GBC Menifee update

This week we’re saying goodbye to two families that are moving away: Adam & Kristi Lee and Javier & Lisa Villagran. Financial considerations have been at the center of both of these moves, and it won’t be any surprise if we lose more families in the coming months as the economic pain continues to hit home. Our attendance has been flirting with 100, but these departures will obviously have an impact on that. We had about 80 people at a wonderful picnic last night to say goodbye to the Lees and Villagrans.

My Sunday was highlighted by two conversations in which people expressed very sincere appreciation for the preaching, and specifically expressed the ways God has been changing their lives and homes through the Word. We’ve finished up our series on the Fear of God, and by the end of August we’ll begin our new series exploring the rest of the Pentateuch.

We also voted this Sunday to appoint Eric True as an elder. In one sense this was just a formality, but in another sense it is very important for our church family to commit to follow his leadership as God designs in Scripture. This past Sunday was the vote – next Sunday we’ll have an appointment service to remind both Eric and the people of their biblical responsibilities to one another.

We’ve finalized plans for an elders’ planning retreat September 5-6. This will be an important time of planning both for GBC Menifee and for the next church plant.

While we are losing two families, we’re excited that the Lord is also bringing another one! Nate & Erin Hamblen are on their way across the country (oh, that wonderful time of life when you can fit all of your belongings into a car!). They are scheduled to arrive this Friday. They will be living and working in Corona for now, but they are excited to serve any way they can in our church family.

Church Planting, Preaching, and Patience Part II

“When you plant a church, prepare your first year of sermons in advance. That way you can spend the first year soulwinning.” Healthy advice? One other thing that makes me uncomfortable about this statement is the inference that church planting is a sprint. I remember being told about one very successful church planter who worked 70 hours a week during the first years of his church plant – and this was suggested to me as a positive example to follow!

Things here on the blog might be quiet until I return from the celebration of my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary and 50 years in pastoral ministry. My father is a faithful soulwinner. My parents have worked plenty of 70 hour weeks when necessary. But when people talk about Mom and Dad, one word comes up repeatedly: faithful. Fifty years worth of faithfulness doesn’t happen if you treat ministry like a sprint. My dad was always up before me, with his Bible, feeding his heart so that he could feed the hearts of a flock on Sunday.

This brings to mind one of my favorite quotes: “Church planting requires determination, vision, and a willingness to pay the price of ministry. Many church plants fail, and people who have been involved in them are sometimes left disillusioned. People enter church planting projects with high hopes and with a sense of excitement. It can be no other way. But, as we know, the higher our hopes the greater the force with which they can be dashed on the rocks of realism and disappointment. 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.” (Stephen Timmis, Multiplying Churches)

Church planting is a long-term initiative. Don’t burn out your own heart or your flock by spending the first year preaching stock sermons. “Work hard at preaching and teaching” (I Timothy 5:17).

Church Planting, Preaching, and Patience – Part I

Seven years ago I received this advice: “When you plant a church, prepare your first year of sermons in advance. That way you can spend the first year soulwinning.” There’s one thing I like about that statement: it places a strong emphasis on the evangelistic foundation necessary for a healthy church plant. But in most every other way, that advice tends toward a very unhealthy church plant.

What about the church planter’s heart? Is a year without any serious sermon preparation spiritually healthy?

What about the flock – are they being fed by those stock sermons prepared in advance and pulled out of the file folder on Saturday afternoon?

What about the pastor’s relationship to his people? Though he should shepherd in many other ways, does not the primary shepherding occur through the Word as it is preached and taught?

Does this statement suggest that preaching is a peripheral – or even problematic – part of church planting?

One more comment has to do with patience … but that will come in the next post.

Update from Eric & Alicia True

Click here for pdf of Trues Update July 2008

Too Many Double-Income-No-Kids Churches?

“A congregation that will not give of itself for the purpose of reproduction can be likened to a couple who do not want to have a child because a baby would hinder their careers and freedom. Time will reveal that kind of choice to be a very poor one indeed, especially after the novelty of career and freedom have worn off and afford no long-term fulfillment.”

from Church Planting Voices, compiled by Michael Noel

A Really Aggressive Team Model

I found this team church planting model in an appendix of a somewhat obscure book from the mid-1980s. This appendix was written by an ABWE missionary named Mel Cuthbert describing the model they were attempting to use for church planting in Brazil. Basically it works like this (in my own words):

1. Four men make it their goal to plant five churches. They have a balance of gifts: evangelism (A), teaching (B), youth/music (C), administration (D).
2. They choose a sizable target area with a need for several churches.
3. A/B/C help start church #1 with D as the pastor.
4. A few months later, B/C/D help start ahurch #2 with A as the pastor.
5. This continues two more times, until all four men pastor their own churches.
6. By this point, church #1 is ready to be handed over to national pastor, so that D can go start another church.

Certainly this is unrealistic and possibly unhealthy in most church planting settings (especially since Cuthbert suggests this can all happen in one year!). But I do love the fact that they are thinking outside the box about team ministry! Cuthbert listed these problems that often arise in situations where team is neglected in favor of lone ranger church planting:

• “The church easily becomes a missionary-centered work…. The work is often referred to as ‘Missionary Doe’s church’.”
• “The missionary often becomes personally if not intimately involved in the work and tends to control and hang on for fear others may not do as good a job.”
• “The strengths and weaknesses of the [one] worker become reflected in the work. Often a certain type of people is attracted, rather than a good balance.”
• “The new churches rarely exceed attendance of 100-150 in areas that should be more fruitful.”

Though there are some obvious weaknesses in this model, I think his comments are worth our careful consideration.

from Church Planter’s Manual, by Harold E. Amstutz, Cherry Hill, NJ: ABWE, Inc., 1985.

Geographically Close, Culturally Far Away

Years ago I read A Theology as Big as the City, by Ray Bakke. I don’t recommend it at all, to be honest. But this quote is worth quoting: “The frontier of missions has shifted. The majority of the world’s non-Christians will not be geographically distant people, but culturally distant peoples who often reside together … [in] the metro areas of every continent.” That line really grabbed my attention: culturally distant peoples who often reside together. The geographical distance is very short, but the cultural distance can be great. This is a tremendous challenge for church planting and ministry. Ministries in Southern California face a basic question: do you offer a Spanish-language service, or do you start a separate Spanish church? That’s just one simple example of the questions we face as we minister to culturally distant people who often reside together. This may be a challenge for our strategy and planning and decision-making, but it is no challenge to the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation in every culture, geography, and time.

What’s Next?

We’ve finished our months of mayhem (May and June) here at GBC Menifee! Praise the Lord for so many blessings the last two months. It was too busy, but very fruitful in many ways. I would appreciate your prayers as we look forward to what is next for our church family and leadership team. For the past months we’ve just been hanging on, trying to get everything done. Now we have a chance to step back, examine, critique, pray, and plan for the future. It’s scary and exciting, and I would be delighted if you would pray that God would unite our hearts to fear Him, that we might walk through this important time with godly wisdom.