Today I had the privilege of addressing SBC Associational Directors for megacities in the U.S. Hopefully I didn’t make a fool of myself. One of the reasons I was asked to speak was based on our experience with PlantR, a interdenominational church planting network that is seeking to catalyze a Christ-centered, context-sensitive church plant movement that renews Austin and beyond. This presentation was similar to the one I did at the recent Missional Community Leadership conference.
If our experience in PlantR can be replicated in megacities and improved upon, then I believe that networks like PlantR can play an important role in creating a church planting movements in cities across America. Ultimately movement has to be a sovereign work of the Spirit, but the Spirit consistenly used networks throughout Christian history (Jerusalem, Antioch, Celtic Mission bases, etc). I hope you’ll consider joining a local church planting network or starting one in order to see your city truly reached. After all, no one planter, denomination, or church is going to single-handedly transform an entire city. We need each other in gospel mission.
Here is my outline “From Planting to Movements: The Role of City Networks“. And props to Brandon Hatmaker who helped me think this through in the original presentation. A quote from the presentation:
We need churches with strong social ties that extend well beyond the boundaries of their buildings and families into neighborhoods and the city. In short, we need more Missional Communities not Programmed Sunday Events.