Missional Church Planting

Between the Workshops: From Atlanta to DFW

2005-08-25T10:29:00.000-05:00

Today we stand between two epic meetings, at least for certain individuals and churches. The Southeast Church Planting Workshop at the North Atlanta church has just concluded and the DFW Church Planting Workshop at the South MacArthur congregation is about to begin.

Will we look back at August, 2005, as a transformational time? A historical moment? A time of reframing, rethinking, reflection, and renewal? This will be the case for certain church leaders and church planters.

At the Atlanta Church Planting Workshop, we were touched by . . .

Don McLaughlin’s passion for people and for the city in which God has placed him.
The power of the parable: From caterpillars to butterflies.
Mike Neill’s description of the Red-Neck Mason Dixon Line running along I-20 through the middle of Atlanta!
Bill Long’s powerful descriptions of maintenance churches. (Churches have unintentionally become like country clubs with “for members only” signs on the door. These signs are not visible, made of wood or iron, but of actions and attitudes. Churches have become like Post Offices without mail drops or mules that are birthed but cannot give birth. Churches planted intentionally tend to prosper; splits tend to struggle. We are hindered by local churches without a kingdom perspective and by creating infrastructures that have to be maintained.)
Missional churches that focus on God’s purposes, understand that they have been sent on God’s mission, and represent Him in His world.

These thoughts stirred the minds and focused the discussions of 80 church leaders who attended from Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Florida.

Becky and I were privileged to meet with future church planters, developing teams, and church leaders who want to intentionally plant other churches.

As we look back at the Southeast workshop, we also look forward to the Dallas-Ft. Worth workshop beginning tomorrow evening, August 26. This year’s workshop will not only address the need for church planting but will also focus on the quality, personality, nature of missional church planting.

Anticipate hearing/seeing . . . .

Randy Harris speaking on “Why plant churches?”
Chris Chappotin’s story of an amazing church planting in SW Fort Worth.
The parable of the scepter and the hoe.
Contrasts between missional and maintenance churches; seeker-sensitive, service-focused churches compared to a community of God on a journey through life helping each other to be Christ’s disciples and inviting others to join them on this pilgrimage through life to heaven. What is the meaning of “a church on a spiritual pilgrimage”?
Grady King and I describe missional churches and missional church planting.
Doug Peters depict the nature of a church’s transformation to become a missional fellowship.
Nuts and bolts of missional church planting.

It is not too late to come! You are invited! This second annual Dallas-Fort Worth Church Planting Workshop will be held at the South MacArthur Church of Christ in Irving, Texas. Register by calling Tommie Sledge at (972) 896-8989 or emailing her at tommie@southmac.org. The full program can be seen online at http://www.missionalive.org/events.asp?p=sub&EventSubID=3&cat=0. We anticipate your participation in this or similar workshops.

Church Planting out of Weakness

2005-08-18T06:06:00.000-05:00

We praise God for the growing number of relatively strong churches who have the motivation, vision, and resources to plant other churches. This weekend, however, my wife Becky and I worked with a church who is planting out of weakness.

They are a middle-class Anglo church in an area of changing demographics. Flavel Yeakley, the church growth consultant at Harding, has made a study of their congregation and area and projected that they will gradually die if they maintain the status quo. Their options are to sell and move (the typical response) or church plant out of their location. They have decided on the second, more difficult option. They feel a commitment to their area yet most members drive in to the church building from other nearby communities.

I praise God and respect the elders who are making this decision. They are courageous and visionary men. It was a joy to speak to their congregation three times on Sunday and meet with their elders and provide theological frameworks to conceptualize their transition and practical processes to accomplish it through the equipping of catalytic church planters working with them to evangelize the area.

What are the obstacles that lie ahead? Would you suggest a few?

Would you also pray with us for these leaders in the midst of this transition?

Church Planting in Campus Contexts

2005-08-11T07:54:00.000-05:00

I spent much of last week research church planting in campus contexts and then on Friday and Saturday made two presentations on the topic at the National Campus Ministers Seminar, held this year at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Tim Melikian, campus minister at the Universit of Oklahoma, did a fine job organizing the program.

We are beginning to realize in Mission Alive the need for church planting in campus contexts. Formative life decsions are made during the university years. Churches planted are naturally multicultural when evangelists reach out to impact all part of the campus. And the world is touched if the church works through international students converted to evangelize their nations.

The International Churches of Christ (ICOC) have most effectively planted churches in the Restoration Heritage. They considered the campus their "synogogue," the most receptive area out of which to evangelize the nations. Marvin Lucus, evangelist and campus minister of the ICOC in DFW, said in an interview, "Through campus ministry we start a church.” They begin a church by converting students and then their siblings, friends, and parents.

Marvin said that the growth of the ICOC stagnated when the focus changed from campus to family ministry. “If we had constantly evangelized on our campuses," Marvin commented, "we would today have all age groups in our churches.” Thus today there are more people between ages 35-45 than any other age.

