By Pastor Jon
Have you thought about what the relative lack of church planting in New Zealand communicates?
I have.
Let me suggest this affirms a lack of true realised love and responsible care for this nation’s humanity in the call of the Gospel; a lack of trust in the provision of Jesus, coupled with a fear of the consequences.
We can be so content with the sociological comfort in our insider’s people-group that we give little consideration to the implications of the Great Commission, and whether we are following-through in obedience. Living in the Gospel well, means living outside of our self-absorbed, comfortable lines (Hebrews 13:13).
But still, say we do give this some personal consideration, the obvious present lack can then become promoted through an unbelief on whether God will really provide the right replacements for a given local church, if certain enthusiasts get sent, which is why we must control the levers. Maybe we have become idle talk for so long that the church-at-large has become cynical about the substance of this planting reality? That is reasonable; even understandable. All the while, the resulting missional inertia must still be challenged. There must be Gospel-change-for-good inside Aotearoa. Doing nothing has resulted in a lot of lack about the very Something of our so-great-a-salvation.
I don’t think many of these obstacles necessarily operate at every person’s determined cognitive level, but even that affirmation is a commentary of where church planting is presently located. It has been interesting to see people’s reaction to this RELOVUTIONARY plant, especially those in closer proximity, which has illuminated considerations. The almost-passive-aggressive-you-are-now-a-leper has uncovered the reigning presupposition. Which is? When you plant a church, you can only be taking sheep from another patch. There is only so much sheep to go around. And who appreciates people who do that?! Because, don’t ridicule our intelligence, you will actually positively reach people outside the Kingdom?! Please humour my calvinism, because I do believe there are actually more elect inside New Zealand than currently reside inside the Church. It is too oblivious that this rarely happens, which is why we don’t consider this potential.
Just imagine if stereotypical churches in each region of the Land of the Long White Cloud were witnessing 50, 100, even 200, people saved each year. I mean, outside-in. Born again. There must be examples, but they must not be the more freaky exceptional.
Just maybe the problem is the solution.
In fact, as Tim Keller proves, church planting is the predominant way to positively infuse these hypotheticals with God-glorifying answers.
This small step has a giant missional leap.
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But nobody said this would be easy.
I know I am not immune from considering the consequences. I have thought many times about how or will this “work” out, which is essentially me already playing god, and deciding what “success” looks like. And, as Jesus builds His Church, He also decides when to effectively kill a local expression. We are supposed to trust Him in either, and throughout.
I know with all that this must become, it is beyond the animations of my flesh. No surprise there. Still, I have wondered and spoken to Pastor Dan that it could just be “us” on the first official weekend. How embarrassing?! We have experienced the scorching of our relational earth. And this is not America, where a letterbox drop will net you a good number of interested spectators. God willing, there will be a number than a couple more, but this church planting decision is really thinking about the longer term. There could well be more pain demanding us to press even deeper into the work of the Son. A very good thing.
Yet, if this is of God, then it is part of His good plan, and He has a destination in mind, which is much better than mine. My job is to plant and water. You had one job! Too often; like too much of the time, we live like it all rests of me and thee. Sadly, we make a supernatural reality, closed and naturalistic. Sociologists, we are not! No wonder it seems so run-of-the-mill to others watching and wondering.
If RELOVUTIONARY is not Jesus’s Church plant, then we are Jonah’s; dead in the water; needing new life. I know that prayer has found a new avenue for impetus. Desperate times and all!
If anything comprehensively “good” in the objective God-of-the-Bible sense, which openly declares, “Jesus as Lord,” it will be a result of this very same Jesus completing this building His Church work. In other words, not ultimately because of me, but more like in spite. I will not really be due any credit. Yes, I know, there are many important responsibilities for my application. But, the gates of Hell, I can not surmount in my own mortal coil. I have lived long enough, and been down too many roads to intimately know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I can not simply decide. There is not enough power. I return to what has been a fundamental verse in my journey: “Unless the Lord builds the house those that build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Psalm 127:1). The point? Unless the Lord!
Therefore, looking like a fool is really only substantiating what we too often only privately confess. We are relative halfwits compared to what is required in our callings. We are the “why do I do the things I do not want to do” of Romans 7 in the present tense. We are always in the “unless the Lord” position, otherwise we really lurch in vain.
Positively, this means stating any church planting goal is really only declaring that if the Lord would deem fit to complete His work, through our weakness, then it can happen. This commitment reflects the abundant need in New Zealand for Gospel-centered churches to increasingly dot this post-Christian nation, lost in a sea of confusion. This is not about a back to the Bible nostalgic retreat, but a forward with the Bible movement, as the foundational grounds for real meaning and true human flourishing.
