BLeach

The Importance of a Long Runway

 

The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty (Proverbs 21.5).

March is strategy month for The Philly Project. One of my goals this month is to map out a detailed plan that will guide us through the next four phases of our church planting journey: preparation, pre-launch, launch, and post-launch.

Fortunately, we have a long runway ahead of us to build enough speed for take-off. We're still probably at least 10-11 months away from officially launching the church. Yet my hope is that every task our team tackles between now and liftoff will be an intentional step in the direction of becoming the church God wants us to be.

There are many sources informing the development of our strategy, but the most important by far is the Holy Spirit. We're not going to plant this church out of our heads, or my past experience, or an inspiring book. My goal this month is to spend at least five hours a week praying specifically over the formation of our launch strategy. I want to catch God's heart, and make sure our team's activity is consistent with His activity.

Here are three questions for you to consider:

• What is your team "ramping up" for? 
• Are you being careful to work on the organization and not just in it? 
• How are you making sure that God is in the center of your strategic planning?

Is the Church on Birth Control?

I loved this article from Ed Stetzer in Outreach Magazine. It explains why we're on our way to Philadelphia. Here's an excerpt.

The Church is the most powerful institution in the world. Where no electricity and running water exist, you will still find a church that is planting churches. When governments grow corrupt and economies crash, the Church still stands and plants more churches. Nothing in the world and nothing in the last two millennia of history can compare to the Church. It advances best by exponential and explosive multiplying. But not here.

You can read the rest of the article here.

The Unreached, Unsaved, and Unchurched

Last week I spent a morning with Johannes Amritzer, my church planting European friend. Last summer Johannes started SOS Church in Downtown Stockholm. He also works with church plants all over the world. 

In the States, most church planters mention the unchurched when they talk about who they want to reach. But Johannes breaks it into three more specific groups.

• The Unreached: People who have never heard a presentation of the gospel (Hindus, Buddhists, some atheists; usually in other parts of the world).
• The Unsaved: People who are somewhat familiar with the content of the gospel, but have never experienced its power (most of the people Johannes encounters in downtown Stockholm).
• The Unchurched: People who have experienced the gospel, but for various reasons are not currently involved in a local church.

SOS Church is extremely focused on the unsaved, especially since there are very few unchurched people in Europe. The fact that there are so many unchurched people in our country is probably the reason that it's possible for a church in the U.S. to launch, and grow to thousands in just a few years without actually talking about the simple gospel that much.

In a city like Philadelphia, we'll meet a mix of unsaved and unchurched people. I'm trying to think about what a church would look like that successfully reaches both. Honestly, it might be a little more comfortable to focus solely on unchurched people. But if I'm going to move my family to the East Coast, and encourage other families to do the same, then I want to see atheists, and agnostics, and people far from God experiencing the power of God.

Additionally, I want my life and ministry to count for the unreached people of the world. I'm sure this means, finances, and occasional trips, but I've also started praying for people in our church to be called to move as missionaries to unreached people groups.

Let's make our lives count for the gospel!

Our Weekend in Philadelphia

Leah and I got home last night from a packed weekend in Philly. Here are a few random reflections from a busy three days.

• It was an adventurous drive to Philly on Friday morning. We hit bad weather through the mountains on the turnpike, and then had to detour off the turnpike for over an hour because of an accident involving 16 semis!
• We stopped at the PennDel District Office on the way to meet some of the AG leaders in Pennsylvania. Great guys--and they're excited about what God has called us to do in Philly!
• We stopped in Wayne, PA, just north of Philly, to meet a pastor. Next to the coffee shop was a great ice cream store called Gumdrops and Sprinkles. Leah felt God's Presence there. It's going to be a fun place to take Gabby for daddy-daughter dates.
• Friday night we had dinner in the home of a pastor and his wife just outside of the city. We laughed a lot. Felt good to make some new friends and allies in Philadelphia.
• It was late Friday night by the time we got downtown. I dropped Leah and Nick off at the house where we stayed and spent almost 30 minutes trying to park!
• I ended up parking next to the park where they shot the opening for Fresh Prince of Bel Aire!
• It was good to have Nick Poole with us Friday and Saturday. Nick is the MCM church planting director at Allison Park Church. He's an incredible asset as we prepare to plant in Philly.
• We started exploring the city first thing Saturday morning. We started in Northeast Philly, and then drove south through Kensington, Fishtown, Northern Liberties, and South Philly. 
• Found a great little coffee shop in Fishtown. They have a garden in the back that will be great to sit and study in once all the snow finally melts!
• Grabbed huge Cheesesteaks for lunch at Mama's, and spent the rest of the day feeling the effects. Leah vowed to never eat one again, which I pointed out will probably be a difficult promise to keep!
• We had a great conversation with our waitress that gave me another glimpse into the mindset of thousands of young adults in Philly who are far from God.
• After lunch we spent some time in Northwest Philly exploring Roxborough, Manayunk, East Falls, and Germantown.
• It really is amazing how unique and different each neighborhood is. Still seeking God about where to live and focus.
• Saturday night we had dinner with a friend of mine from College, and her roommate at their house in Fairmount. They really love the city and taught us a ton!
• On Sunday morning we worshipped at Highway Tabernacle in Center City. Highway has an incredible history of ministry in the city, and their pastor, Otto Wegner, has really mentored us as we prepare to move and start the church.
• After the service we met an incredible young couple who are considering moving to Philly with us to be a part of our leadership team. We took them to Jones, our favorite downtown restaurant, and then to check out the Liberty Bell.
• We got home last night, just in time for the closing ceremonies. Finished the weekend with human leaves, giant inflatable beavers, and way too many mounties. Canada sure is an interesting place.

