Why are we starting a church?
I could answer and try to explain this by going in two very different directions.
I could Google “why plant a church” or visit the myriad sites dedicated to the adventure/challenge/subculture of church plants and speak to the issues that far smarter and experienced church leaders can speak to. I could offer research and statistics, using numbers to communicate the rationale and the percentages of non-churched and so on. I could talk about our modern times, our post-modern, post-church culture. I could quote books by familiar, respected (and much more articulate than me) authors because boy oh boy, I have a lot of books on my shelves that cover the subject of church leadership and church planting.
A lot of those books are dusty though.
The numbers and statistics have been shared and I don’t remember them.
And the websites and blogs, well, on any given day they can either encourage me or thwart me and any vision that exists because I have some massive inferiority issues.
I could also start quoting familiar Bible passages and draw out the stories of the early church in Acts and the New Testament and say things like, “I just want to be part of a church that…” and somehow that statement could give the impression (and be grossly misunderstood) to sound like there are no viable or healthy, Biblical, “good” churches currently in our community and that somehow, we have a vision or strategy that will change everything around here.
Well. Forget that.
I’m going with option two.
Why are we interested in starting a church?
Because of Jesus.
Because of all the dreams and ideas and goals and lists that Nate and I have made over the years, this is the one thing we both agree on and can’t get away from.
And Lord knows we have had our doubts and our immense discouragement (before anything has even happened!) and our fears and moments of wondering if we have somehow both managed to go crazy at the same unfortunate time.
Yet for the months (actually years) that this idea has simmered within us, we both actually agree that if we don’t try and if we don’t take this step, we think we will have missed something God was nudging and leading and guiding us to do. If we don’t do this it would most likely be because of fear, excuses, selfishness and more fear. We don’t want that to be part of our story.
Even in the moments of feeling like we might fail miserably, we still have the sense to press on and accept that defeat or failure may come. Anyone who knows me well enough knows that this is about as opposite to my approach to life as I can get.
Even in the moments of feeling absolutely isolated and alone, we have these flickers of hope that these are part of the preparations for us to be part of creating community and team.
Even in the long bouts of feeling inadequate, inexperienced, and insufficiently educated, there is a quiet little voice that somehow manages to drown out the shouts of the negative voices, and it reminds me of the unending supply of strength, wisdom, grace and power found in obedience to the One who gives dreams and vision and crazy ideas like church planting. That voice sometimes also sounds like Jillian from the Biggest Loser and talks some good smack about being “incapable” as it rattles off the list of all the inadequate and unprepared disciples of Christ who somehow managed to start this thing called Church way back in the day.
That helps a little usually.
So that is at the heart of this crazy idea. Somehow Jesus has broken down all of our reasons not to and given us this assignment or picture or vision of helping build His Church.
Out of that vision comes the desire to help bring Him to people and bring people to Him. This also feels like crazy talk because I have a long list of things I am not and “evangelist” is definitely on it. And yet… here we are. Stirred unexpectedly to live our lives with people who may or may not be comfortable with going to church or praying or living with faith and hope in Jesus rather than themselves. Heck, you can count me on that list depending on the day.
And just to make it clear: there are some fantastic, healthy church communities in our area. There are people’s lives being changed and transformed within the church and outside of the church because of Jesus and His church here. We do not think we can do anything better or that something is wrong with the existing church communities in Newberg. This is about obedience, faith, and passion for the Church and most especially for the One true leader of the Church. There’s actually an excitement in me at the idea of being an additional part of a bigger church community seeking to reach and transform our culture and community, rather than anything divisive or alienated.
There are a lot of coffeeshops in Newberg competing for our business; it does not need to be that way with churches who follow Jesus.
So we are stepping forward. We are praying desperately (and sometimes meekly) for each future step on this adventure. We have prayed for doors to be opened and for the vision to become real. We have prayed that the discouragement would be replaced with renewed passion and faith. We have felt stripped down and pruned back, and are praying that this next season will be full of fruit and favor as we (finally) move forward.
We have known all along it is nothing to take lightly as it is not a task that we can attend to here and there or a job that you go to and leave at the end of the day. It is something that will change our lives. And our deepest desire is that we will get to be part of helping change others’ lives, too.
Why are we starting a church?
Because Jesus asked us to.
Why now?
Because Jesus asked us to.
But what if ______________? (no one comes, it doesn’t work, we are in over our heads, etc.)
We will still love and obey Jesus.
Are we ready?
Heck no and heck yes.
~ kim
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Tags: christianity, church plant, church planting
