church planting 101

“How great is the love that Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are... Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:1-2

I haven’t ever paid much attention to verse 2 before… “what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him…” It fits so perfectly with Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this that he who began a good work will be faithful to bring it about until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Honestly, I read that to say this. I have no idea what the future holds. I have no idea what tomorrow looks like, or 5 years from now. But I do what is inevitable in my future, what is certain. God WILL complete the good work that He began in me, when he appears I WILL be like him, for I will see him as he is. He WILL do the things that he has promised to do… these are certainties in my future. He will work for my good and he will equip me for everything that he calls me to do. I could go on and on.

This morning in our church planting seminar, Bill Yarborough talked about certainties as they pertain to the church, and to our personal lives. But I’ll limit this to just talking about the church.

“The fulfillment of God’s promises, through the work of the Holy Spirit, is our inevitable future as the people of God.” And as it pertains to the church and the kingdom of God… “Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end” “on that rock, I will build my church.” He has promised that HIS kingdom will increase and HIS church will be established. We are a part of a movement of what God is already doing in the world and we are part of a vision that ultimately will come to fruition.

Here are three other totally random tidbits from the morning…
1) “There is no power in vision alone, there is no power in principles, strategies, or good theology – the Gospel is the power of God.”

2) Church planting weds the Gospel of grace and the doing of justice. This is a challenge to adopt your community to really be your neighbors. There is a difference in our mindset when we say…
1. There are drugs being sold in the neighborhood… they have a problem… we will move
2. There are dugs being sold in OUR neighborhood… WE have a problem… let’s ask the Lord to redeem this place and take active steps toward that end

3) Tim Keller “the Gospel is the way that anything is renewed and transformed by Christ – whether a heart, a relationship, a church, or a community. Therefore, all our problems come from a lack of orientation to the Gospel. All pathologies in the church and all its ineffectiveness comes from a failure 1) to think out the deep implications of the Gospel, b) to grasp and believe it through and through, and c) to use the Gospel in a radical way. Put positively, the Gospel transforms our hearts and thinking and approaches to absolutely everything.”