We'll be back in Philadelphia in two weeks. Today I'm full of faith and anticipation, excited for God to continue to bring this dream together!

Why Plant Churches::Part 5

Thanks for following along this week as I've asked the question, "Why Plant Churches?" Obviously, this is an important question to me as I prepare to plant another church in Philadelphia. But my hope through this series of posts is that it will become an important question to you as well--no matter what your particular ministry assignment may be.

You can listen to the message from Tim Keller that inspired these posts. You can also catch up on part one, part two, part three, and part four.

Reason #4: Church planting is an exercise in Kingdom-thinking.

Keller says that the main problem that some churches see with church planting is actually the main reason to go ahead and plant a church.

If your the Lead Pastor of an established church, and you decide to mother a church or support a church plant in your community, you will probably have people from your church help start the new church. Additionally, fast-growing church plants will often attract some people out of existing churches. Even though that shouldn't be the goal, it's the reality. When this happens, existing churches are faced with a question. Will we rejoice over the hundreds of people who will be added to the kingdom, or resent the few families who were lost from our church?

I'd argue that's an important question for every pastor to face.

Of course, church planters have the responsibility of partnering with other pastors in the community in an ethical way, and developing healthy lines of communication. But even when it's done the right way, the tension still remains.

Church planting always means saying goodbye for the sake of the Kingdom. For Leah and I, planting another church required us to say goodbye to close family and friends. For our church in Michigan, it required saying goodbye to us. Fortunately, the pain serves to reposition the Kingdom of God in our hearts.

And I can't think of a better reason to plant churches than that.

Why Plant Churches::Part 4

This week I'm exploring a list of four reasons for church planting that was originally inspired by this message from Tim Keller. You can also catch up on part one, part two, and part three.

Reason #3: New churches help renew established churches.

This discussion isn't about church planting at the expense of church revitalization. It's about both. Here are four ways church plants benefit older churches in their community.

• New churches bring resource established churches with new, innovative ministry methods. Church planting is the resource and development arm of the Body of Christ. Established churches can learn from church plants as they experiment.

• New churches are an effective way of developing emerging, creative, and strong leaders. Some of these leaders will eventually move on to serve other churches in the community.

• New churches challenge older churches to examine themselves. Sometimes it takes the contrast of a church plant for an established church to really wrestle with questions of mission and vision.

• New churches are evangelism feeders for the whole community. Church plants produce converts that may end up worshipping and serving in other churches in the community. For example, the very culture of adventure and risk that initially connects a person to Christ may become a limitation to some people's spiritual growth. The characteristics that make a church plant great at reaching out may limit them from caring for people. As a result, some of these new Christians may eventually experience discipleship in a nearby church.

It's unfortunate that church planting and church revitalization are often seen as either/or activities. What if instead of conflicting with each other they could actually complement each other?

Why Plant Churches::Part 3

This week I'm reflecting on four reasons for church planting. The original list comes from this interesting lecture from Tim Keller. You can also catch up on part 1 and part 2.

Reason #2 (in my own words): Church planting is better suited to reach certain people.

Keller lists four groups that according to multiple studies, church plants reach the best.

1. New Residents: It takes longer for a new resident to break into community and leadership at an established church, simply because the people have been there longer. But in a church plant, new residents have been at the church as long as everyone else. 

2. New Generations: Young adults are often more involved in church plants simply because of the institutional challenges to change that an established church faces.

3. New People Groups: Keller gives this example. If a farming community begins changing so that young commuters begin moving in, an established church may be 75-80% farmers, while a new church plant is more likely to be 75-80% commuting professionals.

4. New Christians: Dozens of denominational studies have shown that the average new church gains 60-80% of their members from the ranks of the unchurched. On the other hand, the average American church over 10 years old gains 80-90% of its members through transfer growth. This makes sense. As a church ages, it naturally allocates more resources to taking care of the needs of current members. But a church plant is forced to invest into non-members in order to survive.

