Missional

Keller: Ministry in Global Cities Pt. III

in , , , , ,

Tim Keller continues his thoughts on ministry in world cities with his newly released article "Ministry in the New Global Culture of Major City-Centers Part III."

City-center churches should have as equal as possible emphases on: a)welcoming, attracting, and engaging secular/non-Christian people; b) character change through deep community and small groups; c) holistically serving the city (and especially the poor) in both word and deed; d) producing cultural leaders who integrate faith and work in society; and e) routinely multiplying itself into new churches with the same vision. There are many churches that major on one or two of these but the breadth, balance, and blend of these commitments is rare in a church. Nevertheless, this balance is crucial for ministry in city centers.

Here are the links to Part I and Part II, and Part IV is coming soon.  Also stop by my Tim Keller Resource page.

Story About Tim Keller in NYT

in , , ,

In today's New York Times there is a story about Tim Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian called "Preaching the Word and Quoting the Voice".  Great stuff.  Some excerpts...

Dr. Keller "has grasped the strategic significance of the city, of theurban culture and the need to engage that very diverse culture at every level," he said. "Our culture is urban-driven."

[...]

Observing Dr. Keller's professorial pose on stage, it is easy to understand his appeal. While he hardly shrinks from difficult Christian truths, he sounds different from many of the shrill evangelical voices in the public sphere. "A big part is he preaches on such an intellectual level," said Suzanne Perron, 37, a fashion designer who is one of many who had stopped going to church before she discovered Redeemer several years ago. "You can go to Redeemer and you can not be a Christian and listen to that sermon and be completely engaged."

[...]

An important lesson that Dr. Keller said he had tried to convey to other pastors is that the hard sell rarely works in the city. Becoming a Christian in a place like New York, he said, is more often the product not of one decision but of many little decisions.

"One decision might be Christianity is more relevant than I think," he said. "Or, here's two Christians that I don't think are idiots."

[...]

His church's main goal, Dr. Keller said, is to teach pastors how to truly love the city, rather than fear its worldly influences. Unlike many evangelicals, Dr. Keller advocates an indirect approach to change.

"If you seek power before service, you'll neither get power, nor serve," he said. "If you seek to serve people more than to gain power, you will not only serve people, you will gain influence. That's very much the way Jesus did it."

Tim's son, Jonathan, has commented on the article...

Redeemer does not aspire to fame. In fact, Redeemer did not want the article done but the journalist was going to do it whether or not Redeemer helped him to write it. And what better way to make sure there are less errors in reporting than to participate? So there it is in the Times. Hopefully it does not have an harmful repercussions. Redeemer is happy to fly under the radar of the majority.

For more from Keller, visit my list of Tim Keller resources.

(HT on the NYT article: Chris Giammona)

New Acts29 Boot Camp Audio

in ,

New Acts29 Boot Camp audio (Feb 2006) is now online.  I haven't listened to any of it yet, but I can already highly recommend Driscoll's Reverse Engineering Your Life and Daniel Montgomery's workshop, The Functional Centrality of the Gospel.  I know Daniel (pastor of Sojourn in Louisville, KY) and we talked over lunch at the Dallas Acts29 Boot Camp about the gospel.  I'll go out on a limb and say his talk should rock. 

Jesus Kegs for the Thirsty

in ,

Christ planned to attract people to himself through the transformed lives of his people.  It's understandable that we feel chafed by what media giants say about us and the things we care about, and that we crave the chance to tell our own side of the story.  It's as if the world's ballpark is ringed with billboards, and we rankle because we should have a billboard too.  But if someone should actually see our billboard, and be intrigued, and walk into the door of a church, he would find that he had joined a community that was just creating another billboard.

[...]

Culture is not a monolithic power we must defeat.  It is the battering weather conditions that people, harassed and helpless, endure.  We are sent out into the storm like a St. Bernard with a keg around our neck, to comfort, reach, and rescue those who are thirsting, most of all, for Jesus Christ.

