• Text
• Hyperlink
• Browser bookmark
• Contact information (like a vcard)
• Calendar event
• Email address
• Phone number
• SMS
• Geo locations and maps

Here are 10 uses for QR codes in the church.

1. Print the QR code on your offering envelope to give people and quick and easy way to give online during the worship service.
2. Add a QR code to your business card and rather than giving someone your card have them scan your code.  It’s a quick way to get your contact info into their phone.
3. Use a QR code as a modern day tract.  Have the code open a video on your website or YouTube.
4. Use a QR code for people to download the “bulletin” digitally.
5. Add a QR code to your direct mail to direct people to a welcome video or landing page on your website.
6. Use a QR code in place of a map on mailings.  When you scan the code it will bring up the map app with directions on your phone.
7. Use a QR code in print material to take people to more information on a website.  This keeps print simple with only the most essential wording.
8. Use a QR code for first time visitors.  You can have the code direct them to a free gift.
9. Use a QR code for calendar events.  Scan the code and the event is downloaded to your calendar app.
10. Use a QR code to get people to update their contact info in the church database.

I’m sure there are dozens more uses for QR codes.  Let us know what you are doing in the comments.  Let us also know if you think QR codes have caught on enough to be used.

There are lots of free QR code generators out there.  Just Google it and you’ll find several.  One I like is Esponce.  It even allows you to put your logo in the code for a custom look.

Related posts:

1. Friday Church Planting Resource: Housetop Media
2. Church Marketing: Targeted vs. Saturation Mailing
3. Friday Church Planting Resource: HootSuite

Church Planters are faced with a unique set of challenges – mobile ministry, fundraising, creating ownership amongst their volunteers, creating momentum for survival, self-propelled leadership and building something from nothing. That’s why, every time I have a chance to meet with, coach or provide resources to church planters, I do.

One new resource I’m excited about is a collaborative ebook that assembles wisdom from experts across the ministry spectrum. This ebook,What Every Church Planter Should Know has 25 quick-to-read essays specifically for Church Planters with advice on everything from the practical to the spiritual.

I was invited to be one of the experts, but don’t hold that against the book.  You can get your own *free* copy here.

Related posts:

1. 7 Top Issues Church Planters Face: Health of the Planter and Family
2. An Interview with Church Planter David McCants
3. Friday Church Planting Resource: Housetop Media

Many are mistaking a strategy for growth that includes a children’s focus as a plan for discipling children.  See this post for more thoughts on this.  Effective entertainment for children that compels them to want to be at a worship service is not effective discipleship.  Using children as a strategy to get their parents at church is only ok if that includes a strategy to make disciples of children.

So what does a plan to disciple kids look like?  It should contain these three parts.

1. Teaching parents and guardians how to disciple their kids.  The church sees less and less of children in their gathered functions.  You simply can’t disciple a child without being with them for significant amounts of time.  The Bible clearly demonstrates that the parent is the primary discipler of a child.  But parents are ill-equipped to know how to disciple their kids.  As a society we have made impressive strides at teaching parents the importance of exercise, healthy eating, the value of play, etc. for a child.  Parents are equipped culturally to do these things even if they frequently fail.  But how do you teach a child to pray?  How do you develop a sense of generosity in a child?  How do you teach them love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control?  Go to Wal-Mart or the mall and see if you can find kids practicing these behaviors.  The church has failed parents by focusing more on entertaining kids and less on teaching parents how to disciple their children.  It’s why a majority of kids will leave the church when they leave home.  They haven’t been discipled.
2. Influencing the world of children.  This is the out focus of discipling children.  The world is downright hostile to children.  We have a responsibility to be salt and light where kids are.  What is your plan to be involved with the local schools?  How are you helping them?  How are you brining Jesus into the school?  Yeah, I know “separation of church and state.”  The reality is the state doesn’t care when you do it right.  I worked with a church planter who holds the keys to the kingdom with the local schools.  The school even funds part of his ministry.  No kidding.  They ask him to speak at school events, and pay him to teach the fruits of the Spirit to the most at risk kids in the school.  How?  By serving and meeting needs of the school.  By showing the love of Jesus in tangible ways.  By looking to benefit the school and not benefit from the school.  How are you being salt and light within kids’ sports?  Scouts?  Foster care?  We need churches with plans to infiltrate the places of society where kids are.
3. Becoming advocates for children who have none.  Not all children have parents.  Not all children have parents who care.  Children can’t speak for themselves.  We need churches who mobilize people to care for these voiceless children.  People who will intercede to change the story of a child.  People who won’t judge and get angry at a child whose is on the path to destruction, but whose hearts will be broken and will step in regardless of the cost to guide the child toward the path of righteousness.

