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

135 - "We Are Not a Disembodied Community" — The Call to the 2027 NAMS Global Novena - June 2nd, 2026

Part 9 of the NAMS Rule & Customary Order Series. "We Are Not a Disembodied Community" — The Call to the 2027 NAMS Global Novena A 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.

134 - "You May Not Leave Her in a Separate Room" — Marriage, Mission, and the NAMS Companion - May 26th, 2026

Part 8 of the NAMS Rule & Customary Order Series. "You May Not Leave Her in a Separate Room" — Marriage, Mission, and the NAMS Companion An 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.

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.