Frederica Mathewes-Green in "Loving the Storm-Drenched," (now online) Christianity Today, March 2006, p 39.  Pick up a copy.

Driscoll: Church, Gospel & Culture

in , , , , ,

From Kevin Cawley, the audio from the first Acts29 Boot Camp has been resurrected.

I consistently get emails in response to my Missional Ecclesiology readers guide asking if I'm aware of any sermons/conference lectures that treat these issues in a systematic fashion. Beyond the excellent A29 Boot Camp sessions (2005) and the (forthcoming) A29 2006 Boot Camp sessions, the only real source I'm aware of is, to my knowledge, no longer accessible on the internet. It is an old (the first?) church planting boot camp at Mars Hill. I got another email today asking the same question, and so I decided to upload these sessions in hope that others will benefit from them as I have.

The sessions below are some of the best comprehensive teaching I have heard on the theological foundation of the church and a practical implementation of a missional ecclesiology. I downloaded these sometime in late 2000 or early 2001...

Church, Gospel, & Culture part 1
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 2
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 3
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 4
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 5
Church, Gospel, & Culture part 6

See You At The Pole

in ,

Great story about a former stripper turned married mom who has a ministry to strippers and pays for lap dances in order to tell the strippers about Christ.

"I understand the culture of these girls. They respect that," saidVeitch, whose work has received national and international media coverage.

In a posting on the ministry's Web site, Veitch said she was a successful Las Vegas stripper but inwardly feared that her lifestyle was a ticket to hell.

She began attending church, became a Christian, went to beauty school and got married. A year ago, she began reaching out to sex industry workers.

She has an ally in Matt Brown, her pastor at Sandals Church of Riverside. The 1,700-member Southern Baptist congregation is contributing $50,000 to her ministry this year.

Review: Mark Driscoll's Confessions

in , , , , , ,

Driscoll_confessions_250_3Mark Driscoll (Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, founder of the church planting network Acts29 and the new missional web resource Resurgence, and author of Radical Reformission) emailed me a couple of months ago and asked if I wanted to read and blog review his new book Confessions of a Reformission Rev: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church. I was pumped, agreed, and received a pre-publication version of the book in the mail from Zondervan and read through it near the beginning of January.

I'm going to approach the review in three phases. 

I. The Boring Details: how long, when published, etc. 
II. Themes, Quotes & Content: hitting a few themes and highlights.
III. My Take & Recommendation: why you MUST read this book.

I have found this to be a difficult book to put in a one-post review.  I considered doing multiple posts, but since the book isn't out yet I would end up giving up too much of the content and you would have to take my word for it.  I would rather you read the book.  So consider this an extended trailer that should encourage you to pick up the book.  Consider this a tray of Turkish Delight.  I want you to read and be hungry for more.

So away we go.

I. The Boring Details

The book is due out on May 1st, 2006 and is Driscoll's honest look at the 9 year run of Mars Hill (planting and pastoring).  The church has gone from a few people in his living room to more than 4,000, and he has a strategic plan to take it to 10,000 and more.

Mark has already posted a brief excerpt from the book as well as the table of contents.  I won't repeat those here.  Suffice it to say the chapters are based on attendance, so he deals with issues at each stage of numerical growth. Each chapter is followed by reflection questions, and these are actually ones you won't skip.  Very helpful.

Before the "meat" of the book you get Chapter Zero, which is "Ten Curious Questions" and deals with lingo, theology, and ecclesiology to build a missional foundation before talking about their church story.  The first appendix is called "The Junk Drawer" and deals with common questions people have about Mars Hill.  The second appendix lists distinctives of larger churches.  There are endnotes as well.  All-in-all the book is about 200 pages long.

II. Themes, Quotes & Content

Emerging Church Issues

Driscoll early on points out his connection to the Emerging Church Movement, but he is careful to distance himself from Emergent.  He says, "I myself swim in the theologically conservative stream of the emerging church" (p 22), but also says, "the emergent church is the latest version of liberalism.  The only difference is that old liberalism accomodated modernity and the new liberalism accomodates postmodernity" (p 21). 

