RICE en:trust

CT Studd, a hero of mine, once said:

Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell, I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell

Last year, while watching stand-up comedy at a pub in Glebe, I couldn’t help noticing that stand-up venues would make a great venue for church. They are a comfortable and relaxed, have good facilities (food, drink and amenities) and are natural meeting places for people in our city. They are  setup so that all the chairs, couches, stools and tables face a small stage from which a person speaks for 30 minutes. Perfect!

At the same time as this began to dawn on me, I heard about Guy Mason who planted a churchJames Squire Brewhouse in Docklands, Melbourne. It surprises me that so few churches have used pubs as a venue for church planting. Well not really. A columnist in the Sydney Morning Herald wrote: in the

A paper prepared by the NSW Parliamentary Library Research Service for the 2003 NSW summit on alcohol abuse outlines the costs: alcohol played a role in 50 per cent of cases of domestic violence and sexual violence, 37 per cent of road injuries, 44 per cent of injuries resulting from fire, 47 per cent of assaults and 16 per cent of child abuse cases. It was a factor in more than one-third of homicides. More than 3600 people were dying each year from alcohol use and about 72,000 were hospitalised. The last time it was calculated at the end of the 1990s, alcohol misuse cost the community $7.5 billion a year.

Christian’s hate the abuse of Alcohol and the harm it inflicts on the innocent, so we reject pubs as a place to be used for by Jesus to build his church.

I am a fan, however, of the three-fold approach to engaging culture: reject what is evil, receive what is good, and redeem what is broken/lost. Though we lament and reject Alcohol abuse, we seek to redeem its use in moderation, receiving it as a good gift from God to his world. Hence, hold church in a pub may be a good way to begin to redeem something which is so often abused.

The last two Sunday nights I visited two pubs between the City and Bondi.

The first was The Light Brigade in Paddington. It  was almost empty at 9pm when we visited one Sunday night. The girl behind the bar said that its quite a slow season for pubs at the moment. She said their upstairs bistro is not open on a sunday night, but is able to be rented during the week. I told her my plans to plant a church in a function room at a pub and she said some pub owners would like it because pubs are fairly empty on a sunday night, and at present the season is fairly slow.

The second was The Local Taphouse in Darlinghurst. This pub surprised me, because despite what the bar lady said at The Light Brigade, this pub was packed on a Sunday night with Stand-Up Comedy downstairs, and a busy upstairs restaurant and bar. This pub defineately wins the points for the best range of Beers on tap, and for being very artistic birdcages hanging from the roof.

Over the next coming months I will be joining a group of young guys who are dreaming to creatively transform the City with the story of Jesus. Please join us or pray for us.

Because the tomb is empty.

Toby Neal

Note: Toby is a student at Moore College and also part of the group of 30 men who are part of the en:trust coaching group.  We would love for you to pray for him and his family as they prepare for the work of church planting.  Check out his blog at Middle Children Of History.

I spent the last 2 days in a church multiplication seminar with Ralph Moore.  Who’s Ralph Moore?

Ed Stetzer quotes him and holds him up as an model/example on church multiplication strategies in almost all of his books (Planting New Churches In A Postmodern Age, Planting Missional Churches, Breaking The Missional Code: Your Church Can Become A Missionary In Your Community, 11 Innovations In The Local Church: How Today’s Leaders Can Learn – btw if you’re serious about church planting, you should be reading every single one of Stetzer’s books!). Stetzer ranks this guy with Tim Keller and Mark Driscoll in speaking of church planting movement leaders. He says, ‘In the US I’ve been encouraged by leaders such as Neil Cole, Bob Roberts, Ralph Moore, Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, and Jimmy Seibert who emphasize multiplication of disciples, workers and churches rather than just growth. A growing band of leaders are seeing the church as a movement.’

This guy is a legend in church planting circles and the reason why you haven’t heard of him is because when we think church planting we think Acts 29, Redeemer or Sovereign Grace or New Frontiers.  The church planting world is much bigger and has been around much longer than you think. While I have great respect for what I would call younger church planting movements in the states and even in our country, time will tell whether they’ll produce church planting churches (i.e. churches that are able to multiply first and second generation church plants – church plants that actually go on to plant daughter and granddaughter churches).

Ralph is a much older man who has not just planted churches, but who planted his church Hope Chapel, California in 1971 with 12 people growing it to 3000 in membership.  Under his leadership Hope Chapel alone has gone on to multiply 29 first and second generation church plants (church plants that have planted daughter churches, and who’s daughter churches have planted granddaughter churches).  In 1983 he led their 30th church plant on the island of Oahu, Hawaii where he now continues as lead pastor of the 2500 member congregation. He’s not just a pastor who is big on discipleship and does it personally, but is also a church planter.  He currently also leads the Hope Chapel church planting movement which spans 700 churches in their network (4 of which have been planted in Australia and another starting in Manila).  In fact his book is on the recommended reading list on the A29 website – ‘Starting A New Church’, which is the book I recommend to guys thinking about church planting, and is one of the best practical books I’ve come across on church planting.

I’m even more excited that Ralph has been gracious enough to give of his time to spend a whole evening coaching and hanging out with 30 of our en:trust guys this coming Monday night.  This will be a tremendous opportunity to hear from and pick the mind of a guy who is passionate for the gospel, has a big heart for the lost and has been raising disciples and church planters for over 30 years.

Eugene Hor
RICE en:trust director

RICE en:trust, our church planting arm previously known as phase 4 is launching on Monday the 24th of August 2009 - an exclusive dinner and coaching session for 30 aspiring church planters with Matt Chandler and Mark Dever.