85% of people who decide to follow Jesus do so between the ages of 4 and 14.  What is your plan for discipling children?

This is the third post of a series.  The first post is “3 Reasons Why Missional Communities are not the only Discipleship Model.” The second post is “3 Alternatives to Missional Communities: Small Groups.” 

photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalexanderson/5592994934/”>Kalexanderson</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photo pin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”>cc</a>

Related posts:

1. 5 Reasons Why Kids are a Value Not a Strategy for Churches
2. 3 Reasons Why Missional Communities Are Not the Only Discipleship Model
3. 3 Alternatives to Missional Communities: Small Groups

Let me start by saying that a lot of the missional critique around small groups is valid.  They are typically fellowship driven with a goal of connecting people relationally to the church.  That’s not a bad thing, but it doesn’t make disciples.  Small groups with this purpose can be used effectively however. They are a low commitment and highly relational structure.  This is great in churches that are looking for ways to quickly connect people relationally.  The low bar makes entry non-threatening and be a great first step for someone new to the church or new to faith.  The spiritual journey just can’t end there.  The relational only groups need to be temporary in someone’s spiritual journey.

But small groups are essentially a structure and don’t inherently come with a purpose.  One of the best books out there on small groups structure and how to administrate a small groups ministry is Nelson Searcy’s Activate.  Many are turned off by Searcy’s endless email marketing, but don’t let that distract you from the great content in this book.  The structure of small groups is valid one for discipleship.  What is lacking in most small groups is the discipleship component.

There is a network of churches that are making disciples effectively with small groups.  It is the relational discipleship network.  (Note: As of writing the site is down.)  The network trains leaders to capitalize on the small group structure and gives them tools to be intentional about making disciples through relationships.  I’ve been to a couple of the founding churches and can honestly say there is a DNA of discipleship there.  Here is a white paper if you are interested in learning the details of their approach.  Alternatively you can pick up a copy of the Real-Life Discipleship Training Manual: Equipping Disciples that Make Disciples.

It’s important to note the key features of this model of discipleship:

1. There is a structure.  In this case, the small group.
2. There is intentionality at making disciples.
3. Everyone is expected to be in a group.
4. Everyone is expected to reproduce disciples.  Discipleship isn’t just for the leaders, its for everyone.
5. The group is externally focused.  Whereas, MC teachers often say its all about mission, the relational discipleship guys say it all about discipleship.  They are saying essentially the same thing.  A compromise that both models would support is that the mission is discipleship.
6. The group equips its members to make disciples.

The bottom line here is that if you want to make disciples and already have an existing small groups ministry, you may not have to kill it.  You may just need to add the intentionality of making disciples.  The encouraging news is that relationships are the environment where discipleship happens.  If you’ve got small groups, you’ve got the environment.  Start training your leaders to make disciples that make disciples and you’ll have a winning structure.  I encourage you to take a look at the relational discipleship network.  They will be doing a pre-conference intensive at Exponential that will be worth your time.

This is the second post of a series.  The first post was “3 Reasons Why Missional Communities are not the only Discipleship Model.”

photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/f/3534996/”>cemre</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”>cc</a>

Related posts:

1. 3 Reasons Why Missional Communities Are Not the Only Discipleship Model
2. Are Missional Communities Revitalizing the Sunday School Dinosaur?
3. Missional Wednesdays: Why Launch Team Growth Stagnates

1.  God loves kids.  Kids are important to God.  In Matthew 18:3, Jesus uses children as a model of what a disciple should be.  Deuteronomy 6:7 talks about how to disciple kids.  You can’t get around the fact that God loves kids and we should too.

According to Barna:

2.  85% of Christian accept Jesus before 15.  Kids are the most receptive audience to the gospel.  It’s crazy not to value them and intentionally disciple them.

3.  Most moral beliefs are set by age 9.  It’s true that its hard to teach an old dog new tricks.  If we want to change the world we do it through kids.

4.  A person’s spiritual identity is set by 13.  If you want disciples in the church who serve, give generously, reach out to others, share the gospel, etc., then we must teach our children to do it.  If they learn it as a child, they will live it as an adult.

And finally:

5.  Children are a value to Satan.  Children are under attack in our culture.  Kids are constantly bombarded with anti-Christian messages in school and from the media.  When we don’t value children and our enemy does, we lose our children.

