The universe - INDEX

(See indexes on other topics)

This is the index page for a major series on the story of the universe. I'll be adding sections from time to time and provide links to all the parts below.

I would like to attempt a major project in which I'll do my best to describe and explain the universe as we understand it in 2012 and 2013. The first part of the series is an introduction and explains why and how I am doing this.

The list below will expand as fresh parts are written. It's a story with no beginning as we cannot currently investigate the state of the universe right at the start (assuming 'the start' has any rational meaning for the universe). And it's a story with no end because it seems unlikely that the universe will have an ending in the sense of ceasing to exist.

Besides, time itself might be seen as part of the universe. In that case we would be talking about the beginning and end of time. What would that mean?

One of the truly astonishing things about the universe is that it contains tiny blobs of matter (us) that are capable, in some sense, of comprehending it. This should seem far more extraordinary than it does to most people most of the time.

Here's the list of parts so far.

1. Introducing the universe - Why am I attempting this project?
2. How does science work? - So, why should we accept the claims of science?
3. In the beginning - Even time and space began at the beginning.
4. From the beginning to atoms - Forces and particles condense from energy
5. Penzias, Wilson and some noise - How the cosmic background was found.

Questions:

• Do 'beginning' and 'end' in science and in religion refer to the same thing?
• Scientific and religious - do they overlap or conflict or are they distinct?
• What lies beyond the universe? How could we know?

See also:

• Debating science and faith - Journeys of heart and mind
• Scale of the universe
• Science and faith, war or peace? - Journeys of heart and mind
• Science versus faith, part 1 - Nomad Podcast
• Science versus faith, part 2 - Nomad podcast
• Universe - Wikipedia

Choudhrie's steps - Index

(See indexes on other topics)

Victor Choudhrie is an Indian evangelist and apostle who has baptised many people in India, planted many house churches, speaks internationally, and writes books, manuals and teaching material. He suggests twenty-one steps for transforming a traditional church.

Victor Choudhrie is an Indian cancer specialist turned apostle. I don't know if he would describe himself in quite that way, but I do.

He has started a movement of house church planting in India and it is spreading exponentially. He has also been invited to speak about his work in many countries and has written books and papers about it.

Listen to him speaking about how he changed from medicine to preaching Christ (there's a two minute introduction before Choudhrie speaks). The full set of six videos is well worth hearing.

One of his papers is a PDF containing twenty-one steps that he recommends for transforming the life of the church. Some of the steps have been shared on SimpleChurch Journal and briefly discussed on The assembling of the church. Victor Choudhrie describes them as 'twenty-one steps to transit from being a barren church to a millionaire of souls'. They form part of the training material on the Paul-Timothy website.

But I'd like to go further, I think it would be useful to take all twenty-one steps individually and examine them in a bit more detail. They are very striking, and extremely challenging. Are you ready?

The steps are listed below in abbreviated form and will be examined in future posts.

1. Clergy and laity - rewrite the job description of the professional clergy
2. Meet in houses - move from meeting in temples to houses of peace
3. Small and informal - phase out Sunday services, gather informally
4. Share resources - replace Mosaic tithing with Christian sharing
5. Eat together - replace wafer-and-sip communion with agape meals
6. Spiritual melody - replace professional music with heart music
7. Interact and participate - not spectator-oriented but prophetic
8. Become a network - not mega-church but meta-church
9. Multiply - produce baby meta-churches abundantly
10. Know who you are - be Christ's royal-priests, not laity
11. Challenge purposeless church - clearly stated vision and a roadmap
12. Unglue and send out - don't sit, soak and stagnate, but actively go
13. From death to life - from titles to five-fold ministry that equips
14. Subgroups are church - every prayer group and Bible study is church
15. Replace goats with sheep - individuals who care for the weak and lost
16. Simplify disciple making - gossip the gospel and multiply
17. Training at home - no seminaries, share the truth house to house
18. A new personal paradigm - church is where you spend your time
19. Legacy church is secondary - see it as it is
20. Preach Christ in new places - be fruitful and multiply
21. Have a completion mindset - aim to be a millionaire of souls

Questions:

• How do you react to the list of steps?
• Does Victor Choudhrie have the right to suggest these steps to change?
• If so, why? If not, why not?
• What do you find most interesting or challenging about his life as a believer?

