Imaginatively Missional
One of the questions I am increasingly asked is what we mean when we describe our work as being “shaped by the Ephesiology Framework.” It is an important question because the phrase is not intended as a slogan or a branding exercise. Rather, it expresses the theological and missiological lens through which we seek to …
The Greek words oikos and oikia are often used interchangeably in modern discussions of the early church, yet they carried distinct meanings in the first-century context. Understanding their differences is crucial for accurately interpreting biblical texts and their implications for missions, community, and church structure for today. Oikia: The Physical House and Family The term …
Continue reading "Understanding the First-Century House Church in the Archaeological Record"
Over the past two decades, many monikers have emerged to help describe the task of fulfilling the Great Commission. Samuel Wilson’s informative contribution to the Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions outlines a brief history of trying to understand the groupings of people based on cultural and/or social contexts. In the early modern era of missions, Leslie Brierley’s “Remaining Unevangelized …
Continue reading "Defining Unreached and Unengaged People Groups"
I recently met with the Vice President of Church Planting Strategy from a well respected church planting organization in the United States to talk about new metrics for church planting. During the course of our conversation, he referenced the Great Opportunity study conducted by Pinetops Foundation in 2018. The study indicated the need to double or triple …
Peyton Jones joins us on this Ephesiology Podcast to talk about his latest book, Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Church Planting. We talk about church starting versus church planting as well as current trends focusing on marketing the church. No discussion about church planting is incomplete without a conversation about APEST. Peyton dives …
Continue reading "Ep 107: The Art and Science of Planting Churches"
We drove to a remote village in South Asia where we were about to meet a new church leader. He’d recently come to Christ as a result of a church planting movement spreading across the area. Then, as is common with CPM/DMM methodologies, he shared the gospel with those in his oikos – that is, his network …
As church planting movements (CPMs) have drawn the attention of missionary practitioners around the world, missiologists are looking closely at this phenomenon and asking challenging questions. In recent years, a few of those questions posed by Jackson Wu and a cadre of missiologists from the International Mission Board as well as professors from predominately Southern …
Continue reading "Becoming Conversant with CPMs in the New Testament"
I had coffee this morning with a friend who is a fellow co-laborer in ministry. As we bantered around various social issues confronting Christianity–gender identity, social justice, and the like–as well as the reality that COVID has led many to conclude they no longer have a need for the church, I was struck again by …
Don’t you like dealing in hypotheticals? Those sometimes frustrating “what if” questions? Recently, Mike Frost posed such a question, “If Jesus planted a church, what would it look like?” At first, I thought it was a brilliant question. However, the more I considered it, the more his question provoked a reaction. I began to ask, …
Two recent studies about the state of the church in the US have further demonstrated the tenuous situation of American Christianity. On May 25, 2021, Lifeway Research released its latest data that indicates a continuing downward trend for the negative net growth of churches in America. In 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the evangelical …
Continue reading "The Looming Crisis in American Christianity"
On this week's Ephesiology Podcast, Michael talks with Jeff Christopherson about his upcoming course on Church Planting. Jeff brings years of experience and wisdom from his career as a serial church planter. The course, based on his book Kingdom Matrix, focuses on equipping church planters in fundamentals based upon Kingdom concepts. Jeff explains that church …
What kind of leader will it take to see more churches start in the United States? Join our podcasters as we talk with Jeff Christopherson, a self-identified serial church planter. He and Ed Stetzer started the Send Institute with a focus on the future of church planting in North America. Jeff helps us unpack 10 …
Continue reading "Ep 34: Interview with Jeff Christopherson"
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