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Three Challenges for Every New Church
It's all about risks, the Holy Spirit, and reproducing.
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It was the first launch team meeting for this soon-to-be brand new church. In a matter of days they would go public with their very first worship service. It was definitely an emerging church; but you could also say that it was seeker-targeted. They didn't know much about church growth, but they were completely pro-numbers even though they were organized around a house church model. There were all kinds in this launch team: those that were gung-ho and those that would give up; leaders and followers; wealthy and unemployed, men, women and children. It wasn't the most gifted or best resourced of new church plants, but they did have one thing that every new church needs—a certainty about their mission. It was Jesus that did the visioneering before this emerging, seeker-targeted house church. As he spoke, he made the mission clear to all. He said: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). When they heard him speak one word stood out in a glaring way: witnesses. When this group of spiritual entrepreneurs heard him say "you will be my witnesses," they did not think he meant "sharing their story" or "inviting and including" people into a small group. What they heard him say was marturious, and they knew marturious meant martyr. The one thing that stuck in the heart and head of every member of that launch team was that starting this local church would be a huge risk, and it might be so risky that it would cost his or her life! Challenge #1: Take Bold Risks " … and you will be my witnesses …" When we started Community Christian Church, I was 25, Jon was 23, and it was a huge risk on God we decided to take. We had no money, no people, no facility and no sense. We just wanted to help people find their way back to God. That was over 15 years ago, but time, size, or perceived success does not change the challenge that is before us. We are still a church planting launch team, and we are still called to marturios, to risk it all. In a few weeks we will add our eighth Community Christian Church location. This next site will be in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago where 95 percent of the population is Latino and the first language is Spanish. So why would a predominately Anglo English-speaking-upper-middle-class suburban megachurch start a location in Pilsen? Because we are still a church planting launch team who has been challenged by Jesus to marturios, to take risks that may cost us everything. Challenge #2: Be Spirit-Led " … you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you … " There was no mistaking what Jesus meant by marturios, but there had to be lots of scratching their heads when Jesus explained that the Holy Spirit would guide this risk-taking endeavor. How was that launch team to make sense of that? |             |
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