Fellowship in the Church

"One of the most notable features in this eschatological people is that of fellowship (koinonia). Fellowship was one of the distinctive marks of the Jerusalem church (Acts 2:42). This is something more than human fellowship or the pleasure people of like mind find in each other’s presence. It is more than a fellowship in a common religion. It is an eschatological creation of the Holy Spirit. Probably II Corinthians 13:14 should be rendered “the fellowship created by the Holy Spirit”; and Philippians 2:1 may be rendered “if the Spirit has really created a fellowship/” This relationships exists between people because they share a common relationships to Christ (1 Cor. 1:9). A bond exists between all who are in Christ that is unique and transcends all other human relationships. From the divine side, those who have entered this fellowship do so because they have been called of God (1 Cor. 1:9). The church is a fellowship of the elect (Eph. 1:4; 1 Thess. 1:4), regardless of social status, education wealth or race (1 Cor. 1:27). The church can be designated simply as the elect of God (Rom. 8:33; Col. 3:12; II Tim. 2:10; Titus 1:1).  This emphasizes the fact that the church is not primarily a human institution nor a religious movement founded on good works or event allegiance to a great teacher or leader; it is a creation of God based on his gracious purpose (Rom. 9:11; 11:5-6)."   

                              --George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, page 543

Prelude to a Church Plant

When we announced our church plant plans to our church I provided a "Church Plant Info Packet" with information about church planting in general and Austin in particular.  This "prelude" was included in the packet.

I love this church. I love the familiarity and blessing of my friendships here. I love being on a pastoral team of humble, gifted men who love God’s Word, preach the gospel, care for God’s people, and give themselves away for the kingdom. I love singing together on Sunday morning, encouraging each other over lunches, gathering together for youth nights and family nights, small group nights and early morning coffee. I love this church. So, why in the world would I propose that we plant a church in Austin, Texas? The most important answer is that I want our church to fulfill our role in the great commission task of planting churches for God’s glory and the expansion of the gospel. But a little personal background might also be helpful…

I still remember it clearly. I was ten or eleven years old. I was playing basketball with new friends—friends I had made when my family was welcomed into a new church. The church was Southside church of Virginia Beach, a church that had been planted a few years before by Steve Shank and a team from Cleveland, Ohio. A number of families had left jobs, homes, and the church they loved—all to start a new church in a different state, with the hope of reaching people with the gospel and a culture of New Testament, Biblical community. During the basketball game some conflict occurred between two of my new young friends from the church. It was a normal kind of fight, started in a normal kind of way. But what happened next wasn’t normal at all, at least not to me. The boys were marched inside, and under the guidance of their mothers, reconciled with each other, complete with full repentance and tears. Before that moment, I thought I was a godly young man. After that moment, I realized I had a lot to learn. Over the next few years I began to experience the joys of living in a gospel-centered church—hearing teaching about the grace of God, engaging in passionate, theologically-rich worship, enjoying the welcome of servant-hearted friendships. Our family life changed, my knowledge of the gospel expanded, and my vision for the value of the local church exploded. All because a courageous church sent out a courageous group of people to plant a church to reach people—and God allowed them to reach me. I was feeling the benefit of church planting.

A few years later my dad had joined the staff of the church in Virginia Beach and, even as we grew more deeply entrenched in the life of the church, he and my mom came to our family with an announcement. We were going to participate in a church plant team heading to Denver, Colorado, with a vision for joining and supporting Sovereign Grace Ministry churches in the western states. The move meant that my dad would have to leave his staff role as a pastor for a season. It meant leaving close friends that I had known for years. But it also meant we would be participating in an adventure of traveling across the country to reach others with the gospel and a vision for a Biblical, New Testament community. A number of our close friends would be going with us. We couldn’t wait. When we arrived in Colorado I experienced the overwhelming spiritual adrenaline rush of participating on a church plant team. My teenage friends and I had real ministry responsibilities.  We were really meeting real needs in a real church plant advancing the real Kingdom of God—and we were loving it! This time I was the one welcoming new friends into our community. I was feeling the joy-filled, risky, breathless, exhilarating adventure of church planting.

Flash forward a few years later. The Lord had brought Lory and me together in marriage over a long distance relationship. When I was in Denver, Lory lived in Juarez, Mexico where her dad was a pastor at a Sovereign Grace Church. She had already experienced her own opportunity to sacrifice for God’s kingdom, following her Dad across the country to receive pastoral training and then literally across the international border to serve in a new language and culture.  We may have been separated by distance, but we shared a passion for the local church and for the gospel. That shared passion meant that Lory was willing to travel across the country with me to receive training for the purpose of future ministry.

