Articles for tag: NewThing Network

September 22, 2020

Kent E. Fillinger

Four Opportunities for Every Church in the New Reality

By Dave Ferguson On March 12, 2020, I made two different versions of a video, knowing only one of them would be sent to our entire church. In the first video, I said we would stick to our normal schedule with 26 services at 11 locations across Chicagoland. In the second video, I introduced a new reality by telling everyone our church facilities were closing and we were moving everything online. After I finished recording the videos, my wife and I headed to O’Hare International Airport to fly to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. We were planning to see our youngest son,

November 3, 2017

Christian Standard

Three Shifts to Increase Global Engagement 

By David Dummitt  The church is the hope of the world. The global church is connected like no other generation before us. This should impact the way churches engage internationally. We live in an exciting time in church history, and we have the privilege and responsibility to grow the kingdom of God well.  Global engagement isn”t a new idea to American churches. Mission programs, global outreach projects, generosity campaigns, and more have been a part of churches in the United States for centuries. Many methods, strategies, and best practices have come and gone, but like everything else, we need to

September 22, 2017

Jerry Harris

Rural Church Planting: A Conversation with Pastor Jerry Harris

By David Dummitt Last month I had the opportunity to speak with Eric Metcalf in Chicago about the unique opportunities and challenges of urban church planting. But across America, millions of people live outside of metropolitan areas, and so I wanted to explore similar questions from a rural perspective. As I considered who could speak candidly and with authority on the subject of rural church planting, Jerry Harris, senior pastor of The Crossing, a multisite church located in three states across the Midwest, immediately came to mind.    Jerry, how do you measure the health and success of a rural

August 19, 2017

Christian Standard

Urban Church Planting: A Conversation with Eric Metcalf

By David Dummitt When I was first invited to write an article about urban church planting, I planned to write about trends, research, data, and the like. But after thinking about it some more, I decided that rather than share my thoughts, it would be more powerful to share the insights of someone in the proverbial trenches of urban church planting. I recently sat down with Eric Metcalf, a colleague, fellow church planter, and friend. Eric and his wife, Erin, are church planters in downtown Chicago. Eric is also the residency catalyst for NewThing. Their passion for the Jesus mission,

July 28, 2017

Christian Standard

4 Key Reasons Why Network Church Planting Is Succeeding

By David Dummitt Church planting has been a dynamic practice for 20 centuries, with methods and strategies morphing in response to context and culture. Modern church planting is seeing tremendous success as it shifts from “traditional” to a network church-planting model. The classic “parachute-drop” model is one of the most common methods we have seen in the last century. In this model, a church planter sets out like a pioneer to launch a church where there is no church. Typically, in this traditional, high-risk model, the church planter sets out with limited resources and few (if any) connections. In the

June 20, 2017

Christian Standard

5 Reasons Church Planting Should Matter to You

By David Dummitt Not long ago, when you talked to church leaders about church planting, eyes would glaze over and conversation topics would awkwardly shift. I”m excited to live in a time when this is changing. Organizations like NewThing, Stadia, Passion for Planting, Orchard Group, and others demonstrate that more and more churches are passionate about planting even more churches around the globe. Whether you lead a congregation of 50, 500, or 5,000, your engagement in church planting is critical to the mission that Jesus gave us to be and make disciples. Multiplication is a charge for each one of

December 6, 2014

Christian Standard

Classroom Component Added

By Jennifer Johnson The NewThing Network, a church planting movement launched by the leaders of Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL, has long been known for a focus on reproducing churches and multiplying momentum. This, of course, requires a consistent influx of new leaders who then develop new leaders. NewThing”s residency program helps identify and coach these apprentices, and the organization”s new Leadership Training Center, opening in 2015, will add a classroom component to the process. “The residency is a nine- to twelve-month program that connects future church planters with leaders who can mentor and teach them,” says Eric Metcalf,

October 19, 2014

Christian Standard

So You Want to Write a Book: Three Essential Ingredients

By Dave Ferguson Since I had never written a book, I was flattered when I received an e-mail from a representative of a big publisher asking to meet me. I agreed to meet, and over coffee, we talked about me authoring a book. I was very excited about the possibilities! However, within minutes I could tell this rep had made a huge mistake. He thought he was meeting with Dr. David Ferguson, the counselor and Oxford scholar. Instead he was meeting with Dave Ferguson, the church planter. Oops! We had a good laugh, finished our coffee, and I left thinking,

May 30, 2013

Christian Standard

Where Missional Is Moving

By Matt Smay Missionaries””they were the devout adventurers who traveled the world helping people from other cultures learn about God. As a boy I admired their pictures posted on the bulletin board of our church lobby, and followed the strings that connected their faces to pins on a map that identified their mission fields. I was impressed. I grew up in church. It was a small, traditional, suburban congregation in Southern California started in the 1940s that ministered to a sprawling city. Like many in the postwar industrial boom, my paternal grandparents relocated with their four young kids from middle

June 13, 2010

Christian Standard

Two Views About the Future of the Restoration Movement: Dissolve or Thrive?

