The Gospel Gone Viral

We have been praying for God to begin a Church Planting Movement among the churches, pastors, leaders and lay folks here in the Texas District. One thing I have been learning through my experiences and through my personal reading of leaders like Bob Roberts, author of The Multiplying Church is that a Church Planting Movement (CPM) looks more like a virus than a strategic plan.

In fact, the term Church Planting Movement (CPM) came about as more of a description than a prescription. Bob Roberts described how David Watson coined the phrase. Roberts wrote that "Watson then shared about being at the table with a group of other missionaries when the term crystallized. They were trying to describe what they were seeing take place in the East. 'It was never meant to be the key. It was descriptive.'"

Throughout history, when CPM's are truly taking place they are highly organic in nature. They are actually only the result of lives being transformed through the cross of Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Whole families, villages, cities and societies are changed. It is what happened to he jailer in Acts 16:30-34 . Had not whole households been affected, the Gospel would not have spread at the viral rate it did in the early church. The epidemic spread of the Gospel necessitated the planting of churches to disciple all the new believers! It was a Jesus movement first.

Viruses don't happen by addition but by multiplication and fractaling. In third world countries, it has not been that an individual comes to faith in Jesus Christ and then decides to plant a church. Rather it has been true that Jesus revolutionizes the life of an individual who tells their family and friends with so many people coming to know Jesus that churches become necessary to disciple, care for and equip the new believers who go to the next village and do it all over again.

This kind of growth doesn't happen merely by addition, but by rapid multiplication. Individual disciples share what God has done in their lives through Christ, discipling their their friends and families. In that kind of church learning to tell how God's story of redemption in Christ has intersected our life becomes the norm rather than the exception for church members.

Then the Gospel goes viral.

Looking at where it might next plant a church is always on the agenda of the local church rather than wondering if planting a church is something we might do once in our history.

Then church planting goes epidemic. It can happen!

Is Mission Optional for the Christian? C.F.W. Walther Says NO!

C.F. W. Walther, the founding President of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod says an emphatic NO! (Thanks to my friend Pastor Steve Wagner for surfacing the following quote from Walther)

"For if the entire Christian church is the real mission society which God Himself has established, then all those who ignore mission work and do not care anything for it are not true and living members of the church, that is, not true Christians. They break the oath of allegiance which they have made to Christ at their baptism. They want to carry the keys of the kingdom of heaven in their hands and yet do not want to open heaven to those who are still outside…They want to be God's wheat, and still are not fruitful grains of wheat. They want to have faith, yet have no love. They have no compassion in their hearts for the distress of the heathen, and thereby show that even though they are baptized, they still have a heathenish heart and that they themselves are in darkness and the shadow of death." C. F. W. Walther, "The Mission Society Established by God" in The Word of His Grace, Occasional and Festival Sermons.

• Being a Christian means being engaged in the Mission of Christ – It is not an optional activity for an individual Christian or a community of believers in a congregation.
  

• We often say that what matters is being faithful. That is true. Jesus says "If you continue in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free." John 8.32. But Jesus' word includes the Great Commission to "go and make disciples of all nations" Matthew 28:19. Dr. Walther reminds us that if we are not faithful to that Great Commission, we have broken "the oath of allegiance" made at our baptism.
  

• Walther also warns against desiring to have faith and doctrine down pat but not having love for those who are far from God. In fact he calls this attitude having "a heathenish heart" which puts one in the "shadow of death."

• Walther's admonition to the church of the late 19th century is to make sure we are opening the Kingdom of heaven to those who are still outside in darkness. He warns the church of then and now that if we turn in on ourselves, even if we think we have our faith and doctrine just right, we are unfaithful servants.

The good news is that we have all that we need to be the "real mission society" that Walther speaks of. We have God's Word in all its truth and purity. We have the promise of a secure salvation, won for us by Jesus in His death and suffering. We have abundant life now and forever because of His resurrection. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit who promises to work faith in human hearts. We also have an abundant supply of people far from God with whom we can share the Gospel. We have financial and technological resources that Walther could only have dreamed of.

The only things that can stop us from being missional are our own fears, prejudices and needs to feel comfortable with people just like us in our own local congregations. It is only our sinfulness that gets in the way.

I don't know about you, but I want to be part of "the real mission society which God Himself has established" as C.F.W. Walther put it. I pray for opportunities to share the love of Christ with others. I pray too that we will continue to plant many new churches here in Texas and throughout the world.

If that is your desire as well, please pray right now that God might use you and your church to be part of God's plan to save people who are far from God!

Missional...like a flock of geese

In late September or early October Canada fly south in V-Formation to get to winter feeding grounds. Then they turn around in the spring and do the whole thing over again. Hundreds, thousands, millions of these geese form into perfect V shaped squadrons at altitudes 3,000 to 29,000 feet.

Two engineers calibrated in a wind tunnel what happens in such a V formation. Each goose in flapping its wings, creates an upward lift for the goose that follows. When all of the geese do their part in the V formation, the whole flock has a 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. Each then depends on the other to get to the destination. That phenomenon is called LIFT.

The same thing can happen when a genuine missional movement gets going in the body of Christ or even in one little corner of it like the Texas District Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.

God's Word given through Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:21-22 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" {22} On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable

As more and more local churches catch a new vision for church planting to connect new people groups and new generations to Jesus for eternity, we can experience the same kind of lift exhibited and experienced by Canada geese in V formation. Networking, encouragement and a Kingdom vision will overcome fears, turf protection and the wiles and discouragement of Satan. I'm praying for powerful mission lift from the Holy Spirit as churches work and encourage each other in advancing the Kingdom of God.

Real Love in the Christian Church

I work with many churches. When I ask folks what they most value in a local church, one of the comments I hear most often is "I want a church that is really a loving place!"

When people say that, I think they most often mean that they want the church to be a place where they are loved, valued and accepted. That's important but it is not enough be truly loving in the best sense of the word.

Antoine de Saint Exupery, French writer of the early 20th century made a statement which I found profound:

"Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction."

And what direction should those of us who value real agape love in the church be looking?

Hebrews 12:2-3 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. {3} Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

In a church that wants to be about the mission of Jesus, it is not enough to love each other enough to gaze into each other's eyes. That's a phony community and if that is enough for folks in a church, they really miss out on what real love is all about.

The direction we look together is on Jesus and His cross. That cross becomes the center of the lens in which we look at the world. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 2:8 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.

That's a description of real love. We love those who are hearing God's word so much that we delight in sharing God's word and our lives with them in an every expanding circle.

We see those far from God's Kingdom with the love of Jesus...those who are right in our local corner of the world and those who live on the other side of the globe. That kind of love breaks our hearts for those who are still not aware of the vast love the Father has for them. It leads us to action, praying for those lost and creating relationships that allow for the Spirit to penetrate hearts and sharing God's news directly with them through witness of care and spoken words.

Then we know and live real love.