"Would Any of Them Die for Me?" — The Question That Took a Successful Rector to His KneesBy every external measure, the parish was a triumph: the largest in the diocese, 700 people every Sunday, 1,500 at Easter, a 17-person staff, decades of unbroken growth. Its rector was proud — and he had every worldly reason to be. Then, kneeling alone at the communion rail one evening in 1987, he heard the Spirit of God begin to ask him questions. How many of your new members are members only because they were born or married into it? How much did it cost to gain 17 new believing adults? How much should it cost to make a disciple? And finally, the question that took him from tears to weeping: would any of them die for me? In episode 138 of That NAMS Podcast, Jon Shuler tells this true story and sets it against fresh demographic numbers from the Anglican Church in North America — where half of all congregations have fewer than 50 people. The challenge he leaves with every leader is unforgettable: what is the return on investment for the congregation you serve? A searching, convicting, and unforgettable episode for every pastor, church planter, and Great Commission Christian.

"A Christian Not Making Another Christian May Not Yet Be aChristian" — Jon Shuler on the One Thing Worth MeasuringDescriptionBefore Jon Shuler had a PhD in church history or a degree in theology, he was a civil engineer — and in episode 137 he reaches back to a diagram from that first training to ask a question every church planter must face. Every church takes in the same resources: people, money, buildings. Every church runs an internal system. Every church produces an output. So why do the outputs differ so wildly? Shuler contrasts abrother in North India who moves men from unbelief to church-planting leadership in under a year with his own Anglican diocese, where the same path takes four years or more — and lands on a line from the great New Testament scholar Raymond Brown that the early Christians believed a Christian who was not helping to make another Christian probably was not yet a Christian. If your system isn't producing disciple-making disciples, Shuler says, the system has to change. A searching, practical, and convicting episode for every companion, church planter, and Great Commission Christian.

Part 10 of the NAMS Rule & Customary Order Series. "We relate to the Anglican Family — we serve beyond it." — Jon Shuler on the Final Two Articles of the NAMS RuleIn episode 136, Jon Shuler brings the Rule series toward its close by covering Articles IV and V — doctrine and ecclesiastical connection. On doctrine: the faith NAMS contends for is not something any generation gets to reinvent. Drawing on Jude verse 3 and the Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888, he makes clear that when there is confusion or conflict in the church, the Holy Scriptures are the rule and ultimate standard — full stop. On ecclesiastical connection: NAMS is not owned by the Anglican family, it relates to it — and that distinction is deliberate. The society is committed to kingdom ministry, not denominational ministry, and seeks to serve and be in unity with any church, community, or network that truly submits to Christ, whatever its tradition or history. A searching and clarifying conclusion to one of the most important stretches of teaching in this series.

Part 9 of the NAMS Rule & Customary Order Series. "We Are Not a Disembodied Community" — The Call to the 2027 NAMS Global NovenaA rule without purpose is just bureaucracy. In episode 135, Jon Shuler steps back before finishing Article III to ask the question that underlies everything: are we getting the results we desire? His honest answer is no — and that's exactly why NAMS exists. He then turns to the Global Society section of the Rule and unpacks the two gathering commitments every companion makes, including the NAMS Global Novena — a nine-day assembly of the whole family, last held in Devon in 2022, now being called for 2027. He traces the Novena back to an offhand remark by Bishop Alex Dickson in January 1995 and makes a direct appeal: start saving now, and come. A rallying and clarifying episode for every companion, every NAMS friend, and anyone who believes the church is meant to be a family of brothers, not a scattered collection of individuals.

Part 8 of the NAMS Rule & Customary Order Series. "You May Not Leave Her in a Separate Room" — Marriage, Mission, and the NAMS CompanionAn Anglican order of married church planters is, Jon Shuler admits in episode 134, quite unique in Christian history. And that uniqueness creates a real tension: what happens when the demands of the companion calling collide with the sacred bond of marriage? Shuler is direct — a companion who runs around the world making disciples while neglecting his own wife is an unfaithful companion. Full stop. This episode unpacks two commitments from the Married Companions section of Article III: the path of spousal discipleship and the requirement that a wife not merely tolerate the calling but genuinely understand and believe in it. A searching and pastoral episode for every married companion, Anglican church planter, and Great Commission Christian.

