If you are in the KC area, I hope to see you in two weeks from tomorrow.

If you are in the Kansas City area, join @alanhirsch and me for a one-day event on Thursday, November 5th, hosted by @NewCity_Church #mission #church #churchplanting #kansascity luma.com/6lyp7g62?tk=ufOl3y

#Rethink #Church #ChurchPlanting #EngageTheCity

Hey, Kansas City, come hang out with @alanhirsch and me next month.

Thanks for asking. Do yourself a favor and go immerse yourself in the Gospels: Matthew 5:9: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:21: Jesus goes beyond prohibiting murder to confront the anger and contempt that contribute to violence. Matthew 5:38: Rejects retaliation and teaches turning the other cheek. Matthew 5:40: Calls for generosity rather than responding to mistreatment with coercion or revenge. Matthew 5:43: Commands love for enemies and prayer for persecutors. Luke 6:27: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and bless those who curse you. Luke 6:29–30: Turn the other cheek and respond to mistreatment without retaliation. Luke 6:32: Extend mercy and love even to enemies, reflecting God's own character. Luke 6:37: Reject condemnation and cultivate forgiveness. Luke 6:31: Treat others as you would want to be treated. Matthew 7:12: The Golden Rule establishes reciprocal care as a fundamental ethical principle. Matthew 26:51–52: When a disciple uses a sword during Jesus' arrest, Jesus commands him to put it away, warning that those who take the sword will perish by it. Matthew 26:53–54: Jesus refuses the possibility of overwhelming heavenly force to defend himself. Mark 14:47–49: Jesus challenges the armed crowd that comes to arrest him, contrasting their weapons with his public teaching. Luke 22:49–51: Jesus stops his disciples' violent resistance and heals the wounded servant's ear. John 18:10–11: Jesus commands Peter to put away his sword rather than resist arrest. John 18:36: Jesus tells Pilate that his kingdom is not from this world, explaining that otherwise his servants would fight to prevent his arrest. Matthew 27:12–14: Jesus refuses to defend himself through the usual adversarial confrontation before Pilate. Mark 15:3–5: Jesus remains silent in the face of accusations. Luke 23:34Jesus prays for the forgiveness of those responsible for his crucifixion. 1 Peter 2:21–23Jesus is described as one who did not retaliate when insulted or threaten revenge when suffering. The arrest narratives are particularly compelling. Jesus' refusal to employ violence was not merely an abstract ethical ideal. He practiced it when violence might have saved his own life. Mark 10:42–45Jesus contrasts rulers who dominate others with his followers, who are called to serve rather than exercise power over people. Matthew 20:25–28Greatness is measured by service and self-giving rather than coercive authority. Luke 22:24–27Jesus rejects the model of kings who lord authority over others and identifies himself as one who serves. John 13:1–17 Jesus washes his disciples' feet, demonstrating servant leadership rather than domination. Matthew 23:8–12 Jesus rejects status-driven hierarchies and teaches humility. Luke 9:46–48Jesus challenges competitive ideas of power and status. John 6:14–15 Jesus withdraws when people attempt to make him king by force. Matthew 4:8–10 Jesus rejects the temptation to acquire the kingdoms of the world through allegiance to Satan. Luke 4:5–8Jesus refuses the offer of political authority obtained through compromise with evil. Matthew 6:12–15Forgiving others is essential to the life of discipleship. Matthew 18:21–22 Jesus calls for forgiveness beyond conventional limits. Matthew 18:23–35 The parable of the unforgiving servant emphasizes mercy over vengeance. Luke 17:3–4Jesus teaches repeated forgiveness of those who repent. Matthew 9:13 Jesus emphasizes God's desire for mercy rather than sacrifice. Matthew 12:7 Jesus again places mercy above rigid religious judgment. Matthew 12:18–21 Matthew applies Isaiah's description of a gentle servant who does not quarrel or cry out and who brings justice without crushing the vulnerable. Luke 9:51–56 When disciples want to call down fire on a Samaritan village that rejects Jesus, he rebukes them. John 8:1–11Jesus prevents the stoning of a woman accused of adultery and redirects the accusers toward self-examination. Luke 10:25–37The Good Samaritan illustrates compassionate action across hostile ethnic and religious boundaries. Luke 23:39–43Jesus extends mercy to a condemned criminal while suffering execution himself. Matthew 16:24–26Jesus calls followers to take up their crosses rather than secure their lives through self-preservation. Mark 8:34–35 Following Jesus involves self-denial and willingness to suffer rather than dominate. Luke 9:23–24 Discipleship involves taking up the cross daily. Mark 10:45Jesus describes his mission as giving his life for others rather than exercising domination. John 10:11–18 Jesus presents himself as the good shepherd who voluntarily lays down his life for the sheep. John 12:23–26Jesus uses the image of a grain of wheat dying to illustrate the fruitfulness of self-giving. John 15:12–13 The greatest expression of love is laying down one's life for others. Matthew 27:27–44Jesus endures mockery, humiliation, and crucifixion without violent retaliation. Mark 15:16–32Jesus refuses to save himself through a display of coercive power. Luke 23:33–43Jesus responds to crucifixion with forgiveness and mercy. And to respond to your comment about swords. Matthew 10:34Jesus says he came not to bring peace but a sword. The surrounding context concerns division within families, rather than a direct command to use weapons. Luke 22:35–38Jesus tells his disciples to purchase swords. The meaning is debated, particularly given his subsequent rejection of armed resistance. John 2:13–17 Jesus makes a whip of cords and drives activity from the temple. The passage depicts forceful disruption, although it does not explicitly describe him striking people.

