Church
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The Life Cycle of a Missional Community
At the beginning of each new season of Community Groups at Apostles Church, we gather together as leaders to re-focus on the gospel and our core values while also highlighting important points of emphasis for the season. Back in January we gathered for 3 hours, had amazing conversation, shared a meal and communion with one…
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Missional Community Implications: For Church
I’m a big fan of missional communities as I believe the scriptures clearly articulate the power and intent of God for a community to demonstrate the gospel of Jesus Christ through their love for one another and their neighbors. It’s becoming a larger conversation and many churches are considering the idea. As they consider it,…
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The Disciple
At our church, we just concluded a series titled The Disciple. We asked the question, how would a disciple of Christ look different than a disciple of the culture, specifically in New York City? As we looked at the scriptures to answer this question aiming to identify the true call of the follower of God…
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Reading the Bible with People who Don’t Believe it
I didn’t grow up going to church and when I finally did, I started reading the bible on my own. I started reading from Genesis hoping I would end in Revelation and after 5 and ½ years I did. But even reading it on my own, there was much confusion and many questions. It wasn’t…
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Filling the Missional Community Holes
On Wednesday, I wrote about how the church needs more than missional communities because the nature of these gospel-centered communities on mission are limited. While they are able to accomplish much in the area of discipleship and life transformation, they can be lacking when it comes to theological training, counseling, discipleship, and family equipping. As…
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Missional Community: Rhythms over Events
At Apostles Church, we are defined by 3 core values, Gospel Enjoyment, Intentional Community, and Prayerful Mission and our Community Groups aim to contextualize these values in their neighborhood. They are often guided by 3 convictions that we believe assist them in being a gospel community on mission. Those 3 convictions are proximity over affinity,…
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Rhetoric vs. Reality
It is much easier to describe what you would like to do rather than actually do it. This is true of real life and true of just about every organization. This can also be true for the local church. There is an ideal of God to be pursued and the first step is often in…
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15 Lessons in 15 Months in NYC: 10-6
The end of the year is always a time to reflect over what went on and what you’ve learned from the past year. For me, this is an opportunity to reflect over the last 15 months of being inNew York. These are lessons we have learned personally and from watching and interacting with others in…
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Yes, And vs. No, Because
This past August on vacation I read Tina Fey’s Bossypants and I’m not ashamed to say that I loved it. I laughed a lot but was also challenged by the leadership lessons that she expressed and learned through her career and from Lorne Michaels. I started to read it and think about how these lessons…
Logan Gentry 