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.

The Schoolmaster

"Teachers would shout to no effect if Christ himself, inner Schoolmaster, did not by his Spirit draw to himself those given to him by the Father."  --John Calvin, Institutes

The Call

Below is the link to a message I spoke Sunday to my home church, Sovereign Grace Church of Gilbert.  The message was about the call of Jesus Christ to every Christian to spend our lives for his glory. I specifically referenced the opportunity that church planting is to be entrusted with the mission of Jesus Christ to proclaim his gospel to the world.

http://www.sovgracechurch.com/2012/09/church-planting-2-thessalonians/

One year from now, Lord willing, our church on the north side of Austin, Texas will be starting our public meetings.  I pray that Lord give us faith, desperate prayer, and faithful preparation over the next year. 

May the Lord establish the work of our hands. 

Does Your Church Pray Together?

Does Your Church Pray Together? (From Justin Taylor...)

Sinclair Ferguson on some of the things that concern him about churches today:

There is the lack of prayer and of the Church praying. This is to me the most alarming, for this reason: we have built apparently strong, large, successful, active churches. But many of our churches never meet as a congregation for prayer. I mean never! What does that indicate we are saying about the life of the Church as a fellowship?
By contrast, the mark of a truly apostolic spirit in the church is that that we give ourselves to prayer and the Word together (Acts 6:4). No wonder “the Word of God continued to increase and the number of the disciples multiplied” (Acts 6:7). If this is so, it should not surprise us that while many churches see growth, it is often simply reconfiguration of numbers, not of conversion. I greatly wish that our churches would learn to keep the main things central, that we would learn to be true Churches, vibrant fellowships of prayer, Gospel ministry and teaching, genuine mutual love. At the end of the day, such a Church simply needs to “be” for visitors who come to sense that this is a new order of reality altogether and are drawn to Christ.