Center for United States Missions - Missional Resouces Articles by Topic

The Center for U.S. Missions is pleased to provide articles on various topics related to church health, leadership, and outreach. These articles are free and may be reproduced for your local ministry as long as the Center for U.S. Missions is credited as the source. If you would like to distribute or publish an article beyond your local ministry please contact our office for copyright permission.

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Articles on Church Planting

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Ablaze! Covenant Congregations: Engaging Congregations to Multiply by Yohannes Mengsteab
'And Beyond!' -- A Church-Planting Plan by Eric Johnson

Becoming a Multi-cultural Church by E.J. Rethinasamy

Church Planting: A Historical Look by Mike Ruhl
Could You Create a Church in 30 Days? by Ken Behnken

Daughter Church Planting: The Multi-site Approach by Glenn Lucas

Evangelism in the New Church Plant by Paul Mueller

Factors to be Considered, Part 1 of 3, by Ken Behnken
Factors to be Considered, Part 2 of 3, by Ken Behnken
Factors to be Considered, Part 3 of 3, by Ken Behnken
Failure to Launch? by Mike Ruhl

Grace of an Overwhelming Assignment, The by Bob Scudieri

Micro to Macro: The Call for Churches to Plant Churches by Mike Ruhl
Missional Learning Experiences by Mike Ruhl
Mono-cultural vs. Multi-cultural by E.J. Rethinasamy

New Ways to Tell the Story by Ken Behnken

Planting Missions Across Cultures, Part 1 of 2, Ken Behnken
Planting Missions Across Cultures, Part 2 of 2, Ken Behnken

Seeing What God Sees by Victor Belton
Should Small Churches Plant Churches? by Ken Behnken

Team Work by Ken Behnken
That Haunting Question: Why Plant Churches? by Mike Ruhl

Value of Values, The by Ken Behnken

Weaving a Church by Mary Van Duzer
What I'd Like to Share by Karen Kogler; interviews of mission planters
When a New Church Plant Fails by Mike Ruhl
Who Makes an Effective Church Planter? by Ken Behnken
Why People will Provide Resources for a New Church Plant by Ken Behnken

Articles on Evangelism

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Anchored to the Rock; Geared to the Times by Michelle Connor

Breaking the Mission Field Code by Mike Ruhl

Conversations of Hope and Grace by Glenn Lucas
Cultural Distance in Congregations by Mike Ruhl

Dancing of the Offerings by Mike Zehnder
Developing an Outreach Mindset by Ken Behnken

Energizing for Evangelism by Michelle Connor
Expecting to Change the World by Mike Ruhl
Evangelism in the New Church Plant by Paul Mueller
Evangelism-Resistant Church, The by Mike Ruhl

A Failure to Plan is a Plan for Failure by Glenn Lucas
Friends: Natural Networks for Engaging Evangelism by Mike Ruhl

Handling 'Door-knockers' in a Christian Manner by Marty Brauer
Healthy Habits That Support Outreach by Mike Ruhl
Help, Hope and Home by Glenn Lucas
How About the Dechurched? by Ken Behnken

Impressed? by Glenn Lucas
It's Not Just for Kids Anymore by Earl Pierce

Jump Into Mission by Mike Ruhl

Kingdom Yeast in Daily Life by Mark Press
Kingdom Yeast: Agitation and Transformation by Steve Henderson

Men and Church by Kevin Kosberg
Mission Enhancement by Mike Ruhl
Missionary Insights: Getting a New View from the Pew by Michelle Connor
Mystical Link between Incarnation and Missions, The by Mike Ruhl

New Ways to Tell the Story by Ken Behnken

Ostrich Evangelism by Mike Ruhl

Saints as Sent Ones - Apostolic Living in the Missional Congregation by Mike Ruhl
Sandwich is for the Road, The by Mike Ruhl
Singled Out by Michelle Connor

Targeted Evangelism by Kevin Wilson

Ways to Reach the Spiritually Lost by Ken Behnken
Welcoming Guests Well by Glenn Lucas; article
Welcoming Guests Well by Michelle Erickson; article
Who are We Trying to Reach? by Ken Behnken
Who's There? by Glenn Lucas

Articles on Healthy Churches

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Missional Congregations: a series of articles by Mike Ruhl on the characteristics of missional congregations.

7 Practices of Effective Ministry by Glenn Lucas
19th and 20th Century Churches in a 21st Century World by Dr. Earl J. Pierce

Congregations in Transition by Jotham Johann Jhang

Developing an Outreach Mindset by Ken Behnken
Don't Just Shake My Hand - Hold It! by Mike Ruhl

Evangelism-Resistent Church, The by Mike Ruhl

Healthy Habits That Support Outreach by Mike Ruhl
Healthy Pastors Make Healthy Leaders by Ken Behnken
Help, Hope and Home by Glenn Lucas

In, Up and Out by Glenn Lucas

Mission Enhancement by Mike Ruhl

Natural Church Development: One Congregation's Story by Tom Acton

Should Small Churches Plant Churches? by Ken Behnken
Size Matters: Mission, Ministry, Boards and Staff, Part 1 of 3, by Glen Lucas
Size Matters: Mission, Ministry, Boards and Staff, Part 2 of 3, by Glenn Lucas
Size Matters: Mission, Ministry, Boards and Staff, Part 3 of 3, by Glenn Lucas
Smell the Coffee: Seven Sins of Dying Churches by Mike Ruhl

Working for Excellence by Ken Behnken

Articles on Leadership

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Five Deadly People-sins of Leadership by Karen Kogler

Healthy Pastors Make Healthy Leaders by Ken Behnken

Sandwich is for the Road, The by Mike Ruhl

Selecting Members for Your Team by Ken Behnken

Size Matters: Mission, Ministry, Boards and Staff, Part 1 of 3, by Glen Lucas
Size Matters: Mission, Ministry, Boards and Staff, Part 2 of 3, by Glenn Lucas
Size Matters: Mission, Ministry, Boards and Staff, Part 3 of 3, by Glenn Lucas

Team Work by Ken Behnken

Volunteers are Not Free by Karen Kogler

Working for Excellence by Ken Behnken

Articles on the Missional Church

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Breaking the Mission Field Code by Mike Ruhl

Changing the Scorecard: Measurement on the Mission Field by Mike Ruhl
Cheers To Third Places by Glenn A. Lucas

Deficit Delusion, The by Mike Ruhl
Developing an Outreach Mindset by Ken Behnken

In, Up and Out by Glenn Lucas

Mission Enhancement by Mike Ruhl
Missional Migration: From Comfort Zones to Purposeful Risks by Ted Hartman

Sandwich is for the Road, The by Mike Ruhl

Understanding The Times by Glenn A. Lucas; article

Worship Fuels Mission by Mike Ruhl

The following is a series of articles by Mike Ruhl on the characteristics of missional congregations. The first article is an introduction, and the others each discuss one of the 9 characteristics of a missional congregation, from the book Shaped by God's Heart--The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches by Milfred Minatrea.