I found their traditional ministry style to be (1) incarnational (They do not isolate themselves in a student center off campus but place their ministries on the campus.), (2) leadership focused (The evangelist or campus minister trains campus leaders who facilitate their ministries), (3) visionary (They tend to see the big picture on campus and are able to connect with developing student leaders.), and (4) transformational (They expect radical transformation of life.). Their traditional top-down, manipulative discipling patterns resulting in a type of salvation by works is now being tempered by many ICOC leaders. They have much to teach us about church planting in campus contexts.

There are two broad approaches to church planting in campus contexts. First, a seeker sensitive approach tries to attract crowds through big events and publicity. Second, a spiritual formation approach grows from the grassroots up through prayer and study groups. An example of the second approach in Brandon Worsham's ministry called FOCUS (www.anyfocus.org) at the University of Texas in Dallas. They focus on one-on-one Bible studies and small, gender-specific groups in the dorms, called "cores." These cores group together as "communities" within the dorms. A Sunday evening devotional brings all the cores and communities together for a time of worship. Like with the ICOC, all major events occur on campus (with the exception of the Sunday worship period for the ICOC). Brandon Worsham says that the students on campus do not want to "bloat" by attracting students through seeker-sensitive practices but want to express authentic Christianity with disciple-making and spiritual formation at its core. I feel a personal affinity with this type of apprach.

Because of geographical and cultural distance, FOCUS will eventually be come a satellite church of the Northeast church. The church building is 17 minutes from the church building. Also the university context is a specialized cultural context which require specialized cultural forms of worship and community.

These are a few lessons that I have learned through interviews in preparation for my presentations.

Family Reunion; Global Missions Conference

2005-08-02T14:21:00.000-05:00

The last three weeks have been exceptionally busy. The following are two highlights:

The Van Rheenen Family Reunion

Becky and I spent four days at the Van Rheenen family reunion on beautiful Anderson Island in the Puget Sound just south of Seattle, Washington. My brother Dwayne has a house on the island. My mother, all five of us children (I am No. 3 squeezed in between older and younger brothers and sisters), some nieces and nephews, and their children all gathered on the fellowship, stories, walks, and meals. Mom, now 85 and living at Harding Place in Searcy, AR, flew from Little Rock to Dallas to spend a day with us both before and after the reunion. It was a time of refreshment, catching up, reminiscing about family, and connecting. We greatly missed our Dad who passed away in 1994 and was a great example to all of us both as a father and a struggling Christian leader.

A special time was visiting with Dwayne’s son Nathan and his wife Emma and their family. Nathan and Emma have 11-month old triplets (named Quincy, McArthur, and Xavier!!) to go with big brother Nathan, Jr., aged 3.

Global Missions Conference

Immediately upon our return from Seattle Becky and I were privileged to attend the Global Missions Conference, organized by our close friends at MRN (Missions Resource Network). The purpose of the conference was to bring churches of Christ together to focus on more effectively reaching our world for Jesus Christ. Altogether 800-1000 attended the conference.

The most enjoyable part of the conference was networking. We met families and individuals wanting to know more about church planting. Many were feeling God’s call, others were searching, questioning, desiring to learn more. Church leaders were asking questions about their personal and congregational involvements. We felt God moving in many lives.

My role in the conference was interesting. On one day of the conference I taught three classes on diverse topics, one on the need for domestic church planting, a second on the use of American money in global missions, and a third on international missions partnerships (with Dr. Phil Slate). The most enjoyable forum was a plenary panel facilitated by Jay Jarboe in which Stan Granberg and I spoke of how ministering internationally had prepared us for domestic church planting.

God blessed us greatly during the family reunion and the Global Missions Conference.

Life On The Vine

2005-07-08T06:39:00.000-05:00

My devotional life and understanding of church has been enriched by Philip Kenneson’s Life On The Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community. Kenneson is convicted that the church in the United States is seriously ill and aims to accurately and honestly provide both a diagnosis and remedy. He believes that “it is quite possible for the church to be both growing and yet not bearing the fruit of the Spirit. What is happening in many cases is that the church is simply cultivating at the center of its life the seeds that the dominant culture has sown in its midst . . . . The church that is being cultivated in the United States looks suspiciously like the dominant culture rather than being an alternative to it” (1999, 11-12). The question is not simply “Is it bearing fruit?” but “Is the fruit that the church is bearing the fruit of the Spirit?” (1999, 15). For example, the rates of divorce and premarital chastity do not significantly vary between Christians and non-Christians (1999, 16). Christians are frequently “pledging allegiances to Christ with their lips while engaging in practices that cultivate a quite different set of loyalties, dispositions and convictions” (1999, 29). They are like ancient Judah who partially followed God but also served the gods of the nations around them. Jeremiah wrote that they “turned their backs” to God but “not their faces.” Only when they were in deep trouble would they say to God, “Come and save us!” (Jer. 2:27).

