The Real Reason Your Missional Dream Keeps Dying Before It Starts (p3)
Note: This blog is a continuation of a series. If you haven’t read Part 1 & Part 2 yet, you’ll want to. They set the stage for what we’re about to unpack here.
If you have read it, welcome back! Because today we’re talking about teaching doctrine.
Here’s the question: How do we teach people the message of Adventism in a missional community model where theology is not heavily emphasized?
Most evangelical missional communities have no vested interest in communicating a specific theological framework or tradition. It’s just simple faith in Jesus. End of story.
And honestly, that’s admirable. It’s noble.
For those of us who’ve experienced harm in highly dogmatic, doctrine-obsessed, high-control churches, it might even sound like the way to go. Just strip it all back. Keep it simple. Keep it about love.
But here’s the thing—eventually, seekers are going to ask about hell. They’re going to ask about violence in the Old Testament. They’re going to ask about male dominance, Christianity’s relationship to slavery, colonization, and the hatred of LGBTQIA+ communities. And if your only answer is “Jesus loves me, this I know,” you’re in for a rude awakening.
My passion as a post-church missionary isn’t simply to get people into inclusive and welcoming communities that lead them to simple faith. I want to lead them to healing faith.
Simple faith sounds cute, but it’s ultimately weak. It can’t answer the hard questions. It can’t wrestle with injustice, suffering, and the rising trend of Christian nationalism.
The danger of simple faith communities is that they have no answers, and because they have no answers they lean toward toxic positivity.
Have questions about God’s justice in light of the doctrine of eternal torment? Well, you know, “His ways are higher than ours.” Just stop thinking and accept it.
Have questions about male-dominant theologies and how they contribute to abuse? Well, you know, “we just have to trust God knows best.”
Have questions about Christian nationalism and its quest for political power? “Well, Jesus loves me, see? Isn’t that all that matters?”
Nah bro. It’s not all that matters.
If the love of Jesus cannot contend with the deep questions of life, is it really love? Or just manipulation?
So yeah… I don’t want to build simple faith communities. I want to build healing faith communities.
The kind that are deep in their Bibles. The kind that know how to wrestle with questions of justice, violence, and suffering. The kind that don’t have to resort to spiritual bypassing or theological gaslighting as a way of pretending they have answers.
I want to nurture faith communities that are anchored in the healing teachings of Jesus—healing teachings that touch on every aspect of what it means to be human. Healing teachings that resist abusive theology. Healing teachings that protest tyrannical dogmas. Healing teachings that transform us into the kind of people who love like Jesus loves. And hate me or love me, I believe the 28 fundamentals of Adventism, when seen through the person of Jesus, are those healing teachings that the we all need.
And I want everyone to hear them.
Because the world doesn’t need more poster Jesus. It needs more table-flipping Jesus. The one who sat with sinners, stood for the voiceless, and resisted religion.
And you don’t get there unless you have a process for discipling seekers into healing faith—not simple faith.
And thankfully, that discipleship process is precisely what I teach in my Missional Church Planting Course.
It begins with three focused phases for equipping a core team, and then moves through five intentional layers of discipleship that are authentic, empowering, and relevant in the realm of secular mission.
Why not just share it here on this blog?
Because this course has over thirty videos that walk you through each part of the process, step by step. This includes:
Introduction to a New Model for Missional SDA Church Plants
How to Gather a Team for Your Missional Community
How to Deconstruct “Church” as a Team so We Can Rebuild Something Fresh & Biblical
What to Do When You Have No Team to Build With
How to Reach Secular Seekers & Disciple Them to Healing Faith
+ So much more!
It’s not a complicated course, but it is structured. And that’s not something I can summarize in a short blog.
If you want access to the course, it’s available for $350. But if you act fast, for the next seven days, you can get it for just $120.
And here’s my promise: I guarantee this course will blow your mind and give you every tool you need to launch effective post-church missional communities. And if you disagree. If you buy the course and find that its just more of the same old cheesy stuff that doesn’t actually give you what you need to succeed, send me an email and I’ll refund the entire course without asking a single question.
Why take this risk? Because I know this course is the best missional church planting course for Adventist believers out there. So I have nothing to worry about.
Jump in now before the discount expires! We’ve got work to do!
A New Way to Plant a Church
This course shows you how to start a simple, community-based church that actually reaches people where they are. You’ll learn how to build genuine relationships, share faith naturally, and grow a small group into a movement that makes a real difference.
What You’ll Learn
How to find and connect with open-hearted people in your neighborhood.
Practical ways to live out faith in everyday life.
Steps to grow a healthy, multiplying community.
Simple tools for teaching, leading, and serving together.
How It Works
You’ll get short lessons, printable guides, and real-world challenges you can do with your team or friends each week. The course is self-paced, online, and easy to follow—no budget, experience or degrees needed.
Get Started
Join today and start building a church that feels authentic, relational, and rooted in the way of Jesus.