I assure you that I speak as one within the Emerging Church Movement who has great love and appreciation for Christian leaders with theological convictions much different from my own.  And because the movement has defined itself as a conversation, I would hope there would be room in the conversation for those who disagree, even poke a bit of fun, but earnestly desire to learn from and journey with those also striving to be faithful to God and fruitful in emerging churches.  Standing with my brothers and sisters in our great mission, I hope this book can in some small way help the greater church emerge in biblical faithfulness and missional fruitfulness. (p 23)

Knowing and Hearing God

In Confessions you can't miss the idea that God is not silent in the work of Driscoll and Mars Hill, and that He speaks in amazing ways.  Driscoll speaks often of "The Ghost" (his Holy Spirit term). 

He tells us why he started Mars Hill, "God had spoken to me in one of those weird charismatic moments and told me to start a church" (p 39).  Before they launched their first service Driscoll had a "prophetic dream" that told him to ditch a guy who would eventually try to take over as pastor.  Driscoll showed up to the first service and found the guy in the exact circumstances of his dream and told him to get lost before the service even began.  Not the best way to build a welcoming atmosphere, but necessary.

Driscoll later tells the story of a demon-possessed guy who came in the service and disrupted it.  God told Mark to go to the front of the church during a time of prayer just before the demon-possessed guy started acting out.  The book is sprinkled with these sorts of stories, talk of spiritual attacks and "bad angels" talking to his daughter, prophetic dreams (both from God and Satan), even "words of knowledge" (p 121).  Sure to be provocative.

Mistakes & Frustrations

Mark confesses his major mistakes in starting and leading Mars Hill.  At first they had no clear leadership structure, relationships were too connected to him, he didn't draw clear theological lines, and the church was broke. With some clearly articulated goals written out by Mark, they began to work toward a more biblical church, and it began to grow.  Driscoll is open about his mistakes throughout the book.

Driscoll talked about his frustrations being in an immature church with less than manly men.  He tells one hilarious story of a guy who called him in the middle of the night upset because he watched a porno and masturbated.  Well, that's not hilarious.  But the way Driscoll talks about it is hilarious, and his response to the guy was, "A naked lady is good to look at, so get a job, get a wife, ask her to get naked, and look at her instead" (p 60).  This is typical Driscollian bluntness, and it works for him.  He seems to use frustrations to push him toward prophetic sorts of responses.  You will laugh at his strangely courageous moments, and wonder if you are being too soft with those who frustrate you.  Will you do what Jesus wants or what the people want?

You don't get the impression from the book that getting from a few people to 4,000 has been easy.  It's been rough.  There have been problem people ("nut jobs"), pastoral mistakes, spiritual struggles, and even the near miss involving Driscoll, a massage from a hot lady, and the decision to run from rather than receive sexual favors (p 128).  Driscoll's openness to his own problems is helpful.

Theological Issues

Ecclesiology is a big issue in the book, especially dealing with church polity.  Of congregational ecclesiology he says, "As I studied the Bible, I found more warrant for a church led by unicorns than by majority vote.  Practically, it seemed obvious that a congregationally governed church would not be led but would instead make decisions by compromise to appease all of the various interests in the church" (p 103). Driscoll instead holds to elder ecclesiology and his thoughts should be challenging to those with other positions.  He should also be challenging as a complementarian who believes the biblical view is for male eldership.

Buzz

A term that comes up time and again is "buzz."  Different events in the history of Mars Hill created a "buzz" that brought in curious people, and some of those people would keep coming, get saved and join up.  My impression throughout the book is that the buzz they have at Mars Hill is usually created by either weird people doing uncontrollable things or by God's people doing bold and biblical things.  "Buzz" was a result, but I don't think ever spoken of as something to be created.

