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…
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.…
(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…
(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…
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,…
Cultural terms have a range. Racism is no exception. Effective transcultural missionaries have the humility to recognize the influence of their own cultural presuppositions. They know they must devote themselves to active listening in order to love and lead well.…
Check out part one to this blog post here. Our practice of Family Tables is certainly nothing new, but simply an expression of missional community for our context. Shared meals have been an important part of missional communities for…
The Backstory When we introduced missional communities to our church just over a year ago, the concept was new, not only to the members, but also to some of the leadership. People thought they had a basic idea of…
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…
This blog post is an excerpt from the introduction of our newest resource, an Everyday Discipleship Study on the book of Ephesians. This study launches Monday, August 19th but you can download the first chapter for free now!…
Early Death In 2010, Holt-Lunstad published a study on social relationships and mortality rates. The team’s research verified “that people with fewer social relationships die earlier on average than those with more social relationships.” They measured the influence of…
“Hey, I listened to your podcast.” My fictional podcast had been released for weeks, and I could count on my fingers how many local friends had listened to it. This had been a sensitive source of tears, anger, and…
My wife Bethany and I are suckers for weird artsy puppet shows, so of course we were pumped to see that Fort Worth’s Amphibian Theater was producing just that with Geppetto: Extraordinary Extremities. We grabbed a few friends and…
As we at Saturate seek to commission disciple-makers of students (or anyone for that matter), we are confronted with circumstances and beliefs that seems to be stopping many from starting a new work or shifting their current ministry functions. There…
Hospitality is a practice to be cultivated for God’s glory, our good and the flourishing of others. It’s an invitation to worship the One who invites us in, feeds us, listens to us, knows us, and provides for our…
As Americans watch the unfolding drama of the Supreme Court hearings, you can almost hear the nation collectively sigh in frustration, sadness, and disbelief. In many ways, these hearings are a culmination of many cultural currents: partisan politics, Trump…
This post is guest written by Tim Cain. Tim is an elder over preaching, leading missional communities, training up and discipling leaders, counseling, and casting and protecting the vision of Kaleo Church in El Cajon, CA. Tim has a B.A. in pastoral studies…
This post is guest written by Tim Cain. Tim is an elder over preaching, leading missional communities, training up and discipling leaders, counseling, and casting and protecting the vision of Kaleo Church in El Cajon, CA. Tim has a B.A. in pastoral studies…
This post is guest written by Tim Cain. Tim is an elder over preaching, leading missional communities, training up and discipling leaders, counseling, and casting and protecting the vision of Kaleo Church in El Cajon, CA. Tim has a B.A. in pastoral studies…
This post is guest written by Tim Cain. Tim is an elder over preaching, leading missional communities, training up and discipling leaders, counseling, and casting and protecting the vision of Kaleo Church in El Cajon, CA. Tim has a B.A. in pastoral studies…
Our longing should be for vulnerable kids to encounter the love of the Father through our community, for parents and kids who have been separated to get a picture of the reconciliation that comes through Jesus, and for those…
A City-Wide Missional Focus As I’ve shared briefly in some previous articles, a small but growing number of pastors in our community have joined forces to tackle the issue of foster care and to unite around the mission of…
Guest post by Rusty Langford, pastor at Matthew's Table I believe even the process itself of thinking together of how to grow in our love for God, one another, and our neighbors is formative as people seeking to be…
You’ll want the prayer, support, and encouragement of your church family if you’re going to move in this direction, and in order for that to happen, they will need to see Church unity as an integral part of your…
If we miss true friendship, we may be devolving into using people as projects for our own self interests. In the midst of our discussions or training about building, planting, and growing churches, we must guard against slipping into…
It's Labor Day, which means summer officially comes to a close, and we all gear up for the "normal" life that fall brings. The summer has been really busy for us, too, and we want to highlight a few of…
Catch part one in the series HERE. Generally speaking, if you are considering a transition to missional communities in an existing church, there are two routes you can go: top down or bottom up. Each has their own pros and…
Leaders, please set aside your objective plans for a moment. Helping people address their inner lives is probably the most important thing you’ll ever do. Many years ago I took my first trip to West Africa. On one of…
I’ve been on full time staff with Fellowship of Christian Athletes for about 5 years. My staff focus has been primarily on working with 6 high school campuses and a handful of middle schools in our suburban area. Although…
All of God’s people are sent people, and if your feet are standing on soil then God has sent you to that place to His glory and for His great purpose. Two years ago, I entered my ministry internship…
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