Between the Workshops: From Atlanta to DFW

Today we stand between two epic meetings, at least for certain individuals and churches. The Southeast Church Planting Workshop at the North Atlanta church has just concluded and the DFW Church Planting Workshop at the South MacArthur congregation is about to begin.

Will we look back at August, 2005, as a transformational time? A historical moment? A time of reframing, rethinking, reflection, and renewal? This will be the case for certain church leaders and church planters.

At the Atlanta Church Planting Workshop, we were touched by . . .

• Don McLaughlin’s passion for people and for the city in which God has placed him.
• The power of the parable: From caterpillars to butterflies.
• Mike Neill’s description of the Red-Neck Mason Dixon Line running along I-20 through the middle of Atlanta!
• Bill Long’s powerful descriptions of maintenance churches. (Churches have unintentionally become like country clubs with “for members only” signs on the door. These signs are not visible, made of wood or iron, but of actions and attitudes. Churches have become like Post Offices without mail drops or mules that are birthed but cannot give birth. Churches planted intentionally tend to prosper; splits tend to struggle. We are hindered by local churches without a kingdom perspective and by creating infrastructures that have to be maintained.)
• Missional churches that focus on God’s purposes, understand that they have been sent on God’s mission, and represent Him in His world.

These thoughts stirred the minds and focused the discussions of 80 church leaders who attended from Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Florida.

Becky and I were privileged to meet with future church planters, developing teams, and church leaders who want to intentionally plant other churches.

As we look back at the Southeast workshop, we also look forward to the Dallas-Ft. Worth workshop beginning tomorrow evening, August 26. This year’s workshop will not only address the need for church planting but will also focus on the quality, personality, nature of missional church planting.

Anticipate hearing/seeing . . . .

• Randy Harris speaking on “Why plant churches?”
• Chris Chappotin’s story of an amazing church planting in SW Fort Worth.
• The parable of the scepter and the hoe.
• Contrasts between missional and maintenance churches; seeker-sensitive, service-focused churches compared to a community of God on a journey through life helping each other to be Christ’s disciples and inviting others to join them on this pilgrimage through life to heaven. What is the meaning of “a church on a spiritual pilgrimage”?
• Grady King and I describe missional churches and missional church planting.
• Doug Peters depict the nature of a church’s transformation to become a missional fellowship.
• Nuts and bolts of missional church planting.

It is not too late to come! You are invited! This second annual Dallas-Fort Worth Church Planting Workshop will be held at the South MacArthur Church of Christ in Irving, Texas. Register by calling Tommie Sledge at (972) 896-8989 or emailing her at tommie@southmac.org. The full program can be seen online at http://www.missionalive.org/events.asp?p=sub&EventSubID=3&cat=0. We anticipate your participation in this or similar workshops.

Church Planting out of Weakness

We praise God for the growing number of relatively strong churches who have the motivation, vision, and resources to plant other churches. This weekend, however, my wife Becky and I worked with a church who is planting out of weakness.

They are a middle-class Anglo church in an area of changing demographics. Flavel Yeakley, the church growth consultant at Harding, has made a study of their congregation and area and projected that they will gradually die if they maintain the status quo. Their options are to sell and move (the typical response) or church plant out of their location. They have decided on the second, more difficult option. They feel a commitment to their area yet most members drive in to the church building from other nearby communities.

I praise God and respect the elders who are making this decision. They are courageous and visionary men. It was a joy to speak to their congregation three times on Sunday and meet with their elders and provide theological frameworks to conceptualize their transition and practical processes to accomplish it through the equipping of catalytic church planters working with them to evangelize the area.

What are the obstacles that lie ahead? Would you suggest a few?

Would you also pray with us for these leaders in the midst of this transition?

Church Planting in Campus Contexts

I spent much of last week research church planting in campus contexts and then on Friday and Saturday made two presentations on the topic at the National Campus Ministers Seminar, held this year at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. Tim Melikian, campus minister at the Universit of Oklahoma, did a fine job organizing the program.

