In the chute conference

Big things to take out of 'In the chute' conference

Over the last few days I was in Canberra thinking about church planting and growing churches. It was put on by the guys at Geneva Push.

Their website is great and has all the talks up

So here are some things that I took away….

1. Pursue evangelism, no matter how difficult or die. We want grow by sheer organisational skill. Therefore we have to have lives that touch unbelievers somehow whether it be door to door, letters, radio stations, etc
   


2. Keep thinking hard about training people to be disciples of Jesus especially during times of rapid growth
   


3. Give ourselves not just to planting but growing churches
   


4. 
   
   Factors to consider in church growth
   
   
   
   
   
   1. Spiritual: check community, congregational, leadership: are we captured by the gospel and its convictions. Preach with urgency
      
   
   
   2. Competency: of leaders in preaching, communication, conflict resolution & people skills
      
   
   
   3. Process management: not good at managing the resources that God has given u
      
   
   
   4. Need to keep thinking about building capacity: finding people who are vision multipliers, raising the evangelistic temperature
      


5. Our evangelistic edge will be lost if WE are not walking closely with Jesus
   


6. Know your local area: find the local council employed community worker to find out how we can work in partnership
   


7. Work hard at modelling an evangelistic lifestyle – inviting people to church, etc
   


8. See your calendar as missional e.g. teach people you have 5 lunchtimes 1 of them lunch with non-Christian
   


9. Breaking 200 the leader needs to move from shepherd to rancher (but not too quickly)
   


10. You will only fill up to the lowest slat in the barrel (you have to understand the illustration)
    

More Moving Moody

For a lot of the time Moody's Mum, Betsey, was Unitarian, however after returning from two years in England Moody went home for some rest and relaxation. He says,

'Cold unitarians….My heart burned to draw them to Christ'

After spending some time in his hometown he was invited to preach and did over a number of evenings

'Betsey came from pride, determined not to budge from her convictions…..A Unitarian till shed died. On the hills, alone or with his friends, Moody wrestled in prayer. Some song, some graphic Bible story pierced her shield of moral confidence, but she gave no sign until on one of the last evenings, when Moody invited those to rise in their places who wished to acknowledge Christ as Son of God and trust in Him as Saviour, "that we might pray for you", Betsey rose. Moody was so overcome that he could barely ask one of the others to lead the prayer. On the last night Samuel (his brother0 stood.

Really enjoying this book…..