The Blog | Disciples

13 Apr 2018

A Case Study of Church Growth by Church Planting in Germany: Are They Connected? (by Stefan Pass)

It is widely believed that the planting of new churches is a cause of church growth, regardless of culture or context. However, surprisingly little reliable and relevant data are presented to support this claim. In this article recent membership data of the Bund Freier evangelischer Gemeinden (Association of Free Evangelical Congregations) in Germany is explored to examine the relationship between church planting and church growth. The data show that there is indeed a positive correlation, but since there is also a clear correlation between rapid growth and decline, the evidence should be treated with care.

15 Jan 2018

What are we learning about effective national SCP processes globally?

Not all national SCP processes produce equal fruit. What makes the difference? If we have limited resources, which emphases are most fruitful?

Russ Mitchell has been studying questions like these and recently issued a preliminary report based on a survey of over 100 SCP leaders from every continent. His 20 page PDF is available here.

18 May 2017

M4 Europe, an example of process

M4 is built around the ABC's of church planting: Assessment, Basic Training and Coaching. We have created an online & interview system for assessment that helps leaders find the right church planting candidates. Our basic training allows for, not just for content, but a unique environment for planters and their teams to guide them during the first 2-3 years of their church plant. Coaching, conducted by experienced planters and leaders, helps teams take their plans from a dream to reality.

18 May 2017

Health indicators and missional components

Despite an inspiring array of magnificent historic church buildings, Christendom in Europe has declined to levels bringing about deep concern in many hearts and desperate prayer and fasting for many others. The unexpected, in some places nearly uncontrolled, migration of refugees from war and poverty has left parts of Europe reeling.
In this challenging context, God has gathered a warm band of friends nurturing national church planting processes (NC2P) in a way I believe has great potential for fruitfulness in virtually every context.

18 May 2017

Apostolic Leadership for Church Planting (by Murray Moerman)

I share here observations and reflections on apostolic leadership from a global perspective; specifically types of apostolic leadership observed and roles these apostolic leaders have in church planting.

18 May 2017

Learning Community, a way to boost collaboration! (Tom McGehee)

In 2013 the CNEF had a vision to bring together different denominations from across all of France to collaborate with the vision of increasing the ratio of evangelical church plants in France from 1:30,000 to 1:10,000.

18 May 2017

Example of Romania

Setting Contextually Appropriate Goals for Evangelism and Church Planting (Russ Mitchell)

This is a simple script for a presentation that I gave in Romania in 2000, based on information from the first phase of OC’s national church census. This was given shortly before the first national church planting congress in May 2001. I’ve back translated this into English with some modifications.

10 May 2017

Six Current Trends in Europe (M. Robinson)

Whenever I am travelling outside of Europe, Christian leaders often ask me questions that amount to, “What is God doing in Europe? At first I thought that was a hard question to answer partly because Europe is a complex continent with many local differences. But over a period of time I recognize that there are at least 6 trends that one can see all across Europe. Some of these trends interact with one another in some fascinating ways. What are these trends?

28 Apr 2017

National Initiatives Best Practices

Background: We gathered in Oslo to share our hearts and experiences in stewarding national initiative movements in our respective countries. We reflected on what we have been learning and on what Christ is calling us to for the sake of the Gospel in Europe.

Towards Best Practices in National Settings: We heard and agreed on the following as valued learnings to date: