tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20081996396339068762024-03-13T23:15:12.567-07:00Jesus Dustthoughts on theology, culture and ministry from a modern-day disciple who wants to be covered in the dust of the Rabbi.Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.comBlogger226125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-40743300252255609262022-07-19T17:16:00.004-07:002022-07-19T17:19:55.996-07:00Charge: Put your Hope in GodIt was my honor to give the charge to our graduating seminary students this year. I pray that it encourages you, too. Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-76502207684646300312022-03-21T11:38:00.002-07:002022-03-21T11:38:24.473-07:00UpWords Podcast Interview It was a treat to sit down with John Terrill, Executive Director of Upper House in Madison, a friend and collaborator, for this conversation. Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-75452024849575668362021-12-16T14:14:00.007-08:002021-12-16T14:16:37.970-08:00What I'm up to in Madison, Wisconsin"What are you doing in Madison?"I get this question often these days. I've been engaging in the Dane County / Madison context since 2017 and it's been a great joy to see God open up exciting opportunities for ministry there. If you're interested in learning more, here are links to three distinct but related initiatives. The Dane Churches Project (Research Study) &Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-21304014156951382432021-02-16T10:58:00.019-08:002021-02-16T11:43:14.008-08:00Book Reviews of Church Planting in Post-Christian Soil: Theology and Practice by Christopher JamesNothing makes an author more grateful than to have his or her work read and engaged critically. So it is a real honor that Church Planting in Post-Christian Soil has been reviewed by a dozen different journals. Check out what these reviewers had to say! International Bulletin of Mission Research | Volume 42 no 1 178-9"One of the top ten outstanding books of 2017 for mission Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-3200270142460592632019-10-04T15:44:00.000-07:002019-10-04T15:45:58.347-07:00Missio Madison: Cohort for Missional Practioners
I'm excited to announce this project that has been in the works for more than a year!
Missio
Madison is an incubator and cohort for local missional practioners. We
exist to provide a community in which followers of Jesus can
collaboratively exegete Madison and discern God's call into
fresh forms of Christian community and mission. Launching in January
2020, the Missio Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-29181291817943255932019-10-04T15:40:00.002-07:002019-10-04T15:41:46.253-07:00My Book: Church Planting in Post-Christian Soil: Theology and Practice
National headlines regularly herald the decline of Christianity in the
United States, citing historically low levels of confidence in organized
religion, drops in church attendance, church closures, and the dramatic
rise of the "Nones." Scarcely heard are stories from the thousands of
new churches and new forms of church that are springing up each year
across the country. In this book, Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-24354870560663087072016-06-30T09:16:00.000-07:002016-06-30T09:17:00.775-07:00Interview on the RePlacing Church Podcast
While I was out in Seattle, I had a chance to sit down with Ben Katt, host of the RePlacing Church Podcast. We talked about my research on new churches in Seattle with a special focus on neighborhood expressions of church.
How do we practice the core conviction that God is here?
If
you can’t find out what God is doing on your block, what makes you
think you’re going to figure out Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-74564091734939531972016-06-03T10:12:00.000-07:002016-06-06T08:21:28.178-07:00Joining God, Remaking Church, Changing the World by Alan Roxburgh (Review) Alan Roxburgh has been writing books about how the church can respond to the massive cultural change afoot for two decades. His latest offering, Joining God, Remaking Church, Changing the World: The New Shape of the Church in Our Time, culls together the wisdom of his experience as a consultant in a highly accessible, slim volume.
Roxburgh offers a penetrating analysis of the "misdirecting Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-39261096088248365392016-02-24T06:45:00.000-08:002016-11-29T15:14:08.864-08:00'Some Fell on Good Soil': Church Planting in Religious Ecologies
In the midst of the decline of mainline denominations and the rise of
the “nones” in the U.S. something surprising is happening.[i] Church
planting is booming. According to Ed Stetzer and Dave Travis, the number of new
churches started annually jumped from approximately 1500 in the late
1900s to 4000 by 2006.[ii] Such a spike is not only the greatest surge
in church planting inChristopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-13214331255979749242016-01-04T07:35:00.000-08:002016-01-04T07:35:00.117-08:00D. Moody Smith’s The Theology of the Gospel of John (Book Review)
D. Moody Smith’s The Theology of the Gospel of John is a topical, but
unquestionably scholarly, survey of Johannine theology.
