Steve Sjogren - Community of Kindness

PRAISE FOR

Steve Sjogren and Rob Lewin cheerfully debunk myths surrounding church planting, as they fire off one marvelously irritating concept after another to get us scratching our heads and our hearts about starting new churches. This is a fabulous collage of spiritual/mental snapshots taken over the years and stored in the memory banks of one of todays most respected church leaders (Steve). Opening it at any page is like chatting with your own church-planting coach, whose advice and stories make your experiences with starting a new church seem normativeand still hopeful. This is a must-read for all church planters and their teams.

DANIEL A. BROWN, PH.D.

SENIOR PASTOR, THE COASTLANDS FOURSQUARE CHURCH APTOS, CALIFORNIA

Start reading this book anywhereand the energetic, provocative style will jump-start your creative juices. Here is a book full of practical, no-nonsenseand often counterintuitivewisdom on topic after topic related to the planting and nurturing of a church. I scribbled in the margins as I read, but I realized that all along the way God was making His own marks on my heart and mind. Im recommending this book to anyone who wants to see Christs kingdom grow.

DR. STEVE HAYNER

PASTOR AND FORMER PRESIDENT, INTERVARSITY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP

Though my approach to church planting has evolved into something significantly different from the one outlined in this book, I have long witnessed, respected, admired and sought to emulate the otherliness that overflows from the pages of this bookespecially for the poor, the least, the last and the lost. A church plant of any style will be guided toward the heart of God to the degree they follow Steve and Rob there.

TODD HUNTER

DIRECTOR, ALLELON FOUNDATION FORMER NATIONAL DIRECTOR, VINEYARD-USA

Wisdom says that if you want to know how to do something, first listen to those whove been there and done it. Steve Sjogren and Rob Lewin are two seasoned veterans that have been there and are still doing it. And youd be wise to listen to what they have to say in their wisdom-laced book Community of Kindness.

DR. AUBREY MALPHURS

PRESIDENT, VISION MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL PROFESSOR, DALLAS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

All great communicators have one thing in common: They know how to connect. Through servant evangelism, Steve Sjogren has connected with the people of Cincinnati and beyond, and in the process planted and built one of Americas great churches. He is a living example of how it can be done. Through the pages of this book, Steve and his coauthor Rob Lewin will connect with all new and future church planters. By sharing 106 great challenges, Sjogren and Lewin offer something for anyone who is launching or wants to start a church.

JOHN C. MAXWELL

FOUNDER, THE INJOY GROUP

There are heroes among us: intrepid, creative, dedicated men and women with the calling and courage to plant new churches. They deserve our respect and support, and they deserve a great resource like Community of Kindness. Its an honest, wise, balanced voice of experience that will spare you learning a lot of things the hard way, because the authors already have.

BRIAN MCLAREN

PASTOR (CRCC.ORG)
AUTHOR AND SENIOR FELLOW IN EMERGENT (EMERGENTVILLAGE.ORG)

Church planting is certainly hard work, but it should not suck the life from those doing the work. Steve Sjogren and Rob Lewin understand that and provide this material as a contribution to the worldwide effort of church planting as a life-giving experience for all involved.

DOUG PAGITT

PASTOR, SOLOMONS PORCH MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

I love it! This is required reading for every church planter. Everything you need to think about is in this book. i highly recommend it to every church planter and it will be a mainstay with all of the interns and church planters in our church.

BOB ROBERTS

NORTHWOOD CHURCH KELLER, TEXAS

The coaching of Steve Sjogren and Rob Lewin has been invaluable to me as a church planter and to the eternal harvest of souls. I pray that every church will learn as I have learned from them. A must-read!

DOUG ROE

SENIOR PASTOR, VINEYARD CHURCH DAYTON, OHIO

Community of Kindness gives the reader an opportunity to receive counsel and insight from seasoned and effective church planters. This book is crammed full of practical wisdom and useful advice. There are valuable lessons on every page.

CHUCK SMITH, JR.

AUTHOR, THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT AND EPIPHANY (SOON TO BE RELEASED)

Steve Sjogren and Rob Lewin are wrong about one thing. They say only 1 in 100 pastors is capable of starting a new congregation. But thats before this book. Here is that rare resource that dramatically increases possibilitiesand dreams.

LEONARD SWEET

DREW THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL, GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY PREACHINGPLUS.COM

2003 Steve Sjogren and Rob Lewin

Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com

Baker Books edition published 2014

ISBN 978-1-4412-2445-3

Previously published by Regal Books

Ebook edition originally created 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version. Authorized King James Version.

Cover and interior design by Robert Williams
Edited by Steven Lawson

DEDICATIONS

STEVE SJOGREN

To Rebekah and Laurathanks for putting up with all of our church-planting adventures over the years. Youve been real sports! I love you.

ROB LEWIN

To Lillythe greatest person Ive ever known.

PREFACE

LETS DIALOGUE

This book has been written for postmodern church planters who seek to reach mainstream America. Our intent is to challenge, not to tell you what to do.

We want to build a dialogue. To help you better interact with our ideas and experiences, we have broken the book into levels and points. We have divided this book into levels because it is better understood when seen moving from one point of depth in the planting process to the next. We have more than 100 points along the way to telling our stories and to make it a snappy and memorable readand quite frankly both of us have ADD (attention deficit disorder)! We think in bursts, so that is the way we have written this book. We hope you dont have to have ADD as well to make sense of it all.

The title Community of Kindness is very similar to my (Steves) book Conspiracy of Kindness that came out a few years ago (anniversary edition, Servant Books, 2003). Conspiracys message is all about going out to reach people who are not-yet Christians in creative ways. That is an incredibly important message that the Church needs to grab onto. Community of Kindness answers the questions, What do you do once people have come to check out the church? and How do you create an environment that is loving, accepting, full of grace and forgiveness? In other words, this second book deals with what you do with people once they come to the party after theyve been invited through servant evangelism.

Some of the points you will find relevant, others irrelevant. We actually hope you will differ with some of them. It would be boring if everyone agreed with all that we have written. Certainly no one will concur with all 106 points. Take the meat and leave the bones.