Crawling and Pulling Up

Becky and I have just returned from a weekend trip to California to visit our oldest daughter Rebecca, her husband Ravi, and our grand-daughter Anjali.

Anjali is amazing . . . precious . . . beautiful (a very biased grandfather is writing.) We have enjoyed holding and playing with her.

In many ways Anjali is a metaphor for church planting.

First, she reflects her heritage. She has the jet black hair and dark brown eyes of her father and many of the facial features of her mother. In a similar way, try as we may, it is impossible for us to deny our heritage. It is like the water we swim in or the air the we breathe. At best we can only grow in our understanding of the influences that form us.

She has her own personality. She loves her mother and father. As grand-parents we had to get to know her slowly and establish a relationship. And then we learned how to laugh and play. Churches, while incarnating the nature of Christ, however, also vary in personality. Some picture Christ as a suffering servant bearing the pain of others; others prefer to see Christ as the powerful resurrected Lord who defeats the principalities and powers; still others look on Christ as a personal Savior. Some like dim lights, others bright lights. Some like a collage of art and music in their worship; others are comfortable only with traditional songs 100 years old or more; others like chanting and consider Western music sensual; still others treasure simplicity. Some like noisy, joyous worship; others sedate quiet worship. The personality variables are innumerable . . . but they are all loved by the Lord.

Anjali is rapidly developing. After only seven months of life she is crawling around the house and pulling up on the furniture. I am amazed at the progress of our church plantings. Christ Journey in Southwest Fort Worth is like Anjali, not yet walking but crawling with high expectation. The Parker County church in Weatherford is taking its first steps. The Higher Point church in Denver is in the womb, (unlike Cynthia James who just had her little boy named Braydon!) but forming.

Oh, the joy of children and young churches . . ., who both grow to maturity.

Gailyn

My heart yearns for Kenya today. I wish I could be there for a period of time to share the joy of friendship in Christ; to personally hear of deaths and births, marriages and blessings; and to struggle heart to heart with the personal and theological dilemmas of the day.

Christian leaders from throughout Kipsigis (where we lived for 13 years), are meeting for their yearly Evangelists' Meeting at Siriat Bible School.

I pray for the unity of the movement. I remember Paul's instruction to the Ephesian elders: "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock . . . . I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock" (Acts 20:28-29). We are being attached on two fronts. First, people with Western money come in and say, "Come under our registration for we have friends from America who will pay your preachers, help your children who need school fees, and build your church buildings." Second, every religious group in Kenya is required to have a church registration with leaders who are accountable to the government. Frequently, various leaders (both American missionaries and Kenyans) have attempted to use their positions to control theology and property.

I am pleased that strong Christian leaders withstand these attacks by Satan and stand with authenticity before God and within their communities of faith. I ask all of you to pray for the Kipsigis leaders during this weekend and for the church in Kenya in general. Pray that the church lives in the heavenlies far above the principalities and powers (Eph. 1:20-21).

The Kipsigis movement has grown to over 250 churches. No missionaries have lived there for about a decade. We praise God for his work in many lives among his people in Kenya.

We ask you to pray with us today for God's people among the Kipsigis and throughout Kenya.

Multicultural Church Planting

I have been touched by the cover article of this month’s Christianity Today (April 2005). The cover article is entitled “All Churches Should Be Multicultural” (pp. 32-35) reflecting on the book Divided by Faith: Evangelicals and the Problem of Race in America (Oxford 2000) and its sequel United by Faith: The Multiracial Congregation as an Answer to the Problem of Race (Oxford 2003).

The article illustrates the changing landscape of the United States.

According to the 2000 Census, people of color as a percentage of the United States population have more than doubled to 31 percent since 1960, and the growth of non-Europeans is expected to continue at an accelerated rate. In just the last 20 years (1980 to 2000), the African American population grew by nearly 30 percent, the Native American population by 75 percent, the Latino population by 142 percent, and the Asian American population by 185 percent. In absolute numbers, the United States had well over 35 million more people of color in 2000 than it did in 1980. This is more people than lived in the entire United States during the Civil War period of the early 1860s (p. 33).

The authors of United by Faith, sociologists Karen Chai Kim and George Yancey with theologian Curtiss Paul DeYoung, define a multicultural church as “a congregation in which no one racial group accounts for 80 percent or more of the membership.” Of the “Christian” congregations (excluding gatherings of other world religions) in the United States only 5.5 percent are racially mixed. This is why Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith Dived by Faith say in 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning is the most racially segmented time of life in North America (Christianity Today, Oct. 2000, p. 36).

