A missionary shares several church planting lessons
Guy at “The M Blog” offers us several “Church planting lessons.”
I’m conflicted when I read Guy’s post. On the one hand, Guy has been living in Ecuador for a long time, and God has used him to start several churches. On the other hand, Guy’s “lessons” don’t sound like anything I’ve read in church planting books. On the third hand, these “lessons” sound similar to what I read in Scripture.
Perhaps there’s another lesson to be learned here…
Anyway, jump over to Guy’s blog and read through his “lessons.” What do you think? Share your thoughts with Guy, then share them with us as well.
Does human authority among the church nullify Christ’s authority?
Over at “Under Christ’s Archy,” I’ve published a post called “Does church authority (leaders) nullify Christ’s authority?”
The purpose of that site is to discuss and help one another live under the “archy” (or rule) of Jesus Christ.
I’ve asked the readers of that site to consider a series of posts that I recently published here on the topic of positional authority among the church.
Here are the posts:
- Authority among the church? Starting a new series.
- What did Jesus say about positions of authority under his own authority?
- In the church, how does someone lead without exercising authority?
- Does the existence and recognition of elders indicate that they have positional authority?
- Does shepherding and overseeing suggest exercising authority?
I also added this addendum, which I also think is an extremely important foundation to my argument above:
Finally, I ended with the following statement:
I would love to get your thoughts on these posts, and perhaps discuss how mature believers can “lead” others (which we see in Scripture) without exercising authority over them (which we do not see in Scripture).
Since the contributors and readers for that site come from a broad background, I expect a lively discussion, and perhaps some disagreement and push back. If you are so inclined, jump over the the “Under Christ’s Archy” site and join in the discussion.
Recognzing and living among the church beyond your particular circle
Josh at “Called to Rebuild” has written a very important post called “Living a church life that involves ALL God’s people.”
In the post, Josh talks about recognizing and living among the church beyond the particular people that he gathers with regularly. But, the post is important because he does more than just talk about it: he’s trying to live it, and he provides an example for us.
Josh writes:
The brothers and sisters I meet with on a regular basis are few in number. It’s been that way all three years we’ve been together. And while I am thoroughly convinced that it is not our number but simply what we are that makes for the Lord’s testimony, we often long for more fellowship with other believers. So in the past six months or so, as the light of the local church being the fellowship of all God’s people in a given place has dawned upon me, I’ve been moved to more actively seek out fellowship with other believers beyond the “walls” of our particular circle.
Thus far, the results of this endeavor have been both rewarding and frustrating. While we have been able to connect with many brothers and sisters who have different backgrounds and emphases of truth, at the same time it’s been difficult to gain any kind of reciprocation to our reaching out. Whether they are too busy, too cautious or simply do not see the importance of it, many saints don’t seem to have much desire to really go beyond their own congregation to have fellowhsip with other local believers. It’s heartbreaking, really.
Yes! We need more examples like this. We need to read about and see more believers reaching beyond the “walls” of their particular fellowship to embrace those other believers that God has brought into their lives. These brothers and sisters are already there in your workplace, school, neighborhood, social clubs, hobby groups, etc.
And, yes, like Josh is discovering, this kind of fellowship is difficult to find. At times, the search can be heartbreaking. However, I’ve found that the benefits are well worth the work!
What about you? How have you searched for and found fellowship with brothers and sisters outside of your particular circle?
Does it take alot of money to start a church?
The title of this post is the question that Felicity from “Simply Church” is asking in her post “The financial cost of starting a church.”
Her post is short (as most of her posts are) and very good (as most of her posts are).
Common wisdom (in America at least) states that you must have a full-time staff, a nice meeting location, and a marketing fund. But, are these things actually necessary for a church? I don’t think so.
Instead, I think our thoughts and actions concerning the beginning of a church tell us alot about what we think the church is.
What do you think? Does it take alot of money to start a church?
Those pesky good works
Bobby at “Deconstructing Neverland” has written a wonderful post called “Showing our faith by works.” In this post, he looks at the connection between faith and works and, in particular, asks what kind of works are connected to our trust in God.
As you might expect, Bobby uses James 2:18 as a point of reference to consider the faith and works intersection. While there is a tremendous amount of “good stuff” in this post, I want to highlight one part where Bobby deals with the types of things that might be considered “good works.”
He writes:
Works that come from faith are demonstrated by doing things where there is no return to us.
- Helping others who cannot help us back.
- Feed the hungry
- Serve widows and orphans
- Take care of immigrants and homeless
- Turn the other cheek
- Give your life for a band of folks who will likely abandon you at your greatest hour of need and pretend like they never knew you
- Be the last in line
- Forgive the unforgivable
- Love the unlovable
These works take faith because the results cannot be seen with our eyes and touched with our hands. They lead to a change of heart, deep down inside of those we serve in this way. If we want to see God’s promise come to fruition we must have works that are rooted in self-denying, God dependent faith.
I appreciated Bobby’s distinction between all activities and good works which are “rooted in self-denying, God dependent faith.”
By the way, while you’re checking out Bobby’s post about faith and works, you should also read his post “A fictional non-fiction story with a function.” While it may be “a perfectly pointless story,” it is quite amusing nonetheless. Plus, he mentions my blog.
An analogy of the church for geeks
If you read my blog, then you probably like reading about, talking about, studying, etc. the church.
But, are you also a geek? Do you enjoy computer stuff? Do you know what plugins, extensions, and add-ons are?
