If you are new to Outward OPC or this series, the introduction is here (10 Things I’ve Seen: Intro). In this series of posts, we will consider the practices of other churches that share some similarities with the OPC, though also some significant differences. With some of the examples (ten in number), we may see […]
Format: Article
10 Things I’ve Seen: Part 1 (Entering Into Worship)
Last time, I (Brad Hertzog) gave you the background to this series of what we can learn from some “missional” churches about welcoming people into our churches. Particularly those churches that have some Reformed leanings or commitments (Intro & Background). My work, requiring travel and temporal stays in an area, as well as particular projects […]
10 Things I’ve Seen: Intro & Background
We are going to begin an extended series throughout the summer on practical ways to be more effective and helpful for visitors. Before digging into the ideas and examples, this series needs some context. (Note: This is Brad Hertzog writing) My work has provided a unique opportunity. Multiple times, I’ve spent a couple of months […]
How Are Things Going?
It’s been 3 months since the wider release of Outward OPC, initiated by the New Horizons feature article (March New Horizons). Your response as a community is very encouraging to us. We are about to share a couple of numbers, but not because we think this is all about numbers. But some numbers tell us […]
Outward Stories From the Field: San Francisco
A man walked up and asked, “Do you have free Bibles for atheists?” We assured him we did and had a short conversation about how they are really free and we are happy to give one to him. He ended up taking a “Confessing Christ” as well. He seemed pleased that his atheism didn’t faze […]
Outward Stories From the Field: Sterling, VA
What would it take to get a group of maybe 5 non-Christians along with 5-10 Christians into your home to talk about spiritual things for a few hours every Friday night? For Phil Proctor at Sterling Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Sterling, VA it’s a free dinner and some intentionality. Two months ago, he started a […]
Conversation That Opens Doors (and Hearts)
Our post several weeks ago about how well-intended questions could be unwelcoming to visitors (“Unwelcoming Welcome”) received a lot of good feedback, was passed around congregational email lists, and led to requests for more help in this area. Today, let’s look at questions and conversation once you get beyond the initial chitchat phase. These may […]
You Are What You Love – Part 3 (Applying the Principles)
Before we get too far along in this series, let’s think about how to apply what we’ve considered so far. We’ve laid out the overall topic and thesis: James K. Smith wants us to realize that people are first and foremost lovers. That even more than what they think or believe, what people love or […]
You Are What You Love – Part 2 (The University)
In Part 1 of our series on James K. Smith’s You Are What You Love (Part 1), we considered Smith’s thesis that people at their very core are most significantly formed by what they love. What a person loves is more formative even than what they think or what they believe. We narrowed our focus […]
You Are What You Love (and so is everybody else) – Part 1
What if your neighbor actually loves liturgy more than you? In November at the Regional Church Extension Conference, multiple sessions were dedicated to the topic of 2 recent books by James K.A. Smith—Desiring the Kingdom and You Are What You Love. I (Brad Hertzog) led the sessions with 25 men—chairmen of Presbytery Missions Committees and […]
An Unintentional Unwelcoming Welcome
Sometimes our sincere efforts to welcome visitors on a Sunday can actually be unwelcoming and we don’t even know it. This is our third installment highlighting one of the sessions entitled “Building a Culture of Evangelism” at the 2018 Church Planter Training Conference. In previous posts, we looked at an overview of loving people in […]
Preaching & Evangelism
We continue our series of highlights from the Church Planters Conference in St. Augustine. Last week, we considered some matters relating to “Building A Culture of Evangelism” in our churches (Link). During the same session Eric Watkins, the host pastor, led a brief discussion on the role of preaching and evangelism. Eric had an interesting […]
Building A Culture of Evangelism
Last week was the annual Church Planter Training Conference in St. Augustine. One of the sessions was an extended consideration of “Building a Culture of Evangelism.” John Shaw led this with contributions by Al Tricarico and host pastor Eric Watkins. John & Eric completed teaching their first MTI-OPC class on Evangelism this past August. We […]
Reading Outside the Box Because We Live Outside the Box
“The First Church of Intersectionality” “Why Asian Americans Struggle to Feel at Home in White-Majority Churches” “Generation X, Y, Z, and Others” These are 3 recent articles from Steve Doe’s monthly curated selections that he passes on to his presbytery. Steve is the Regional Home Missionary for the Presbytery of the MidAtlantic. He […]
Viewing Church Planting Through A Servant Lens
A couple of years ago the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic was doing some preliminary work in regard to planting in Washington, D.C. When they expressed the goal of the project they stated it this way: “We do not presume to know, at this time, whether the Lord would have this presbytery engage in church planting […]
Outward Stories From The Field: Houston – House to House After Harvey
The October issue of New Horizons includes a well thought out vision of church planting for Houston from Mark Sumpter (You can download the pdf of that issue here: October 2017 New Horizons). As noted, that article was written before the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. Talk about an immediate challenge to your church planting vision! […]
A Rush On Our Reader Survey? … and more results
Before we get into the next consideration of results, we note that there was a rush to the survey during our last post. 33 people went and took the survey, almost a 50% increase in a couple of days. We were wondering if we were going to see the Outwardly OPC Reader Survey trending on Twitter! (If […]
Where Vos Thought Machen Was Wrong & The OPC Lineage of Evangelism
Consider these selected quotes that have been pieced together and we’ll say more about them below: In the archives at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia is preserved a handwritten sermon by J. Gresham Machen dated March 30, 1925. It deals with 1 Timothy 3:15 and is entitled “The Church of the Living God, the Pillar and […]
Reader Survey: 89% of respondents asked about conversions in Reformed Churches said….
Thanks to all who have taken a few minutes to take our initial survey. (If you haven’t there’s still time–How Outwardly Facing Are We? ). We expect to learn a lot from this and future surveys. So far 75 people have taken it. At this point it’s almost all OPC. That’s intentional, and will change […]
Looking at Outreach Ideas – Some Collected Examples
In the early stages of developing Outward OPC, one of our goals is to share the stories and ideas of what churches are doing to reach people. Last week at the Regional Church Extension Conference in Orlando this need was again discussed. The chairmen of the Presbytery Missions Committees and our Regional Home Missionaries suggested […]