April 19, 2022
The rapid turnover in a new church plant’s core launch team is not unusual, church-planting experts say. Of the 40 or so people who helped plant Canvas Church in North Carolina last September, almost half are gone . . . some simply disappeared without saying a word. “It’s weird, but it’s like, ‘Can you say goodbye?’” the lead planter said.
May 17, 2020
By Melissa Wuske An identity crisis is occurring among many denominational churches today. As they wrestle to define themselves amid the competing voices of denominations and modern culture, the Restoration Movement offers leaders and their churches the freedom, in Christ, to craft an identity that fits who they are as a local body while placing Christ firmly at the center. Shifting Identity Is Nothing New Churches leaving their denominations to become independent Christian churches is not a new phenomenon. “Most of the churches that became [part of] the Stone-Campbell Movement were something else first,” said Tim Cole, executive director of
February 22, 2020
By Tim Cole The Internet is the most disruptive force in church communication since the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press in 1439. Your church’s front door may be located on your property, but in many ways the church’s website serves as the new digital screen door through which your potential guests will decide beforehand if they will venture to and through the physical front door. Recently I consulted with an older church overseas about why they weren’t attracting and keeping enough visitors to spur consistent growth. My onsite visit revealed several potential problems, but one stood out. The urban church
August 22, 2019
Church Planters Find Big Opportunities in Small Places By Tim Cole During the past generation, Christian churches and churches of Christ have become respected within the body of Christ at large for our leadership in church planting. This position of national influence mostly results from our outsized success planting new churches in rapidly growing suburban areas surrounding larger metropolitan centers. More recently, within the past decade, many of our church-planting organizations have begun to focus on planting churches in downtown, urban settings. Waypoint Church Partners enjoys a rich, 80-year history of starting and serving Christian churches and churches of Christ
After 50 Years, a New Generation of Young Leaders Spurs Urban Church Planting in the Mid-Atlantic States By Tim Cole One of the seminal events on the timeline of the Restoration Movement occurred 50 years ago. Although tensions had been brewing for decades with their conservative counterpart, the more progressive wing of our tribe formally adopted a denominational design and officially changed their name to Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1969. In urban areas, which typically espouse a more liberal stance on theological issues, a significant portion of downtown churches aligned with this newly formed denomination. Their impressive buildings,
November 4, 2015
By Jennifer Johnson The Virginia Evangelizing Fellowship and Envision (North Carolina), two mid-Atlantic evangelizing associations, publicly announced their merger at last week”s International Conference on Missions. The two groups are joining to become Waypoint Church Partners. The two organizations completed a two-year process syncing their legal, financial, and organizational structures to form a new regional alliance. Envision, once known as the Piedmont Evangelizing Association, had been involved with more than 30 new church projects in North Carolina over the past 45 years. VEF, in existence since 1938, planted more than 80 churches in Virginia and more recently in the adjoining
November 19, 2014
By Jennifer Johnson I”m really excited about the 2015 International Conference on Missions. One reason is the president, Jim Tune, asked me to speak. My first sermon was to 1,800 Indian teenagers in a building that could seat 600, the second was for a group of jaded New Yorkers, and now my third will be to a convention hall of a few thousand. I like to focus on easy audiences. But I”m especially looking forward to the convention after talking to Tim Cole at the Virginia Evangelizing Fellowship and learning more about both the church planting emphasis at next year”s
November 13, 2014
By Jennifer Johnson “You know, if we”re going to spend all this time and effort in planning a convention, it would be great for it to have a long-term impact,” remarked Tim Cole in a planning meeting for the 2015 International Conference on Missions. Cole, director of church planting at Virginia Evangelizing Fellowship (VEF), says he can”t take credit for what happened next; some members of the team suggested the churches in Virginia plant a church, then some others suggested they plant one on every continent, then someone else mentioned Antarctica might be a challenge. Today the plan is
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