When all is said, and little-to-none is done, we launch for 50. I know; maybe just get the first one up and functioning before any “big” talk. Not a bad idea. Yet, I want to make the cultural intentions of RELOVUTIONARY clear, and from the very start. We want to be birthed with these expectations. Therefore, my hope remains to plant 50 churches from RELOVUTIONARY. Again, that number is beyond. There is only so much we can plan. This is not taking into account what these 50 may further plant. We are not competent in ourselves (2 Corinthians 3:5). It is easy to consider that number as an impious platitude. It is as easy to type as beyond me to complete. This has not just been made-up for this post. I declared this privately to a friend as I began. This feels like plumbing the depths of a universe from planet earth. I have not been that far out. I don’t even own a telescope. One thing I do know is that any number you want of galaxies-beyond, is not, for the Creator and Sustainer, of all that is. You can want to keep your cards close to your chest about such definitive numbers. These can easily set-you-up for failure. Take the pressure down, we wisdom. So our flesh can easily conflate. And, it is true, it is too easy to bloviate. But, speaking this freely is not-so-difficult when you truly believe this is up to God, and only He can make it happen. This means this number is for Him to finally decide as we plod the hustle.
Is it really flourishing to have so little godly anticipation? I know this is the post-Christian West, but I also wrote a tome with this in mind. Maybe He has prepared this vessel? And isn’t our present culture’s climate of unbelief objectively minuscule compared to how great is our God? Nice theory, Preacher Boy!
As Founder, Planter, and Lead Pastor (how many titles does one really need?!), I did not commit to this idea to pad my own ego. Anyway, if this was so, I would be presently using the super model version. Quite slimming. And given my health challenges, this is not the safe option. Time will tell if it is also the prudent one. There are times when I feel real apprehension. I know what it is like to be scrambling off the edge of an existential cliff, not sure if you can make-it-up. Another opportunity for desperate prayer. But maybe, all the talk we expend about God showing-up is mostly hot-air because we live such safe and controlled lives?! We live so far from any edge that only first world problems can leave us salty on the inside.
The only reason why I will press-on is because I believe this is of God, in the knowledge that such a movement is the need of our nation’s hour. You may have some idea of the extent of my written travels. I have been deeply in the weeds.
I have come to the conclusion that the only way forward is to increasingly plant a flotilla of life-giving vessels that prodigiously distribute grace to stricken compliant victims of the world’s oldest disease.
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In this recent exploration, I have been encouraged with written communications from Pastor J. D. Greear, who had the gumption to declare the following about, The Summit Church:
we hope over a lifetime to send 5,000 people long-term. We have set out the goal of planting 1,000 churches in our lifetime (Gaining by Losing, page 205).
He ain’t even in Texas, but this reads like righteously big talk. Unlike this present offering, The Summit local church has verifiable runs on the not-at-all-bored. I believe they’re past one-hundred going strong.
I can think of no more pressing need, and no more compelling calling, than seeking this reality. Okay, including writing books. I have a plan. I believe it reflects the Saviour’s. Others potentially more qualified have agreed. You could say that this church planting dynamic is what separates RELOVUTIONARY the book from RELOVUTIONARY the church plant. Maybe, it is better to say, this church plant life movement is taking the written philosophy of Christian Living in the Post-Christian West, and practically releasing it for communal emancipation.
Recently, when I have viewed a person so obviously in the last physical phases, I internally ask myself about my own life, if I was to step back into safety. What must it be like to have a weight of dreams that is then beyond one’s physical frame? That could easily be me if I hesitate. I intimately know how time can only masquerade with eternal machinations in our youth. It then laughs-in-your-face-from-belly-depth as you wonder where it has all gone. And so quickly. Our lives can amount to a stolen generation. Truthfully, we only get to live each moment once. The calendar is real. Don’t waste the days of relative youth. You don’t have those infallible lifetime charts, this side of that future. God giveth your youth, but through the progress and process of time, He also taketh away. This is not an encouragement into false depths on regret, but a compulsion into making most of the remaining temporal moments, before the good life really gets started.
We spend so much of our lives gaming-out scenarios, that, when we move, it requires very little stepping out in faith. I am reminded of the life of John G. Paton. What I am convinced about is that when God is leading, the destination is purposeful. Therefore, if God deems this plan as road-worthy, He will use it. If not, the need of New Zealand’s hour remains the same. Ultimately, the need, and not the human whom, is what counts. Therefore, it is incumbent on all Jesus-loving, Bible-believing Christians in Aotearoa to recommit to the Great Commission, so that we can confess like Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:1: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”
If we love the Lord, we should each be deeply concerned and compelled about how His words are being implemented into every new today (Matthew 28:18-20).
Do you have this vision? Maybe, it is more, what are you going to do to be obedient, even in your own neck of the woods? What is your check-out level? We each have one. We tend to default to it everyday. It is time to destroy. And seek God. If the conceptions in this piece positively capture your attention, there is a place for you. I am not sure what that exactly means, but you are invited into the journey. We certainly can’t do this alone.
We know we need, and therefore we seek, to train-up, equip, and then release many ambassadors, leaders, and planters to complete. That could be you.
We will also need much positive collaboration and colabouration helping to fill our many gaps. We trust God. Our cyber-door is never closed. Lord, give us boldness and courage to press onward and upward. Amen! Amen?
What Say You?
For the Fame of His Name