Kids need to be more than a strategy in our churches.  We have to value them.  We have to be intentional about discipling them, intentional about bringing them out of spiritual poverty and cultural oppression.  We have to look out for their best interest because they can’t do it themselves.  The church has to champion children.  Ok, I’m getting off my soapbox.  As always I welcome your thoughts and comments.

* Credit to Compassion.  I googled the Barna 4/14 window and found a great post from Compassion that listed some of the points above.  It saved me a lot of time in tracking down that info.  Compassion is a amazing ministry that values children more than any I know.

No related posts.

There is so much being written about missional communities that I don’t feel the need to add the chorus of voices.  If you want to learn more, the best book I’ve read is “Launching Missional Communities: A Field Guide” by Mike Breen and Alex Absalom. It’s a good balance of theory and practical.

But before you decide to dive head first into missional communities, you need to understand that they are not the only way to make disciples.  Missional Communities are a model for making disciples.  They are an effective model in many contexts, but not all.  I want to give you three reasons why missional communities are not the only model for discipleship and then in following posts, I’ll blog about other models.  In a summary post, I’ll take a look at the commonality between all the models.

3 Reasons Why MCs are not the only discipleship model:

1.  It’s not a cultural fit.  MCs are derived from the early church’s practice of gathering in an extended household or oikos.  They were communities on mission.  MCs range in size from 20 -70 and fill the role of social space.  (For good material on the four spaces see Alex Abasalom’s blog.)  In many contexts, social space is lacking for people.  Thus, MCs fill a need in their life.  But if a social space already exists, it will be difficult to get people to either get out of their existing social space or be a part of two.  For example, I live in rural Illinois.  Extended families are still common.  Extended families fill the social space for many people.  This is also true in large Hispanic populations.

I can argue the other side of this coin.  Acts 10 and the conversion of Cornelius is a great example of an extended family becoming saved all at once.  I agree that the ideal would be for an entire household to be saved and the existing social space be redeemed for Christ.  However, I think that’s unlikely to happen in American culture today.  We are a much more independent culture.  Each family member makes their own decision to follow Christ.  We do need to send disciples into these existing social spaces to be missionaries.  I just don’t see the Missional Community model working well here.  It has the potential of taking people out of their existing social space and into a new more “Christian” one.

2.  It doesn’t fit the leader.  I see many leaders jumping into missional communities because they are the “it” thing in the church.  They want to embrace the cutting edge.  I love that in a leader.  But not all leaders are a good fit for missional communities.  In a church plant, missional communities are a slow grow strategy on the front end.  They can’t adequately support financially a church planter.  Unless the planter is willing to be bi-vocational or is supported fully by another church, it won’t work.  In addition, the leader of a group of 20 – 70 is a different skill set.  The entrepreneurial leader may not have the patience for the long tail of the MC approach.  The big visionary leader also isn’t a great fit.  You don’t need a leader with their head in the clouds as much as a leader with their feet on the ground.  A vision for multiplication is a must, but until the MCs have multiplied a few times, the visionary leader isn’t a good fit.  I’d also say the leader that has theory only isn’t a good fit.  Too many are going to a conference and then coming home and trying MCs.  Most will need to experience it first to truly understand it and effectively implement an MC strategy.

3.  There are other models.  Mentoring, Apprenticeship, Small groups and discipleship within the family are all models of discipleship.  Even Sunday School was an effective model of discipleship in its early days.  The model isn’t as important as the fact that discipleship is the primary engine or OS of the church.  The chosen model must be a contextual fit for the leader as well as the culture.

I certainly don’t claim to know it all on this subject and maybe I’m badly representing missional communities.  I’d love to know what you think.  How are you intentionally making disciples?  Are missional communities the only way to make disciples or are their other effective ways to make a disciple?  Let me know in the comments.