A brief summary of the content
will set the stage for the more detailed review to follow. Smith
begins, in the Introduction, by stating the most obvious, but
interesting of John’s uniqueness, “John more than any of the other
Gospel writers deals with Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-85441540165850468512015-12-02T12:48:00.000-08:002017-12-22T10:20:44.683-08:00An Advent Reflection on Luke 1:26-38 | The Annunciation
May 21st, 2011. Cataclysmic earthquakes rocked the globe, loved ones everywhere suddenly disappeared, unmanned cars and planes wreaking havoc, massive devastation, death, and destruction, riots and panic in every major city. It was the end of the world. Or, at least, it was supposed to be. So said Harold Camping, and his followers. With 5 million dollars worth of advertising, they plasteredChristopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-57228218423540598032015-05-20T11:28:00.001-07:002016-07-07T12:44:13.831-07:00New Wineskins for New Wine: My interview on Rose City Forum
The bit of buzz in Seattle around my research into church planting in the city led to this hour-long interview with Andee Zommerman, host of the Rose City Forum in Portland. The show has recently hosted such guests as Doug Pagitt, Christian Piatt, and Rachel Held Evans.
The conversation ranged from the nature of religious life in the Pacific Northwest to the theology behind "third place" Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-37179455388871675402015-04-16T08:42:00.004-07:002015-06-25T13:30:18.129-07:00'The Future of Religion: A Researcher (that's me) looks to Seattle for clues' [NPR interview]I have to admit, I was a bit surprised when I got an email from NPR's affiliate in Seattle (KUOW) asking about my research on church plants in Seattle, and what it suggests about the future of church in the urban, American context. The interview with Marcie Sillman was a blast, and it was a privilege to get to tell a different, more hopeful narrative than the dominant one these days about Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-57706362426055276562015-04-01T13:51:00.001-07:002015-06-11T10:56:48.915-07:00King 5 News Coverage of New Seattle Churches
This Holy Week, King 5 News in Seattle, decided to do a series on some of new church plants in Seattle that have been the focus of my dissertation research and writing, including Community Dinners, Vona, All Saints, and Awake. I was delighted to be able to share some of what I've been learning about the context with Alison Morrow, and even more pleased that they've been lifting up how Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-66767799289585519512014-09-26T06:35:00.000-07:002015-06-02T07:51:39.895-07:00Third Places and/as Sacred Spaces: Innovation among Neighborhood-rooted New Seattle ChurchesSeattle is home to a number of new churches that are embodying their belief that the gospel is good news to neighborhoods. Seeking to incarnate the Kingdom of God, they fashion themselves as a tangible assets to their community. Several do this by providing a "third place"-- a space that is open to all and fosters community and advances the well-being of the neighborhood. Here are some of Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-61616727795445937422014-07-07T13:21:00.001-07:002016-03-24T06:42:47.157-07:00New Seattle Churches Mapped
At least 105 new churches have taken root in Seattle, WA since 2001. Explore the churches on this map I created which lists websites, Facebook and Twitter pages, denominational identity, and founding date.
To learn more about the New Seattle Churches Project, follow me on Twitter for study findings @newSEAchurches.
Tweets by @newSEAchurches
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-76169617735524827472014-05-28T06:57:00.003-07:002014-05-28T11:01:51.321-07:00The Deconstructed Church: Marti & Ganiel on the Emerging Church
The Emerging Church Movement is here to stay. So say researchers Gerardo Marti and Gladys Ganiel in their new book, The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity. I'm looking forward giving it a careful read and drawing on their research as I reflect on my study of New Seattle Churches.