Christians held captive by the assumptions of the dominant culture must seek liberation. But this is not easy. First, Christians do not realize the extent to which their behaviors, values, and assumptions are formed by the dominant culture. Second, intentional nurturing of the soil and plants is imperative if distinctive Christian fruit is to spring forth from the soil of American culture. As an old farm boy, I learned to expend much time and effort weeding and fertilizing tomatoes, green beans, and corn but whenever I left the garden unattended, weeds flourished and smothered the crops that I had intentionally planted and nurtured. The good fruit must be tended and nurtured; weeds spring up almost without effort because the environment in which we live is conducive to their growth (adapted from 1999, 30).

Kenneson rightly suggests that Christianity, if it is to distinctively grow in the soil of American culture, must reflect the character and mission of God “uniquely embodied in the person of Jesus Christ” and much less perfectly “in the life of that community animated by his Spirit” (1999, 32).

The church is often like the vineyard bearing bad fruit that is soon to be discarded (Isa. 5:1-7). But our hope is in God, who prunes us so that we might become faithful and bear the fruits of God (John 15:1-5). After describing the divine character of the nine fruits of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23, Kenneson explains why Christians have difficulty implementing them. His chapter headings illustrate the difficulty of living Christianly in a non-Christian American context:
* Cultivating Love in the Midst of Market-Style Exchanges
* Cultivating Joy in the Midst of Manufactured Desire
* Cultivating Peace in the Midst of Fragmentation
* Cultivating Patience in the Midst of Productivity
* Cultivating Kindness in the Midst of Self-Sufficiency
* Cultivating Goodness in the Midst of Self-Help
* Cultivating Faithfulness in the Midst of Impermanence
* Cultivating Gentleness in the Midst of Aggression
* Cultivating Self-Control in the Midst of Addiction

While Kenneson’s Life On The Vine does not deal with church planting, many lessons can be learned about this ministry. We no longer live in a world where people ascribe to basic Christian values. Church planting which focuses on meeting people “where they are” is doomed to synthesize the values of the dominant culture with those of Christ. We must, therefore, seek a new and different way of church planting, one which primarily looks to God for its identity and purpose and then incarnationally contextualizes these missional perspectives in local cultural contexts. This missional church understands itself as a community of disciples on a pilgrimage through life helping each other to be Christ’s disciples and encouraging others to join them as they journey through life to heaven.

Imagine the life in such a counter-cultural church:

Spiritual formation: Every member is passionately, whole-heartedly pursuing full devotion to Christ. Their very lives exist in relationship with God.

Community: Christians are nurtured in Christian community to grow as disciples of Christ. They are not mere spectators.

Lay Equipping: Leaders are equipping “God’s people for works for ministry” (Eph. 4:12).

Evangelism: Christians make disciples through personal relationships, through intimate spiritual friendships.

Multicultural: Christ breaks down racial and ethnic barriers so that planted churches are “red and yellow, black and white.”

The Strong in Christ Serve the Weak: The Church compassionately cares for the children and the poor.

Kingdom: The church is a unique community, formed by the calling and sending of God.
Missions: Christians are passionate about God’s mission to the nations.

These types of emergent churches are even now being planted by those of a missional heritage. For example, Mission Alive (http://www.missionalive.org/) exists “to discover, equip, place, and nurture church-planting leaders who will plant missional churches in suburbs, city centers, and poverty areas with unbelievers as the primary target.” Mission Alive is...
"Missional people,
planting missional churches
because of the mission of God."

Works Cited

Guder, Darrell L. 1999. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Kenneson, Philip D. 1999. Life On The Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Little Baby Eva

2005-07-05T21:17:00.000-05:00

Becky and I are very proud of our children. They are a blessing to us in many ways. One of course is the blessing of grandchildren. Below are pictures of Eva, born June 29 to Jonathan, our son, and his wife Nichole. Actually, Nichole did most of the "bearing" although Jonathan cheered and emphathized from the side-lines. Becky is currently in Louisville, KY, helping Nichole and Jonathan in any way she can. She especially takes care of Eva big brother Eli, who is one year older.

I am always amazed at how our children and their spouces become our teachers. Jonathan teaches me about truck driving, Nichole about politics, Ravi about computers, Rebecca about sensitivity and compassion, Deborah about math and life organization, Chuck about painting, and David about patience and life focus. I wonder what our grandchildren will teach us!! It is a great time to be alive.

Experiencing New Life

2005-07-02T15:06:00.000-05:00

In a space of one year and four days we have seen the birth of three grandchildren! Our son Jonathan and his wife Nichole have just had a baby girl. Their son Eli (one year and three days old weighing 26 lbs) has a little sister called Eva weighing in at 6' 11" and 19 1/2 inches long. On Aug. 31, 2004, our daughter Rebecca and her husband Ravi had a little girl named Anjali. We are experiencing the awe of new life!

Oh, the mystery of life! After conception in heart and body, 40 weeks of body changes, and final labor, a little child—unable to adequately take care of herself—is birthed. And at birth, the immense task of feeding, nurturing, educating begins.

