Neil Powell > Quotes

“Generosity takes many forms. Barnaby Pain, a church planter with 2020birmingham who is one year into a church revitalization project, makes this clear. He emailed the following to me (John) recently, when I asked him to reflect on why he planted with 2020birmingham. I felt, since Bible college, that the only place I could lead a revitalization would be in Birmingham. Why? I knew revitalization would mean a lot of challenges. I knew I was not some amazing rugged hero with vast experience who could accomplish change alone. I felt weak and unimpressive, and facing up to my own limitations and weakness meant that leading a revitalization would require more than just me and my young family. So we needed the generous support of faithful people with us and the support of faithful pastors around us. Birmingham was the only place I thought we had this, and we had it there in abundance! We were able to gather a first-class team of families to join with us to kick-start the revitalization. The benefit of collaborative church planting and the thriving movement of church planting in Birmingham was that all these people already knew what was expected; they’d seen it done. And churches were willing to be generous in giving us their best. Another benefit is the ongoing partnership between churches. Just because we took a group of families a year and three months ago does not in any sense mean the job is done. Ongoing needs arise at different stages of our journey, and the churches around us get this. They are in constant contact to pray and offer real practical support.”
― Neil Powell, Together for the City: How Collaborative Church Planting Leads to Citywide Movements

“In a US context, authors Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird note, Among established Southern Baptist churches, for example, there are 3.4 baptisms per one hundred resident members, but their new churches average 11.7. That’s more than three times more! Other denominations offer similar numbers. It’s not hard to conclude that the launching of more new churches will lead more people to Christ.”
― Neil Powell, Together for the City: How Collaborative Church Planting Leads to Citywide Movements

“In his book 9 Marks of a Healthy Church Mark Dever concluded, “The local church is God’s evangelism plan. The local church is God’s evangelism program.”
― Neil Powell, Together for the City: How Collaborative Church Planting Leads to Citywide Movements

“This is attractive to people considering partnering with the 2020birmingham. Individuals involved in a church plant—from a sending church, as a planter, or as part of a core team—can believe church planting is possible for them rather than only the domain of an elite group of super-Christians. When they face a huge task together, attitudes of “it won’t work” can quickly become “we will each play our parts because we aren’t on our own.”
― Neil Powell, Together for the City: How Collaborative Church Planting Leads to Citywide Movements

“I felt, since Bible college, that the only place I could lead a revitalization would be in Birmingham. Why? I knew revitalization would mean a lot of challenges. I knew I was not some amazing rugged hero with vast experience who could accomplish change alone. I felt weak and unimpressive, and facing up to my own limitations and weakness meant that leading a revitalization would require more than just me and my young family. So we needed the generous support of faithful people with us and the support of faithful pastors around us. Birmingham was the only place I thought we had this, and we had it there in abundance! We were able to gather a first-class team of families to join with us to kick-start the revitalization. The benefit of collaborative church planting and the thriving movement of church planting in Birmingham was that all these people already knew what was expected; they’d seen it done. And churches were willing to be generous in giving us their best. Another benefit is the ongoing partnership between churches. Just because we took a group of families a year and three months ago does not in any sense mean the job is done. Ongoing needs arise at different stages of our journey, and the churches around us get this. They are in constant contact to pray and offer real practical support.”
― Neil Powell, Together for the City: How Collaborative Church Planting Leads to Citywide Movements

“Missiologist Dr. Stuart Murray identified seven transitions that mark a shift from Christendom to a post-Christendom culture that the church has to come to terms with: from the center to the margins, from majority to minority, from settlers to sojourners, from privilege to plurality, from control to witness, from maintenance to mission, and from institution to movement.”
― Neil Powell, Together for the City: How Collaborative Church Planting Leads to Citywide Movements

“Any church wishing to rediscover the dynamic nature of the early church should consider planting new churches.”
― Neil Powell, Together for the City: How Collaborative Church Planting Leads to Citywide Movements