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Juxtaposition

We just spent the last week at Strategy Lab with Kairos where we thought through the "first creation" of our church plant.  The first creation is that which happens in our thoughts before we begin the work.  If we haven't done the work of thinking through the entire church plant before we start, then we will be tossed around and easily move away from the vision which God has given us.

Also, this last week the Christian Chronicle posted an article about the decline of Churches of Christ in America.  I sat in a room where 8 churches were in the first creation proccess and we heard from 6 churches that have been planted.  If the Churches of Christ can shift the focus back to church planting (which has been our heritage), then the future is bright and numbers like 6 and 8 will begin to multiply.  If the established churches do not help . . . well, we will still plant new churches, and we will still start a church multiplication movement.  The established churches just may not survive to see it happen.

"Organic"

I frequently hear people talk about wanting to have a church experience that is "organic" by which they usually mean that it doesn't seem to be overly structured.

But here's the thing: organic is hard (Note: this is not original to me, I just don't remember where I heard this).

Talk to a farmer who has had to do all the work to become certified as an organic farmer and you will hear how hard it is. It seems so natural, but it takes a lot of work to produce food without the use of inorganic aids. There are years of work ahead for any person wanting to be certified organic. In addition to doing all the things right for certification, the farmer also has to do them in such a way that still allows him to make a profit.

People want a church experience that feels very natural and easy without a lot of "inorganic" stuff tacked on. But in order to get this experience that feels very easy and unplanned it takes a lot of work and preparation.

Discovery Lab final

Wow! God showed up at Discovery Lab. We had a great time and really did discover a lot about ourselves. A huge part of what happened was for us to reflect on how God has been shaping us for church planting and service in his kingdom. We shared stories with 5 teams of interviewers who were assigned to guide us through specific areas. We were encouraged and challenged by our experience. We spent time on a ropes course working through team issues.

The result was, I believe, inspired by the Spirit and spoken into the community of God's people. Kairos thinks that we will have a very high probability of planting a successful church once we have some more experience in ministry. Our plan is to target the experience toward evangelism and team formation.

Thank you so much for your prayers, God answered.

Going forward, please pray that God will provide the opportunities for the experience we need to put us in the best position to successfully plant a church.

Discovery Lab day 2

Yesterday was interview day. We spent time sharing with some great people and exploring our lives. It was a great process, but it took long time to go through everything. We looked at the 13 characteristic that make for a successful church planter, and we shared about how we see God working to develop those in our lives.

Now on to the projects (that's where we pretend to plan a church plant and we will make a 30 minute presentation about it tonight).

peace

Discovery Lab day 1

So we arrived at discovery lab last night. We had a good time of introduction and worship. I could feel all of the prayers that have been sent to God over this time and for us - Thank You!

Today Andrea and I will lead the group in worship and get a chance to share our story. Then the interviews begin . . . From what I hear it's not quite like torture . . . just kidding.

We are excited to share how God has been leading us to the moment and shaping us for a specific ministry. We trust that God will use his Spirit to speak through the community of his people.

More anon.

I'm Nervous

On Sunday we head out for Discovery Lab with Kairos Church Planting Support. From the Kairos Website:

Discovery Lab is designed to provide you both these tools. It a behavioral assessment to help you, as a church planter candidate, gather information about yourself to see more clearly where you might best serve the kingdom with your abilities and skills. The final outcome of Discovery Lab is a Church Planter Profile summarizing your character traits, ministry skills and readiness for church planting.

I'm nervous because this is a major step in our journey toward church planting. There is a lot on the line here. We've been dreaming about this for years now. We moved across the country for school. We moved into the neighborhood where we feel God has called us to plant a church. Now in just a few days we will submit our dreams and plans to the oversight and direction of Kairos.

I would really appreciate your prayers for us.