Last week we also experienced a birthing experience in Mission Alive. Three church planting families were invited at the exit interviews of our Discovery Lab to become church planters to plant churches with us in Austin, Denver, and Dallas. A fourth family was asked to work on some personal aspects of their lives as they transition into church planting. We were also privileged to work with our sister organization Kairos to assess one of their families who will work with a church in Oregon in a process to become church planters.

New church planters have been birthed. Like children they have a long way to go. But it will not be long until they have children themselves. Church planters become part of a heritage of equipping other church planters.

Paul said to Timothy, “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Tim. 2:2).

Participating in His Mission

2005-06-30T11:32:00.000-05:00

These are exciting times! Every day we experience God’s hand in Mission Alive. Church leaders are committing themselves to church planting, local churches are partnering with us to plant churches, and our initial church plantings are beginning. A new era is beginning – an era in which we are once again thinking of ourselves as a missionary people North America!

But I am concerned about many assumptions about "church" that significantly limit our ability to become a people planting authentic missional churches.

Many church leaders assume that the first step in church planting is purchasing a piece of property and constructing a church building. A church defined as “a place where things happen” (Guder 1998, 79) necessitates property and place. A second assumption is that church is a public “service” organized by a staff for the giving of information or for celebration. Church becomes, to some degree, a spectator engagement. These ideas are so culturally embedded in the term “church” that we commonly say, “Let’s go to church,” inferring place, or ask “When does church begin?” inferring service. When American pragmatism is added to this mix, church planting becomes “getting the largest number of people to a service in the shortest period of time.”

Within this cultural atmosphere where “success” is defined by numerical growth, church planting is frequently the reapportioning of the Christian population. Christians sometimes flock to new churches launched with significant capital because they offer better preaching, enhanced children’s ministry, superior classes, and/or inspirational services than other churches and thus draws their members. Megachurches, consequently, consume smaller churches in what might be called the Wal-Martization of Christianity. The goal becomes providing more and better services rather than providing a community of disciples on a pilgrimage through life helping each other be Christ’s disciples and encouraging others to join them as they journey through life to heaven. The first type of church is a social fraternity with some trappings of Christianity. The second is a unique community which is formed by the calling and sending of God and which reflects the redemptive reign of God in Christ.

Within this environment of cultural accommodation the word “church” must be redefined in relationship to the mission of God.

Journey to Houston

2005-06-15T08:29:00.000-05:00

Last week Becky and I spent four wonderful days working with churches and future church planters in Houston. We feel God moving in this great city. We are amazed at its size, growth, and potential for kingdom growth.

I suspect that we will look back at Thursday, June 9, as an epic day. We first met in the home of Bob Odle, preaching minister of the Woodland Oaks church, with Steve Austin and Sixto Rivera. Bob is the facilitator of Mission Alive’s Strategy Team in Houston; Steve is the Director of the Texas Gulf Coast Bible Institute that equips Hispanic leaders in Houston, and Sixto Rivera is a Hispanic minister with the Highland Oaks church in Dallas and developing co-worker with us in Mission Alive. We met together to make plans and pray for Hispanic church planting in North America. That evening we met with the board of the Gulf Coast Bible Institute, where I made a presentation and we discussed the role of Mission Alive in equipping learners in the institute as church planters. We were impressed with the dreams for practical training in the Texas Gulf Coast Bible Institute. Students will study in the mornings and do practical ministry the rest of the day.

On Friday, we had a good meeting with a group of church leaders of the Bering Drive church in Houston. I made a presentation about Mission Alive followed by good discussion of the needs and directions of the Bering church. I appreciate the vision of Sean Palmer, the Associate Minister of Bering Drive, for arranging the meeting and being sensitive to the need for church planting in Houston.

On Friday evening, Becky and I met with a group from the Clear Lake church in South Houston. God worked powerfully through our group as we dreamed the dreams of God and talked and prayed about spiritual renewal and His direction. On Saturday morning Becky and I conducted one of our Becoming Redemptive Seminars with the Clear Lake church. About 25 attended including almost all of the missions leaders of the Clear Lake church; three of their elders; Byron and Liz Fike, the preaching minister of Clear Lake and his wife; members interested in missions, and three or four visitors from area churches. We were blessed and encouraged by the fellowship and the participants’ growth in understanding and vision for the God’s mission. On Sunday, I made a simple presentation on church renewal, which I call “Hope for the Flowers” or “Metamorphosis: From Caterpillar to Butterfly,” and following a potluck spent a couple of hours of fellowship and encouragement with Byron and Liz Fike.

It was one of those wonderful trips, full of relationships, a period of seed-sowing. We pray that out of these relationships God will work through us in Mission Alive to launch a church planting movement in Houston. Many from Houston will come to the Dallas-Fort Worth Church Planting Workshop on August 26-27 at the South MacArthur Church of Christ in Irving. Then on March 3-4, 2006, Mission Alive will conduct its first church planting workshop in Houston.

