One of the formative experiences of my life was at the age of twenty, when I spent a summer for working for Operation Mobilisation, selling Bibles door to door in rural France. It was formative in many ways, most of them good, but in particular for the discovery that God can answer our prayers for [...]

The days of the neighbourhood dropping in for Church just because it’s Christmas are over. Here’s how your church can move into the neighbourhood instead.

For centuries, the Advent/Christmas seasons have been a time for folks to automatically come into Church, perhaps forthe only time in a year. However, in this post-Christendom, and some would argue post-Christian age, all bets are off. The days of expectation that people will naturally come into events in our churches simply because it is Christmas, are rapidly dwindling. This is not an urban, suburban, or rural issue. This is not a church size or denominational issue. This is the new normal of every local church in our increasingly secularized age.

It is not a time for despair. In fact, it is . . .

Tomorrow (Tuesday November 29th), I trust you will take a moment to sing (perhaps silently—you wouldn’t want anyone to think you were weird, would you?) “Happy Birthday” to C.S.Lewis, who would have turned 113 on that day.
Does he have anything to say about pioneer ministries or fresh expressions of church? It would be nice to [...]

This is a workshop given by Simon Bell at the Vital Church Planting Conference 2011.

This is a workshop given by Nick Brotherwood at the Vital Church Planting Conference 2011.

We asked Steve Croft:

What expectations should we have about permanency for these “fresh expressions of church”?

We asked Steve Croft:

What king of training is required?

We asked Steve Croft:

What kind of person does it take to start a fresh expression of church?