One of the thoughts that I had was this. “I was more concerned about the production of our new church than I was  about the reproduction of disciples.”

This comes from some reflections that I have had over the last months in speaking and teaching in various venues. I feel that when I was planting churches here in the states back in the BIG 90′s that I became quite proficient at planting church services. Sunday came around every 7 days and we had lots to do in order to pull a Sunday service off. I wanted the production to be excellent.

The problem with that is that the Great Commission does not say go out and plant churches services.

It says: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28.

Sometimes we get far too worried about the church plant and forget a couple of things that are important on the front end.

Planting the Gospel

Making Disciples who make disciples

I believe when these two elements occur healthy churches emerge (church planting).

Here are some samples.

Mexicans, Chinese, Indians, Peruvians, Guatemalans, Ecuadorians, Iranians, Algerians, Moroccans, Pakistanis, Iraqis, Egyptians, Jordanians, Nigerians, Ivorians, Nepalese, Bhutanese, Vietnamese, Koreans, Karen and Chin.

What is so cool about this list? These are not missionaries sent off to a foreign land. These are people here in the states being salt and light and sharing the gospel with the peoples of the world next door. I was blown away by the list and humbled to be amongst people like that. I am praying for them this week. Praying for the opportunities that they will have. Praying that more people will catch that vision.

We often look at the progression of the Great Commission in Acts 1:8 ESV

⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

In today’s world the Great Commission is HERE and THERE.  A church has the nations in their neighborhood but at the same time they need to go to the nations. One does not exclude the other.

A couple of weeks ago we visited a church in Knoxville that I was quite impressed with.  Parker’s cousin goes to this church and he wanted to attend that Sunday so we could see him. As the pastor came up during the middle of the service for a time of prayer he started talking about another church in the area.  He said this week we are praying for …..

He goes on to say … “this church really ministers in the community. They love Jesus and they proclaim the Gospel.”

He described the church for a moment or two and then said let’s pray for them today and pray God will continue to use them in some great ways in the city. I found this to be quite refreshing to go to a church to learn about another church and pray for them. Sometimes I think back where I was much more concerned about the success of the church I was planting than another one just down the street.

I would pray more for other churches and find ways to work together in mission.

more soon.

He asked me a question the other day that I am putting some thought into. He said: Let’s say you were wanting to plant another church in the states.

What would that look like now?

What would be different from when you planted churches in the 90′s here?

How would you go about doing this?

I believe a lot has changed in the culture here. So I would have to be a learner.

I know I would pray a lot and get a ton of people praying with us.

I know I would learn as much as I could about the place we were feeling called to plant.

I would move into that area.

I would start figuring out the cultural differences between myself and the community and start navigating through them. I am sort of odd in that I am from the South but have spent the last ten years in Western Europe.  No comments about me being odd. smile.

I think would try to find some sort of regular  job in that community even if it were part-time.

I would try to find ways to serve that community by joining existing groups doing just that.

To me those are base lines and not by a long shot  a complete list.

One big thing that I would change is this. I was much more concerned with our Sunday Services than anything else. As a result I would put much more effort into making global disciples instead of having a really good Sunday service. What that would look like I do not know for certain but I have some ideas.

Those are some initial thoughts.  Maybe I will have some more. I hope so. It is a big question. It is a daunting task to plant a church. I am so encouraged my so many people these days planting churches here. I would learn from them for sure.

Peace

We will be releasing some blog posts and videos today on www.edstetzer.com and www.theupstreamcollective.org. I hope you will take a look at these short clips to get a sense of our trip.

I wanted to write a short thought this morning about something from scripture that hit me. I am reading a lot these days from the epistles of Paul and the book of Acts since we were traveling where the action was happening.

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples. Acts 19:1

I think I have always admired Paul’s missionary efforts. We read about Paul preaching the gospel. We read about him discipling the disciples. We think about his travels. Believe me that in itself takes effort in that part of the world. It was hard enough in a bus. I could not imagine what it would be like in his day. We read his letters challenging the congregations. We see him interact with his sending church at Antioch. We watch him as he starts new churches.

Another aspect that I think is important about his work was the way he encouraged workers and believers in those churches.

He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece. Acts 20:2

This is so vital for the worker and the new believer.  I have heard there could be as few as 3000 Christ followers in Turkey. If that number is correct it is staggering.

Do you think workers  could feel isolated?  Do you think that praying with them and speaking words of encouragement can lift their spirits and help them in their journey? I would say definitely.