See also:

• Choudhrie's challenges revisited - SimpleChurch Journal
• Dr Victor Choudhrie, part 1, Foundations - Vimeo
• Mega church to meta (beyond) church - Paul-Timothy
• Paul-Timothy
• Two days with Dr Victor Choudhrie - Vimeo
• Victor Choudhrie speaks out - Journeys of heart and mind
• Watching the church change from barrren to fruitful - Assembling of the church

Blog post links and questions

There are a variety of ways to make blog articles more useful and interesting. These include the addition of a question section and a links section. Questions stimulate thought and discussion. Links make an article part of a wider network on a particular theme.

I've begun regularly adding 'Questions' and 'See also' sections at the end of blog posts. Both are intended to make the articles more useful.

An invitation to respond - I've noticed how some other bloggers include open questions at the end of their articles and it's been really helpful.

For one thing it encourages me to think for myself when I've finished reading. It's so easy to read something and then move straight on, but the questions interrupt that automatic urge to see what's next and instead provoke me to think through the implications of what has been written.

Sometimes I leave a comment purely because one of the questions has helped me to agree or disagree with something the author has written, or has taken me beyond what is mentioned in the article.

A list of links - I've also noticed 'See also' sections in some blogs, but this seems less widespread than the inclusion of questions. However, from now on my intention is to provide links in the 'See also' section for every post.

Some bloggers only post links to their own articles, but I'm going to try to link to other blogs and websites too. Expect to find links to other relevant blog articles, Wikipedia articles for topic overviews, recent articles from news organisations, and other stuff that seems relevant from time to time. For completeness the list always includes the links provided in the main body of the blog post.

It's my hope that readers will use the links to explore a trail from one blog post to another, not just within my own blog but much more widely.

I encourage other bloggers to pick up this idea and run with it. If enough of us engage in this rich linking all our blog articles will act as entry points into the wider discussion. It would be very helpful to our readers and it would also bind us into a wide and deep community of writers, commentators and commenters. Along with chain blogs and synchroblogs it would help us transcend the boundaries of individual blogging.

Organic Wine - Some time ago I set up an area on this site called 'Organic Wine'. It has its own tab below the banner. The idea was that this would list links to specific topics that are important to me, specifically around the subject of church in general and organic church in particular.

I haven't kept this up-to-date recently and I hope that the lists of links in articles will be a more flexible way of achieving the same end - linking to relevant material elsewhere in the blogosphere.

We'll see how it goes. If, over a period of time, the new linking arrangement seems successful I may freeze the 'Organic Wine' feature permanently and eventually take the dedicated tab away.

Previous, Next and Index - I have always added these links to the top and bottom of articles where they're part of a series. These links always refer to other posts on 'Journeys of heart and mind'.

When I write a series on a particular theme it's particularly useful for readers to be able to skip to the previous and next articles in the series. It's also useful to see a list of the entire series on a single page (the index). Doing it this way also means the series does not need to be continuous, I can intersperse stand-alone articles that have nothing to do with the series.

To see this in action, here's a list of the series index pages on this blog.

Questions:

• Do you find the 'Questions' section useful? How? Why?
• Do you find the 'See also' section useful? How? Why?
• Do you think I should continue with 'Organic Wine' or not?
• If you're a blogger, do you think you might begin cross-linking in a similar way?
• Are there other ways we could make blog articles more useful to our readers?

See also:

• Index to themed articles - Journeys of heart and mind
• Interested in a chain blog? - The assembling of the church
• Organic Wine - Journeys of heart and mind
• Synchroblog
• The art of questioning - Institute for enquiry
• Using questions in teaching - Oxford Brookes University

Bible Tools - Index

(See indexes on other topics)

For anyone wishing to read or study the Bible there are many good tools available to use online or install locally. To help you decide which to investigate further, this series of articles briefly reviews some of the offerings and explains their capabilities and scope.

This list below includes my own articles about online tools and Frank Viola's material on locally installed software.

• Bible Gateway - Web, apps - http://www.biblegateway.com/
• BibleWorks 9 - PC, smartphones - http://www.bibleworks.com/content/
• Bible Hub - Web - http://biblehub.com/
• Olive Tree Bible Reader - PC, Mac, smartphones - http://olivetree.com/
• Online Bible tools - Web - some pros and cons of the online tools
• WORDsearch 10 - PC, Mac, smartphones - https://www.wordsearchbible.com/

Don Snell's Questions - INDEX

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We take a look at some interesting questions on mission and disciple-making and have a stab at some answers.

