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Here is a basic law of entrepeneurial endeavors. You only begin something if you think that:

1) It doesn’t exist already
2) There isn’t enough of it already
3) You can do it better

By starting something new, we are declaring that their is a vacuum to be filled, or criticizing the existing offers. The problem isn’t noticing something is missing, it’s when we jump to the next step, and assume we know what is needed.

Many church plants begin with a desire to do church “better” or “differently.” While these are laudable goals, they make a basic assumption about your audience. If you set out to be a better church, you are limiting yourself to only reaching people who have had a church experience, and are disatisfied with it.

Read the whole post here.

Before You Go Missional (Repost)

Chris —  March 12, 2013

Due to my closing work of the Fuller MAGL and a lil’ party in Austin called SXSW, I’m reposting some greatest hits.  Enjoy.

A lot of churches want to be missional. The pastor or a denominational is moved by a book or a story they hear at a conference and wants to start changing things. Usually they get stuck on one idea (“we’re for the city!” or “we’re not attractional!”) or something of the like. But if you look back a year or two later, there isn’t always a visible difference, either in their church or their neighborhood.

The problem with words like missional is that they become so ubiquitous that they loose their meaning altogether. To fill the vaccuum, leaders often resort to doing what they’ve always done, only with new branding (“Missional VBS!” “Missional Sunday School!”) Before you can move in a new direction, you need a core group who know where it is they want to go.

Before you try to be missional, get your team to read and pray through the following steps:

Step One
Revisit the story of scripture. Ask some questions like: What is the overall trajectory of scripture, from Genesis to Revelation? Where did we get started? Where are we now? Where are we going?

(You can read the whole article here)