If you answered “yes” to any of those questions (and even if you answered “no”) you will enjoy Jon’s post “Plugins Extensions and Add-ons and the Church.”
His post begins with this:
“Speed up browsing by disabling add-ons.” I keep getting this message when I use Internet Explorer. I just checked Firefox and counted 13 plugins and extensions. I should sort through which ones I need to keep and discard the rest. If you have too many add-ons life slows down. We all know people who fill up every spare minute of their lives with activities and clubs. Its worth taking a moment now and then to sort out our priorities, and disable some add-ons.
From the studies I’ve done on what church meant in the New Testament here, here and here I believe church is people of God and when they get together. However when I look at church today I see a lot of extra things that have been added over the years. Extra additions are not necessarily bad. Sometimes people get so used to these extra things that they can’t imagine church without them. Sometimes these extra things get most of the focus, a lot of resources and time.
For there, the post just gets better. He names some of the plugins, extensions, and add-ons that “get most of the focus, a lot of resources and time.” Some are recent add-ons; some are historical.
Take the time to read Jon’s post. I think you’ll be glad you did.
Now… how do we trim away these “add-ons” and get to the root of what it means to be the church? How do we ensure that we’re not stripping away something vital and necessary?
The Church as Scapegoat?
Bill at “NT/History Blog” has written a fascinating post called “Stephen as Scapegoat, Scattering as Ingathering.”
The post is a mix of history, Scripture, and theology, and Bill does this kind of thing better than most.
In the post, he steps us through the events of Acts 6-8 including the speech and death of Stephen and the scattering of the church (except the apostles) because of persecution. Now only does Bill place these events chronologically within history, he also discusses their theological significance.
He writes:
So, on the day they heard Stephen’s “blasphemy”, they had him executed to set an example, and quite an effective one, evidently. In the moment, however, at some psychological level, this execution also must have been partly to cover up their own suspicions of self-guilt. Whatever their internal thoughts, the Sanhedrin evidently decided that killing Stephen was a sacrifice needed for Israel’s good. That makes him a “scapegoat” in the absolutely most classical (if not absolutely the most biblical) sense.
Next, all but twelve Christians fled Jerusalem. Not only Stephen, but the Church was therefore sent out of the camp, exiled to wander away, in the Wilderness. Not only Stephen, but the Church became Israel’s – well, Jerusalem’s – Scapegoat.
Next, Bill discusses the implications of the church being scattered, and how this actually resulted in a harvest for God. He connects this back to the timing of the event, around the feast of booths (Sukkot).
Very interesting indeed…
What do you think?
Proclaiming Christ in the Workplace
Recently, two excellent articles have been published related to the topic of proclaiming or representing Christ in the workplace.
One article was written by James at “Deliver Detroit” and is called “Preaching Christ while working for the Government.”
James works in the mental health field as a subcontractor of a county government. As a government employee, how is he to proclaim Jesus Christ in his workplace. James steps through his thought processes as he works through this question.
Similarly, the second article was written by Geoff for “Under Christ’s Archy” and is appropriately called “Christ’s Archy and the Workplace.”
Geoff’s post is not primarily about proclaiming Christ in the workplace (through words), but is about how we treat people in the workplace. In his post, Geoff offers several disciplines to help people represent Christ in the workplace.
This is a very important topic for followers of Jesus Christ to consider. Our manner of life (including when we are in the workplace) should be a representation of who we are in Jesus Christ.
What do you think of these articles? What suggestions do you have for people who want to represent Christ in their words and deeds in the workplace? What if their coworkers are hostile to the gospel?
Principles for working with people who are not-yet-believers
Felicity at “Simply Church” has been writing some very helpful articles concerning working with people to start churches. For example, in two posts she discusses several (9) principles for working with “not-yet-believers”: “4 principles for working with not-yet-believers” and “5 more principles for working with not-yet-believers.”
Her suggestions are contrary to what we typically see called “church planting” today in which the focus is on the initial leadership and organization. For Felicity, the focus is on the work that God is already doing among these “not-yet-believers” and trusting God to continue to work in and through these people.
For example, here is a summary of the “4 principles” from the first post above (there are more details in the post itself):
- God is already at work in the lives of not-yet-believers and they are happy to tell you about it.
- Not-yet-believers are happy to study the Scriptures.
- When we invite someone to come to our church (simple/organic church or traditional church) we extract them from their own environment and bring them into our Christian environment.
- Meals are great for breaking the ice and sharing what is going on in people’s lives.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the principles that Felicity shares (the 4 above and the 5 from the other post). What concerns to you have about her principles? What benefits do you see in working from these principles?
A missionary involved in simple churches makes observations and suggestions for those in traditional churches
Guy at “The M Blog” is a full-time, vocational missionary in Ecuador. For the past several years (I don’t know the exact number), God has been using him to facilitate the start of many, many simple/house churches around the major city of Guayaquil, Ecuador.
For the past 2 months+, Guy has been in Texas, and he has “visited” several traditional (or, what he calls, legacy) churches. He writes about this in his post “Legacy church services through simple church eyes.” While trying to be very sensitive to the concerns and desires of those within traditional churches, he makes observations concerning general practices among those churches and offers a few suggestions.
His suggestions cover several different aspects of traditional church gatherings (“worship services”), such as:
- Sunday Morning Sermon
- The Offering
- Sunday school
- Singing and praise
- Prayer
I know that Guy would love to hear your thoughts concerning his observations and suggestions, and I would also love to hear your thoughts, especially for those of you involved in traditional/legacy churches.