DeYoung on The Need for Good Churches and Pastors Everywhere

This is a great article about serving different types of churches, written by Kevin DeYoung on The Gospel Coalition. I think he gets it right - it's not about where you serve (urban, suburban, etc.) but whom you serve and why you serve them. All different kinds of ministries matter to God because all people matter to God. Enjoy!


They Need Good Pastors and Good Churches Everywhere

Did you see this article last week by Bill Steeger on why Uncool People Need Jesus Too? I don’t know Steeger but apparently he works with church planting in the Acts 29 Network (think Driscoll, Chandler, Patrick). And apparently all the proposals he sees for church planting look the same:

It’s amazing how many young pastors feel that they are distinctly called to reach the upwardly-mobile, young, culture-shaping professionals and artists. Can we just be honest? Young, upper-middle-class urban professionals have become the new “Saddleback Sam”.

Seriously, this is literally the only group I see proposals for. I have yet to assess a church planter who wants to move to a declining, smaller city and reach out to blue collar factory workers, mechanics, or construction crews. Not one with an evangelsitic strategy to go after the 50-something administrative assistant who’s been working at the same low-paying insurance firm for three decades now.

Why is that? I can’t offer a definitive answer. It could be that God is legitimately calling an entire generation of young pastors to turn their focus to a small segment of the population that happens to look very much like they do.

Ouch. Understandably this piece has caused no little stirring of the blogosphere pot (go here for a similar piece that caused almost no stir). Before we are too hard on Steeger for making urban church planters feel bad we should remember these are the people he works with. If he’s lobbing grenades it’s toward his own side. But before the rural, suburban, or blue collar folks feel smug, we should remember evangelicals are still woefully under-represented in cities.

Urban advocates like Keller are right to trumpet the strategic importance of cities (see also Keller praising The Country Parson). On the other hand, we are probably overdue for a few reminders that artsy, culturally savvy, influential young urbans are not the only unreached people group on the planet.

Before I came to East Lansing I served as an associate pastor in Orange City, Iowa. If the Bible belt has a buckle, this was the logo on the buckle. This Dutch burg (pop. 5500) named after William of Orange, has, if I remember correctly, three RCA churches, three CRC churches, a PR church, a PCA church, an EFCA church, a CMA church, a Lutheran church, a Baptist church, and no Catholic church. The church I served had close to a 1000 people at the time. You could literally do Evangelism Explosion in a weekend and reach all the unchurched. Not the place that needs a lot of strategic church planting.

And yet I’m telling you those dear people need the gospel as much as anyone. They need good pastors and good churches. They need expositional teaching like anyone else. Sure, many things are easier in a town like Orange City. It’s safe. The public schools are practically Christian schools. You don’t have to fight traffic (only two stop lights). Everyone knows everyone and helps everyone. Pastors are put on a pedestal. I was honored more than I deserved. Life revolves around the church (ok, and marching band and sports and lawn-mowing not on Sundays). You aren’t going to win martyr of the church award for living in a friendly, prosperous town like Orange City.

But little towns have big problems too. There’s no anonymity. Everyone is into everyone else’s business. (As I like to remind idealistic twentysomethings, community is a wonderful ideal until you have it.) It’s easy for Christianity to be nothing but cultural wallpaper in the Bible belt. Sins go under cover for years and sometimes generations. The gospel can devolve into family values, moralism, or Republicanism. The idolatry of sports, children, ethnic heritage (if you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much), and property up-keep are more respectable than the idols of sex, power, and liberalism.

Now I live in a town that feels like Gotham compared to Orange City and the boonies compared to Chicago or L.A. Lansing is a rustbelt town, kept afloat by state government, MSU, and GM. We are known for four things: the state capitol, the Spartans, the only GM plant in the country not to drop any of its three shifts, and being an hour and a half from everywhere in the state you want to be. They need good churches here too.

And we feel extremely blessed to be here, so please don’t think I’m a model for doing hard things. The OC was great. Lansing is great, most affordable housing in the country I’m told. Our church is mostly white collar, middle class, very educated, and full of some of the best Christians anywhere. There’s nothing heroic about ministering in the stix, the burbs, the university, the average city, or the cultural centers. We are all unworthy servants doing our duty (Luke 17:10).

And yet, no matter where you live, what you do, or how you minister, faithfulness is heroic (see Hebrews 11). Preaching the gospel week after week is heroic. Loving influential people, in word and in deed, in grace and in truth, in your hugely influential city is heroic. Loving the “least of these” and the “lost of these,” far from notoriety, family, and convenience, strikes me as especially heroic. But I can also spot heroes loving their podunk hamlet, strip mall suburb, underemployed manufacturing town, or urban ghetto.

Lord, save us from making locale the measure of Christian commitment. God gifts us, nurtures us, and calls us to different places and different kinds of ministry. All matter to God because all people matter to God.

