and it will probably appear there before it does here. So, look for it.

In other news: My friend J.D. Payne, missiologist, author and seminary prof has started a new blog. I for one look forward to following it. The guy is smart, well read, and articulate.

www.jdpayne.org

Today is the last day for the regular rate for the Verge Conference. The line up of contributors is incredible. This confer...

Dr. Pierson Presents the Marks of a Movement from TSK

The following words are from my friend Andrew Jones (Tall Skinny Kiwi). He asked a prof from Fuller what the marks of a renewal movement are and this is the email he got back. I think it is helpful for the discussion here.

Email from Dr Paul Pierson [typos corrected and bullets added:]:

"Dear Andrew; Ryan asked me to send this to you. The list of factors observed in revival and renewal movements throughout history is flexible and some of these can be combined, but here is a list.

- They...

Just a passing thought...

Two times in a single week I found myself in a Christian retail bookstore that was closing down. The current economy and the rise in online sales is really taking a toll on this industry. Publishers who rely too much on the Christian retail bookstores will suffer, while those that get the more viral and online side of things could actually thrive. I am blessed that CMAResources.org (our online store) is still in business, that is a miracle to say the least.

Surprisingly, in both stores I found...

Is There an Organic Church Movement?

I'm hearing a lot about the organic church movement lately. This past week Newsweek and Time mentioned it. Christianity Today also mentioned it. Even Brit Hume mentioned that he is part of a home church this week. According to one of the above articles 7% of Americans are in a house church. Anyone reading this blog post knows that this was not the case just a few years ago. Some are saying that organic house churches out number traditional churches in many countries (that's actually not news)...