Basecamp was a weekend training conference for those who felt called to church plant. Hosted and lead by New Frontiers it included excellent teaching, council and fellowship. The videos of the training have just been uploaded you can view them here:- http://www.vimeo.com/album/72147
We had an excellent time on the weekend (click on basecamp in the cloud to the right to see my thoughts on it) and I hope these video are a help to all those who were not there.
There are a number of books on the shelves that deal with church planting, there are on the main very American biased and therefore although they offer some good pointers to those of us outside of the US of A they are not reliable guides to church planting in other contexts. Some of course like Ed Stetzler’s Planting Missional Churches (review here) are fantastic works and have helped many people gain an insight into what it takes to plant a church. However many of us have been crying out for a manual for church planting in the UK or anywhere else other than the USA.
Well David Stroud has produced this new work to fill that gap. “Planting Churches changing communities” is an easy to read “How to” guide for church planting in the UK o a basis for any setting.
It is straight forward and presented in a very readable way. It looks at all aspects of church planting, from the biblical basis for church planting, who should church plant, the call of church planting, how to prepare to church plant, how to gather the team, finances, how to gather new people, how to keep motivation and momentum high through to the legal aspects, what to do when it goes wrong and where to look for help.
It is the best book I have read on this subject, written by someone who has planted a number of churches in the UK and has a lot of experience. In addition there are numerous quotes from those who have planted churches in the NewFrontiers family of churches sharing their trials and successes. It has been great to read about how these people overcome certain obstacles or navigated tricky waters. Also knowing a number of them personally has helped as we know what they have had to do to achieve their God given dream.
This book is also excellent for any church leader to read as it will help you focus on what is really important in the church and show a clear way forward to reach more people with the Gospel.
Go buy it now!
I have added a few new links to the blog today. These are sites that i use and find helpfull.
New Frontiers International Church Planting
Is a newly launched website from NFI. It is a direct response to the challenge laid down by Mark Driscoll at the Together on a Mission conference over the summer. Its aim is to aid those who are looking to join or lead church plants within the NFI family of churches.
It is well laid out and has some excellent features including case study’s and interviews about various aspects of church planting.
It also has a list of the current church plants and future identified church plants.
Is one of the main repositories of Christian music on the web in the UK. It has everything from DVD’s, CD’s, Sheet music, downloads, books and other stuff. If you cannot find it on here then it may not be available.
You can sign up for an email news letter which is an excellent way of staying in touch with the Christian worship and music scene.
Is a superb site which I have visited and used on a regular basis for Kids work. This is the bible modelled in Lego(tm). If you send an email to the author of the page you are able to use the pictures as slides in kids / adults Sunday schools etc. They are excellently and professionally done and have a large dollop of humour mixed into them.
A WORD OF WARNING THOUGH! The pictures are no wholes bared. They tell the story as it is, so for example, when the two spies spend the night with Rahab the prostitute… they spend the night with Rahab the prostitute in shall we say a biblical sense.
Another example would be in the Noah and the flood in the scene ‘And the people did evil in the eyes of the Lord” the people are scene drinking, gambling fighting etc… and just off focus a man is doing what a man should not do with a sheep.
Having said that once censored they are excellent.
