The Mission: Gospel-Centered

Anticipating our church plant next year in Austin, I've been walking through our theological vision. So far we've looked at the first two phrases of the vision statement below.  The next phrase is the center point, the pinnacle, of our identity.  Nothing is more important to us than being centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Here is the statement I have been working with.

Under the Authority of God’s Word, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be a gospel-centered church that worships God, loves one another, and proclaims the gospel to the world. 

Let me expand on this third phrase. 

 A Gospel-Centered Church (Gen 3:15, Isaiah 53, Psalm 110, Luke 24:27, John 1:14-18, Romans 1:18, Romans 3:21-26, 1 Corinthians 2:2, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4,  Ephesians 1:3-14, Revelation 5)

If I could only pick one of these phrases to share with someone about the vision of our church, it would be this one.  All of these other priorities are vitally important, but there is a reason that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the center of our mission.  We believe that the good news of Jesus life, death, and resurrection is the center of the Bible’s message and should be the priority in our church’s identity.  The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived a perfect life and died in our place to save us from God’s judgment and unite us to himself for eternity.   To ‘center’ our church on the gospel means: 1)  all of our Sunday preaching will consistently highlight the centrality of Jesus’ person and work; 2)  our teaching will celebrate the amazing grace of God in salvation through Christ; 3) our counseling will direct people to the promises we have in Christ Jesus for hope and for growth in godliness; 4) our outreach will prioritize telling our neighbors about the offer of salvation in Jesus;  5) our community will find its model and strength through our union to our crucified and risen Savior.  To center on the gospel means that we reject the popular cultural idea of universalism, in which all beliefs and ways of life are equally acceptable to God. The gospel requires that we proclaim the Biblical truth of the holiness of God and his just condemnation of sin, and present faith in Jesus as our only hope.  To center on the gospel also means that we are not centered on other very worthwhile elements in our church life, such as outreach, or community, or study groups, or passionate worship, or social impact, or family discipleship.  All of these aims are good and Biblical and should be a part of our mission, but none of them can displace the gospel in the center. The gospel must be the center that defines and fuels all the other aspects of our calling. Finding our center in Jesus Christ means, finally, that all of our lives have been purchased for his glory and that as blood-bought saints we will run our race and build his church for his glory, keeping Him as our cornerstone.

If Any Should Accuse

"If any should appear before the throne of God--even Satan himself--to accuse us of being unfit for the kingdom, God will simply send him away. God, by his grace, is bringing us to his kingdom and he has secured our justification."   --J.I. Packer

The Mission: Empowered by the Spirit

Looking forward to our church plant in Austin, next year, I want to emphasize six crucial foundations for our church. These are foundations that I hope to lay well in the early years of our church plant.  These will define our success, our faithfulness, as a church.   They also will define our priorities.  The overarching value statement is:

Under the Authority of God’s Word, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be a gospel-centered church that worships God, loves one another, and proclaims the gospel to the world.

 Let me expand on that second phrase now.

 By the Power of the Spirit (Ex. 33:16, Psalm 51:11, Zech. 4:6, Mark 1:8, Acts 1:8, Rom. 8:15, 1 Cor. 2:12, 1 Cor. 12:1-11, Galatians 5:22-23, Eph. 5:18) 

We want to be a church that is desperately and confidently dependant on the power of the Holy Spirit for all that we do.  Christians, and churches, are not intended by the Lord to be self-sufficient. We will delight in his promises of Spiritual strength to carry us onward in the calling he has given us.  Practically, this means that our Sunday gatherings will delight in and respond to the reality of God’s promised presence in our midst.  We do not worship a distant God or merely recite truths to one another out of God’s earshot.  We encounter a God who is living and active and among his people, enlivening their praises and empowering them to serve Him and one another.  We believe in the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in spiritual gifts, to be used under the authority of God’s Word, for the edification of his church.  This conviction about God’s Spirit also means that we will be a church of prayer—dedicating ourselves in private and in public to ongoing prayer as a declaration of our need for God’s presence within us and among us.

Amen!  May the Spirit work powerfully in us and through us for the glory of Jesus Christ. 

 

The Mission: God's Word

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In casting a vision for our new church, launching north of Austin next year, I have been considering the following definition:

Under the Authority of God’s Word, by the power of the Holy Spirit,  we will be a gospel-centered church that worships God, loves one another, and proclaims the gospel to the world. 

 

This may or may not be the final wording of our mission statement, (I'm hoping we'll have a more succinct way of summarizing our vision), but the principles here will remain unchanged.  The reason The principles will stay the same is due to the first principle.  Our church will be under the authority of God's Word and therefore our vision will be grounded in the Scriptures.  We are delighted and sobered by the responsibility to build a church that matches the church blueprints that God has established in his Word.  Sadly, in our culture, and even in the world of modern Christian churches, the ultimate authority of God's Word is increasingly questioned.  I desire our church to be unashamed and explicit in grounding our purposes in the Scriptures.  The following paragraph expands on this crucial opening value:

 Under the Authority of God’s Word.  (Genesis 1:3-30, Exodus 20:1-17, Psalm 19, Psalm 119, John 1:1, John 6:68, 2 Tim. 3:16, 2 Pet. 1:21, Heb. 4:12)

We want to be a church that actively and intentionally emphasizes the life-giving authority of God’ Word.  Our beliefs and practices will be grounded in Scripture and our heartbeat will be to read, hear, and proclaim Biblical truth.  Practically, this means that our Sunday meetings, small group meetings, pastoral care, and private devotions should be grounded in the Bible. We will not avoid proclaiming the whole counsel of God, centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ. The highlight of our Sunday meeting will be the preaching of God’s Word and our normal Sunday diet will be to preach straight through books of the Bible, taking one section of Scripture at a time and explaining and applying its meaning to our lives.  Our small group discussions and interpersonal care and counseling will be about sharing the truths of Scripture with one another and allowing its life giving nourishment to refresh our souls and direct us toward righteousness.  We want our church to be passionate about God’s Word!

