Posts Tagged ‘where’

2.0 // The where of community planting

September 26th, 2008

So how do you pick your where? How do you pick your spot to plant a community?

I think I am made it clear that I think the where is really important but how do you figure out WHERE you want to land and plant? I think that’s a good question.

I also think this is a hard question. Initially (this was a couple years ago) as Todd and I talked about planting a community together Todd was pretty sold on Illinois and there were a lot of good reason for that. It was our home for 18+ years and to give back to that place, to the people who have been a community of Christ to us sounded like a good idea. I think putting your hometown or area into the mix of where is a good idea. But not the only idea. And obviously Todd hasn’t ended up in IL just yet.

And a brief disclaimer is this :: I am not forgetting about the God factor. I believe that God could miraculously direct, I HOPE HE DOES! I could pin a map to the wall, close my eye and play pin the tale on the right place BUT I think until God does speak miraculously the intelligent, planned, intellectual approach is wise.
So far that’s my approach when thinking about this. Trusting that when it’s time God will speak clearly and / or give a solid assurance.

So here are a few more questions I think will help me figure out my where.

Where is there a need?
Where is there a desire?
Where is there openness?
Where is there opportunity?
Where is there a team?
Where is there resources?

These all seem to be good question…

(this according to http://www.citymayors.com/gratis/uscities_growth.html )

Another report give these as the 10 fastest growing cities ::
#1. New Orleans, LA #2. Victorville, CA #3. McKinney, TX #4. N. Las Vegas #5. Cary, NC #6 Killeen Texas #7 Port St. Lucie, FL #8. Gilbert, AZ #9. Clarksville, TN #10 Denton, TX
(This according to an article on CNN.com)

Another source lists these as the top 10 fastest growing cities.

I give you these lists of the fastest growing cities (you can also check out the 100 largest cities here) because I think population growth and in some instances size in general is a good indicator of opportunity and of a developing community. And personally i am much more drawn to a larger city with urban potential. So I pay attention to these kinds of things.

FIND YOUR SPOT [dot] COM
I also filled out this little survey. It’s kinda interesting, you fill out a list of questions and they give you the top 10 cities that would fit you (according to your answers.)

My List

I filled out this survey another time and after filling it out the second time i found my first results… they were different?

FIRST RESULTS :: #1. Knoxville, TN  #2. Cincinnati, OH  #3. Nashville, TN  #4. Oklahoma City, OK  #5. Little Rock, AK

Most of the top 10 were the same just mixed up a bit. 
But these are my results. Hmmm… 

 

 

So these are all just some of the things I am thinking about as I trying to decipher my where.

What are some other means of figure out this very important question?
If you are a church planter, how did you figure out your where? We would love to know!

Looking for those wide open fields
Erik

Tags: ,
Posted in Erik, who what when where & why | Comments (3)

1.0 // The WHERE of Community Planting…

September 18th, 2008

1.0 // The where of community planting // Republished
(the first time i put this post up it was a bit sloppy, maybe it still is but here goes)

To start this part of the conversation I want to say that I think this is really the central question in this series of “who, what, where, when, why” issues. I have been thinking about it and it seems that the where will really help to define a lot of the rest of these issues.

And when I think about ministry in general I really think that the where is an issue we don’t embrace enough and I think often our ministries suffer because of this.

Seriously, how many ministries do you know of that try and take stuff from “there” and implement it “here”? How many ministries try and take some mega-church method and make it work in their church? The answer is TONS! But WAY to often this kinda deal doesn’t take into account the context at all, it doesn’t even think about the where of ministry.

Every “where”, every context has a particular people, a particular culture, a particular that needs to be embraced in order to do constructive, Jesus following ministry. If you really think about it Jesus and his ministry TOTALLY embraced the where in order to do the rest of the ministry he did. Jesus completley knew the culture, he knew the people and their religious situation… he knew his context (his “where”) extremely well.

I remember living in Alabama. It was a totally different culture and kid than where I had been, Chicago. I wanna think I did some valuable ministry there but I am positive that if I would have embrace my where to a greater extent my ministry would have flourished in an analogous way.

Is it fair to say context is everything?

I’m not really sure about that but it does seem to make sense to me that context, the where of ministry would shape much of what you do as a minister.

I have some ideas about this but before I share them I’m gonna toss this post up for a day or so and see what you all think.

So what do you think about the where? Am I making to big a deal about this or am I on to something.

How important is the “where”, really?

Tags:
Posted in Erik, who what when where & why | Comments (1)

The who, what, when, where, and why of community planting…

August 15th, 2008

I could plant a community 6 months from now, a year from now, or 10 years from now… who knows. But I am thinking a lot these days about the who, what, when, where, and why of ministry, specifically community planting ministry.

// WHO? Who is the “target”? Who are we hoping benefits from this community?

// WHAT? What kind of community is this going to be?

// WHEN? When is this going to happen? When is the right time?

// WHERE? Where do i plant this community?

// WHY? Why am I doing this? Why am I planting rather than just pastoring or something else?

All these question can go a million ways. Probably over the course of this conversation I will take them a million ways but over the next week or so I will start to ask these questions and I hope to get some helpful feedback from you!

Grace and peace
Erik

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Erik, who what when where & why | Comments (0)