We noticed one perturbing yet typical trend in Houston. Churches of Christ are moving from the city to the suburbs leaving entire sections of the city without testimony to the gospel. It demonstrates the inability of the church to adapt to changing demographics. Churches of Christ must learn to both evangelize cross-culturally and church plant where members are moving thus maintaining our presence in the cities of North America.

Folk religion; God's healing

2005-06-09T09:01:00.000-05:00

I have just finished teaching the graduate course Folk Religions and New Spiritualities at the Seminar in Missions at Abilene Christian University. This time I had 15 focused learners ministering in Mozambique and the USA and going to Tanzania, the Czech Republic, Sudan, Brazil, etc. The class interactions were thought-provoking; many of the relationships formed will be for a life-time.

I was once again surprised at the type of learning that took place in this class. The students learned as much about the secular roots of their own worldviews (Yes, even during this time called Post-Modernity.) and the nature and core of Christianity as they learned about folk religion and new spiritualities.

I ask all students to write a three-part paper in this class with the parts of about equal length. The first part describes animistic beliefs and practices of a ministry context (like practices among American “do-it-yourself” practitioners who privately practice new spiritualities in their homes using the “how-to-do-it” literature on taro cards, channeling, etc., found at most book stores). The second section of the paper provides theological frameworks, based on Scripture, interpreting the spiritual realities involved and studying the responses of people of God to similar realities. The final part of the paper suggests models of ministry, bringing kingdom realities into the animistic context. Of course, learners find it much easier to describe the culture than to do theology or develop models of ministry.

The Indian mother-in-law of our daughter Rebecca has been visiting her family and other relatives in San Francisco for six months. She became very sick. The doctors, including her daughter who is a doctor in the San Francisco area, felt that it was a stomach virus. It was, however a heart problem: the mitral valve was not allowing adequate flow of blood into her heart. She became weaker and weaker to the point of death. Rebecca, her husband Ravi, and many Christians prayed for her health. We are thankful that God has extended her life. Her healing is a testimony to some Hindus of the mighty acts of God. We continue to see God powerfully working.

Seminar in Missions

2005-05-26T09:01:00.000-05:00

During these three weeks (May 16-June 3), I am in Abilene teaching two courses in ACU’s Seminar in Missions.

It is a transitional time. Becky and I taught Introduction to World Evangelization for probably our last time. For much of the past seventeen and a half years we have taught this course three times a year (Fall, Spring, Summer) to hundreds of students. The skit of “Sceptor and Hoe” moves from this undergraduate missions course to an application in some of our Church Planting Workshops.

Sherwood Lingenfelter, author of Ministering Cross-Culturally (and other books) and provost of Fuller Theological Seminary, is this years’ resource person at the three-day Mission Focus between the two sessions of the Seminar. One evening Lingenfelter met with faculty members at Sonny Guild’s home. He made a comment about church planting that I thought was insightful. He said that church planting cannot be learned in an institution but must be learned like “the laying of bricks,” within the contexts of active incarnational ministry.

I will shortly begin teaching Folk Religion and New Spiritualities. I anticipate a good group of students serving as missionaries and ministers from many part of the world. I am reorganizing the course and putting it on PowerPoint for the first time. I find that this course is ideal for domestic church planters who will minister in post-modern contexts where new spiritualities are flourishing as well as those who minister among Spiritists in Brazil, Shintoists in Japan, and practitioners of African Traditional Religion.

During evenings and in-between activities, Becky and I have enjoyed making presentations to some possible future church planters. We are amazed at the number of people coming into church planting and the developing interest in church planting.

In the midst of all the activities in Abilene, we continue to make plans for the Dallas-Ft. Worth Church Planting Workshop which will be hosted by the South MacArthur Church of Christ in Irving, August 26-27, 2005. The topic of the workshop this year will be “What kind of Churches Should We Plant? The Nature of Missional Church Planting.”

We have also been organizing the Discovery Labs for church planters entering Mission Alive, scheduled for June 20-23 and Sept. 8-11.

We ask for your prayers as we juggle the many activities of our life and ministry.

Two church plantings. God's work is evident yet very different.

2005-05-14T14:56:00.000-05:00

On Thursday we had our first Huddle of church planters. Chris Chappotin and Randy and Judy Dean met at our house for prayer, discussion, and planning in regard to their church plantings.

During our Huddle, we prayerfully and submissively dealt with the nuts and bolts of planting a missional church. We discussed (1) the spiritual formation of seekers and members, (2) summer plans (Kids’ Camp, barbecues, Life Transformation groups, modes of spiritual formation, internships) and (3) a power point of ministry flow charts to help us think through the varying models of church planting and how they reflect the purposes and mission of God.

As we talked, we compared God’s mighty work in two different church plantings.

