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We live right smack bang in the middle of a major city, and we have a backyard to suit. (It competes with postage stamps.) Even so, we have a little patch set aside for growing vegetables, which is one of our favourite family activities. My kids love getting their gloves on and getting dirty, and they love seeing (and eating) the fruit of their labours. But gardening is a frustrating business, and the 40-degree day on the weekend killed our mint. It's two steps forward and two steps back. But whatever happens, you must keep planting.

This bumper double issue of The Briefing is dedicated to the hard task of planting and watering not such ephemeral things as tomatoes and basil, but eternally significant things like congregations of God's people. In light of God's call to take the gospel out to the world, we want to think again about what it means to plant churches that will live for Christ and make him known in our communities.

Steve Cree's article challenges us to rethink our denominational structures by asking if we should be committed to a particular form of church government or to the missionary activity of God. Connan O'Shea shares some of the ups and downs of the early years of a church plant. And Al Stewart talks about the need to find and recruit the right people to keep planting churches. You'll also find some fascinating short articles by Phillip Jensen on the place of Christian freedom in our evangelism and the difference between church planters and church founders. Finally, for those who enjoyed the first instalment, Guan Un's diary of a ministry apprentice continues.

We hope that this issue encourages you to keep thinking biblically about God's plans for the world, and that it will inspire you to pray, give and use your gifts to establish new churches for the glory of God. PG

Up front

• Of pots and kettles and other things that aren't black anymore
• Animism, alive and well
• FlashForward, or guidance and the grace of God
• Delightful whispers from the Psalms

• WordWatch: Questions, questions, questions—Kel Richards wonders what are the questions worth asking.
• Freedom to do what you don't like—Phillip Jensen teases out the true nature of Christian freedom. (NB This article did not appear in the UK Briefing.)
• “What do you say when ...?” Office small talk—Hayley Neal offers some suggestions of how to speak God's life-changing word during Monday morning small talk.

Features

• Fellow workers or office bearers?—Steve Cree thinks missionally about church structures.
• From seed to flower: Reflections on church planting—Connan O'Shea reflects on the last three years since Northern Lakes Evangelical Church was formed.
• Planters versus founders—Phillip Jensen looks at what's in a name.
• Diary of a ministry apprentice (Part 2): March 2008—The second instalment of Guan Un's experiences working as a ministry trainee. (Read the first.)

Departments

Pastor's brief

• The Geneva Push—Paul Grimmond talks to Al Stewart about the ongoing importance of church planting in light of Al's work with Evangelism Ministries in Sydney and The Geneva Push, a new Australia-wide church-planting network. (Download the podcast of this interview: MP3 20.76MB.)
• Unity in the gathering or ‘adults only’ church?—David Gibbs presents the case for keeping children in church meetings instead of sending them out for children's Sunday school.

Bookshelf

• 1 Samuel: Looking for a Leader by John Woodhouse—Gary Koo works through a commentary that is both edifying and easy to read.
• Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck—Justin Moffatt takes a closer look at the Emergent church.
• Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges—Martin Pakula finds his sins exposed in this difficult but necessary book.

Resource talk

• Give me Fervr—Steve Morrison explores one of the most useful tools ever for youth ministry.
• 24—Marty Sweeney relates his experience of three gospel conversations in 24 hours.

Bible brief

• Daily readings on Leviticus—by Jocelyn Williams.
• Daily readings on Hebrews 8-13—by Russell Williams.

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