Future

Driscoll believes that comfort is an enemy at Mars Hill and so he has to keep the church ready to charge hell with their squirt guns instead of becoming complacent.  To do that Driscoll and the elders strategically blow up the settlements of MHC and push toward risky and bold goals.  They buy more property, add more services, and decided that Mark should stop being the pastor of everyone and instead transition to being more of a "missiologist-preacher."  They have now begun to move toward so many venues and services that some are video rather than Mark preaching each one.  And they are adding a bunch more elders and some staff to serve and lead the church.  They have decided not to be happy with where they are.

Their mission is much bigger than growing a megachurch of more than 10,000.  Though they have a lot to focus on internally (Driscoll says they are like a "kite in a hurricane"), they have a church planting network and are continuously planting churches and discipling new planters.

III. My Take & Recommendation

This has been one of the most important books on church and ministry I have read, and I think will hold a unique place among books about ministry.  My advice?  Get this book.  Read it.  Reread it.  Give it away.   It's most helpful for pastors and planters since it deals a lot with dealing with preaching, logistics, pastor's family issues, church growth, etc.  But I highly recommended for all church leaders and thoughtful Christians. 

Where could this book be better?  I don't know.  Some people will be offended at Driscoll's "in your face" approach.  Some will disagree with his reformed theology, his ecclesiology, his charismatic tendencies, his complementarianism, and more.  I have my concerns with some of the practicals, like video venue preaching.  I'm concerned that a lot of Driscoll's ministry is founded upon his personality.  I'm concerned that there may be better ways to go than to build a monstrous church.  These are some of the things I've wrestled with in this book and found myself wondering if there might be a better way to go.

But I don't answer to God for Driscoll and Mars Hill.  Driscoll does.  And I don't have his growth problems, unfortunately.  And one of the things he points out in the book is that he has learned to be more careful in his criticisms of others (such as Rick Warren) because it's easy to disagree with the big church guy who is seeing so many good things happen that there are few ideal options open.  Instead of considering how to disagree with Driscoll's directions, I encourage you to read the book, be thankful for what God is doing, and learn from it.

Now some positives.  Conservative evangelicals need to learn from Driscoll's willingness to identify with the "emerging" church while distancing himself from movements within it that he finds problematic (at the least).  By considering himself an insider, he has influence that many evangelicals who only scold the ECM will never have. 

I hope this book will be read by many who are practical (or theological) cessationists.  Driscoll's "Ghost" stories will be shocking to much of the frigid American Church.  I hope this book sparks discussions on the miraculous, the supernatural, the voice of God, the will of God, and more.  I hope this book will be widely read and cause many of us to say, "How is God speaking to us?"

For all I've written about, I've neglected so many good things in this book.  I've left out lists and charts and stories and systems and ideas that have already become a part of my thinking with my local church.  It's a theology book, a missiology book, and a practical book.  You will find help no matter what kind of church you are in, where you are located, or what size you are.

I think most of all Confessions is a Jesus book.  You cannot help but to read and feel that Jesus is the focus of Driscoll and Mars Hill around every corner.  Driscoll writes, "My answer to everything is pretty much the same: open the Bible and preach about the person of Jesus and his mission for our church" (p 86).  Good advice. 

I think many who read this book will be awakened from their bland Christian slumber to ask good questions of ourselves and our churches.  May we hear and respond to the voice of the Ghost, preach Jesus and be on His mission, and have our churches buzzing from the work that God is doing.

Chuck Lawless on the Emerging Church

in , , ,

Chuck Lawless is the new Dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at SBTS and a guy I really like.  When I was commissioned as a "missionary" to international students I asked him to preach at the service.  I think very highly of him. 

Dr. Lawless recently gave a breakout seminar on the Emerging Church at the collegiate conference held at SBTS.  Here's a news article giving some of his thoughts and critiques.  I like a lot of what he has to say.  And though I might say some of it differently, I think it's good to have Dr. Lawless encouraging students to learn (cautiously) from the Emerging Church.  I have the last bit for you...