God is using Chris and Heidi Chappotin to plant Christ Journey in southwest Fort Worth (in the area of the intersection of I-35W and Highway 1187). Christ Journey has only a small core team of four families and three singles. The first initial small group is beginning to grow through developing spiritual relationships with searchers and unbelievers.

Becky and I “joined the journey” for their second small group meeting on Sunday evening. Seventeen adults and 6 children piled into the Chappotins’ living room. Five of these were searchers, including two sisters, their mother, the husband of one of the sisters, and the boy friend of the other. Both sisters were pregnant. It was evident to us that the visitors were impressed with the loving fellowship, awe of God, and authentic Christian expressions that they were experiencing. Our prayer is that this fellowship grows via evangelism rather than inviting Christian leaders from other local churches to join in launching the church. Chris and Heidi are going through a significant time of growth as they learn how to be God’s ministers of reconciliation and guide others in their team to also develop spiritual friendships.

Currently the team of Christ Journey is in the core development stage. They will launch other small groups out of the existing one in the next few months and launch the public worship service on Sept. 25. Their new web site is at www.christjourney.net and Chris’ blog is at www.1moremile.blogspot.com. The journey continues . . . . as God leads.

Randy and Judy Dean are planting the Parker County Church on the western side of Weatherford, about 30 minutes by road from the Chappotins. The Parker County church launched a public service with 60 members and then realized that they need resource people to help them and contacted Mission Alive. They represent a phenomena occurring in many areas. Dedicated Christians felt the strictures of sectarian Christianity, with all of its anger and control, and decided that they could only be faithful to God by planting another church. They rejected the denominational title “Church of Christ” (because of its sectarian heritage in their area) while holding to the fundamental Restoration beliefs of the centrality of scripture, the priesthood of all believers, believers’ baptism for forgiveness of sins, and the centrality of the Lord’s Supper in order to remember the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Their singing is acappella. They have the strength of mature leadership and adequate finances to support themselves. They, however, have started a new church with the old paradigm of a settled church intact. They also have all the emotions of leaving a larger fellowship who now declares them “liberal.”

One thing I know: God is working in this fellowship to renew His people! Some significant questions are: “Can they come to a unified vision of God’s mission through them and their fellowship? Can they become evangelistic?” The role of Mission Alive is to guide them along the way by providing labs, mentoring, coaching, and spiritual conversations in Huddles.

Neither of these models is ideal. The ideal church planting intentionally comes out of a visionary church who realizes that God is a God who gives of himself as he has done in Jesus Christ. Thus, the church sends a few families called to church planting out of its fellowship to plant another church every few years. This process energizes the mother church and leads to a church planting movement. I am currently witnessing God’s work in a number of churches leading them to intentionally plant another church in 2006. Mission Alive is honored to be part of this movement.

Two church plantings. God’s work is evident yet very different.

“God, give us wisdom.”

Our weekend; The Christian Affirmation

2005-05-02T11:20:00.000-05:00

For some months Becky and I and others in Mission Alive have been praying for Hispanic and African-American leaders to partner with us in church planting. We were privileged this weekend to have Eloy and Rebecca Garcia and with us as guests. They live in Austin where Eloy ministers at the Southside Church of Christ. Eloy previously worked at the University of Texas as the student adviser of the Masters of Business Administration Program and then as the director of the MBA program. Before working at UT, Eloy served as a church planter and trainer of leaders in Lubbock, El Paso, and Dallas. These impeccable credentials, however, are secondary to Eloy’s call from God to be a church planter and to nurture other church plantings. He is visionary yet gentle, passionate nevertheless patient. We pray that they will come into the September Discovery Lab.

We also met this weekend with the shepherds and evangelist of the New Heritage church in Allen. We found them to be a wonderful group of visionary leaders with an orientation toward church planting. This is not a typical church. They are only two years old, have approximately 180 members, and do not denominate themselves as a “Church of Christ” but still hold strong restoration beliefs on the centrality of Christ, the importance of scripture, and the nature of salvation. Many of their members, including their preaching minister, were once part of another area church and thus define themselves in contrast to their sectarian, sometimes authoritarian heritage. Can Mission Alive work with them in church planting while also working with more traditional Churches of Christ? We hope (but wonder if) that time has come.

Gabe Peterson, our apprentice, referred me to The Christian Affirmation at http://www.christianaffirmation.org/, which first appeared in the Christian Chronicle. It is interesting to note the categories discussed: focus on scripture, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, worship (with a specific statement about a cappella singing), and concern about legalism. The focus is on important, historical forms of the Christian faith rather than the Christian worldview which these rituals are to visually and tactilely reveal. The points reflect the distinct “litmus” test issues (with the exception of the gender issue) of Churches of Christ. I wonder if these issues can and should be discussed in a paper in isolation from the broader pictures and narratives of Christian theology. Will this statement “clarify . . . identity” or become another source of fragmentation (sides solidify and inadvertently people are either in or out, agree or disagree). Gabe incisively writes,

“My thought is that the document has the best intentions, possibly even trying to create tradition, define identity and possibly unify a fractured fellowship (form a creed that isn’t a test of fellowship with other Christians, but of unity within a fractured anti-creedal fellowship) in the midst of our anti-tradition and identity crisis (when historically the church has formed creeds in the midst of various crises). My fear is that it could be a watershed mark and defining point for a division, or fragmentation, that we are in midst of and have been in the midst of for the past ~25 years. Yet the great irony, if this is the case, is that the first real written creed (Nicea) comes after Constantine, when the church in various ways merged with culture, and if we truly believe we are living in post-Constantinian church, and in a post-denominational era – then why are we writing creeds?”