We’re looking for 30 young men looking to church plant in our city or beyond Sydney within the next 5 years that we can invest in! An opportunity to be part of a team of church planters personal coached via video chat in 2010 by Matt Chandler, Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, Scott Thomas, Steve Timmis, Bob Kauflin, Jamie Munson and Ed Stetzer. (see below for more information!)

Applications are now open and can be downloaded here (and must be submitted and received by midnight Sunday, 16/08/09)

‘Am very excited that the RICE movement is thinking church planting with it’s new arm en:trust.  I love Steve Chong and this movement of God and am expecting great things from it.  Very much looking forward to do some coaching with the 30 guys over the next year and praying that these young men might win the city for Jesus.  As for the lineup of coaches (Chandler, Dever, Stetzer, Kauflin, Thomas, Munson) it really doesn’t get better than that!! So I am praying we can be a blessing to your city and hope many apply to be a part of Rice en:trust.’ – Mark Driscoll, preaching and speaking pastor of Mars Hill Church, Seattle

‘I’d like to invite 30 potential church planters to have dinner with me and Mark Dever.  We’ll do some coaching and some dreaming for the city, and then I’m offering to follow that up if you guys are interested with some coaching sessions via video chat over the next year … Dever will do these video chats also in the future … it’s going to be a great opportunity. So make sure you apply to the new RICE church planting arm and let’s see if God might use this dinner on Monday the 24th of August to see churches explode all over Sydney.’ – Matt Chandler, Lead pastor of The Village Church

Email Us For More Information

If you’re a young church planter looking to church plant in the city of Sydney this is a coaching opportunity not to be missed!  An opportunity for you to personally learn alongside 29 other church planters via live video chat over several 2 hour coaching sessions through 2010 from this international panel of Bible teachers, church planters, theologians, missiologists and pastors who share a passion for the gospel of Jesus, the raising up of leaders, and the planting of church planting churches.

Applications are now open for 30 aspiring church planters and can be downloaded here (and must be submitted and received by midnight Sunday, 16/08/09)

Matt Chandler serves as Lead Pastor of The Village Church in Highland Village, Texas. He describes his tenure at The Village as a re-planting effort where he was involved in changing the theological and philosophical culture of the congregation. The church has witnessed a tremendous response growing from 160 people to over 6000 including satellite campuses in Dallas and Denton. Matt is also involved in church planting efforts both locally and internationally through The Village and various strategic partnerships. His greatest joy outside of Jesus is being married to Lauren and being a dad to their three children, Audrey, Reid and Norah

Mark Dever, serves as the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC. Along with his pastoral responsibilities, Dr. Dever is also president of 9Marks Ministries and has taught at a number of seminaries. Dr. Dever holds a M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a Th.M. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Ecclesiastical History from Cambridge University. He is also the author of several books and articles including Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, The Deliberate Church, and Preaching The Cross.

Mark Driscoll is the preaching and speaking pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, one of the fastest growing churches in America. He is president of the Acts 29 church planting network and has founded The Resurgence – a missional theological coop that “resources multiple generations to live for Jesus” with theologically correct and culturally relevant media. He is also the author of nine different books, including Vintage Jesus, Death by Love, and, most recently, Vintage Church.

Bob Kauflin is the Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries. In 1997, after 12 years as a pastor, he moved to Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland to serve in his present role. His main tasks includes equipping pastors and musicians in the theology and practice of congregational worship, contributing to Sovereign Grace recordings, and being one of the worship leaders at his church, led by Josh Harris. Bob also has an online website called Worship Matters providing resources and teaching for those who lead corporate praise (pastors, musicians, small group leaders), or anyone who wants to use music and words to magnify God’s glory in Christ. His joy has been marrying Julie, in August of 1976 and they now have six children, three of whom are married, and seven grandchildren.

Jamie Munson is the 31 year old Lead Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. He got saved at Mars Hill Church when he was 19, when Mars Hill was one year into its church plant. Two years ago, after working on staff for many years, he took on the responsibility of leading and overseeing the central administration of Mars Hill, a church of 7,500 regulars: day-to-day operations, staff oversight, casting vision, and organizational strategy.

Ed Stetzer has planted churches in New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia and transitioned declining churches in Indiana and Georgia. He has trained church planters on five continents, holds two masters degrees and two doctorates, and has written dozens of articles and books. Ed is also Visiting Professor of Research and Missiology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Visiting Research Professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and has taught at fifteen other colleges and seminaries.  He has written 7 books, including Planting Missional Churches, Breaking The Missional Code, and Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age.

Scott Thomas is the Director of Acts 29 Network and Pastor of Church Planting at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. He and Jeannie (Acts 29 Ministry Assistant) have been married for almost 26 years and have two awesome teenage sons who love Jesus, sports and girls (not necessarily in that order). Scott has been a pastor for 27 years—first as a youth pastor and then as a lead pastor and church planter/church replanter for 16 years.

Steve Timmis has been married to Janet for 27 years and they are parents to four children and grandparents to two. As well as being a great sinner with an even greater Savior Steve’s primary gifting is in starting new projects. He is the founding director of Radstock Ministries, an emerging global network of churches connected for mission; founding planter of The Crowded House, a network of missionary congregations in the UK; Co-Director of Northern Training, a vocational course that equips people to teach the Bible. He has written Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community and The Gospel Centered Church and holds an M.A. in Biblical Studies from the University of Sheffield.