"We have to build relationships to gain a hearing," he said. "I'm right there. But New Testament evangelism does not say, 'I'll just wait and listen and when you ask, I'll respond.' New Testament evangelism is initiatory and it is confrontive."

Some teachings from the emerging church movement "do not fit Christian orthodoxy," Lawless warned.

"Read very, very cautiously. Hear the positive. Then pray that God would help us to work on our own churches to take those positives and to become more relational, to become more authentic, to become more vulnerable as needed, but without ever compromising the truth of the Gospel."

Erwin McManus and Denominational Headway

in , , , ,

What do you think about Erwin McManus?  Just an open question for anyone who has read one of his books, heard him speak, been to his church (Mosaic).  I've appreciated his ministry and writings.

Baptist Press has an article today on McManus and a class he taught on leadership at GGBTS.  It's a nice introduction to him if you don't know much about him.  He will be preaching at the SBC Annual Meeting Pastor's Conference in June.

I really like McManus' approach to the SBC, in that he makes his noise with his church, his books, his speaking and it's a "building" mentality and not just tearing down.  It's all gospel and mission and zeal for Christ.

Desiring God Conf 2006

in ,

Whoa mama!  I hereby declare 2006 the year of the mega-conference.  Together for the Gospel in Louisville, Reform & Resurge in Seattle, now...

Desiring God National Conference 2006

Theme: Above All Earthly Powers: The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World
Date: September 29 to October 1, 2006
Speakers: David Wells, D.A. Carson, Timothy Keller, Mark Driscoll, Voddie Baucham, John Piper

  • David Wells: "The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World"
  • D.A. Carson:  "The Supremacy of Christ and Love in a Postmodern World"
  • Timothy Keller: "The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in a Postmodern World"
  • Mark Driscoll: "The Supremacy of Christ and the Church in a Postmodern World"
  • Voddie Baucham: "The Supremacy of Christ and Truth in a Postmodern World"
  • John Piper: "The Supremacy of Christ and Joy in a Postmodern World"

(HT: JT)

New Tim Keller Book Excerpt

in ,

Oh yeah buddy.  Here's another excerpt from the new Tim Keller book coming out in the near future.  I still haven't heard a title.  The first excerpt is here.  The one below is the second, from chapter 4.  Both are provided by Jonathan Keller.  It's timely for some of the topics discussed on Reformissionary.
__________

Fanaticism

Perhaps the biggest faith-deterrent for the average person today is not so much violence and warfare but the shadow of fanaticism. Many non-believers in Christianity have friends or relatives that have become ‘born again’ and seem to have gone off the deep end. They soon begin to loudly express disapproval of various groups and sectors of our society—especially movies and television, the Democratic party, homosexuals, evolutionists, activist judges, members of other religions (all of which are branded ‘false’) and public schools. When arguing for the truth of their faith they often appear intolerant and self-righteous. This is what many people would call fanaticism.

What is the solution? Many people try to understand Christians along a spectrum from ‘nominalism’ at one end to ‘fanaticism’ on the other. A nominal Christian is someone who is Christian in name only, who does not practice it and maybe hardly believes it. At the other end of the spectrum a fanatic is someone who is thought to over-believe and over-practice Christianity. In this schematic, the best kind of Christian would be someone in the middle, someone who doesn’t go all the way with it, who believes it but is not too devoted to it.

The problem with this is the same mistake about Christianity that we saw above. It assumes that the Christian faith is basically a form of moral improvement. Full-blown Christianity, then would be Phariseeism. Pharisaical religious people know nothing of ‘salvation by grace’. They assume they are right with God because of their moral behavior and right doctrine. This leads naturally to feelings of superiority toward those who do not share their religiosity, and from there to various forms of abuse, exclusion, and oppression.

