That NAMS Podcast

133 - "If We Cannot Say New Churches Have Been Started, We Must Weep" - The Defining Reality of a NAMS Companion - May 19th, 2026

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 Companion In 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.

132 - "Are You in a Great Commission Cell?" - The Question Every NAMS Companion Must Answer - May 12th, 2026

Part 6 of the NAMS Rule & Customary Order Series. "Are You in a Great Commission Cell?" — The Question Every NAMS Companion Must Answer Every 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.

131 - "The Odds Are Slim to None" — Why Many Church Settings Can't Produce What NAMS Requires - May 6th, 2026

Part 5 of the NAMS Rule & Customary Order Series. "The Odds Are Slim to None" — Why Many Church Settings Can't Produce What NAMS Requires Jon 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.

130 - "That's Not True" — Why Discipleship Alone Is Not the Purpose of NAMS - 28th April, 2026

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 Podcast Many 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.

129 - Every Companion. Every Season. Every Location. — The Objectives That Never Stop. - April 17th, 2026

Part 3 of the NAMS Rule & Customary Order Series Every Companion. Every Season. Every Location. — The Objectives That Never Stop. | Anglican Church Planting Podcast Goals 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.