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Posts Tagged ‘Shift Missional Ownership’
3 Non-Negotiables for Congregational Change
By: Jock Ficken
Every day, leaders wake up knowing that their congregation must navigate change or distance itself from being a vibrant community with wider influence. Here’s the problem: Inertia wakes up even earlier every day and has already resolved to fend off any feeble attempts at desperately needed change that would challenge the status quo. So, here … Continue reading
Rebuilding Community In and Around Your Congregation
By: Jock Ficken
A Conversation with Debbie Teike Earlier this year I sat down with Debbie Teike, a long time member and mentor within the PLI family. Debbie is the designer/builder of The Art of Invitation, a video-based course/experience in how to build community in and around the church. She is a deeply committed follower of Jesus and … Continue reading
What You Can Do if You Think Your Church is Failing
By: Jock Ficken
80% of U.S. churches… Worship less than 100. Face steady to rapid decline. Possess collective memories of being 2 times or 10 times larger. Leaders and members are taunted with the whisper that they’re failing. Usually today’s realities were set in motion years earlier by… A stubborn refusal or inability to make necessary changes for … Continue reading
Stop Setting Up Leaders to Fail
By: Jock Ficken
The door to a vibrant, future church in 2030 swings on the hinges of relational discipleship! Here are 4 thoughts: We’ve settled for a discipleship that looks good on the surface. You can only give away what you yourself possess. Minimally transformed leaders produce minimally transformed leadership groups that result in minimally transformed ministries. And… … Continue reading
Quick + Crowd = Greatest Impact?
By: Jock Ficken
What’s the quickest way to the greatest impact? For the sake of the Mission of God? Maybe “quickest” and “greatest” are not compatible when it comes to impact. Leaders often equate “quickest” plus “crowd” with “greatest impact.” Particularly if “crowd” was modified with larger or bigger! There’s a growing uneasiness among leaders with this equation: … Continue reading
Get In The Game
By: Jock Ficken
Get yourself in the mission game if you’re not there already! Don’t wait for all those folks to one day wake up and decide they should ask you about Jesus. You’ll be waiting a long time. (Review our Christendom and Post-Christendom PLI Entry Paths.) It was incredibly difficult when I started down this path. I … Continue reading
Pockets and Places
By: Sarah Greiner
“I’m in church work so I’m around Christians all day. It’s not possible for me to meet people who don’t know Jesus.” Sound familiar? We often perceive roadblocks to living missionally and feel stuck in the circles of the church world. PLI believes that God opens up possibilities for relationship with lost and broken people … Continue reading
How to Successfully Invite People to Your Church
By: Jock Ficken
Over the last several decades, churches that experienced steady or rapid growth and people coming to faith in Jesus had congregational members who joyfully invited their friends, family, and neighbors to come to church. Several things were essential: People had relationships with people who didn’t attend a church. They were motivated by the love of … Continue reading
What if YOU were the Mission Program?
By: Jock Ficken
Which would you choose to do mission? Being outfitted with a “program”? (there are lots of them) Or BEING the “Mission Program” yourself? My guess is that a lot of us would reach for the program! Ironically… Our trust in fitting into a program tends to run higher than our trust in God fitting us … Continue reading
Mapping Cultural Distance
By: Jock Ficken
The PLI community cares about leaders and the future of the church and the sharing of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Our pioneering spirit looks to journey toward new, better horizons. Let me tell you a quick story from lunch at a restaurant the other day and then it’s translation! “I overheard what your … Continue reading
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