I believe we need to encourage workers no matter whether it is where we call home or 5000 miles away when we have opportunities. I know it can make a difference.

I arrived in time to go to church this Easter Sunday morning. I went to the gathering at www.westpointchurch.org on the outskirts of Orlando. It was the first time that I have been able to worship there with my friends. I have known the co-pastor Jason Dukes for some time. I think a lot of him. He is top shelf. You also will want to read his book called “Live Sent”. Worth the read.

Westpoint is all about being the  church and living sent.

They live up to it from all that I can observe. I love seeing churches that are so concerned with thier community and even the other churches in their community. This morning I heard several examples of how they were trying to be a blessing to other churches in their city. Helping those churches with their outreach type events. Wow.

I also heard of examples of people in the church who are truly living sent. Maybe it is in their local business or profession or perhaps it is moving overseas but they empower their people to live outwardly focused lives.

Refreshing.

He is Risen.

More Soon from Orlando

I recall in my church planting days in the states that a big discussion amongst the launch team was finding that perfect meeting space.

After all most of the “pre-launch” experts would say.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

So we would look at such things like the demographics, traffic patterns,  access to parking, child care facilities, worship center capacity, media possibilities, etc… In some cases you could argue that those were important to our target audience and our model of church plant which was geared to the gathering.

When we moved overseas and I was personally challenged to process the role of reproducibility and recognized that often the model we choose can prevent us from reproducing it. For example, I once heard a person say here in Europe that it takes 500,000 euros to start a church. Does it? Then we could be in trouble. The speaker was pushed a little on this and it came down to 150,000.

On the other hand I remember being in a place where we looked at meeting in our home.

It is a much cheaper solution. However, is it a good idea for a house church to meet in a cross cultural worker’s home?  Does that answer the reproducible question? What I do remember is a conversation with a national who told me it was fine if I wanted to invite him and his family to my house but he could never invite his friends to my house because after all it was my house. It was my place to invite others not his. Ummm.

That is when we decided trying to find ways to meet in third places could be the best route for our strategy. The first place is a person’s home and the second place is the marketplace and the third place is a neutral place. It is the place where the people whom you are being sent can meet.

Just some thoughts on meeting spaces.  And yours?

So I thought why not do a quick list on why short-term teams can be good?

Here you go!

1. If the church has a long term strategy for that place or people group then a short term trip can contribute to the overall strategy of engaging that people group. This takes pre- trip planning, being prepared for the work, good communication throughout and lots of prayer. For a related post take a look at this
2. It can be an encouragement to the missionary or national team in which they are partnering with.
3. With social networking today it is often possible to stay in contact with the people you meet or minister to during the week.
4. It provides missional training and discipleship opportunities for people in the church who go on the trip.
5. It can expand one’s worldview, which can help the church be more effective ministering across cultures in their own city.

Interested in leading your church on your first mission trip but need some help in preparation and training. Check out this site at Equipped to Go.

Another group that knows a lot about short-term teams is Delta Ministries.

Both of these are worth checking out.

Part of the conversation that I led was about the “sending church” as I walked (or sprinted) through Acts.  As soon as I read Acts 13:1 -3  I automatically go to Acts 1:8 which is a passage many of us know. It is the Great Commission. You can also find the Great Commission in Matthew 28.  Jesus as he gives his message to the disciples says “therefore go and make disciples”.

In preparing for some of my talks I have been thinking a bit about my church planting time in the states way back in the 90s. I have been thinking of this in light of the Great Commission.

You see I think I did a decent job in starting church services but did I make disciples? Was that the focus or was it to simply get people to come to our cool church service? I would never say this was my intention. I wanted to see people come to Christ and become mature followers. I think in those days we said “devoted followers”.

But what did I practice? How much time was spent on discipleship versus planning services and working hard that it all would come  together on Sunday.  Just thinking back.

This area is sometimes called Hampton Roads and then at other times  it is known by  the distinct cities it represents. The area is highly affected by the amount of people in the military that live here. I am intrigued about what ministry looks like in these type of places.   I greatly respect these men who are leading their churches to minister to here. Thanks for spending time with me.

My observation:

What a challenge to pastor in an area like this!

What an opportunity to pastor in an area like this!

Potential Challenges -

The transitional nature of the community and how that affects the church.

Building continuity amidst transition.

Caring for families as they are separated due to deployment.

Potential opportunities -

Your church members move all over the world.

Empowering your members to live missionally wherever they are sent.

Being able to minister to the families in the community during times of transition and tragedy.