“Slow down!” is the urgent signal that appears on my car’s dashboard at least once a year. It coincides with the first sign of warm weather. At some point on trips out of town, when I’ve been going at high…
This practice was birthed out of the Ignatian movement started by St. Ignatius of Loyola, which saw monks travel the world to share the power and purpose of the gospel. These missionaries traveled in community and embedded themselves in cultures…
The Fall season and its holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving, offer us many opportunities to live as a "beautiful resistance" in our city. The following are suggestions for engaging the Fall season with both communal and missional intentionality. We recognize that…
I started teaching full-time in October. Prior to this, I had primarily been either a student or a stay-at-home mom, which meant I was consistently able to dedicate a good chunk of time to “being with Jesus'' in Word and…
When we think about the magnitude of seeing every life saturated with the gospel of Jesus Christ and how many people live in our cities, it can become overwhelming. For some, that overwhelming feeling can immobilize us. Moving from big…
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have…
As a lay elder who works a full-time job in the corporate world, I have long been intrigued by the role of vocation in the Christian life. Christians throughout church history have worked in all manner of vocations. In the…
October 31st offers a great opportunity for many to engage in new relationships with those around us or to revisit some old relationships with new missional intentionality. Regardless of what you think of the holiday and it's roots, the…
Early in the pandemic, it was said, “We are all in the same storm, but different boats.” This has proven to be true over the past year and a half, especially when it comes to missional communities or community groups.…
When my boys were small, I stenciled a black tractor and Colossians 3:23 on a burlap sign and propped it on their bookcase: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” I wanted them to…
“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your…
As we enter in and entwine our lives with others through the practice of hospitality we get to experience both the "sweet" and "hard" of following Jesus. We get a taste of the Kingdom and we get to show…
How many times have I thought, “Lord, why did you call me to this?” A little over a year ago my family moved into the overlooked neighborhood our missional community had been serving for four years—the same neighborhood where…
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Prior to meeting Jesus, we were lost and broken in desperate need for a Savior. However, such a necessity was not bound to our pre-salvific state. As believers who securely hold salvation by the name of Christ and are…
The Story of Soma Queretaro "How are we going to do this?" my friend asked after agreeing to join me in planting a church in Queretaro City, Mexico. It was clear that this was not a simple move from one…
Regardless of which ditch we have a tendency to fall in, regardless if we are more like Child 1 or Child 2, God in His love pursues us and sanctifies us with His grace and His truth as He…
Do you want to see your community saturated with the gospel? A great place to start is considering how your vocation can promote the flourishing of your community and making disciples. In this guest blog post, Daniel McDonald shares…
In three of the gospel accounts, Jesus, prior to beginning His ministry, was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. For 40 days He went without food and the comforts of life, yet He…
What is Lent? Lent is a forty-day-long journey through daily and sometimes hourly reminders of the gospel because our stomachs are hungry or our hearts are longing for something we seemingly can’t live without. Lent and the celebration of Easter…
A few years ago a lady who had lost her first husband to brain cancer came to me before she married her second husband concerned for her daughters. She was worried that they would doubt her love for them…
(Enjoy this final post in Alan Hirsch's eleven-part series.) When the church gets its act together, it is the most potent force for the transformation of the world. One of the most profound ways to embody countercultural dissents against the…
(Post ten in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read part eleven here.) The kingdom works covertly to undermine the way things are now and to initiate God’s rule in its place. Contrary to a narrow fundamentalist understanding of…
(Post nine in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read post ten here.) Stop being overly “spiritual,” using insider, religious language, to talk about God—it mostly alienates people. The reality is, to become a missional Christian, we begin by simply…
(Post eight in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read part seven here.) We live as if there is an insurmountable distance between the “sacred” and the “secular.” One of the important dimensions of incarnational mission is to break…
Will leaders, called of God to minister, rise to the challenge of equipping the body to do the work of evangelizing others to Christ during this unique and pivotal time in the life of the church? At times, outreach…
(Post seven in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read post six here.) It is false to say that only Christians can experience God. One of the most basic assumptions of the incarnational missionary is to assume God is already…
(Post six in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read post five here.) Don’t presume you really know what’s going on. A few years ago I ran and organized a conference called St. Paul Goes to the Movies. The idea…
(Post five in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read part four here) Whether we like it or not, we live in a world that is culturally fragmented and fragmenting. We are called to be a missional (move-out) people, and…
(Post four in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read post three here) Every Christian is a missionary, and we are called to live out our commitment to Jesus’ lordship in every sphere and domain of life. The first…
(Post three in an eleven-part series from Alan Hirsch. Read post two here.) You are the church before you do church. If we take Jesus at his word when he says, “As the Father has sent me, I am…
We have lost the art of thoughtful dialogue. Left to ourselves, we seem to avoid controversy or handle it poorly. It's impolite to discuss religion or politics. These are issues held with the head and the heart. Beliefs become convictions,…
This post is part of a series on Caring and Sharing Hope during COVID-19. If you haven’t yet, read the first post in the series here. Not-yet-believers have been and will be deeply affected by COVID-19. If they’re not connected…
One of my favorite things in my book A Field Guide for Everyday Mission is the “101 ways” we suggested, to help followers of Jesus engage not-yet-believing neighbors, co-workers and friends in winsome, tangible, and meaningful ways. In a…
The cul-de-sac was a phenomenal invention for the suburbs. It created a safe and peaceful place for families to raise children. No one passed through. In fact, the only time strangers can appear is after a wrong turn and…
“Dad, why do we have to do this? Why can’t we just sit inside the house?” My son was only eight years old at the time these words were uttered, and he didn’t want to meet new people on…
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