Marti and Ganiel's research is "based on ethnographic observation of emerging Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-13999950741155958462013-12-21T18:24:00.000-08:002013-12-23T14:14:58.767-08:00Practices for a Missional Church Planting Order
What
practices can sustain missional practice and spiritual vitality among
church planters? Taking cues from Ignatius of Loyola, who gains
authority by virtue of the missionary order he founded, as well as
contemporary missional practitioners, this article proposes a rule of
life for a church planting order that addresses the need for a
foundational vision of God’s love and invitation to Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-29925569829912983082013-10-11T07:07:00.000-07:002013-10-11T07:48:17.029-07:00Ecclesial Pioneers in the Pacific Northwest
If you're a church planter or doing ministry in Seattle or Portland, you should check out "Ecclesial Pioneers in the Pacific Northwest," which I wrote as a contributing editor for Christ & Cascadia, a new online collaborative journal thinking about God in Pacific Northwest culture. The piece is based on my ongoing research on new Seattle churches (church plants, emerging churches, Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-91863719117629416932013-10-03T13:24:00.000-07:002014-07-31T06:24:32.720-07:00Defining the "E"-word: Evangelism as a Christian Practice
In this post, I offer my understanding of evangelism as a Christian
practice. As I develop this understanding and situate evangelism within
the broader calling and mission of the church, I will compare and
contrast it to the theologies of evangelism offered by William Abraham
and Bryan Stone.
Walt Klaiber is quite right when he notes that
biblical usage of terms surrounding evangelism and Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-61024686735005128242013-08-26T08:26:00.000-07:002014-06-15T17:37:58.251-07:00"I believe in God, but I'm not sure what I believe about Jesus": Dallas Willard responds
Dallas Willard--philosopher and follower of Jesus--advises someone who believes in God but doesn't know what to make of Jesus.
"Don't start by trying to believe the big truths about Jesus. Start by simply putting into practice the things that he said..."
and it only gets better from there.
What did you think of this bit:
"You're saying [people] can't know something unless Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-75244544019702013062013-08-02T13:30:00.002-07:002013-08-02T13:30:52.235-07:00Q & A with Bruce Reyes-Chow: Racists, the Zimmerman verdict, and Multi-ethnic churches
Bruce Reyes-Chow, former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA), recently published But I Don't See You As Asian: Curating Conversations About Race. In the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, he was bold enough to tweet "Oh heck with it, I'm just going to say it -- I believe my book can help us to have better conversations about race."
So I asked him a few race-related questions, Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-66378465037151025682013-06-13T17:23:00.002-07:002013-06-13T17:29:19.311-07:00A Radically Ancient Way to Plant ChurchesI've begun my dissertation research on new Seattle churches, and was delighted to discover this uniquely simple, beautiful, and compelling approach by the Christ-followers behind www.communitydinners.com. This Pentecostal church asked themselves "what would Jesus be doing in our neighborhood" and has begun taking steps toward offering free community meals in all of the 27 walking villages Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-32209408435837918712013-05-08T19:41:00.001-07:002013-05-10T05:41:12.919-07:00A Tribute to Dallas Willard: "God doesn't mumble"In the wake of Dallas Willard's passing into the fullness of the Kingdom of God he proclaimed as available now, I offer this tribute, highlighting one of the many lessons I learned from him.
As twenty-somethings are wont to do, I was contemplating my future. I
had recently discerned that it was time for me to leave my role as a
small groups pastor to head back to school and Christopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2008199639633906876.post-31983270659710314762013-03-15T15:21:00.000-07:002013-03-17T17:45:16.556-07:00Is Missional Good for Us? or Is Missional Life Abundant Life?
I’ve been a Christian as long as I can remember, but one of the important moments in my faith life was when I was in ninth grade… I had always been a good kid, but that year it came to my attention that being a Christian wasn’t like being white or Korean, it wasn’t something that you were just born with, but something more like being a soccer player—something that you actually do. And the firstChristopher Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10716811244655233526noreply@blogger.com1