Category: Missional Church

Austin City Life Vision for the Fall

Posted on August 28, 2010

We had a great Partner’s Brunch today downtown as St. Mary’s cathedral. It was so great to see a lot of people I have missed over the past few weeks. For those that missed, here is a partial update of what our church family talked about. If you’re not a partner and would like to join, be sure to sign up for Partners Class this Fall.

EVIDENCES OF GRACE IN ACL

  • Praise God for our staff who proved that pastors are replaceable but Jesus isn’t in my absence this summer. They preached, served, and led well this summer.
  • Praise God for a better, nicer, cheaper, more city centre location to gather on Sundays–Ballet Austin–staring September 12!
  • Molly C. shared how God’s grace has been helping her getting out of debt with her City Group’s help!
  • Kristan L. shared how grateful she is for ordinary graces like a job and a healthy family.
  • Kati B. shared how she shared the gospel with six of her co-workers.

AUSTIN BALLET on SEPT 12!

Our Sunday gathering move to Ballet Austin is an expression of our continued commitment to city renewal. We will be focusing on this very practically this Fall. As we move, we need all hands on deck to make this transition happen smoothly. Jump in, give grace, pray for those in that area of the city that we can reach. Pray for opportunities with staff and the hundreds of families that go to Austin Ballet every week.  How could we serve them, serve Ballet Austin?

KIDS LIFE

  • Thank you Robie for leading Kids Life so well for the past few months!
  • New leadership: 3 leader approach: 1) Megan D: lead on Sundays 2) Kristian Lovelace scheduling 3) General pastoral leadership from Jay to move to family integrated model of children’s ministry.
  • Excited about new leadership and vision. Older and younger elementary and even middle school for 2 of our kids.
  • Reminder that raising a child takes a church not just a family. Love our kids, Show them Jesus, Keep them Safe!
  • We are making progress as a 4-Self Church: self-governing, self-theologizing, self-reproducing, self-sustaining. This next year we hope to appoint some elders. A Church Planting Intern will join us in December to plant a church in Round Rock next year.

CITY  GROUPS: 11 More City Groups in 2011!

  • Participating in a City Group is essential to really living out commands of Christ to be the church to one another and the city. Remember that City Groups aren’t an event but a community you’ve been knit together with, to share life and truth, pray for one another and the city, engage peoples and cultures, and love one another.
  • City Groups at Austin City Life are we can be the church to one another and the city. More City Groups means more people living in the Gospel, in Community, and on Mission. City Groups are where we see the city of Austin and Austinites renewed by the Gospel, one neighborhood at a time!
  • WHY 11? There is nothing special about 11…it could be 7….it could be 15. The point is we want to cast a “vision” going into next year as we call men in our church to step up and lead. We have 8 City Groups right now, 11 more in 2011 would give us 19, and from there we anticipate each group multiplying once a year. So 38 City Groups in 2012, 76 City Groups in 2013, 152 City Groups by 2014…..and so the story goes as the Gospel renews Austin!
  • HOW? First off, by Gods grace and prayer. Also, we will be making a call for leaders all of September and October leading up to our CG Leader training on Saturday October 16th. Contact Nate or Jonathan if you are interested in joining this training! This will kickstart a process for all potential leaders will they will be coached through a season of “incubation” as they develop their: 1) calling 2) core 3) identified mission. We anticipate “celebrating” the births of these new communities throughout 2011.

RENEW the CITY

  • In city centre Austin 76% don’t believe Jesus is the Son of God. Let’s show and tell him that he is with grace and love. Our return to a downtown gathering is an expression of our commitment to the heart of the city–t0 usher in city renewal through the gospel–spiritually, socially, and culturally.
  • This Fall we will focus on incarnational Discipleship in Domains of the City. Consider which domains you work, live, or play in–Education, Government, Music & Arts, Social Services, Business & Tech, Media & Entertainment, Sports & Recreation. Incarnational Mission: Jesus lovingly and redemptively inserted himself into our world. Whose world are we inserting ourselves into? Are you making disciples or just making a nice life?

Porterbrook Austin: Missional Leader Training!

Posted on August 27, 2010

I’m very excited to announce the Fall launch of Porterbrook Austin, sponsored by sister church Soma Community! The Porterbrook Network was created by Steve Timmis & Tim Chester of The Crowded House, co-authors of the book Total Church.

What is Porterbrook Austin?

The Porterbrook Network is a robust, mobile, gospel-centered, training program for missional leaders. As the PBrook Austin site points out, this program is for church leaders, church planters, or simply Christians wanting to deepen their theological understanding and become more mission-focused.

Several Austin City Life people will start P’Brook Austin this Fall. Check out the website and consider joining them to grow more deeply in Gospel, Community, and Misson!

Porterbrook Austin Program Options

Registration

Sign-up by September 8th, 2010. More information and pricing can be found on the links above for each program. You can also check out ‘What Is Porterbrook Austin‘ and ‘Which Program is For Me‘.

Gospel & Culture Outlines

Posted on August 27, 2010

Here is the outline from my first lecture on Gospel & Culture at the ACE conference.

I. The Eternal Gospel is Socio-cultural

a. The Gospel is creation focused

b. The Gospel is culturally particularized

c. The Gospel is socially renewing

Key Statement: As creation focused, culturally particularized, and socially renewing, the Gospel changes where we live. Although the Gospel does not change, it does change everything.

II. The Eternal Gospel is Historical-Doctrinal

a. The Gospel is History making News

b. The Gospel is Christ-centered

c. The Gospel is Redemptive-Incarnational

Key Statement: As historical, the Gospel changes what we believe. The Gospel changes everything by not changing at all.

III. The Gospel is Personal

a. The Gospel is incredibly humbling

b. The Gospel is wonderfully transforming

Key Statement: As personal the Gospel, changes who we are. The Gospel changes everything by changing us.

4 Reasons I’m Excited about the GCM Conference!

Posted on August 25, 2010

Here are four reasons why I’m excited about the GCM Collective Conference, which is just two months away Oct 28-30!

(1) Practioner-tested Missional Community Training: There’s a lot of talk about missional communities but few are planting, multiplying, and leading missional communities with time tested results. Drawing on years of experience, many of the breakouts specialize in training people in missional community leadership. Whether you have missional communities or not, these breakouts will equip you to lead a more missionally effective church.

(2) Top Notch Theological Reflection on Mission: With the emergence of the Missional Church, do we truly know the state of mission in America? Who do we need to engage with the Gospel? How can we engage them effectively? Are there missional structures and approaches to discipleship that have proven effective? Ed Stetzer and Jeff Vanderstelt will address these issues from the stage, while breakouts push these insights through into everyday practice.

(3) The Collective Experience: The Collective experience has the power to equip and galvanize gospel movement well beyond the conference! It groups missional leaders together who share an affinity in their mission, i.e. megachurches, urban context, small church plants, house churches, suburban context, helping them to process GCM conference content through their similar challenges and experiences. This shared learning will encourage and strengthen people in their mission. Plus, an online community will be available for the shared learning to continue!

(4) The Centrality of the Gospel in Mission: The conference will not make best practice central to mission but our grasp and communication of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We will devote an entire plenary to clarifying what the Gospel is. In confusing times, this will help us clarify and clasp this remarkable good news we have been entrusted with.