The Dynamics of Urban Church Planting

Host Tony Merida chats with long-time friend and colleague Dr. Doug Logan, Send Network’s Director of Urban Planter Development, to share the latter’s experiences in urban church planting. Tune in as the author, pastor, and planter shares insight into loving your city well, investing in your mental and emotional health, and reaching your people through meeting their needs.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

  • The diverse contexts and characteristics of church planters in urban areas
  • How funding and self-sufficiency look different for urban planters
  • Why the heartbeat of our cities cannot be found in our charts and graphs
  • How the fast-paced, ever-changing nature of the city impacts our discipleship models
  • What sending churches can provide to the planters they send to the city

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Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches):

I like to say that our best church planters are not even Christians yet. We never know where the Lord might go to snatch a guy up and put him on this path. Praise be to God for the gospel. – Tony Merida

Just like we exegete the texts, we pull from it what’s actually in it. We don’t superimpose our ideologies or our non-researched understandings into our sermons. You can’t do that in the context of the city. – Doug Logan

We have to understand the historical brokenness and listen to people’s stories of the current devils and old devils, their current joys and hopes. That’s only going to come through relationship-building conversations. – Doug Logan

Serving the planters we send out has to not be an anomaly, but it has to be the normative reality for churches as we play an Antiochus role as sending churches. – Doug Logan

The nature of the inner city is ever fast-moving. You have to get the gospel in and build relationships with almost a microwave mentality–not a marathon mentality. You and your discipleship have to be flexible because things move fast. – Doug Logan


Published March 14, 2024

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