In his 'Missional Challenge' blog, Dave DeVries reposts some questions posed originally by Don Snell. These questions were originally intended for coaching. In particular the aim is to help people 'align [their lives] with Jesus' disciplemaking mission'.

I think these questions are so good that I'm taking them a few at a time and sharing my own answers in outline form.

I hope this will be helpful to others. Don't expect my answers to agree with your own, but do be encouraged to go through the questions yourself and think about them carefully.

1. Where he treads I must follow
2. Surprises open us to change

Seven signs in John - INDEX

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The seven signs in John are a useful way of engaging people's attention on who Jesus is. He is more than an historical figure, more than a wise teacher, more than many people realise. These particular seven events were written down to help us see his true nature and significance.

Near the end of John's spiritual biography of Jesus, he writes these words.

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)

What 'signs' is John referring to here? - There are seven of them, and over the next week or two I plan to write short notes on each one. John wrote about these particular signs '[so] that you might believe'. He regarded them as especially useful in drawing people to believe that Jesus was the Son of the Most High. We should surely take note of them and use them in reaching others.

Click the links in the list to read the articles.

1. Water becomes wine (John 2:1-11)
2. Healing at a distance (John 4:46-54)
3. An invalid is healed (John 5:1-17)
4. The crowds are fed (John 6:1-15)
5. Walking on water (John 6:16-24)
6. The blind man sees (John 9:1-41)
7. Raising the dead (John 11:1-54)

Neil Cole - Neil has written about the seven signs and suggests a useful way of approaching them in simple conversations. I'll examine them in a little more detail here, though still aim to leave readers to reach their own conclusions. Being told something is not as powerful as drawing meaning out for yourself. Sometimes an open question is more valuable than a closed answer.

Neil suggests asking four questions about each sign.

1. What does it tell us about people?
2. What does it tell us about Jesus?
3. What does it tell me about myself?
4. Who else needs to hear this?

You might enjoy listening to Neil Cole speaking about the usefulness of these signs.

See also: RESPONSE - Seven signs in John

Church as network - INDEX

(See indexes on other topics)

Networks are good for connection and communication. Examples include the internet and the road system (sometimes actually called 'the road network'). Connection and communication go hand in hand, network connections are the channels and network communications are the messages.

This index lists articles on aspects of church as a network.

1. Church is a network - Rich connections at multiple levels
2. Groups of two or three - These may develop spontaneously
3. Groups of six to twenty - Rather like a family
4. Groups of sixty to eighty - Workshops
5. Dunbar and 130-160 - Maximum social connections

Spiritual Journey - INDEX

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Life can be thought of in terms of three principles. There is the physical universe that we inhabit. There is the realm of the mind in which we think (it's also the seat of our emotions). And there is the hard-to-define spiritual aspect of life.

This index lists articles on the spiritual

1. On a spiritual journey? - Exploring our own hearts
2. Drawn to the light - A light that comes from beyond
3. We've run out of wine - Willing to help us out

If you want to contact me, mail me at spj@scilla.org.uk - I will do my best to get a reply to you.

Spiritual fruit - INDEX

A chain of posts by a series of authors on a single theme is called a 'chain blog'. This chain blog is on the topic of spiritual fruit; if you're a blogger we'd like to encourage you to join in. It's easy! Just write an article on your own blog and get it linked in.

This is a chain blog on the topic 'Spiritual fruit'. (Alan Knox invented the chain blog in 2008, it's a great idea - thanks Alan!)

The 'Spiritual fruit' chain is based on Galatians 5:22-23 where Paul lists nine components of this fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But please feel free to write on any related topic.

Check below for the simple rules.

Contributions so far

1. Are we joyful enough? - Chris Jefferies
2. The fruit of the Spirit - Kate Cremisino
3. Who's next?... your post here...

This list will grow as contributions come in. It may grow rapidly or slowly. We shall see.

Feel free to contribute the next article on your own blog. It might be about fruit in general or about a particular aspect such as patience. It might offer practical advice or investigate some principles. Or it might consider how the presence or absence of fruit affects us and those around us. Or... whatever occurs to you.


Chain blog rules - these are based on the original rules devised by Alan Knox.

