Thoughts on church plants
Patrick Mead writes that there is no point in churches being planted if they are to be regarded as a Holy outpost rather than a redeeming force. Drawing from the Celtic monastic movement we learn that people need a sense of belonging before they can even articulate faith, and how churches need to reach out and provide that sense of belonging in order to then lead the person to faith in Jesus.
….is church planting the answer? May I be forthright at the risk of being
offensive? Perhaps we shouldn’t plant churches that are just like the
churches we have if those churches are not reaching their communities
and the cultures that surround them. Your church may be small and
struggling because it is faithful, but more likely it is small and
struggling because it is not connecting with the culture that lives
outside its building. Putting up another building won’t help.
He also draws from Mark Driscoll and shares how the Church is called to love the gospel, the culture, and the church……
….the church is called to love the gospel, the culture, and the church but most churches only love two of the three. If we love the gospel and our culture but not the church, we form a parachurch organization that tries to connect people to Jesus without connecting them to each other. If we love our church and our culture but not the gospel we become a liberal, mainline denomination without power to change the world. If we love the church and the gospel but not the culture, we become isolated and our churches slowly die (it can take a century or two), prone to legalism and irrelevance
Now this is what is bothering me……How do I connect with the culture around me in practical ways? How do I demonstrate God’s love in practical visible ways? How do I love the culture more in order to stand in the gap and allow myself to be used as a conduit to bring more of heaven to earth? I must contend for the Presence, albeit within the wise parameters laid out above.
Much to chew on in this post…….I’m chewin’ I’m chewin’ !
Technorati Tags: Church Planting, Celtic Monasticism, Evangelism, Relevance, Conecting church
