Mission Lab

Is it possible to learn something from people who don't believe in God? Shawn sits down with Camille's sister, Shelley, and her husband Greg, to have a fascinating and edifying conversation about their journey in and out of Christianity and faith. 

We get practical again and share some ideas on how to be missional at Christmas time - without putting on a program. It's never too early to start thinking about the Christmas season. So enjoy a few suggestions of how you can get on mission this year.

We get very practical here, sharing 13 ways to be missional in your city or town. We talk about how we can enter the rhythms of life in your community and incarnate the gospel in everyday life. The goal, of course, is to repeatedly journey alongside people so we can ultimately "do life" with them and bless and serve them.

So what happens if you're a pastor or a layperson and you'd really like to get your church on mission, making disciples, and forming community, but you're not sure that anyone else does? We talk about some practical steps to take when it comes to pursuing this vision within your congregation.

We take a breather and review what we've been talking about in the podcast. This is a very big picture episode which can easily be shared to give the crux of our missional burden. We talk about the challenges the church faces, how we need to be missional and not attractional, how we need to do life with people, and how we can form communities that are on mission.

Shawn sits down with our good friend, Ty Gibson, to discuss the state of the church. Ty is co-director of Light Bearers Ministry in Jasper, Oregon, as well as ARISE - which trains young people in the gospel. Ty pulls no punches as he evaluates our challenges in the church and offers a few practical solutions on how we can fulfill our high calling.

There is a lot of church practice that we participate in without examining our underlying assumptions. In this episode, we take a step back and talk about the purpose and reasons for gathering as God's people, first touching upon why we refer to such events as "gatherings" rather than "church," and then laying a foundation for how gathering as God's people might look. 

We've talked in the past about what a missional community is and how important they are. Now we talk about some of the ins-and-outs of starting one. What are the first steps to starting a missional community and how do we choose our mission? These are a few of the questions we tackle in this very relevant conversation!

While speaking in Australia recently, Shawn caught up with two young church planters who are on fire for mission. Meet Francis Pule and Lachlan Campbell, who started LifeSwich Community Church in Goodna, Queensland, Australia. Enjoy their passion and glean some ideas. Hear how regular pastoring just wasn't cutting it for them.

Shawn's dad stops by and shares reflections from over 40 years of ministry. He talks about the positives from his ministry and what he may have done differently - implicitly revealing that you can teach an old dog new tricks. We reflect on how to reach people from Beacon Hill in Boston - the epitome of those from the upper class - and how our traditional evangelistic efforts likely won't reach people of that ilk (and how they haven't). Lastly, we reflect for a few moments on what it's like to be retired, and what is keeping him busy these days.