1) If you would like to contribute a post on your own blog, please begin by adding a comment to this index page and I will add you to the list above. If there are people ahead of you in the list wait until those people have posted before publishing your own contribution. That way you will have the opportunity to respond to whatever they may write and the chain will remain more cohesive. Think of the posts in the chain as being like chapters in a book.

2) Feel free to leave comments on the individual blog posts without taking part in the actual “chain”. Your comments and discussion are very important in this chain blog.

3) When you write a new link in this chain, please leave another comment here on the index page to let me know that your article is ready.

4) Please include links in your article to this index page and to the previous and next articles in the chain. If possible include these links at both the top and the bottom of your article. This will make it easy for readers to navigate the chain.

Caribbean/Florida 2012 - INDEX

< Cornwall 2011 | Index | No later items >

We flew from Heathrow to Miami, Florida. We then boarded a cruise and island-hopped in the Caribbean for ten days, returning to Miami.

From there we caught a train to Lake Worth and spent nearly a week with our friends Steph and Earl.

This index will take you to the individual daily posts.

• Friday 24th February - St Neots to Heathrow
• Saturday 25th February - Fly to Miami
• Sunday 26th February - Join the cruise and sail
• Monday 27th February - Day at sea
• Tuesday 28th February - Dominican Republic
• Wednesday 29th February -Tortola and Virgin Gorda
• Thursday 1st March - St Martin's
• Friday 2nd March - Antigua
• Saturday 3rd March - Barbados
• Sunday 4th March - St Kitts
• Monday 5th March - Day at sea
• Tuesday 6th March - Day at sea
• Wednesday 7th March - Dock in Miami, train to Lake Worth
• Thursday 8th March - 
• Friday 9th March - 
• Saturday 10th March - 
• Sunday 11th March - 
• Monday 12th March - Train to Miami and fly out
• Tuesday 13th March - Arrive at Heathrow and drive home

< Cornwall 2011 | Index | No later items >

Coventry Cathedral - Index

(See indexes on other topics)

In November and December 2011 I began to feel Father wanted me to travel to Coventry and visit the Cathedral and that he would speak to me as I did so. I made the visit on 9th December and he did indeed show me a variety of things on that day.

This index page collects together a series of posts about the visit, what was revealed, and how the revelation has gelled and developed since then.

1. Coventry Cathedral - Visiting the old and new cathedrals
2. Hearing from the Spirit in Coventry - Truth poured out like a flowing stream
3. The centrality of Christ - What does it mean for Jesus to be central in our lives
4. Oneness and reconciliation - We are all one, in and through Christ
5. New and old in church life - How the two relate and benefit one another

The AAJ Review Award - INDEX

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Awarding a review and a badge to other bloggers seems like a good idea. It will be fun to do and will help link blogs together. Hopefully this and other schemes will encourage a developing sense of community.

The 'Review Award' is a new idea, sparked by a comment on one of my recent posts. It was really encouraging to receive an award, in fact it made me grin from ear to ear! And that's good; we should encourage one another.


Hopefully, review awards will help other bloggers by encouraging them, drawing new visitors to take a look, and strengthening the blogging community in general.

I like the idea of providing a badge and I'll start with the simple design displayed here - we'll see how it goes.

You can view recent awards, or pick from the list below (most recent awards are at the top).

2012

• 20th Feb - Be the light - Chris Duffett - East of England, UK
• 13th Feb - Living to please God - Rhoda - Wales, UK

Index to themed articles

This post lists the series indexes on 'Journeys of heart and mind'. Each index collects articles on a theme, often written over a period of time.

From time to time I write a series of themed articles, and usually I provide an index article to make it easy to find the entire set. Now that there are several such indexes it seems time to make 'an index of indexes' - and this is it.

Alternatively you can view all the indexes as one, long page; the link for this is always available on the 'About' page (scroll down part way to find 'INDEX' in the 'Topics' list). But the brief alphabetical list below will often be more convenient.

So here it is...