Be willing to suffer, but don’t feel guilty for pleasure. Be strategic, but don’t think our strategies are always God’s strategies. Be willing to do anything, go anywhere, and minister to anyone. It matters more who you are than where you are. City, suburb, or country, if we are growing in godliness we will not be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:8).

*view the article on The Gospel Coalition blog.

Preaching to the Kids

At Grace Church, we are going to try a hybrid approach to our Children's Ministry. We want to teach our kids the truths of God in an age-appropriate setting, but we also want the older children to benefit from all that happens in the gathered assembly. So, we are going to teach 3 weeks in CM, 1 week off.

In preparation for that (as well as making the workload a little lighter), we have had the kids in the main meeting for the last two Sundays. It's been great having them in with us! They get to experience the sermon (I know - wow!), they get to see communion take place and participate in the offering. I'm excited to see how God uses this time in the life of our church!

I got a taste of it this morning - my daughter came into my office and asked if I wanted to review the message with her (I know, crazy. She's 7). Of course, I said YES. So we sat and talked and she told me that the point she liked the most was about God's glory. I was referencing 2 Cor 4:16 - our light and momentary afflictions are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. I emphasized that because we are promised the glory of Christ forever, there is no sacrifice or initiative that is not worth making.

Taylor told me that she really loved that and that it helped her with leaving her best friend back in Gilbert. LET ME TELL YOU - that was a cool moment as a dad. To see my daughter not only learn Scripture, but to love Scripture and lean on it is an inexpressible joy.

So kids of Grace Church - I want God to instruct you as much as any adult in the church! I pray we have many great moments from the kids being in for the whole meeting.

Rio Vista - Here We Come

In just a few hours, we are going to be making our way over to the facility we've rented for our first meeting. It's hard to believe that the summer is almost over and our church plant is being placed into the soil for good. It was April of 2008 when the decision was made to start Grace Church - and in many ways, it feels like that was yesterday.

But its here. We have made it through the summer of house church and have experienced God's grace and favor on our little church. Everyone is excited to take the next step and see what God will do in us, for us, and through us.

We don't go lightly. We know there are stormy waters that lie ahead. We know that we have enemies who want to destroy the name of Christ. Please pray for us that we remain steadfast in the truth and joyful in our salvation.

Rio Vista, here we come. Official kickoff is August 30th, 4pm.

Interview at Life Connection Church

We had a great time with the people of Life Connection church Sunday morning! They were so welcoming and friendly - its amazing to show up some place you've never visited and feel like you've been there a thousand times before. Pastor Aaron Dailey led the meeting and we had a blast talking about the gospel together. You can listen in by visiting the site below:

http://lifeconnectionchurch.net/blog_old/wp-content/uploads/oneprayer/oneprayerpart4.mp3

Two highlights: At the end of the time, we took communion together and Aaron led the church in taking up an offering for us. So unexpected! It was a great expression of their love and generosity!

Also, there was a man named Woody who prayed to receive Christ afterwards! He was 57 years old - and had been coming for 3 weeks. I heard somebody yell, "It's never too late!!"

Praise God!

The Gospel and Suburbia

Gospel. Church Plant. Suburbia. It's not the trendy thing to do.

The trendy thing to do is to go into the downtown of the city and work among the urban poor. It's sacrificial, definitely necessary and commendable. I am grateful to God for the churches that are laboring with this mission.

But is that the mission for everyone? Is their something better about ministry to the urban community than ministry to suburbia? I believe that much work exists in the place of comfortable homes. It's because people are comfortable with their earthly lives that they don't see their overwhelming need for salvation. Their sins don't appear to have earned them wrath - it appears to have earned them a nice house, family, job, car, and weekend. When a miniature heaven is constructed on earth, its hard to see the problem.

So let's serve the inner city. Let's come alongside the poor with compassion, tangible help, and the gospel. Let's embrace the great need for mercy ministries to the homeless and downtrodden. But let's not forget and overlook the comfortable people - they need a Savior as much as anyone else (and might know it less...).

For some thought provoking posts on the gospel and surburbia, visit www.thesubtext.org

Happy Birthday Grace Church

That's right - Grace Church has finally been born!

Today was our sendoff Sunday at Sovereign Grace Church and we are officially a church. It has been amazing to watch God take people from all different walks of life and bring us together on this mission. As we go into the summer, my prayer is that God continues to deeper our understanding of the gospel and its impact on our lives

We begin our "soft" launch next Sunday at 4pm at my house, where we will meet for the next three months prior to going to the Rio Vista Community Center. Please continue to pray for us - we are barely a couple of hours old and will need lots of help!

