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GCM Collective

Sharing our lives as extended family

Posted by Tim Chester on

The GCM Collective has identified some of our key distinctives and are working an explanatory paragraph for each one. Here's the fourth ... 4. Sharing our lives as extended family The church is the community created by the gospel. So Christians are not individuals who gather for meetings...

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Tags: community, decisions, decision-making, conflict, church, church life

Therefore Go

Posted by Tim Chester on

Last year the UK publishing group Authentic Media went bust before being bought out by Koorong Books. One of the casualties in this process was Andrew Baughen's book Therefore Go. It was released around this time and so received very little publicity or attention. This is a big shame because...

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Tags: evangelism, church, church-based evangelism

All community is missional and all mission is communal

Posted by Tim Chester on

The GCM Collective has identified some of our key distinctives and are working an explanatory paragrpah for each one. Here's the third ... 3. All community is missional and all mission is communal The Christian community is created by the gospel for the gospel. So its defining purpose is to...

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Tags: community, mission through community, missional, mission, missional church

A community apologetic

Posted by Tim Chester on

The GCM Collective has identified some of our key distinctives and are working an explanatory paragrpah for each one. Here's the second ... 2. Community is both the hermeneutic and apologetic of the gospel Because the Christian community is created by the gospel it is the place where the...

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Tags: community, newbigin, gospel, mission through community

The gospel is the answer to every question

Posted by Tim Chester on

The GCM Collective has identified some of our key distinctives and are working an explanatory paragrpah for each one. Here's the first ... 1. The gospel is the answer to every question The gospel is not simply the means by which we are converted. It is the good news of redemption through Jesus...

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Tags: gospel, gospel-centred, gospel-centered

The misuse of ideals

Posted by Tim Chester on

I love idealists. The gospel calls us to be holy, gospel-centred, loving, missional people and to be holy, gospel-centred, loving, missional communities. Given the choice, I’ll always take an idealist over a pragmatist. And the missional world is full of them. But ideals can be...

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Tags: ideals, criticism

Review: Launching Missional Communities

Posted by Tim Chester on

A review of Mike Breen and Alex Absalom, Launching Missional Communities: A Field Guide, 3DM, 2010. Launching Missional Communities by Mike Breen and Alex Absalom of 3 Dimension Ministries is a book on both how to transition to missional communities and how to run a missional community. In...

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Tags: missional communities, mike breen

Has a squirrel got my car keys? On being gospel-centred

Posted by Tim Chester on

In coming posts we're going to be looking at some of the GCM dinsticitives. The first is this: "The gospel is the answer to every question". The story is told of a Sunday School teacher who asked her class, ‘What’s the animal with a long, bushy tail that lives in trees?’ One...

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Tags: gospel, pastoral care, legalism

Lord of the Rings Pt 4: The Power of Sacrifice

Posted by Tim Chester on

Ultimately in Lord of the Rings the power of evil is not destroyed by any army. It is not destroyed by military power or human strength. ‘All our hopes,’ says Gandalf at one point, ‘lie with two little hobbits somewhere in the wilderness’. Frodo and Sam enter Mordor...

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Tags: lord of the rings, power

God is good for cross-cultural missionaries

Posted by Tim Chester on

Here is the fourth part of my course preparing people for cross-cultural mission.  What do you think you will miss most? friends and family home comforts familiarity (e.g. favourite foods) entertainment a professional environment Christian community corporate worship and...

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Tags: god, good, mission, missionaries

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