Missional People

Conversion and Contextualization: Re-examining our Expectations of Gospel Change
According to Andrew Walls, the word “conversion” has been used in two main ways throughout Christian history.[1] The first meaning of conversion denotes “an external act of religious change.” This act reflects a movement towards Christian faith, individually or collectively. The other meaning of conversion refers to “critical [...]

Some people around the country have called to ask what we are doing and how North Village Church got started. Although the last thing we want to do is reduce this to a cookie cutter model there are some things that are reproducible. The first starting with a burden for something different within the local [...]

Knowing what is involved in justification and why it is necessary is extremely important, but it means nothing if it does not move us to mission. Realizing that we are justified by and before a holy God through Jesus should move us to invite others to experience the same justification. This should not be an [...]

Church planting is difficult… plain and simple. It is not for people who just want to be a senior pastor. It is not for people who just want to preach on a stage. It is not for people who just want to work at a church. It is not for people who want to implement [...]

In Gospel and Method Part 1, we exposed an unhealthy preoccupation with methods in church growth debates. To a degree, this debate ignores what is most critical in church planting: our understanding, articulation, and embodiment of the historic gospel of Jesus Christ. Varieties of methods, from organic house church to attractional megachurch, have been used by [...]

Missional is a new trend that seminarians and pastors came up with in order to sell books.
Missional means that you water down the gospel.
Missional means that you wear jeans with holes in them and get a tattoo.
Missional is a trendy word that basically means “evangelism”.
Missional means that you don’t take people to Scripture.
Missional is more [...]

Method: Attractional or Organic?
Dan Kimball of Vintage Faith Church and They Like Jesus But Not the Church fame recently resurfaced the attractional-versus-incarnational debate in an article called “Missional Misgivings.” In this article, he suggests that very few missional churches are actually growing or reaching the lost, and that what we need is more attractional megachurches. Neil [...]

Eat with Non-Christians
We all eat three meals a day. Why not make a habit of sharing one of those meals with a non-Christian or with a family of non-Christians? Go to lunch with a co-worker, not by yourself. Invite the neighbors over for family dinner. If it’s too much work to cook a big dinner, [...]

What should be the main focus of mission in the Christian faith? Social Justice or Evangelism? Well, it depends on who you talk to.   These are two pieces of God’s mission that seem to have been split apart in our history. 
We have seen conservative wings of Christianity stick primarily to evangelism and liberal wings [...]

The birth of a child is such an amazing thing… we just had our first.  All the intricate details involved in bringing a life into this world are absolutely mind-boggling.  The fact that this is how we are all brought into this world is particularly amazing.  My wife and I experienced this state of awe [...]