Send Institute Most Read Articles of 2018
At the Send Institute, we have a goal to provide dependable research, content, and learning communities for church planting leaders as they create more effective church planting strategies for today and tomorrow.
Looking back through our articles in 2018, we highlighted missiologists and practitioners who explored topics dealing with cultural pain points, contextual relevancy, strategies, vision, leadership, research, and best practices. Here are our most widely read articles of 2018.
1. Racial Division: Real Problem, Real Opportunity ~ Dhati Lewis
We live in a divided nation. The world is watching and longing to know, does the church have real solutions to racial division? Dhati Lewis challenges us to consider how the church should respond to the brokenness around us and be a part of the healing of racial tensions.
2. The 5 Network and Denominational Shifts Necessary for a Planting Movement in North America ~ Jeff Christopherson
Pastors, planters, missiologists, and missionary strategists have long acknowledged the seismic sociological factors that have shifted the current landscape of missional engagement. Debate rages as to whether these changes are for the better or the worse, but one thing is certain—things will never be the same. Jeff Christopherson offers 5 Kingdom shifts to consider that could foster a gospel movement.
3. Top 10 Church Planting Related Books from 2018 ~ Daniel Yang
Daniel Yang provides us with an array of books all published in 2018 that can help us think through strategy and encourage church planters in your movement. The books featured in this list pertain to some aspect of church planting and offer profound ideas as well as application.
4. Cru Research Reveals Insights for Gospel Conversations ~ Cas Monaco
Cru recently did a study to better understand our current cultural context; the research found seven types of personas that emerged from the data representing six postures of belief. The research revealed some conclusions and behaviors to provide understanding for contextualized gospel conversations.
5. We Need More Lydias in Church Planting ~ TD Smith
The Great Commission mandate is not gender specific; but rather, men and women are co-laborers and synergetic in community and mission. As men and women weave their giftedness together to embrace our collective mission, we can explore ways to integrate women into church planting and empower the church to function and flourish.
6. Resonate(ing) Influence: Reshaping the Collegiate Ministry Landscape ~ Brian Frye
Resonate influences ministries, churches, and pastors around the nation as it is reshaping the collegiate ministry landscape with innovation and creativity. Brian Frye describes 7 ways Resonate is reshaping the collegiate reaching culture of North America.
7. Why Has It Become Harder to Stock the Church Planter Pipeline? ~ Daniel Yang
For many church planting networks, stocking the church planter pipeline has become increasingly more difficult in these last few years than it has been over the last few decades. Daniel Yang offers three observations why it has become more difficult to recruit church planters today compared to the recent past.
8. ReThink: 9 Paradigm Shifts for Activating the Church ~ Brad Brisco
Every organization, including the church, is built upon underlying paradigms or assumptions. This is not the same thing as the church’s beliefs or theological systems. Rather the paradigm determines how an organization thinks and, therefore, acts. Paradigms explain and then guide behavior. If we try to restructure an organization but leave the original paradigms in place, nothing will change within the organization. Therefore, for real change to take place, we need to experience a paradigm shift or, in most cases, multiple paradigm shifts. In this E-book, Brad presents 9 Key Paradigm shifts the church needs to experience when desiring to equip and activate all the people of God to engage His Mission.
9. Best Practices in Church Planting Systems~ Daniel Yang
Are we seeing the shift from addition to multiplication reflected in church planting systems? Our hope is that through the findings of this report, you are both encouraged and challenged as a church planting leader to design your organizational processes to not only focus on recruiting and training church planters, but also to scale your systems and adjust your scorecards around the idea of church planting churches, which we believe is an accurate indicator of multiplication within your network.
10. Exegete Your Community to Inform Transformational Strategies ~ Glenn Smith
It is beneficial to know how to “exegete the neighbourhood,” in much the same way that they have learned to study a biblical text. Reading your community is the first step to demonstrating a commitment to partnering with the community and establishing relational trust. This fosters a greater openness to a discussion of deeper, spiritual needs, and to Christ who meets all needs. Glenn Smith provides 10 Steps to Understand Context & 10 Steps to Consider Church Planting Initiatives.