This article says, “The 21st century must be the century of multicultural congregations.” (p. 34). These multicultural churches will play an important role in reducing racial division and in equality that “should be the goal of Christian people” (p. 34). The article then gives a biblical rationale for multiculturalism and today’s challenges in becoming multicultural.

A companion article, “Harder than Anyone can Imagine,” gives responses of four church leaders to the article. Of note is the statement of Bill Hybels,

Willow Creek started in the era when . . . the church growth people were saying, “Don’t dissipate any of your energies fighting race issues. Focus everything on evangelism.” It was the homogeneous unit principle of church growth. And I remember as a young pastor thinking, That’s true. I didn’t know whether I wanted to chance alienating people who were seekers, whose eternity was on the line, and who might only come to church one time. I wanted to take away as many obstacles as possible, other than the Cross, to help people focus on the gospel.

So now, 30 years later, as I read this book, I recognize that a rue biblically functioning community must include being multiethnic. My heart beats so fast for that vision today. I marvel at how naïve and pragmatic I was 30 years ago.

I remember the days that our daughter Rebecca was a student at Abilene Christian University. One semester her house mates were from Japan, South Africa, Panama (a Chinese girl that they called a “Panamese”), and Rebecca, an American citizen born and raised in Africa. Each Friday evening dozens of international students would crowd their home for FND (Friday Night Devo) and many people including our eventual son-in-law Ravi, who is from India, came to Christ in this community of students. It became evident to me how international our culture was becoming.

This weekend my wife Becky and I and Becky’s sister Jeanette are going to California to visit our daughter Rebecca and Ravi and our 7-month old grand-daughter Anjali. Oh, the joy of grandchildren! We are looking forward to holding little Anjali and being with Becca and Ravi. As a multicultural family, they desired to be a part of a multicultural community of faith and searched until they found one.

Becoming multicultural, however, is more than a cultural issue. It reflects the nature of God, who desires to reconcile the nations together through Christ. Paul writes that Christ is “our peace” who has brought Jew and Gentile together into one body (Eph. 2:14). A united church is a testimony to the principalities and powers of that their power has been broken (Eph. 3:10). I recall Berkhoff’s quote about this 3:10. He said that the unity of the body of Christ is a “proclamation, a sign, a token to the Powers that their unbroken dominion has come to an end” (1977, 51).

The theologies and strategies of Mission Alive thus focus on multicultural church planting for such a focus is of the will of God.

Meaning of Missional; Model More Than Talk

During the past few months, many of our church planters and future church planters in Mission Alive (www.missionalive.org) have suggested that I begin a blog. I have always said something like “I am not a blogger or the son of a blogger” and continue to feel that way. However, I guess God took me from caring for sycamore-fig trees and said, “Go, blog about your journey in missional church planting.” So a blog comes forth . . . from a neophyte, with foreboding, asking for God’s guidance . . . seeking wisdom from God, from Scripture, and in these dialogues, from you the community. I invite you to think with me about missional church planting.

What is missional church planting? The word missional has become a slippery term, meaning various things to different people. Some superimpose the meaning of “cross-cultural” on the word, others equate the word with “evangelism.” I have come up with the following characteristics of missional churches. You may or may not concur.

Missional churches . . .

• are formed by the calling and sending of God (mission Dei)
• reflect God’s redemptive reign in Christ (kingdom of God)
• are God-inspired, Christ-formed, Spirit-led (Trinitarian)
• begin theologically and then move to cultural analysis and strategy formation
• are driven not by “what works” but by “the will of God”
• are not ego-driven

Please give your perspectives to these broad categories.

Yesterday it occurred to my wife and me that we come from a “talking” tradition. It is reflected in the committee organization of our churches and the rationalism of our thinking: We seek to arrive at ingenious decisions by incisive discussion. When decisions are reached, we sometimes do not have the energy or time to implement them. Thus Modernity holds sway over the way we do church.

Yesterday while coaching an exceptional church planter I realized how much this talking tradition seeps into our church planting. We came up with a motto, “Model More Than Talk.” Instead of talking about activities of spiritual formation, model relationship with God in community. Instead of talking about the nature of intimate fellowship in small groups, demonstrate such relationships in the core team. Christianity is better “caught than taught.”

On mission with God,

Gailyn