Part 7 of the NAMS Rule & Customary Order Series."If We Cannot Say New Churches Have Been Started, We Must Weep" - The Defining Reality of a NAMS CompanionIn episode 133, Jon Shuler returns to the acorn image from the previous week and pushes it further: an acorn planted but not germinating, a Bible study that hasn't multiplied in fifteen years, a movement smaller every year than the year before — these are not signs of faithfulness. They are tragedies. Drawing on a prayer book question from his Anglican childhood — "what is your bounded duty as a member of the church?" — Shuler weaves together the call to follow Christ, worship weekly, and work and pray and give for the spread of the kingdom, and shows how all seven commitments of Article III flow from that single foundation. He also previews the five personal spiritual disciplines every companion is called to live — to be unpacked in the next episode. A searching and clarifying listen for every NAMS companion, Anglican church planter, and Great Commission Christian.

Part 6 of the NAMS Rule & Customary Order Series."Are You in a Great Commission Cell?" — The Question Every NAMS Companion Must AnswerEvery NAMS companion has agreed to lead or be part of a Great Commission cell. But in episode 132, Jon Shuler asks plainly: do you know what one is? Drawing on the evolution of the definition from 1994 to 2017 — and his own story of moving to Charlotte, North Carolina with three couples and a calling — Shuler shows that a Great Commission cell doesn't require a building, a program, or even a congregation. It requires two or more people praying, thinking, and preparing to plant a new community of faith in obedience to Christ's final command. Are you an ungerminated seed — a true companion waiting for the door to open? Or is the door already open and you haven't walked through it? A searching and practical episode for every companion, Anglican church planter, and Great Commission Christian.

Part 5 of the NAMS Rule & Customary Order Series. "The Odds Are Slim to None" — Why Many Church Settings Can't Produce What NAMS RequiresJon Shuler opens episode 131 with a striking admission: even the congregation he worships in — one he has preached and taught and discipled in for years — is not a Great Commission congregation. Not even close. The problem, he argues, runs deeper than commitment. It runs through four definitions many companions have never fully internalized: a disciple, a made disciple, a missionary disciple, and a NAMS companion. Each one builds on the last — and until a companion can name the people they are discipling, and confirm those people are making disciples of others, the chain is broken. A searching and clarifying episode for every NAMS companion, Anglican church planter, and Great Commission Christian.

Part 4 of the NAMS Rule & Customary Order Series"That's Not True" — Why Discipleship Alone Is Not the Purpose of NAMS | Anglican Church Planting PodcastMany NAMS companions have come to believe the purpose of the society is to make disciples. In episode 130, Jon Shuler says plainly: that's not true. The purpose of NAMS is to plant new Great Commission congregations — and you cannot plant what you don't understand. Turning to Article III of the 2017 NAMS Rule, Shuler unpacks what a Great Commission congregation actually is, why it is a deliberate technical term and not a denominational label, and what Jesus himself says about his disciples in nine specific passages of the New Testament. A clarifying — and challenging — episode for every companion, Anglican church planter, and Great Commission Christian.

Part 3 of the NAMS Rule & Customary Order SeriesEvery Companion. Every Season. Every Location. — The Objectives That Never Stop. | Anglican Church Planting PodcastGoals have deadlines. Objectives don't. In the third installment of this series on the 2017 NAMS Rule and Customary Order, Jon Shuler moves to Article II — "Our Continuing Objectives as a Society" — and explains why the word objectives is chosen deliberately over goals. These are not targets to be achieved and checked off. They are the lifelong commitments of every NAMS companion, pursued until death or the return of the Lord. The three objectives are: remaining faithful to the whole Gospel and the values of the Kingdom of God; building the global community of NAMS companions through bases and shared Rule; and helping plant new Great Commission congregations wherever the Lord sends — or places — you. Through the real-life example of a NAMS military chaplain serving in Alaska, Shuler illustrates that church planting participation looks different for every companion, but disengagement from it is a departure from the society's core commitment. Essential listening for Anglican church planters, NAMS companions, and those exploring missionary community life and Rule of Life spirituality.