But what if (as we will explain more fully below) the essence of Christianity was salvation by grace, salvation not because of what we do but because of what Christ has done for us? This would mean that both the nominal end of the spectrum and the fanatical end of the spectrum were missing out on the core of the Christian faith. The extremists we think of as ‘fanatics’ are so not because they are too committed to the gospel but not committed enough. Belief that you are accepted by God via sheer grace makes you both confident (because you are loved) and humble (because you didn’t earn it.)

Think of Jesus himself. He was enormously bold and daring, casting the money-changers out of the temple with a whip (John 2:11ff,) calling the ruling power, Herod, a “fox” and refusing to leave his territory, though he knew he wanted to kill him (Luke 13:31-32,) denouncing the religious and civic leaders for their corruption and injustice, though he knew it would cost him his life (Matt 23:27.) Yet he was gentle and embracing of people who were moral, racial, and political outlaws (John 8:1ff; Luke 7:36ff; 15:1ff; 19:1ff.) It was said of him he 'came not be served, but to served' (Mark 10:45) and he was so tender that 'He will not quarrel or cry out...a bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not snuff out... (Matt. 12:19-20).

So think of people you consider of as fanatical. They are over-bearing, self-righteous, opinionated, insensitive, harsh. Why are they so? It is not because they are too fanatically committed to Christ and his gospel, but rather because they are not fanatical enough. They are fanatically zealous and courageous, but they are not fanatically humble, sensitive, loving, empathetic, forgiving, or understanding as Christ was. Because they think of Christianity as a self-improvement moral framework they emulate the Jesus of the whips in the temple, but not the Jesus who said, “let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” (John 8:7) What strikes us as overly-fanatical is actually a failure be fully-orbed in our commitment to Christ.

Extremism and fanaticism, which leads to abuse and oppression, is a constant danger within the body of believers. But the answer is not to toned down and ‘moderate’ faith, but a deeper and truer faith in Christ and his word. The Biblical prophets understood this well. In fact, the scholar Merold Westphal documented that Marx’s analysis of religion as an instrument of oppression was anticipated by the Hebrew prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and others.[i] Marx was not original in his critique of religion—the Bible beat him to it! So while the church itself has tragically and inexcusably often been party to the oppression of people over the centuries, it is important to point out how Christian theology and the Bible gives us tools for unflinching analysis and withering critique of religiously supported injustice from within the faith. We have been taught to expect it and told what to do about it. Because of this, Christian history gives us many remarkable examples of self-correction.

[i] Merold Westphal Suspicion and Faith: The Religious Uses of Modern Atheism (Eerdmans, 1993.)

Driscoll on Culture War

in , ,

Mark Driscoll discusses hearing Charles Colson talk about "culture war" and offers some great questions...

Colson’s comments raise interesting missiological questions aboutthe role of the gospel in the culture. An aging generation of evangelicals assumes that America is essentially founded upon Christianity and that the role of the church is to defend Christian morality through mainly conservative and Republican political involvement and by fighting against such things as abortion and gay marriage. Younger emerging type Christians are increasingly answering these questions differently than previous generations, leading to a growing rift among American Christians regarding the proper role of a Christian in their culture:

    • Is Christianity at war for culture?
    • Is it beneficial for Christians to speak of themselves in military terms such as war when speaking of their engagement with lost people and their ideas?
    • Does the concept of a culture war cause Christians to fight moral and political battles rather than gospel battles?
    • Does the greatest threat to Christianity come from forces outside the church, or from inside the church, through leaders who are more like Judas than Jesus?
    • Do Christians have the right to continually claim the moral high ground when they are statistically no more moral than the average pagan?

Advancing the Revolution

in , ,

"Strangely enough...some who come to Jesus Christ seem to immediately and fully embrace this barbarian way.  They live their lives with every step moving forward and with every fiber of their being  fighting for the heart of their King.  Jesus Christ has become the all-consuming passion of their lives.  They are not about religion or position.  They have little patience for institutions or bureaucracies.  Their lack of respect for tradition or ritual makes them seem uncivilized to those who love religion.  When asked if they are Christians, their answer might surprisingly be no, they are passionate followers of Jesus Christ.  They see Christianity as a world religion, in many ways no different from any other religious system.  Whether Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, or Christianity, they're not about religion; they're about advancing the revolution Jesus started two thousand years ago.