Building Gospel Community

We've talked a lot about building a community that treasures the gospel and lives it out corporately. I came across a great section in The Gospel Primer that says just that:

"The more I experience the gospel, the more there develops within me a yearning affection for my fellow-Christians who are also participating in the glories of the gospel. This affection for them comes loaded with confidence in their continued spiritual growth and ultimate glorification, and it becomes my pleasure to express to them this loving confidence regarding the ongoing work in their lives.

Additionally, with the gospel proving itself to be such a boon in my own life, I realize that the greatest gift I can give to my fellow-Christians is the gospel itself. Indeed, I love my fellow-Christians not simply because of the gospel, but I love them best when I am loving them with the gospel! And I do this not by merely speaking gospel words to them, but also by living before them and generously relating to them in a gospel manner. Imparting my life to them in this way, I thereby contribute to their experience of the power, the Spirit, and the full assurance of the gospel."

What is the Gospel?

We talk a lot about the gospel at Grace Church. It's the cornerstone of our body; it's the epicenter of the Christian faith. Without the gospel, you don't have Christianity. You may have Christian ethics and rules, but that is not good news for sinful people who have failed to live accordingly.

So, we must make sure we understand the gospel. The Gospel Coalition puts it this way:

"We believe that the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ—God’s very wisdom. Utter folly to the world, even though it is the power of God to those who are being saved, this good news is christological, centering on the cross and resurrection: the gospel is not proclaimed if Christ is not proclaimed, and the authentic Christ has not been proclaimed if his death and resurrection are not central (the message is Christ died for our sins . . . [and] was raised"). This good news is biblical (his death and resurrection are according to the Scriptures), theological and salvific (Christ died for our sins, to reconcile us to God), historical (if the saving events did not happen, our faith is worthless, we are still in our sins, and we are to be pitied more than all others), apostolic (the message was entrusted to and transmitted by the apostles, who were witnesses of these saving events), and intensely personal (where it is received, believed, and held firmly, individual persons are saved)."

They are right on. To be even more explicit, the cross is the wisdom of God in propitiating the sins of man. Without the cross, the just and righteous wrath of God has not been appeased. It is there, on the cross, that Jesus makes atonement for our sin, bearing the full weight of the penalty we deserve. It is on the cross that God's punishment for sin is taken and done away with, so that anyone who places faith in Christ will find forgiveness for sins. Anyone who responds will be given a new heart and will be credited Christ's righteousness, leading to geniune change in the life of the believer. Ultimately, the cross promises eternal life with the true and living God - which is the great news within the good news.

May we never be a people who lose their awe for the glory and wisdom and power of the gospel.

Like-minded brothers in Christ

I just got back from a great lunch today. I met up with three other men who are pastoring churches that have recently been planted in the West Valley. All three of these guys love the gospel and are building churches that are built on the foundation of Christ. We were able to share our vision and heart for the city as well as encourage one another in the Lord. I hope we are able to do this again soon!

Please pray for Aaron Dailey of Life Connection Church, Brent Thomas of Church of the Cross, and Scott Gourley of The Way Fellowship Church.

The Foundation: God's Word Part II

Hebrews 4:12 says, "The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

The Bible is a living book written under the inspiration of the living God. We should expect Him to use it to sift our motives, to challenge our thinking, to inspire our love. We come to His word not reluctantly, but because we believe that it is the only source of saving truth in the world. They are truly the words of eternal life.

When we come to God’s Word, we don’t come as judges or critics. We don’t come as those evaluating God – the way we might a popular TV show. No, God’s Word evaluates us. It critiques our lives and motives. It does it thoroughly and penetratingly. And it leaves us devastated in ourselves and longing for the grace of God.

But as we peer into the Word - as worshippers gazing up at the waterfall of God - we see the torrents of his love for us in Jesus Christ. We feel the power of the mighty cross and its washing away of our sin. We taste the refreshment of forgiveness and it satisfies our souls. We bask in the promise of eternal life with the Life Giver. And we go to the Word again and again and again.

May Grace Church be a body of believers who drink deeply from the Word of Life. May it be the foundation of all that we say and do.

The Foundation: God's Word

I was 19 years old when I opened up the Word of God for the first time.

It was no big deal - nothing jumped out to bite me like I might have supposed. No trumpet sounds or angels appearing in the sky. It was a rather normal experience...or so I thought. But this book was far from being the normal, tame collection of writings that I took it to be. It is the very revelation of God.

Words have always been important to God. In the beginning, he created the world through words. He spoke into nothing and creation came to be. He spoke to Adam and Eve and they came to know their creator. He spoke to Noah, and Abraham. He spoke the law to Moses so the nation of Israel would know the character and will of God. He spoke through the prophets, to warn the people of God. Over and over again, God revealed himself through words.

And then comes Jesus. John's Gospel declares Jesus to be the very Word of God - the perfect revelation of all God's perfections. He is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises; in fact, all of the Old Testament was actually about Jesus (Luke 24).