• Bible tools - Computerised Bible tools, on the web and to install
• Choudhrie's steps - Victor Choudrie's list of church transforming steps
• Church as Network - Networks connect well and communicate well
• Coventry Cathedral - Revelation through the old and new cathedrals
• Don Snell's Questions - Questions and answers on mission
• Grace Outpouring - The extraordinary story of blessing at Ffald-y-Brenin
• Greatest Thing - Notes on Henry Drummond's essay on love
• Holidays - A variety of family holidays and visits
• I will build my church - The proper basis for church life
• John's Gospel - Short comments on John, chapter by chapter
• Leaders in the church - Thoughts on leaders and leadership
• Meetings - Notes on some of the meetings I've shared in
• Planting churches - Thoughts on the processes involved
• Review Awards - Awards to other bloggers
• Seven signs in John - These signs help focus our attention on Jesus
• Spiritual Journey - A life journey to spiritual knowledge
• Universe - Series on the development of the universe
• Valley of dry bones - Ezekiel's prophetic writing and the church today
• Wine - Collection of info on organic church developments

Valley of dry bones - INDEX

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Ezekiel's writing about the valley of dry bones has much to say to us about deadness and life in the church.

Is it now time for dusty dryness to be transformed into vigorous, vibrant life? This short series examines the implications.

1. Ezekiel in exile - Ezekiel's words about the valley of dry bones seem significant.
2. Dry bones in the valley - Ezekiel 37:1.
3. Taking a good look - A question in the middle of the valley.
4. Speak to the bones - Is there any point in speaking to what is dead?
5. The word of Yahweh - The bones are to come to life!
6. The bones come together - Ezekiel begins speaking to the bones.
7. Sinew, muscle and skin - He watches as the bones are covered.
8. Prophecy to the breath - Ezekiel is called to speak again.
9. An overwhelming army - The bodies come to life and stand.
10. The dry bones of church will live - A prophecy for the church today.

The Grace Outpouring - Index

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Roy and Daphne Godwin run a retreat centre at Ffald-y-Brenin in Pembrokeshire. 'The Grace Outpouring' explains how they came to be there and describes some of the amazing events that have taken place as Jesus works amongst them and their visitors.

By kind permission of the publishers, here is chapter one of the book in twelve parts with comment and images.

1. A sense of direction - Roy misunderstands the Father's purpose for his life.
2. A step forward - Daphne suggests Roy should pray
3. Unexpected visitors - Surprised by a sense of the Almighty's presence
4. A pattern of blessing - Another couple arrives at Ffald-y-Brenin
5. A rather difficult guest - Visitors are sometimes inconvenient or even difficult.
6. Blessings in the rain - The Lord insists that Roy remains calm and patient.
7. A pattern of blessing - Roy and Daphne start to look outwards.
8. We bless you from... here! - A new tradition of blessing prayer.
9. The abundant results of prayer - Reports from the neighbours.
10. Grace outpouring - Grace can pour out from us as it does from our Father.
11. Like light on the water - More on grace and blessing to others.
12. A royal priesthood - The biblical background to blessing.

See also:

• Ffald-y-Brenin's website
• Pentecost people of blessing - Words half heard

THOUGHT - Building the church

< No earlier items | Missing the best >

I need to share a picture with you, a picture Jesus poured into my heart many, many years ago. This is the right time to share it again, it's been on my mind a lot recently and an item on Ben and Catherine's blog makes me think now is the time.

Some history - Back in the early days, in the mid to late 1970s, Judy and I were particularly close to a couple who lived in the next street, Tony and Faith. We had young children at the time and so did they, it wasn't always easy to get baby sitters, so we worked around it.

I forget how often we met, but it was pretty frequently. One evening Judy would stay at home and I'd walk down to Tony and Faith's for tea or coffee, a chat, and prayer. Next time either Tony or Faith would come to us, then Judy would go to their place and I'd hold the fort at home. Then one of them would come to us. And so it went on.

These were exciting times of revelation and learning; we moved in the newly discovered (by us) gifts of the Spirit, sharing pictures and tongues, interpretation and prophecy, we were earnest and enthusiastic and young.

The picture - One evening when I was at Tony and Faith's I had a picture. I knew it was from the Holy Spirit and I shared it with them then and there. And I shared it with Judy when I returned home. Pictures were not unusual for us, but what I didn't expect was that this picture would remain with me for the rest of my life and that it would be foundational. To this day it still underlies much of my thinking (and doing) so far as church life is concerned.

I became aware that I was a small child and I was with a number of other children on a building site. Looking around there were ruts and tyre marks in the earth, piles of sand and gravel, timber, machinery, scaffolding poles and connectors. These were all around and amongst them were half-built homes and partly made roads.

We were on the building site for one reason only - to play. We collected some bricks from one of the stacks and made little houses with them, a brick for each of the four walls and another one or two for the roof.

We were having fun, imagining tiny people living out their lives in our tiny houses.

