Keith Bower

My Dream

"A Multi-ethnic, multi-denominational movement driven by young adults creating communities of spiritual and social transformation across urban Houston."

The Top 5 Reasons to Join This Movement

"A multi-ethnic, multi-denominational movement driven by young adults creating communities of spiritual and social transformation across urban Houston."

1. You will experience the amazing, multi-ethnic Kingdom of God (Revelation 5:9; 21:26) -- right here, right now!
2. You will live the way the Disciples lived, do the things that Jesus did, love the way that Jesus loved.
3. You will make a difference in the lives of the hurting, the hungry, and the forgotten, bringing healing and wholeness to our great city.
4. You will be a living, breathing bridge across the vast cultural chasms that divide people from people.
5. You will learn to lead and to follow in a global context as part of an ethnically and culturally diverse team.

A VERY Cool Quote

"The church is not here to meet our needs. We are the church here to meet the needs of the world." Erwin McManus, An Unstoppable Force

Q: What would it mean for the way we do church
      if we were to take this ABSOLUTELY SERIOUSLY?

Imagine a New Kind of Network of Urban "Churches"

• Imagine a network of simple churches -- small, intimate, authentic, spontaneous, decentralized -- expanding virally across urban Houston.
• Imagine these churches actively engaging their community and their world -- tackling issues of compassion, inclusion, and social justice -- with their entire program built around being the church.
• Imagine the community efforts of these churches supported by a shared "Community Development Corporation" committed to developing, resourcing, and facilitating the dreams of these young adults.
• Imagine many of these simple churches gathering for shared times of worship, while many of their sister church choose to worship in smaller settings.
• Imagine these churches operating efficiently and multiplying rapidly through a shared administrative core -- one that provides support, guidance, resources, leadership development, and much more.

Help me imagine this new kind of network of urban churches! Let me know what you think!

The Disciple-MAKING Church?

Spiritual Outsider: So, you're a pastor. Tell me about your church. (OK, so I've wandered off into fantasy land. Humor me.)

Stunned Pastor: (stunned and disoriented...) What do you mean?

Outsider: What does your church do?

Pastor: (recovering...) We Make Disciples. (We can hear the capitalization. This, we realize, is his church's Mission Statement.)

Outsider: Wow, that sounds intense. What's a "disciple?"

Pastor: A disciple is a fully devoted follower of Christ.

Outsider: So that's what your church does? You make disciples?

Pastor: Yes, we're a disciple-making church.

Outsider: OK, but I'm still a little unclear. What do you DO? What do fully devoted followers of Christ actually DO?

Pastor: Well, they love God and love people.

Outsider: That sounds great! How do they DO that, exactly?

Pastor: Lots of ways, I guess. Caring for hurting people, feeding the hungry, providing shelter— that sort of thing.

Outsider: (delighted) So your church does those things!

Pastor: No...well, not exactly. We teach people, mostly, and then they do those other things themselves.

Outsider: How is that working?

Pastor: (stunned and disoriented all over again) Well, uh....

WRONG MISSION(?): Make Disciples

RIGHT MISSION(?): Be Disciples

OBJECTION: But aren't we supposed to make disciples?

RESPONSE: Sure, that's what Jesus said. But what if the best way to make a disciple is to be a disciple and bring someone else along?

QUESTION: How would our churches be different if our Mission wasn't to MAKE disciples, but to BE disciples? How would that simple change impact our people development processes, our ministries, our staffing, our schedule, our architecture...our EVERYTHING?