I appreciate the concerns of the writers of the affirmation and pray for the unity of our fellowship, who are on a journey defining identity. I pray that our identity may be found in Christ alone so that we might truly be the church of Christ.

Crawling and Pulling Up

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Becky and I have just returned from a weekend trip to California to visit our oldest daughter Rebecca, her husband Ravi, and our grand-daughter Anjali.

Anjali is amazing . . . precious . . . beautiful (a very biased grandfather is writing.) We have enjoyed holding and playing with her.

In many ways Anjali is a metaphor for church planting.

First, she reflects her heritage. She has the jet black hair and dark brown eyes of her father and many of the facial features of her mother. In a similar way, try as we may, it is impossible for us to deny our heritage. It is like the water we swim in or the air the we breathe. At best we can only grow in our understanding of the influences that form us.

She has her own personality. She loves her mother and father. As grand-parents we had to get to know her slowly and establish a relationship. And then we learned how to laugh and play. Churches, while incarnating the nature of Christ, however, also vary in personality. Some picture Christ as a suffering servant bearing the pain of others; others prefer to see Christ as the powerful resurrected Lord who defeats the principalities and powers; still others look on Christ as a personal Savior. Some like dim lights, others bright lights. Some like a collage of art and music in their worship; others are comfortable only with traditional songs 100 years old or more; others like chanting and consider Western music sensual; still others treasure simplicity. Some like noisy, joyous worship; others sedate quiet worship. The personality variables are innumerable . . . but they are all loved by the Lord.

Anjali is rapidly developing. After only seven months of life she is crawling around the house and pulling up on the furniture. I am amazed at the progress of our church plantings. Christ Journey in Southwest Fort Worth is like Anjali, not yet walking but crawling with high expectation. The Parker County church in Weatherford is taking its first steps. The Higher Point church in Denver is in the womb, (unlike Cynthia James who just had her little boy named Braydon!) but forming.

Oh, the joy of children and young churches . . ., who both grow to maturity.

Gailyn

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My heart yearns for Kenya today. I wish I could be there for a period of time to share the joy of friendship in Christ; to personally hear of deaths and births, marriages and blessings; and to struggle heart to heart with the personal and theological dilemmas of the day.

Christian leaders from throughout Kipsigis (where we lived for 13 years), are meeting for their yearly Evangelists' Meeting at Siriat Bible School.

I pray for the unity of the movement. I remember Paul's instruction to the Ephesian elders: "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock . . . . I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock" (Acts 20:28-29). We are being attached on two fronts. First, people with Western money come in and say, "Come under our registration for we have friends from America who will pay your preachers, help your children who need school fees, and build your church buildings." Second, every religious group in Kenya is required to have a church registration with leaders who are accountable to the government. Frequently, various leaders (both American missionaries and Kenyans) have attempted to use their positions to control theology and property.

I am pleased that strong Christian leaders withstand these attacks by Satan and stand with authenticity before God and within their communities of faith. I ask all of you to pray for the Kipsigis leaders during this weekend and for the church in Kenya in general. Pray that the church lives in the heavenlies far above the principalities and powers (Eph. 1:20-21).

The Kipsigis movement has grown to over 250 churches. No missionaries have lived there for about a decade. We praise God for his work in many lives among his people in Kenya.

We ask you to pray with us today for God's people among the Kipsigis and throughout Kenya.

Multicultural Church Planting

2005-04-14T11:39:00.000-05:00

I have been touched by the cover article of this month’s Christianity Today (April 2005). The cover article is entitled “All Churches Should Be Multicultural” (pp. 32-35) reflecting on the book Divided by Faith: Evangelicals and the Problem of Race in America (Oxford 2000) and its sequel United by Faith: The Multiracial Congregation as an Answer to the Problem of Race (Oxford 2003).

The article illustrates the changing landscape of the United States.

According to the 2000 Census, people of color as a percentage of the United States population have more than doubled to 31 percent since 1960, and the growth of non-Europeans is expected to continue at an accelerated rate. In just the last 20 years (1980 to 2000), the African American population grew by nearly 30 percent, the Native American population by 75 percent, the Latino population by 142 percent, and the Asian American population by 185 percent. In absolute numbers, the United States had well over 35 million more people of color in 2000 than it did in 1980. This is more people than lived in the entire United States during the Civil War period of the early 1860s (p. 33).