Yet Jesus lived in time and space. He was only able to directly affect a relatively small number of people during his short ministry. As he ascends to heaven, he leaves behind the truth of his gospel in the form of the written word. It is the continued revelation of God for all to know and obey.

That's what 2 Timothy 3:15 makes clear: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness."

Therefore, the Bible is like no other book that has ever been written. It's God speaking to us the truth of his good news. Apart from God speaking and revealing this to us, we would never come to know salvation in Christ. His Word is truth itself and we receive "everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us." (2 Peter 1:3)

The foundation of Grace Church is the immovable, divinely inspired Word of God. It's through this infallible book that we understand the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us, who suffered under the wrath of God as he hung on the cross, and who rose again in victory on the third day. May the Word of God be known, memorized, cherished and spoken as we build this new church!

Interest Meeting on Sunday Night

Don't forget that we have our last Members Interest Meeting on Sunday night 6pm! You are welcome to come and hear more about what we believe God is calling us to do on this church plant. Even if you've decided to come, plan on coming as I am going to walk through the upcoming schedule for the church plant team. 

This is going to be exciting! 

WE HAVE A LOCATION

I went down and signed the contract today for our opening location of Grace Church - The Rio Vista Recreation Center!

God has been abundantly kind to open this door for us. The facility is amazing - its location is central, it puts us right in the middle of the community and the staff have been great to work with. It will be a great home for us to get started in.

"For I resolved to know nothing while I was among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

That's what I am anxious to see happen in this building, for the glory of God. 

A Very Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a great time last night counting down the clock and ushering in 2009! Just a few seconds after midnight, I turned to Tara and said, "We're planting a church this year!" It was thrilling and sobering to think about. Next year this time, we'll be recounting stories of God's grace in the opening months of Grace Church.

I'd ask for you to begin praying (if you haven't been). As we enter this new year and new season, let's join together to be praying for the following things:

1. A personal devotion to Jesus Christ that exceeds any you've had previously

2. A committment to know His Word and live by His Word

3. A reliance on the Holy Spirit for wisdom and witness

4. An eagerness to sacrifice your preferences so that the gospel will advance

5. A willingness to periodically fast and pray for God to do amazing things - read this great article http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1564_The_Crazy_Idea_of_Fasting_in_09/

6. Fertile soil in the hearts of people to receive the gospel

7. Favor from God as we start to gather and meet

And even as 2009 begins, God has been showing us favor. I got an email from the Rio Vista Recreational Center stating that they are willing to let us sign a contract for Aug/Sept for the hours I requested! Praise God for this open door - we have an official place to start meeting as a church!

Still Awaiting Word on Facility

I am still waiting to hear back from the Rio Vista Recreation Center as to whether or not we can rent space there. A church is currently meeting there, but they have communicated that they may not be continuing. I should hear back sometime next week. There are some great benefits of using this facility as a starting point for Grace Church.

Keep praying for God to give wisdom as we make these decisions - for the glory of His name and the good of the people in the West Valley.

Merry Christmas Peoria!

Tara and I hope you all had a great day celebrating our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Just think - next year we will be in Peoria and the church will be a few months old. I'm looking forward to all the stories of God's grace between this Christmas and next.

Merry Christmas!
Chris

Why Grace Church?

You may be wondering: Why Grace Church? Why not Sovereign Grace Church? Why not something more cutting edge, like The Gathering or Teleos or some other Greek name?

It's simple. I love grace. It's one of the most profound and powerful doctrines in the entire Bible. It's completely changed my life. And its at the core of the gospel - grace. We are not saved by anything we do. Our works only further serve to condemn us, as we fail to live as we ought. No, we are utterly dependent on God and his gospel to bring us into right standing with Him. And this undeserved favor that has been given to us in Christ, through his death and resurrection, is the grace we stand in.

And that's why I want the name to be Grace Church. It's simple, but its clear and liberating. Of course, it will always be preached as sovereign grace as that is what all grace is. But I like the simplicity of the name for communicating to people what we are about. It doesn't hurt that it will help us in conversation to not confuse the Peoria church with the Gilbert church.

Please pray for God's wisdom as we consider the location for the new church. The leading candidate is the Rio Vista Recreational Center - pretty nice, huh?

I am supposed to meet with the facilities director on Tuesday to discuss a contract. I've talked to her several times in the last week and she is very easy to work with.

This facility would be phenomenal on a number of levels. The access to it from the Loop 101 is amazing. It's literally 2 minutes from the Thunderbird exit to your parking spot. It is in the heart of an award winning community park and becoming a main gathering spot for families in Peoria. What a great place to plant a church!

So, please join me in praying for the Lord's will. I will post something on it as soon as I know. Thanks!