The journey into practice, presence, and place can be slower, stranger, and also richer than we may expect.  It’s often more mustard-seed-y than I’m used to reading about.   I chronicled the story of one neighborhood’s churches as they together are seeking the Kingdom of God in their neighborhood. Revitalization began with listening to neighbors [...]

Comments | Posted on February 22, 2012

My church prays the Lord’s Prayer (or we call it “Our Father” at our gathering) every Sunday. We started praying it in old english at the whim of some of those who grew up rehearsing it in that fashion. Old english is new to me but the Spirit has helped me embrace this practice by [...]

Comments | Posted on February 6, 2012

I love my neighborhood, but miss a lot of my friends elsewhere in town.  In 2008 I helped plant a neighborhood church on the fringes of Portland with a strong emphasis on sharing life and letting a small 10×10 block area be our arena for mission.  What I didn’t realize was the cost of this [...]

Comments | Posted on February 1, 2012

Our friends at The Other Journal have posted a great piece by Andrew W.E. Carlson on the work of Flannery O’Connor and the folks of Awake! in Seattle’s Aurora neighborhood.  Andrew writes: A lot of people write stories with the idea of achieving some kind of universal appeal. It’s no different with music, film, and [...]

Comments | Posted on January 30, 2012

The Missional Church Conversation has led many Church leaders to refocus on place-based ministry, which in most cases is expressed in the neighbourhood context. Historically of course, the church was rooted deeply in neighbourhoods. In the past, followers of Christ would participate in the various denominational church communities within their own neighbourhoods. Churches of this [...]

Comments | Posted on January 23, 2012

Comments | Posted on January 20, 2012

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Are we living at the crux of the ages?  An astonishing turn of hyper-accelerated events confronts us with the crucible of the real.  Urban Decay … Climate Collapse … Digital Distraction … Suburban Sprawl … the list travels on indefinitely.  The Real is converging on our society’s grandest illusions.  Reality is running direct interference on [...]

Comments | Posted on January 19, 2012

If a living organism doesn’t in some way have a body, would you still call it living?If a church is meant to be an embodied witness of the gospel, but is only seen together in worship gatherings, is the church-as-body metaphor still appropriate? What would it mean to point to the body of Christ on [...]

Comments | Posted on January 10, 2012