The Growing Team

Zachary Caleb Wilkinson was born at 8:15 on 2/24. He joins Aubrey Lee and Justin Franklin as the latest little additions to our rapidly growing team!

Remembering the Early Days

2/24 was a good though crazy Sunday. We’ve had 34 visitors so far in 2008 (though unfortunately most of those won’t ’stick’). Last night a visiting family from the morning came to our house for fellowship group in the evening. That’s always a big step for people to take. Attendance continues to be very good despite lots of sickness.

I recently came across the church planting journal that I did off and on from May ‘02 to sometime in ‘05 (GBC started in October of ‘03). A couple days ago I read the entries from the summer of ‘03 when we did our first outreach in Menifee (though we were not yet holding services). It was a complete flop. Then last night I read the entries from October and November ‘03, including my thoughts after our first Sundays in the elementary school. I had forgotten what a difficult and discouraging time it was. It’s thrilling to think about what God has done since then. It’s also thrilling to be at a point where we can start making realistic plans to do it again in a couple of years! Lord willing we will be a little more prepared this time around (I cringe a little bit when I read about those early days), but human preparation is no substitute for God’s powerful working. In those early days of GBC we did see God work in remarkable ways; we are still seeing that today; and that will be the only hope for the next church plant. John Owen encouraged my heart this morning with these words about Christ:

• His treasures of grace are unsearchable
• His stores inexhaustible
• His heart bountiful and large
• His hand open and liberal

Is church planting hard and scary? Not really – with that kind of God, I think thrilling is a much better word!

Pillars of Church Planting

Someone recently asked me about issues or truths that are ‘pillars of church planting.’ The main answer is easy: Ephesians and Acts. But after that, I pulled out the little book that shaped my church planting philosophy and vision more than any other: Multiplying Churches, edited by Stephen Timmis (isbn 1857925734, I think it is out of print but still available directly from christianfocus.com). Some chapters of the book are useless, but the others easily make up for it. Here are some of the things that helped shape my thinking:

He begins by saying that “at the heart of this material lies a conviction that church planting is necessary from both an ecclesiological perspective and a missiological perspective: in other words, for the sake of existing churches and for the sake of non-Christians.” He argues that “church planting is a God-ordained strategy” and therefore “we all should and could be involved.”

He criticizes the ideal of the big church and argues that “a vision for church growth must be a vision for church planting.”

He says that church planting “is an opportunity to reinvent church along radically biblical lines.” I don’t think we have any business reinventing church, but the general point is right: church planting is a wonderful opportunity to go back to the Bible and seek a biblical philosophy of ministry, instead of just doing what has always been done.

He says “The place one gives to the church in one’s theology will affect the place one gives it in mission. If the individual is at the heart of God’s purposes then it is natural to place the individual at the heart of mission. But if the church is at the heart of God’s purposes and Christ’s saving work, we need not be embarrassed about making it the heart of mission.”

He argues for the importance of teams in church planting: “As we think of leaders, we should not think Lone Ranger.”

He argues for churches planting churches, saying that “Church planting is part of normal church life. At present it carries a certain mystique; church planters more so. We need to create a culture in which, at the very least, transplanting is normal. Every local church should be aiming to transplant. Every local church should be raising up church planters.”

He pleads for mature, experienced men to plant churches: “It is a task best undertaken by leaders of caliber, experience, and gifting. Unfortunately, what often happens is that such leaders move on to larger churches and bigger pulpits. [This is] a trend that needs reversing.”

He argues for the importance of strategy, and for the role of important cities in that strategy.

“A refusal to undertake a gospel initiative out of a fear of failure is a far greater problem than a gospel initiative failing.” That was such an encouragement to me – it’s not a failure to try to plant a church and fail. It’s a failure to not plant the church because you were too afraid. He does not, however, minimize the damage that can be done by a failed church plant. So he adds this exhortation: “All of this is just another way of saying that church planting is a long-term initiative, and that ought to be written into the contract.”

Answered Prayer

Simple update: God is answering prayer. I am amazed at the number of specific answers to prayer we are seeing. (and why should I be amazed?) These answers are coming in the most important area – heart changes in individual lives. I don’t know of any greater blessing for a church ministry than to be able to say: God is answering prayer and changing lives. Of course I can’t share specifics on a public site like this, but I hope you can rejoice with us that God is changing lives. After all, isn’t that the point of church planting?!

We have been learning more about a facility lease possibility. You can learn more by downloading a Word document here.

Menifee cityhood

Our ‘little’ (by Southern California standards) town of about 65,000 people might be a city by this fall. They’ve announced a vote in June which would result in cityhood by October. This probably doesn’t mean a whole lot for our church at this point. Negatively it may mean that new city ordinances could prevent us from putting up signs advertising the church or things like that. Positively it could build more of a sense of community and lead to more community events. In the long term there could be more significant negatives (city codes) if we lease or build a facility in the city of Menifee itself. One of the issues we will vote on: whether to be officially called “Menifee” or “Menifee Valley.”
More here.

Lots Happening

So much happening around here!

• Our attendance Sunday (79) was actually the highest we’ve had. We’ve been averaging over 70 so far in ‘08.
• We had a man make a profession of faith in Christ on Sunday. We have been praying for him for more than three years.
• We are working with at least two families that are interested in church membership.
• Adam & Kristi Lee welcomed a healthy baby, Aubrey Nicole, about 10 days ago.
• David & Heather Wilkinson are expecting the imminent arrival of baby Zachary, who has been trying to arrive early for quite some time now. She is about 35 weeks along, so he will probably be here very soon.
• Eric & Alicia True have accepted an offer on their home in Greenville. Eric’s ordination exam is this Wednesday evening.