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1. She’s Caring.  She not like the average person who cares.  She cries at a sad commercial because she feels it deep inside.  She spends most of her days doing things not for herself, but others.  When the Bible says, “Love One Another,” I don’t have to look far for an example.  I appreciate this so much, because there’s something slightly broken in me.  The caring button is not always turned on.  And when I’m indifferent, she is there still caring, for me and for others.  I love her for that.
2. She is a Perfect Compliment to Me.  Left to me own, I might be a hermit.  Of course left to her own, Amanda might be at a party 24/7.  God knew I needed this.  Someone who loves people and loves to be around them. Someone to stretch me out of my comfort zone.  Amanda is a people magnet.  Without her, life’s best friends I probably would never have met.  But it’s more than this.  They say behind every great man is a greater woman.  That is so true for me.  She faithfully supports me.  She’s always there like a firm foundation.  She prays for me and I can tangibly feel the strength it gives.  When I begin to doubt and fear, she encourages me.  Not always with words, but sometimes with just her presence.  Sometimes its just having her to hold at the end of the day, seeing her smile, sharing a moment with her that brings a smile to my face and helps me go on.
3. She Makes Me a Better Person.  I proposed marriage with a budget.  So if you think a blog post isn’t romantic, consider how far I’ve come.  In the budget I didn’t include tithing.  I remember Amanda, sliding the paper across the table at the Chinese restaurant and saying, I can’t marry someone who doesn’t put God first.  She looked me straight in the eye.  I knew she was serious.  So I redid the budget.  Amanda has developed a keen sense of who I am and how to handle me.  I’m good at arguing.  Maybe I should have been a lawyer, but Amanda has a way to get me to see the truth even when I’m twisting it.  I don’t always tell her this though because I’m good at arguing.  Just a few weeks ago, she reminded me that Kindergarten was slipping by and I hadn’t had lunch at school with Will.  There she was helping me be a better dad.  She would never admit it, but she makes me a better person.  Helps me be more like Christ.  She helps me be a better husband, father, son, employee, boss.  She jokes that all her money is in my head.  She worked hard to put me through school.  But more important, all her love is in my heart.  Without that love, my ability to love would be limited.  She has taught me that its ok to trust, ok to love.  She has taught me that when we love we are as closer to living, closer to the design God has for each of us.  And I love her for that.  I know I’m better for that.
4. It’s All the Little Things.  It took her 15 years, but she doesn’t bite her nails because she knows it annoys me.  It took her about 5 years but she doesn’t squeeze the toothpaste from the middle anymore.  She knows that when I’m stressed a tidy house and the smell of bleach brings relief.  She knows that I can’t find anything and finds stuff for me.  She cooks and cleans and cares for the kids and gives up the pursuit of her career, so I can pursue mine.  She knows the spots to touch, how to cuddle close.  And her eyes.  I have to pause because I don’t know how quiet to describe their depths and the joy they bring.  I just know there’s no other eyes I long to exchange a glance with.  At when I look at them, there’s no other place that feels more like home.  These aren’t little things.  They are big things.  Things that life would be less complete without.  Things that I would mourn for eternity if they were gone.  Things that make my love for her so deep.
5. She’s Adventurous.  She has moved with me so many times I’ve lost count.  I came home this weekend and said what do you think of moving for a couple of months and she said that sounds fun.  She loves to travel with me and see new places, tastes new foods.  She joined a roller derby team.  Many friends who don’t know her as well as I, thought that was a strange fit.  But I know it fits her perfect.  It’s still crazy, but its an adventure and she loves it.  I love adventure too.  But I don’t pull the trigger like she does.  I’m a thinker and planner and like to minimize risk.  But she’s willing to blindly experience life, to take a step and trust her foot will find solid ground.  And it is crazy and sometimes, when I step with her we fall.  But when I step with her I feel alive.  And if I’m going to fall, she’s the one I want to fall with.

No related posts.

At Stadia, we assess every planter we work with.  A common thing we say is that any issues you have will be amplified when you plant a church.  Whether these are sin problems, marital strife, parenting difficulties, unresolved childhood issues, or anything else, you can guarantee these issues will be brought to the forefront when you plant a church.

The church planting world doesn’t talk enough about these very real spiritual dimensions of planting a church.  We talk a lot about strategy, why we plant churches, resources for planting, etc., but not enough about the stories of pain and brokenness that is inherent with planting a church.

That’s why I’m so excited to see the theme of this year’s Exponential Conference.  The theme is sifted.  If you’re like me you need the definition.  Here it is from the site.

Sifted (v) \ sift-ed 1. Accelerated spiritual growth in times of trouble, 2. Increased trust in God and surrender to His sovereignty, 3. Refined and cultivated seed for increased fruitfulness and multiplication, 4. The seemingly painful process through which every child of God has or will face trials that result in being broken and refined, strengthened and restored, and grown and empowered for God’s glory and Kingdom expansion.

To prepare for this theme, Exponential has launched a special site called “Stories of Sifted.”  On the site you can read stories of other planters who have been sifted, get resources to improve your spiritual, emotional and physical health, and you can even submit your own story by emailing sos@exponential.org.  If you haven’t registered, get it done. The mobile site is also up and running, so bookmark it on your smart phone today.