But then the builder arrived, I don't know how he came to be there, but in the picture one moment we were on our own and the next moment he was standing quietly looking at us. He wasn't angry, he smiled at us and spoke to us. I shall never forget what he said.

'If you keep scattering the bricks around you will slow me down and get in the way. I am building a real house. You can help me by bringing the bricks to me, and I will build them in the places where they should go.'

Building the church - The meaning is probably as clear to you as it was to me at the time. Our task is to bring people to the builder, living stones that he can use in the structure he is forming. His task is to do the work of building each one in right relationship with the rest.

In other words our task is not to build, but to bring. (See also Ben and Catherine's blog on 'Living Stones').

In the next post I'll explain what followed in the late 1970s. There were fundamental changes and developments that turned out to be part of the path that brought us to where we are today in terms of church life and structure.

< No earlier items | Missing the best >

I will build my church - INDEX

(See indexes on other topics)

Jesus told us, 'I will build my church'. What can we learn of this process? Will we take control from him, designing and building a home of our own?

1. Building the Church - A picture of the builder.
2. Missing the best - Meeting at home in the 1970s.
3. Making things new - What does Haggai have to tell us?

Holidays - INDEX

(See indexes on other topics)

This page contains a list of holidays, most recent at the top. I will expand the page as time allows.

2012
Caribbean/Florida, 24th February-13th March

2011
Cornwall, 3rd-9th September
Suffolk, 13th-19th August
Lake District, 11th-18th June
Pembrokeshire,  28th-30th May

2010
North Wales

'Greatest Thing' republished - INDEX

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I've just published a modern English version of Henry Drummond's 'The Greatest Thing in the World'. His wonderful essay on love was originally created in 1884, and it analyses Paul's famous chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians.

Download a copy - The modern English version is available free to download, choose from PDF, Kindle. (You can also read the modern English version and the Victorian original online.)

Article series - You might enjoy an ongoing series of short articles in which I examine Henry Drummond's essay in more detail.

1. What is the greatest gift to grasp?
2. The fulfillment of the law
3. Love and other things...

Licencing - Copyright in the original has expired while the new version comes with a Creative Commons licence. So please feel free to print or republish either version and distribute it as widely as you like.

A new version for today - Why have I gone to the trouble of translating this essay into modern English? Basically, because it deserves a wider audience. Years ago The Greatest Thing was often reprinted as a booklet and was very popular. I remember buying a copy in Wesley Owen's on Park Street in Bristol back in the 1970s when the language was still less than 100 years out of date. It was a great read and it helped to change my life. The analysis excited me, Henry Drummond confirmed what I already knew to be true - this new life in Christ is all about love. At the same time the little book challenged me and drew me on.

Today it's hard to find - I don't know if the original remains in print. This great essay is no longer widely known or read. It deserves better. It will speak to readers today just as it always did. Read it!

I'm open to the possibility of releasing a printed version. I'll look into routes for self-publishing in the next few weeks, but would also be glad to hear from any commercial publisher that might be interested in The Greatest Thing.

Acknowledgements - And finally, I just want to thank the family members and friends who read my early drafts and made helpful suggestions, pointed out errors, or were just encouraging. You know who you are.

See also: Christian life can come to nothing - Cerulean sanctum

THOUGHT - Planting churches

The Spirit showed me that planting churches is like growing a garden. He said there are particular steps to be taken, and that the analogy is complete. Here's the process he set before me.

1. Obtain some seeds.
2. Prepare the ground.
3. Plant the seeds.
4. Water them at intervals.
5. Protect them from birds and mice and insects.
6. Watch them grow.
7. Remove diseased leaves or shoots. If necessary pull out badly damaged plants and remove them.
8. Enjoy the display of life and colour.
9. If they've been encouraged and nurtured in the right way, they will naturally produce and scatter seed for the next generation.

There's also a 'do not'.

• Do not micromanage the plants or try to conform them to your expectations. You will stunt them and they will grow misshapen and may not flower and set seed.

So there you have it, all you need to know in outline about planting churches. But of course there is every need to put some flesh on the bare bones of those steps. Over the next few days I'll explore the area covered by each of those points. The next post will take a look at how to obtain seeds.

Meanwhile I'd love to have your comments - how do you think the points relate to the practical work of planting real churches?

See also: The series on No-till farming by Miguel at Pathways International