By Dick Alexander This January, Standard Publishing”s Publishing Committee, CHRISTIAN STANDARD”s contributing editors, and a few other key leaders met in a retreat to discuss the future. Key questions included, “Why does the Restoration Movement exist? What do we contribute? What is our vision for what Christian churches and churches of Christ should be and accomplish in the next decades? What do we want to look like 50 years from now . . . and what can we do today to begin painting that picture?” Although much time was given to freewheeling dialogue, two speakers set the tone with their

August 30, 2009

Christian Standard

Seven Key Question for Jon Ferguson

  by Darrel Rowland Jon Ferguson, cofounder of Community Christian Church near Chicago (www.communitychristian.org) and director/cofounder of the NewThing Network (www.newthing.org) discusses the hows and whys of multisite.       Why multisite in the first place, especially vs. expansion at the original location, and vs. planting an entirely new church at the new location? At Community, we”re always asking, “Where is God at work?” or better yet, “Where may God be dreaming?” Our mission is helping people find their way back to God. Multisite and church planting have been our responses to where God is at work in our

December 7, 2008

Christian Standard

Stop Baptizing!

By Dave Ferguson Here is my challenge for every leader and paid staff person of every Christian church””stop baptizing! Just so you understand the challenge, let me say it again””STOP BAPTIZING! If you think this is merely an attention-grabber, you are only partially correct. Let me explain. I recently started leading a new small group. In preparation for the first group gathering, I met my apprentice leader at my favorite Starbucks to go over leadership expectations and to make other preparations. This was all new to him; he had never been a leader, never been in a group, and finished

October 12, 2008

Christian Standard

Helping People Find Their Way Back to God in Kansas City

By Troy McMahon I was sitting on a park bench at Ozark Christian College, next to the young woman who would soon become my bride, when I made the decision. I was going to live a life without regrets.  I had just attended the National Youth Leaders Conference where I heard Tony Campolo speak. He shared some statistics about people in their 90s. When asked what they would do differently in their lives if they had to do it all over again, three themes emerged. First, they would take more risks; second, they would reflect more; and third, they would

October 12, 2008

Christian Standard

The National New Church Conference”s “˜Exponential” Development

By Jennifer Taylor From multisite campuses to nationwide networks, interest in church planting is at a new high. Restoration Movement leaders have been planting churches and sharing their experiences for decades, but this renewed focus on reproducing churches””plus a commitment to cross-denominational collaboration””has made the National New Church Conference the premier church planting event in the country.   Historical The National New Church Conference (NNCC) first met in 1969 as the “First National Colloquy on New Church Evangelism.” According to John Wasem”s August 2006 article in Christian Standard, 38 people attended this first event held at Great Lakes Bible College

September 7, 2008

Christian Standard

Golf Scores & Dashboards: Keeping Track of How the Church Is Doing

By Dave Ferguson Golfer 1: “What was your score?” Golfer 2: “Seventy-two.” Golfer 1: “That”s not too bad at all!” Golfer 2: “Thanks! I hope I”ll do better on the second hole.” When a golfer steps up to a tee, he knows how to keep score. It”s simple: Every time he hits the ball it counts as a stroke. At the end of 18 holes, he tallies up how many strokes he took, and that is his score. WHAT”S THE SCORE AT YOUR CHURCH? So, how does your church keep score? Usually churches keep score by counting the attendance and

February 24, 2008

Christian Standard

The Polysite Church

By Dave Ferguson “I”m not sure I can get them to come to church with me.” I was surprised to hear Kathy say this because literally every week she brings people who are far from God to Community Christian Church (CCC). Often I will look out into the crowd during a weekend service and see a whole row of people sitting next to her and I know these are people just beginning their spiritual search. Kathy is as passionate about helping people to find their way to God as I am. So I listened intently as she described a group

October 28, 2007

Christian Standard

Multiplying Your Impact

By Kent Fillinger     From Late Night“s Top 10 lists to college sports” Top 25, almost everything imaginable has been ranked. Americans love lists, and the number of lists generated seems endless. Outreach magazine recently initiated a new list”””America”s Top 25 Multiplying Churches.” Researcher Ed Stetzer said, “Among churches today, the conversation””a long overdue one””is moving from church growth to kingdom growth.” The 25 churches were selected from more than 300 surveyed and were ranked based on the total number of church plants over the life of the church, the average number of churches planted each year, dollars and

July 22, 2007

Christian Standard

Behind the Music

By Jennifer Taylor CCLI”s database covers more than 150,000 songs, and iTunes features more than 3 million. Inexpensive equipment allows almost anyone to create a video, and thousands of DVDs offer clips (and inspiration!) for the latest Heroes or Desperate Housewives sermon series. In this media surplus, effective worship leaders get their bearings with things found singly: a ministry philosophy, a cohesive team, an efficient process. These elements, so much bigger than a song or a Sunday, make service planning more intentional and less difficult. From this foundation, these worship leaders work successfully with senior ministers, craft a variety of

April 29, 2007

Christian Standard

Campus Ministry: Reaching New England

By Tim Hawkins “I know Catholic, Baptist, and Lutheran, but what is just Christian?” The professor, teaching a course in public policy at Harvard, stumbled through an explanation, “Well, that is a group of churches like the Disciples of Christ and others that have churches mostly in Indiana and Kentucky.” Listening to this conversation just a few weeks ago made me realize the difficulty others have in putting the Christian church piece into their puzzle of modern denominations in the United States. While the professor”s characterization of the Christian churches seems oversimplified, the people of New England would agree. Dan

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