After an internship and a year at the Pastor’s College, Lory and I moved to Phoenix to join you—then only distant partners sharing the same vision in a different state. Very quickly we felt that we were home. Now, you are our spiritual family, our brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles in the faith. You are our partners in gospel ministry in the East Valley together. I can’t believe how much God has done among us! Conversions witnessed and suffering endured and ministry expanded and memories made—all gifts from the Lord. He has been good to us. 

Certainly one of the highlights—in privilege and in sacrifice—was in sending out some of our dearest friends, Chris and Tara Daukas, to plant the church in Peoria and in releasing a spiritual pillar, Glynn McKenzie and his family, to serve our sister church in Denver. Grace Church of Peoria and Grace Community Church of Westminster are flourishing through the pain of our investment in church planting and kingdom priorities. We felt the pain and privilege of investing in the Kingdom through the planting and preservation of local churches. I love that we were given the honor of sowing sacrificially for the kingdom together.

Now, three years later, the next chapter is unfolding before us. It seems that God is calling me to plant a church in Austin, Texas. Lory and I are thrilled at the vision God has laid in front of us in Austin, but aware of the cost of that vision as well. The pain of the call is obvious—dear friends, dear mentors, dear partners in gospel ministry will be called to send, and not to go. But over the years the whisper of God’s call to me to lead a gospel-centered, New testament community, a local church, has grown louder and louder. Over the years Rich and I have discussed the potential of a future call on my life to lead a church. However, the timing never seemed right for our church to take up the task of sending me and a church plant team. Over the last two years the season of waiting seemed to be drawing to a close as God began to confirm to our pastoral team that the time had come. 

It seems that this next chapter for me involves a new role, but not a new theme. Lory and I desire to respond to the call and go, even though the familiar ache of kingdom sacrifice is there in our hearts again. But our church is called, too. Our church is called to invest, to send, and some of us, to go. Somewhere in Austin, Texas there are people who need to encounter a gospel-centered, New Testament church.  Their future encounter is our present call. I believed that we should answer. I don’t want to leave. But I can’t wait to go. Somewhere out there in the future there’s another young man and his family who need to encounter a gospel-centered Biblical community—a community like Sovereign Grace Church of Gilbert. And maybe he’ll be called to preach the gospel to yet another city far into the future. I can’t wait to meet him. 

            I love our church. I love it so much that I want to share all that we experience here with a new community of people. Lory and I want to give our lives away for God’s kingdom, despite the cost and risk and uncertainty involved in this adventure. God will be faithful. May the Church continue be built for God’s glory, through the sacrifice and joy of God’s people sending and God’s people going, for the sake of His name.

Interest in Church Planting

  Since making our announcement of planting a church in Austin, I have begun to hear from people in Austin and elsewhere who are excited about a church plant in this city.  These messages of encouragement and support build my faith for the future.  Part of my gratefulness is due to the hope that perhaps some of those interested may join the church plant team, throwing themselves into the labor of launching a new church.  But I'm also grateful because I believe this excitement will become prayers of support on our behalf. 

A church is only built by the strength of the Lord. As the psalmist wrote, "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain."  All of our efforts in research, outreach, planning, administrating, and serving will ALL be in vain, unless the Lord makes them effective by the power of his Spirit.  My hope is that anyone who hears of this church plant, both those interested in going and those excited from a distance,  will begin to pray for us.  Without prayer messages will be prepared but will not be effective.  Without prayer neighbors will be greeted but will not be converted to faith. Without prayer jobs will not be found, houses will not be sold, team unity will not last, our church will not be built.  With prayer, our God, who works in us to will and to work for his good pleasure, will continue to build his church for his glory. 

Church Planting in Austin

Last Sunday morning, my church formally announced our decision to plant a church in Austin, Texas in 2013.  I will be leading the team.  Lord willing, my family and I will be moving next May along with those from our church and elsewhere that God calls to join us in this adventure. This decision is the culmination of years of prayer and conversation among our pastoral team and is an overwhelming dream come true for me. 

The prospect of planting this church is thrilling and daunting, humbling and motivating.  I believe that the local church is the guardian of God's gospel deposit, passed on from one generation to the next until he returns.  I believe that planting churches is the New Testament model for fulfilling the great commission of baptizing and teaching disciples.  I also long to establish a new church that will participate in that commission alongside our sister churches around the world.  I also know that the task is beyond my strength--that the challenges of church planting are beyond my natural ability.  Only God can build his church, can open blind eyes, can provide the unity, and peace, and wisdom, and love, and power, and gifts necessary.  Only God can--yet God has promised to do just that.  God has promised to empower us as we proclaim his gospel and work for his glory, seeking his kingdom first and trusting his sovereignty.