If you work with church planters, help them think less like a pastor starting a worship service and more like a missionary engaging a unique context. #ReThink #ChurchPlanting #ParadigmShift

The structures and methods that once served us well should never become too sacred to question. #rethink #church #churchplanting #mission

I have started reading David Byrne's (yes, the Byrne from the band Talking Heads) new book, "Sleeping Beauties: Why Good Ideas Go Dormant and How They Wake Up." It is pretty fascinating. Byrne argues that throughout history, some of the most important ideas have been ignored, rejected, or simply forgotten, only to be rediscovered decades or even centuries later. Why do good ideas go dormant? (See if this resonates or sounds familiar.) Byrne says that good ideas sometimes challenge the dominant assumptions of the day. Sometimes institutions become so invested in existing structures and practices that they cannot recognize the value of something different. (The power of the status quo.) Other times, the cultural conditions simply aren't right for an idea to take root. But then something changes. Cultural values shift. Established systems begin to struggle. New questions emerge. And suddenly, ideas that were once dismissed or forgotten become relevant again. I've been thinking about how this applies to the church. What if some of the ideas the church needs most today aren't actually new ideas, but forgotten ones? Think about the missionary identity of the entire people of God rather than mission being delegated to a few professionals. Or discipleship organized around actually following Jesus rather than simply acquiring religious information. Or the integration of faith, work, and everyday life. Or the recovery of small, relational, decentralized communities of faith. Or the understanding that the church exists for the sake of God's mission rather than its own institutional preservation. None of these are particularly new ideas. In fact, they are deeply rooted in the life and teachings of Jesus and the practices of the early church. But over time, many of these convictions became obscured by the structures, traditions, and assumptions of institutional Christianity. Perhaps what we often call innovation is actually rediscovery. And perhaps the cultural disruption we are experiencing today, as unsettling as it may be, is creating the very conditions necessary for some of these dormant ideas to awaken and to finally be "remembered." I am totally convinced that the future of the church will not come from developing better programs, improving existing structures, or finding more effective ways to do what we have always done. It may require recovering ways of being the church that we've largely forgotten. To quote the title of one of Alan Hirsch's books, they are truly "The Forgotten Ways." Sometimes the future doesn't require a new idea. It requires a new set of circumstances that allows us to finally recognize the value of an old one. Maybe the question isn't, "What new thing does the church need to do?" Maybe it's, "What have we forgotten that we desperately need to remember?" Here is a short intro about the book. youtube.com/watch?v=m-pfp-Sb…

If you are in the Kansas City area, join @alanhirsch and me for a one-day event on Thursday, November 5th, hosted by @NewCity_Church #mission #church #churchplanting #kansascity luma.com/6lyp7g62?tk=ufOl3y

Weekly reminder from Lesslie Newbigin: "When the Church tries to embody the rule of God in the forms of earthly power, it may achieve that power, but it is no longer a sign of the kingdom." #Kingdom #LesslieNewbigin

Talking about moving into their 60s, someone said: "Then something miraculous happens: you realize the judges have gone home. You can finally stop performing and start inhabiting your own life. Freedom isn’t having no obligations. It's knowing which ones are actually yours." #SecondHalfOfLife #GrowingOlder

A man who routinely belittles and insults women reveals something deeply flawed about his character. But so do the men who stand beside him, laugh it off, make excuses, or say nothing.

If you are in the Kansas City area, join @alanhirsch and me for a one-day event on Thursday, November 5th, hosted by @NewCity_Church #mission #church #churchplanting luma.com/6lyp7g62?tk=ufOl3y

If you are in the Kansas City area, come join @alanhirsch and me for a one-day event on Thursday, November 5th, hosted by @NewCity_Church #mission #church #churchplanting luma.com/6lyp7g62?fbclid=IwY…

From a missiological perspective, this is significant. The emerging challenge isn't simply unbelief; it's disengagement. People can retain Christian identity, spiritual beliefs, or even prayer while becoming disconnected from embodied, communal religious practices. The distinction between believing, belonging, and behaving can be useful for thinking about cultural shifts and missionary engagement. Remember, we are perfectly designed to achieve what we are currently achieving. graphsaboutreligion.com/p/th…

If you are in the Kansas City area, come join @alanhirsch and me for a one day event on Thursday, November 5th, hosted by @NewCity_Church. #church #churchplanting luma.com/6lyp7g62?tk=ufOl3y

🎯 "Modernity slowly weakened spirituality, by design and accident, in favor of commerce; it downplayed silence and mere being in favor of noise and constant action. The reason we live in a culture increasingly without faith is not because science has somehow disproved the unprovable, but because the white noise of secularism has removed the very stillness in which it might endure or be reborn..... If the churches came to understand that the greatest threat to faith today is not hedonism but distraction, perhaps they might begin to appeal anew to a frazzled digital generation." ~ Andrew Sullivan; "I Used to Be a Human Being"

One of the most valuable things someone in the first half of life (roughly under 40) can do is to spend intentional time with someone 20, 30, or even 40 years older and listen. There is unmatched wisdom in the voice of someone who has walked through suffering, loss, failure, and somehow come out the other side with humility, grace, and clarity. So do yourself, and everyone around you, a favor: find that person. Ask questions and listen carefully. "When an elder dies, a library burns." — African Proverb

Church leader, please stop referring to jobs outside the church as "secular." Regardless of what people do, Monday to Friday, help them see how their calling in the marketplace or public square contributes to and participates in God's mission. Let's all try to shift our thinking from "secular" vocations to sacred callings. #WorkMatters #Calling