I don't see this argument as a bash against established churches. I pastored an established church, and in a few years I'll be pastoring another one! To me the moral of the story is for established churches to accept that there are some people best reached by a new church, and to prioritize resources to invest in church planting.

I hope you'll check back in tomorrow for reasons three and four. To me they were the most thought provoking.

What reasons can you think of for planting new churches? Or maybe you feel like pushing back a bit. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Why Plant Churches::Part 2

Yesterday I was inspired by a short talk from Tim Keller in response to the question, "Why Plant Churches?" This week I'm summarizing his four reasons. You can catch up on some of the common objections to church planting in part one.

Reason #1: We want to be true to the New Testament pattern of ministry.

Paul was many things, including a missionary, preacher, theologian, writer, tent-maker, and pastor. But I'd argue that he was primarily a church planter. He seemed to have a two-part strategy for changing the world.

To reach a region he'd focus on the largest city in the region. To reach that city he'd plant churches.

He told Titus to establish elders in every town. His instructions weren't to simply evangelize, but to setup churches. In fact, church planting was so foundational to Paul, that his criteria for leaving a city was often whether or not a church had been planted. He'd make sweeping statements about having finished preaching the gospel in a particular place. Obviously, he hadn't preached to every person. What he meant was that the church was established.

But church planting in the New Testament predates Paul to Jesus. Jesus never commanded his followers to make converts, but to baptize disciples. And baptism cannot happen in isolation. We baptize people into worshipping communities.

Many individual decisions for Christ at crusades or other outreach events result in a list of people we'll never hear from again. These decisions may not actually be conversions. A true convert to Christ enters into a process of discipleship that must be tied to a community of believers.

Some people push back at this point. You might argue, "Okay, granted, but that was in the very beginning of the Christian movement before churches actually existed. Why is it so critical now that we have all these new churches?"

Good question! I hope you'll check back in tomorrow.

Why Plant Churches::Part 1

This morning I listened to an excellent talk by Tim Keller responded to the question, "Why Plant Churches?" He argues that their are three groups of people.

• Group one believes that church planting is an unnecessary activity, especially in this country where we have so many churches.
• Group two is excited about church planting, but they're not sure why.
• Group three is excited about church planting, and know how to respond to the objections raised by group one.

If I had to nominate a captain for group three, it might be Tim Keller. In fact, he argues that church planting should be an established ministry for every local church in America. This week, I'll write a series of posts summarizing the four reasons he lists for planting churches.

But first, to be fair, here are the three most common objections.

Objection 1: We already have so many churches, and most of them are not filled. Shouldn't we focus on filling the churches that already exist rather than creating new ones?

Objection 2: Most churches in my community used to be more full than they are now. Won't a new church just take people away from churches that are already declining?

Objection 3: The churches that are already struggling need to be helped first. To see a new church get started is demoralizing to them. Isn't our real need better churches, and not new churches?

These are three important questions to be sure. If you've wrestled with any of them, I encourage you to follow along this week. I think you'll be challenged by Keller's thoughts.

Emotional Endurance

 

In October, Leah and I started the Weight Watchers Online Program (thanks to Tory for the inspiration)!  It was great to lose some weight.  But I'm also enjoying the ability to push myself a bit harder in the gym, which is probably another benefit to being 20 pounds lighter.

Since College, I've rarely run more than three miles at a time.  This morning I ran seven miles.  I'm thanking God for His grace in giving me good health, and thinking about training for a half-marathon for the first time in my life.

This experience of building greater physical endurance is a metaphor for something God has been doing in my emotional life--something that is critical for the challenge of church planting.  Church planting is an emotional roller-coaster.  Because so much is constantly developing, I find myself experiencing almost daily highs and lows.  So God has been working on my emotional endurance.

God is constantly preparing us to grow into His plans for us, not only spiritually and physically, but emotionally as well.  Leadership demands that we live in the midst of tension, face conflict, and live through stress.  In the face of these realities, God builds our emotional endurance so we can stay on the leadership treadmill for a longer time, and at a higher level.

My recent experience physically illustrates two ways we can partner with God to build our emotional endurance.

• Eliminate Fat: We need to remove the obstacles to emotional health (sin, lack of sleep, unhealthy relationships, wasted time, etc).

• Overcome Resistance: In the gym, resistance is necessary for stronger muscles or longer endurance.  Likewise, in life, resistance isn't something to escape.  Instead, embrace resistance, lean into it, and overcome it.

As you eliminate fat and overcome resistance, God will build your emotional endurance so that you can experience greater longevity and effectiveness in life and ministry!