I can't wait to see what God is going to do!  I am anticipating his power and goodness and wisdom at work in countless ways over the next year and beyond. I can't wait to see who he prompts to consider joining the church plant team and how he provides for their participation through new jobs and house sales and house purchases and grace for the inevitable pain of saying goodbye and saying hello.  I look forward to seeing miracles as we trust him for meeting places and financial provision and set up needs and outreach opportunities and everything else that goes into the practical establishment of a new church. I can't wait to see his grace in future inevitable events.  Our first community group. Our first public meeting. Our first baptism, and communion, and wedding, and funeral, and our first church plant team sent out from our church in the future.

May God watch over his Word and establish the work of our hands.

If you are interested in more information about this church plant, please contact me or any or our church staff at www.sovgracechurch.com.   

The Underestimated God - Ligon Duncan | Together For The Gospel 2012

Parenting by Spurgeon

"I have heard of one man who said that he did not like to prejudice his boy, so he
would not say anything to him about religion. The devil, however, was quite willing
to prejudice the lad, so very early in life he learnt to swear, although his father had a
foolish and wicked objection to teaching him to pray. If you ever feel it incumbent
upon you not to prejudice a piece of ground by sowing good seed in it, you may rest
assured that the weeds will not imitate your impartiality, but they will take
possession of the land in a very sad and shocking manner. Where the plough does not
go, and the seed is not sown, the weeds are quite sure to multiply; and if children are
left untutored and untrained, all sorts of evils will spring up in their hearts and lives." 


                                                                                                   --Charles Spurgeon

A Second Generation Man

I am a second generation man.  My particular family of churches began one generation before me (I know, we're just an infant group compared to many of my evangelical brothers). Over the last few years I've been reflecting on what it means to be a second generation man, rather than the founder of a new movement, denomination, gathering, whatever.   There seems to be some amazing blessings and some serious temptations. Here's a few lessons that have come to mind for me and my brothers and sisters who share this history with me.

1.  God chose my history.  I don't know my future, and certainly some 2nd generation men become the leaders of a new, new movement.  But I'm wanting to start at a place of contentment and gratefulness for the position in this story that he chose for me.

2.  I'm called to gratefulness.  Because second generation men grew up in a new, changing, always reforming culture we're tempted to apply wholesale reformation language and evaluation and critique of those who came before us.  Instead we should begin with a recognition that everything we do have, we received from others. We must resist the 'newness is always better' lie.  We need to believe that gifts call for gratefulness. I didn't start or build the churches I've benefited from--someone else's faith, prayers, pain, decisions, and tears were used by God to do those things.

3.  I'm called to remember and not assume.  Usually if a movement has lasted to a second generation, it has established a few basic priorities. Unfortunately, its easy for a second generation man to take the basic priorities for granted and complain about secondary doctrines or practices that are not established with the same clarity.  But there was a day when even the first priorities of this movement had to be chosen. I'm called to remember the courage and benefit of the first priorities I have received, and not assume that there was time to establish BOTH first and secondary priorities with the same clarity. Incidentally, if I focus too much attention and passion on reforming secondary priorities, the third generation will either fault me for abandoning the most important things or, worse, assume that the secondary things are the most important.

4. I'm called to courage.  First generation leaders quickly attain a significant level of veneration in the movement.  This veneration should lead to gratefulness but not to insulation from evaluation and critique.  Its easier to be an "enlightened critic" or a lemming, but observations and courageous questions in a context of expressed gratefulness is the humble, faithful course. Some fond memories from my youth may have been based on wrong ideas that need to be changed. Other weaknessness that were present in the past need to be reformed.  This isn't catastrophe. This is normal. This calls for grateful courage.

5.   I'm called to patience and forgiveness.   Every generation sins, fails, makes mistakes, and overcorrects.  These actions often cause pain.  I've found that remembering the third generation helps me when I'm tempted to impatience and anger.  Those that come after me will see and feel my failures, my sins, my overcorrections, my mistakes.  I want to relate to the first generation the way I hope to be treated in the future.  How I relate to the first generation is one of the legacies of the second generation man.

6. There has to be a second generation if there's going to be a third.  What will I leave to them? What priorities will they feel in my passion, what example will they see in my character, what atmosphere will they receive as normal.  May I keep the first things first, make my own mark in beneficial reforms, and establish a culture of gratefulness for the past and faith for the future.

God chose my place in history.  May I be a faithful to it.