The case for an incarnational approach to missional witness is based, on the one hand, on the character of the biblical record; that is, the way in which the church’s missionary vocation is shaped by the earthly ministry of Jesus. The emphasis upon the necessary congruence of witness is rooted in God’s way of revealing [...]
Archive for the ‘Kingdom of God’ Category
The Benefits of an Incarnational Witness
Posted: 17th September 2011 by Brad Brisco in Books, Church, Ecclesiology, Incarnational, Kingdom of God, MissionalSentralized Missional Church Conference
Posted: 4th September 2011 by Brad Brisco in Alan Hirsch, Books, Church, Church Planting, Ecclesiology, Forge, Gospel, Hospitality, Incarnational, Justice, Kingdom of God, Michael Frost, Missiology, Missional, Networks, Spiritual Formation, Theology, TrainingThere is less than four two weeks 2 days until the kick off of the Sentralized conference on September 29th. It will begin with a book release party on Thursday night featuring both Michael Frost’s new book, “The Road to Missional” and Hugh Halter’s “Sacrilege.” You can now take a look at the rest of the conference schedule, as well [...]
Alan Hirsch on What is the Church? & How Does the Gospel Change Our Community?
Posted: 2nd August 2011 by Brad Brisco in Alan Hirsch, Church, Ecclesiology, Gospel, Incarnational, Kingdom of God, Missional, TheologyAlan Hirsch on How the Gospel Changes Discipleship
Posted: 2nd August 2011 by Brad Brisco in Alan Hirsch, Gospel, Incarnational, Kingdom of God, Missional, Spiritual Formation, Theology, Way of JesusSeven Steps Toward Renewal
Posted: 16th July 2011 by Brad Brisco in Books, Church, Church Planting, Ecclesiology, Gospel, Kingdom of God, Missional, TheologyI just read the epilogue (which is titled From Here to the Kingdom) from The Community of the King by Howard Snyder. It was encouraging to read his suggestions for a local church to increase its “kingdom vision and become more authentically the community of the King” written nearly 35 years ago. 1. Undertake a [...]
Confronting Idols & Making Disciples
Posted: 21st June 2011 by Brad Brisco in Books, Gospel, Kingdom of God, Missional, Spiritual Formation, VideoOver the past few years I have really appreciated Christopher Wright’s work, especially The Mission of God and his more recent (2010) book The Mission of God’s People. For a taste of Wright’s insight watch this short video. I particularly like two statements, the first concerning idolatry and the second concerning making disciples rather than training leaders: [...]
The Faith of Leap From Hirsch & Frost
Posted: 17th May 2011 by Brad Brisco in Alan Hirsch, Books, Church, Gospel, Incarnational, Kingdom of God, Leadership, Michael Frost, Missiology, MissionalOver the past several years I have read every book that Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost have written individually and collectively. I have probably been most influenced by Hirsch’s “The Forgotten Ways“, Frost’s book titled “Exiles” and their collaborative work, “The Shaping of Things to Come.” Having just finished their latest book, “The Faith of [...]
Sentralized Missional Conference
Posted: 14th May 2011 by Brad Brisco in Alan Hirsch, Church, Church Planting, Community Transformation, Forge, Gospel, Hospitality, Incarnational, Justice, Kingdom of God, Leadership, Michael Frost, Missiology, Missional, Networks, TrainingI am very excited to share some details about a conference scheduled for this September here in Kansas City. I believe the Sentralized Conference is going to play a significant role in the ongoing missional conversation in the United States. There were at least two major reasons for organizing a conference like Sentralized. First, we [...]
The Church in a Broken World
Posted: 20th April 2011 by Brad Brisco in Church, Forge, Gospel, Incarnational, Justice, Kingdom of God, Lesslie Newbigin, Michael Frost, Missiology, Missional, VideoCheck out these two challenging and inspiring talks by Micheal Frost from the recent Upstream Collective Vision Tour in Prague.
Right Here Right Now: Everyday Mission For Everyday People
Posted: 17th January 2011 by Brad Brisco in Alan Hirsch, Books, Ecclesiology, Gospel, Hospitality, Incarnational, Kingdom of God, Missional, Way of JesusI am often asked to recommend a book that does a good job of introducing the missional church conversation. While there are several great resources that deal with missional church issues, I sometimes struggle with recommending the precise book because the majority of books written in the past decade are directed either towards church leaders [...]
Pat Keifert on the Missional Church
Posted: 27th August 2010 by Brad Brisco in Church, Ecclesiology, Gospel, Kingdom of God, Missiology, Missional, Spiritual Formation, Theology, VideoThe video below (produced/edited by Bill Kinnon) is an interesting conversation between Alan Roxbugh and Pat Keifert. They discuss a wide range of issues, including definitions/descriptions of missional church, common views of the contemporary church, and leadership in missional congregations. In the discussion on leadership I appreciate Keifert’s emphasis on leadership being more about time than [...]
Michael Frost on Kingdom “Measuring Sticks”
Posted: 21st June 2010 by Brad Brisco in Church, Community Transformation, Ecclesiology, Gospel, Kingdom of God, Michael Frost, Missional, VideoI really like this short video of Michael Frost talking about the importance of developing new “measuring sticks” or “scorecards” for the church. He emphasizes the need to find new ways to measure where the rule/reign of God is flourishing. What sort of things can we “measure” that will illustrate evidence of the Kingdom? This [...]
Community Transformation Audios
Posted: 4th December 2009 by Brad Brisco in Church, Community Transformation, Culture, Gospel, Incarnational, Justice, Kingdom of God, LeadershipHere are two additional sessions from last month’s missional church conference. In these two sessions Eric Swanson speaks to the topic of community transformation. The final 30 minutes of session one includes the audio of an animated short film titled The Man Who Planted Trees. The film is the story of a solitary sheperd who [...]
Prayer and the Kingdom
Posted: 29th November 2008 by Brad Brisco in Kingdom of God, PrayerTags: kingdom, Prayer
I have been reading a wonderful little book on prayer by Stanley Grenz that rarely gets much attention, but I think it should. It was first published in 1988 and revised in 2005, the same year Grenz died from a massive brain hemorrhage. Here are a couple of excerpts. “In short, prayer is a crying to [...]
Here are two excellent presentations from Reggie McNeal recorded at the Reformed Church in America’s One Thing Conference last February. While McNeal’s presentations are always laced with an abundance of humor, he never fails to present a great challenge to the church to struggle deeply with why and how the church functions. These two sessions [...]