The authors of United by Faith, sociologists Karen Chai Kim and George Yancey with theologian Curtiss Paul DeYoung, define a multicultural church as “a congregation in which no one racial group accounts for 80 percent or more of the membership.” Of the “Christian” congregations (excluding gatherings of other world religions) in the United States only 5.5 percent are racially mixed. This is why Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith Dived by Faith say in 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning is the most racially segmented time of life in North America (Christianity Today, Oct. 2000, p. 36).

This article says, “The 21st century must be the century of multicultural congregations.” (p. 34). These multicultural churches will play an important role in reducing racial division and in equality that “should be the goal of Christian people” (p. 34). The article then gives a biblical rationale for multiculturalism and today’s challenges in becoming multicultural.

A companion article, “Harder than Anyone can Imagine,” gives responses of four church leaders to the article. Of note is the statement of Bill Hybels,

Willow Creek started in the era when . . . the church growth people were saying, “Don’t dissipate any of your energies fighting race issues. Focus everything on evangelism.” It was the homogeneous unit principle of church growth. And I remember as a young pastor thinking, That’s true. I didn’t know whether I wanted to chance alienating people who were seekers, whose eternity was on the line, and who might only come to church one time. I wanted to take away as many obstacles as possible, other than the Cross, to help people focus on the gospel.

So now, 30 years later, as I read this book, I recognize that a rue biblically functioning community must include being multiethnic. My heart beats so fast for that vision today. I marvel at how naïve and pragmatic I was 30 years ago.

I remember the days that our daughter Rebecca was a student at Abilene Christian University. One semester her house mates were from Japan, South Africa, Panama (a Chinese girl that they called a “Panamese”), and Rebecca, an American citizen born and raised in Africa. Each Friday evening dozens of international students would crowd their home for FND (Friday Night Devo) and many people including our eventual son-in-law Ravi, who is from India, came to Christ in this community of students. It became evident to me how international our culture was becoming.

This weekend my wife Becky and I and Becky’s sister Jeanette are going to California to visit our daughter Rebecca and Ravi and our 7-month old grand-daughter Anjali. Oh, the joy of grandchildren! We are looking forward to holding little Anjali and being with Becca and Ravi. As a multicultural family, they desired to be a part of a multicultural community of faith and searched until they found one.

Becoming multicultural, however, is more than a cultural issue. It reflects the nature of God, who desires to reconcile the nations together through Christ. Paul writes that Christ is “our peace” who has brought Jew and Gentile together into one body (Eph. 2:14). A united church is a testimony to the principalities and powers of that their power has been broken (Eph. 3:10). I recall Berkhoff’s quote about this 3:10. He said that the unity of the body of Christ is a “proclamation, a sign, a token to the Powers that their unbroken dominion has come to an end” (1977, 51).

The theologies and strategies of Mission Alive thus focus on multicultural church planting for such a focus is of the will of God.

Meaning of Missional; Model More Than Talk

2005-04-11T08:39:00.000-05:00

During the past few months, many of our church planters and future church planters in Mission Alive (www.missionalive.org) have suggested that I begin a blog. I have always said something like “I am not a blogger or the son of a blogger” and continue to feel that way. However, I guess God took me from caring for sycamore-fig trees and said, “Go, blog about your journey in missional church planting.” So a blog comes forth . . . from a neophyte, with foreboding, asking for God’s guidance . . . seeking wisdom from God, from Scripture, and in these dialogues, from you the community. I invite you to think with me about missional church planting.

What is missional church planting? The word missional has become a slippery term, meaning various things to different people. Some superimpose the meaning of “cross-cultural” on the word, others equate the word with “evangelism.” I have come up with the following characteristics of missional churches. You may or may not concur.

Missional churches . . .

are formed by the calling and sending of God (mission Dei)
reflect God’s redemptive reign in Christ (kingdom of God)
are God-inspired, Christ-formed, Spirit-led (Trinitarian)
begin theologically and then move to cultural analysis and strategy formation
are driven not by “what works” but by “the will of God”
are not ego-driven

Please give your perspectives to these broad categories.

Yesterday it occurred to my wife and me that we come from a “talking” tradition. It is reflected in the committee organization of our churches and the rationalism of our thinking: We seek to arrive at ingenious decisions by incisive discussion. When decisions are reached, we sometimes do not have the energy or time to implement them. Thus Modernity holds sway over the way we do church.

Yesterday while coaching an exceptional church planter I realized how much this talking tradition seeps into our church planting. We came up with a motto, “Model More Than Talk.” Instead of talking about activities of spiritual formation, model relationship with God in community. Instead of talking about the nature of intimate fellowship in small groups, demonstrate such relationships in the core team. Christianity is better “caught than taught.”

On mission with God,

Gailyn

Welcome to our Blog on Missional Church Planting

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We are in the process of setting up this blog. In the mean time, please check out www.missionalive.org.