The Mission

In just a few short months my family and I, along with dear friends from around the country, will be moving to the north side of Austin, Texas to start a church. It's an exciting, daunting, humbling, motivating, captivating task---I can't wait to get started.

So, what kind of a church do we want this to be? To cast a vision for the church is an exhilarating and dangerous task.  It’s exhilarating because the calling to plant a church is a calling to lay solid foundations, to serve future generations of a church by building well from the start.  The calling to plant a church is like coming to an empty field and imagining a future glorious structure through the eyes of faith—except this structure is not made of brick or stone.  It’s a temple of human beings, captivated by God’s glory, converted by God’s gospel, filled by God’s Spirit, passionate for God’s mission—a temple that will be a platform for God’s Word to reach the city of Greater Austin and beyond.  Even to play a small part in such a calling is exhilarating.

But casting a vision is also sobering—since the blueprints for our church have already been written and we are called to follow their designs exactly.  A vision for a new church is not an invention or primarily about human creativity.  We are not free to create a church in any way we choose. Our task is much more glorious than that. Our church has been in the mind of the Lord since before we were born.  Its purpose has been declared in his Word and we are called—exhilarated and sobered—to work under His direction and for His glory.

So, what mission have we received from the Lord. What are His blueprints for our church? 

  

Under the Authority of God’s Word, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be a gospel-centered church that worships God, loves one another, and proclaims the gospel to the world.

Over the next few blog posts, I'll consider that calling one phrase at a time. 

Sending My Very Heart

This morning I was reading in Philemon about Paul sending away his new friend Onesimus.  The letter makes Paul's motive very clear--he is doing this to be above board, to insure that all of Onesimus' obligations have been met, but NOT because he wants to part ways with Onesimus.  On the contrary, his new friend has become, "his very heart."  In other words, he is sacrificing for the sake of serving.  His service to the Lord of holiness and his service to Onesimus' reputation and to his friend Philemon dictates that Onesimus must go--but his heart, his affections, his desires, his personal needs, all shout for Onesimus to remain.  Considering Paul's choice, I find myself asking the question: What is my "heart" and would I give it up to serve? What is closest to my interests,  dearest in my affections, deepest in my emotions? What good gift has the Lord given to me that I would be deeply pained to give up for the sake of service?  To say with Paul, "to live is Christ" is not difficult--at least saying the words causes little pain.  But if Christ is my life I must also be able to say "I am sending my very heart" when a greater service for Christ is in view. So, grimmacing at how I'm still so earth-bound and jealous for my precious treasures, I pray,

Be thou my Vision o Lord of my heart 
Not be all else to me save that thou art
Thou and thou only first in my heart
Waking and sleeping my treasure thou art

Take my life and let it be 
Consecrated Lord to thee
Take my moments and my days
Let them flow in ceasless praise

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Being a Branch

There are few things in life more designed to created a feeling of weakness and vulnerability than planting a church.  Moving to a new city with few relationships on the ground, no church building, new homes, new jobs, and no earthly guarantee that people will want to join the church--all of these factors incline the church planter to see his need.  However, the reality is that all of my life is dependent on the strength of the Lord.  I am at my strongest when I am weak--depending on his strength and not my own.  I might prefer to feel like a trunk, or a vine, but in reality I am a branch.  I can't create inspiration or vision in the souls of people in a new city, to want to participate in a church plant.  I can't guarantee them that this will be the church they've always wanted to be a part of.  I certainly can't promise that I will be a perfect pastor--quite the contrary!  I will certainly be weak and ineffective in many ways, not impressive in others, and always in need of the forbearance of the congregation that does choose to hear my preaching week after week!  But this is how God has made me to be--a branch that must abide in the vine. Apart from Him I can do nothing.  He is the source of my life in Christ Jesus--sending spiritual strength flowing through the means of His Holy Spirit.

Forgive me Lord, for how frequently I seek to be a branch on my own. Teach me to abide in you, breathing in your Spirit, and living on your Word.  Show yourself strong in my weakness.  Bring many to this church plant in your sovereign wisdom and may all encounter the message of the gospel every week, not in lofty words of wisdom but in the preaching of Christ and him crucified.  Glorify yourself through the planting of this church and may the city of Greater Austin be spiritually awakened through your salvation.

Jon Payne: Union with Christ and everyday pastoring (Audio)

RE-POST: Jon Payne: Union with Christ and everyday pastoring (Audio)

“Union with Christ is that driving principle that transforms our gospel ministry."  - Sinclair Ferguson

The treasure of our union with Christ glitters throughout the pages of the New Testament. The massive New Testament emphasis on this golden doctrine should be reflected in our own study and, for pastors, in our ministry. It is because Christians are united to Christ that all of God's promises are "yes" and through this union that we have received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Jon Payne encourages pastors to dig deeply into this doctrine for the benefit of their own souls and to infuse its driving principle into their pastoral ministry. He taught this breakout at the Pastors Conference: Union with Christ and Everyday Pastoring.