I believe this year’s conference has the potential to be a life changing event for thousands.  Because of the theme and the importance it has to thousands of church planters, as a community we need to be lifting this conference and its leaders up in prayer.  They too will likely be sifted by this experience.

Exponential is days away from launching our Mobile App at m.exponential.org. It is like holding the Exponential Conference Program Book in the palm of your hand.  In addition, we are debuting our conference-themed site, Stories of Sifted, designed to help church planting leaders take a next step in their spiritual, physical & emotional development through a variety of leaders’ Sifted stories and Pastoral Resources. Both the Moble App and Stories of Sifted will be highlighted in upcoming letters, emails, Outreach Magazine & partner church planting conferences.

Would you please help us spread the word about the Mobile App & the Sifted site during the second half of January via Twitter, FB & blogs (for those who blog)?  I will circle back around to you in the next week and let you know when we are ready to roll out to the public.  We appreciate you all!

Related posts:

1. Win a $20000 Grant for Your Church Plant at NEXT Nuts and Bolts
2. Spirituality for the Rest of Us – Book Review
3. Exponential 09 – Erwin McManus – Art of Movement

1. Work too much.  Lots of church planters are 9 commandment Christians.  Surely, the Sabbath was optional.  Without being scientific, I’d say 75% of the pastors I work with don’t take a Sabbath and don’t know how to have fun.  Working too much betrays the belief that the success lies on your shoulders.  It denies the image of God you were created with.  God hardwired in us a rhythm of rest and then work.  A pastors motto should be rest, work, repeat.  Here’s a couple of questions for self evaluation.  Do you have a daily, weekly, monthly and annual rhythm of rest?  I do good at daily and weekly, but am not that good at the monthly and annual.  What do you do for fun that is completely unproductive and not related to growing the church?  If it takes you more than a second to think of it, you fail the test.  Would your family say you spend enough time with them?
2. I can do it belief.  Matthew 16:18 makes it clear that it is God who builds the church, not a church planter, not a fancy strategy and not the best worship service around.  God does.  End of story.  Church planters tend to be entrepreneurial.  There’s a crazy gene in entrepreneurial people that makes them believe they can start something from nothing.  We like to hire those people as church planters because they are risk takers.  But let me tell you something, you can’t plant a church.  Jesus didn’t even ask us to do that.  He said make disciples and leave the church building to Him.  Even with all the help and funds that a world class organization like Stadia provides, you can’t plant a church.  If you think you can, then you are guilty of self worship.  Here are some evaluation questions.  When you cast vision to potential supporters are they more impressed with you or do they walk away with a bigger picture of God?  Do you seek the Lord for strategy or the latest church planting book?  If attendance is up do you get excited?  If attendance is down do you get depressed?  If so, you’re trying to do it yourself.  If you take credit for the church being down in attendance and blame yourself, you’ll take credit when it’s doing well too.  Just remember that you are the clay, not the potter.
3. Afraid of failure.  The best church planters aren’t afraid to fail.  They realize that its not about them.  Success is not to their credit and failure is not their fault.  If you fear failing, if it keeps you up at night, you might be worshipping yourself.  I spoke the other night at the Emmanuel Institutes.  I was all calm and cool until I saw video cameras getting set up.  I had a moment of panic.  What if I fail?  It will be recorded for generations to mock me and laugh at my pathetic speaking skills.  Why did I care?  Because I worship myself.  I want to be seen as better than I really am.  I struggle to be as honest as Paul in confessing my wretchedness.  After a quick time in prayer, my bearings were adjusted.  Here’s a few questions for evaluation.  Am I worried that this church plant will fail?  Does it bother me that I’m not “successful” in the eyes of the church planting world?  Do I lose sleep over things finances and attendance?

Related posts:

1. 7 Top Issues Church Planters Face: Evangelism and Discipleship
2. Church Planters are too Busy
3. 7 Top Issues Church Planters Face: Leadership Development and Reproducing Culture

1. Directory of vendors and service providers for just about anything you need for church planting from Bible Study to marketing to coaching.  It’s not exhaustive but its a great start for such a new site.
2. Free Stuff.  All planters love free stuff.  Unfortunately this area is empty so far.  It’s intended to be a place where you can post items you’d like to give away.
3. Garage Sale.  This is like Craigslist for church planting equipment and resources.

Related posts:

1. Friday Church Planting Resource: wp Time Machine A Backup for Your WordPress Site
2. Friday Church Planting Resource: www.fiverr.com
3. Friday Church Planting Resource: The Crossing Church