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June 23, 2008
Last week I posted a blog about why we plant churches. Let me play off that blog. Every church planter needs to ask three big questions before planting a church.
1. Why do people need Jesus?
I know that is a simple question, but it strikes at the very heart of our faith. Your picture of Jesus will in large part determine how you answer that question. Why do we need Jesus in the first place? Why do we need what he has to offer? Why can’t we be good without God?
Receiving Jesus is more than neat thing to do, it is crucial. The scripture tells us that without Jesus there is no hope. "I am the way, the truth, and the life!" Jesus answered. "Without me, no one can go to the Father.” John 14:6 There is no other way. Jesus Christ is the only solution to the deepest longings of the human heart. He is the only answer to the problems that plague our society. Without Jesus, their life will be lost, not only now, but forever. Only he can change us and offer us hope and wholeness?
2. Why do people need the church?
This whole "Organic Church" movement has me a little disturbed. I understand that the Church (BIG C) is not a building or denomination, but this movement seems little more than a pendulum swing. They say they are not elitist, religious or legalistic but nothing could be further from the truth. The very nature of this movement is meant to condemn the organized church and proclaim that they have THE right way of worshipping. Honestly, this way of thinking involves everything spoken against by many leading this movement.
Many involved in this "new" way of thinking hold the idea that people just need to love Jesus and do not need to come to a church. After all we don’t need to come to church to be a Christian right? No! That’s wrong. Nowhere in the scriptures do we find this idea that we can be lone ranger Christians. Christianity is to be lived out within the context of the local church. The first thing Jesus did when he began his ministry was to gather around him the very first church.
People need the church, it’s not optional. It is essential to God’s plan for our lives. It’s the only place where God has designed for us to worship, fellowship, grow through His teaching and serve others. Being a part of a healthy congregation is a source of great joy and a means for personal growth in the life of a believer. Heb 10:25 “We should not stop gathering together with other believers, as some of you are doing. Instead, we must continue to encourage each other even more as we see the day of the Lord coming.”
3. Why do people need YOUR church?
This is really the "Big" question! There are so many other churches in your city, why do people need yours? What is unique about us? What do we have to offer? How are we uniquely equipped to reach this community for Jesus? What is our calling in the city?
If you can not answer this question then maybe God has not placed a vision in your heart. You may be simply looking for a way out of the establshed church. This is an important question. You must be able to answer.
Every flourishing church has something in common. It has a group of people that understand that the local church is the only hope for the world. Not a hope. Not one of many hopes, but the only hope.
Because of that conviction, they are courageously, passionately and sacrificially giving their time, talents and resources. They are tirelessly pursuing those who don’t know Jesus in order to tell them that only Jesus can heal their brokenness and make them whole. Without that deep conviction and commitment a church will flounder and eventually become powerless and ineffective.
The church has been uniquely designed to do a job on this earth and the future of the world depends on how well the church does what it’s been designed to do. The unique power of the church is that it holds the key to the transformation of the human heart. No other entity in the world has this potential. Nothing else has the ability to change the world like the local church. If we don’t believe that, then nothing we do really matters.
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