Erwin McManus, The Barbarian Way, 5-6

Resurgence

in ,

Mark Driscoll's Resurgence website is now up.  From Driscoll...

...our staff is constructing the mother lode of all websites, completewith an ever-growing library of free articles, curriculum, podcasts, book reviews, cultural commentary, teaching helps, ministry tools, and mp3s of sermons and conferences for a spring debut, this blog will help keep you up-to-date on the sanctified trouble we are planning. Some of the most successful pastors and most respected missional theologians are providing enough content to give even the most devout gospel and culture geeks a headache of Absalom-esque proportions.

From the "About" page...

Resurgence means to rise again, or to surge back into vibrancy. We believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ must resurge in every generation to meet the needs of people and their continually changing cultures.

Missional means that we believe Jesus Christ is on a mission to seek and save people, change their lives, and transform their cultures. Because of this we believe that Christians, Christian organizations, and Christian churches exist to join Jesus on His mission by immersing themselves in whatever culture Jesus has placed them.

Theology means that we believe that personal and cultural transformation is only possible by meeting the living Jesus Christ of the Bible through His gospel. Because of this we believe that culturally accessible mission also requires biblically faithful theology.

Cooperative means that we believe a team of missional theologians working together as friends and peers, sharing ideas, and correcting errors is the best way for learning to occur. Because of this we are a network of various Christian leaders, ministries, churches, and networks seeking to work together in providing the most culturally effective and biblically faithful missional theology.

At Resurgence you will find info for the Reform & Resurge conference in May, which I would give up one of my toes to attend.  I'm planning on being at two conferences in April (one I attend, one in which I'm a speaker) and I'm still trying to see if I can make it to Seattle.  Speakers include Driscoll, Ed Stetzer, Tim Keller, Rick McKinley, Joshua Harris, Darrin Patrick, Matt Chandler, and Anthony Bradley.  From the website...

This is a conference that exists to provide encouragement, guidance, and instruction for the church and its leadership. Topics will address issues such as:

- Preaching the Christian Gospel to a secular audience
- The role of mercy ministry in cultural transformation
- Methods for engaging and decoding culture
- Practical tips for pastors
- Emerging theological errors in need of correction
= Crazy Delicious. (sorry, I did that)

In addition to all this the net is abuzz on how Driscoll is now blogging on the front page of the Resurgence website.  I highly doubt this will be much more than his way of updating people about the Resurgence ministry and what's coming next, etc.  But it will be worth watching since Resurgence promises to be a tremendous missional resource.  Here's his first post.

Keller on Suburbia

in

Daniel Cruver over at Eucatastrophe posed a good question to Tim Keller (NYC) on the suburban church.  Keller is very focused on planting churches in global cities.

Keller responded...

There will be have to be some necessary differences in mindset between urban and suburban churches because context always affects us deeply. Our own daughter churches in the NYC suburbs have the same theological vision and love of the city, but they simply aren’t a) as multi-ethnic and b) as close to the poor–because the zoning laws of the suburbs tend to homogenize things economically and therefore, to some degree, racially. So it is just harder to show how the gospel brings down racial and class barriers in the suburbs. (According to Ephesians 2, that is a major sign of the truth of the gospel.) It doesn’t mean that suburban churches are ‘inferior’ or that it is easier to be a pastor in the suburbs–I actually think it will take more ingenuity and creativity to demonstrate the power of the gospel in the suburbs than it will in the city.

As a pastor in a suburb of Chicago I completely agree.  I'm spending this week doing some vision work and asking the same question Daniel did to Keller, and the answers aren't easy.