Listening to the Neighborhood
Camino de Vida is a New Church Development sponsored by the ELCA and PCUSA and was funded by the Synod of the Southwest.
Internship Opportunity
World Christian Discipleship: an internship in missional leadership in Pittsburgh.
WCD is designed for young adults who are interested in discerning and preparing for Christian vocation, regardless of occupation (pastor, lawyer, teacher, church planter, aid worker, etc.). The program is non-traditional and experiential. Participants will live a simple life in community with others whole serving the East End neighborhood and select local churches. They will regularly reflect on Scripture and the great interpreters of the faith. The community of about 12 will be a diverse ethnic community from across the nation, committed to living according to a religious rule, remaining accountable to one another, while exploring the global needs of the Church.
Participants will work 15-20 hours per week in local business as a missional presence in the East End, and they will serve in an urban church plant or church in redevelopment.
Applications, Questions, and more info at: www.worldmissioninitiative.org/wcd
** Sponsored by World Mission Initiative at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary**
DNA Coaching
Another coaching resource for Church Planters.
“DNA Coaching offers a wide variety of services including the coaching of leaders, the coaching of churches, working with judicatories to create healthy church planting systems, working with judicatories to foster transformation among existing churches, coaching new church start projects, performing statistical analysis of the results of a group of churches on the Church Transformation Survey, leading workshops and training events, consulting with churches (individually and/or in clusters), facilitating the Natural Church Development process in churches, assisting with the formation of selection criteria for leaders, assessing church planters and creating custom training and research materials.”
Daniel Hill Keynotes
Back in early 2008, we held a gathering for NCD pastors and their teams in Indianapolis, IN. The key note speaker was a new church pastor from Chicago, named Daniel Hill. A dynamic speaker and teacher, Daniel captivated us for our time together. We have captured, most we hope, of Daniel’s keynotes and hope you will enjoy them as much as we did. We’re still making sure all the videos work and are in the right order so if you find something amiss, please let us know.
NCD and Transformational Leadership
NCD Volunteer Culture
NCD Developing Ministry Leadership w/Daniel Hill Plenary
Churches Starting Churches
From our sisters and brothers in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) denomination: here is a manual designed to help churches “plant” new churches. This manual walks churches through the discernment process and also addresses many of the fears and concerns churches may have about planting a new church. As with all of our resources we post from other denominations: some of the information and polity is not applicable to the PC(USA). The idea and mission, however, is universal.
Click here to download the document (.pdf file).
Website- Church Planting Resources
Church Planting Resources is another one of the numerous websites with ideas and networking for those involved in church planting. It isn’t a Presbyterian resource, so some of their information does not apply to our polity and church structure, but has some good reads nonetheless.
www.churchplantingresources.com
God Complex Radio Show
Starting May 4th, Bruce Reyes-Chow, Moderator of the PCUSA, and Carol Howard Merritt, pastor and author of the book, Tribal Church, will be hosting a weekly internet radio show that will discuss the Church, culture, politics, and everything in between.
According to Bruce Reyes-Chow, “through our diverse church experiences and a deep common yearning to find the bridges between tradition and innovation, Carol and I will attempt to provide a place where we can discover the challenges and celebrations that God may have in store for us and the world. We hope you’ll find the time to join us.”
I [Meredith] am encouraging anyone involved with Congregational Transformation, or those particularly interested in issues surrounding the changing church and culture, to take the time to “tune in” to these conversations.
Click here for a more detailed description about “The God Complex Radio Show” from Bruce’s blog.
Click here to download the flyer.
Resources from Research Services
The Office of Research Services of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) provides a wide variety of services including articles and reports, demographics information, statistics, program evaluations and Ten-Year Trends, all free to PCUSA congregations.
Some of their available services include:
- Free 10-year Trend Reports show what’s been happening in congregations
- Free demographics package:
- Congregational Surveys–The U.S. Congregational Life Survey helps congregations identify their strengths, learn more about their worshipers, and make decisions about change.
- Coming out of the U.S. Congregational Life Survey, we have resources to help congregations examine their location (including a study/leader guide written by Trey Hammond):
- Resources on evangelism and church growth, particularly:
- A free booklet with easy-to-do research techniques for congregations:
Other Recommended Resources:
- The Association of Religion Data Archives- Enter your zip code to receive information about congregational membership in all major denominations by county or state.
- ARDA also has an excellent free demographic package:
Seattle Church Planting
Currently, much of this website is still under construction, but it’s interesting to learn about church planting in the Seattle area.
http://www.seattlechurchplanting.com/