We are beginning to realize in Mission Alive the need for church planting in campus contexts. Formative life decsions are made during the university years. Churches planted are naturally multicultural when evangelists reach out to impact all part of the campus. And the world is touched if the church works through international students converted to evangelize their nations.

The International Churches of Christ (ICOC) have most effectively planted churches in the Restoration Heritage. They considered the campus their "synogogue," the most receptive area out of which to evangelize the nations. Marvin Lucus, evangelist and campus minister of the ICOC in DFW, said in an interview, "Through campus ministry we start a church.” They begin a church by converting students and then their siblings, friends, and parents.

Marvin said that the growth of the ICOC stagnated when the focus changed from campus to family ministry. “If we had constantly evangelized on our campuses," Marvin commented, "we would today have all age groups in our churches.” Thus today there are more people between ages 35-45 than any other age.

I found their traditional ministry style to be (1) incarnational (They do not isolate themselves in a student center off campus but place their ministries on the campus.), (2) leadership focused (The evangelist or campus minister trains campus leaders who facilitate their ministries), (3) visionary (They tend to see the big picture on campus and are able to connect with developing student leaders.), and (4) transformational (They expect radical transformation of life.). Their traditional top-down, manipulative discipling patterns resulting in a type of salvation by works is now being tempered by many ICOC leaders. They have much to teach us about church planting in campus contexts.

There are two broad approaches to church planting in campus contexts. First, a seeker sensitive approach tries to attract crowds through big events and publicity. Second, a spiritual formation approach grows from the grassroots up through prayer and study groups. An example of the second approach in Brandon Worsham's ministry called FOCUS (www.anyfocus.org) at the University of Texas in Dallas. They focus on one-on-one Bible studies and small, gender-specific groups in the dorms, called "cores." These cores group together as "communities" within the dorms. A Sunday evening devotional brings all the cores and communities together for a time of worship. Like with the ICOC, all major events occur on campus (with the exception of the Sunday worship period for the ICOC). Brandon Worsham says that the students on campus do not want to "bloat" by attracting students through seeker-sensitive practices but want to express authentic Christianity with disciple-making and spiritual formation at its core. I feel a personal affinity with this type of apprach.

Because of geographical and cultural distance, FOCUS will eventually be come a satellite church of the Northeast church. The church building is 17 minutes from the church building. Also the university context is a specialized cultural context which require specialized cultural forms of worship and community.

These are a few lessons that I have learned through interviews in preparation for my presentations.

Family Reunion; Global Missions Conference

The last three weeks have been exceptionally busy. The following are two highlights:

The Van Rheenen Family Reunion

Becky and I spent four days at the Van Rheenen family reunion on beautiful Anderson Island in the Puget Sound just south of Seattle, Washington. My brother Dwayne has a house on the island. My mother, all five of us children (I am No. 3 squeezed in between older and younger brothers and sisters), some nieces and nephews, and their children all gathered on the fellowship, stories, walks, and meals. Mom, now 85 and living at Harding Place in Searcy, AR, flew from Little Rock to Dallas to spend a day with us both before and after the reunion. It was a time of refreshment, catching up, reminiscing about family, and connecting. We greatly missed our Dad who passed away in 1994 and was a great example to all of us both as a father and a struggling Christian leader.

A special time was visiting with Dwayne’s son Nathan and his wife Emma and their family. Nathan and Emma have 11-month old triplets (named Quincy, McArthur, and Xavier!!) to go with big brother Nathan, Jr., aged 3.

Global Missions Conference

Immediately upon our return from Seattle Becky and I were privileged to attend the Global Missions Conference, organized by our close friends at MRN (Missions Resource Network). The purpose of the conference was to bring churches of Christ together to focus on more effectively reaching our world for Jesus Christ. Altogether 800-1000 attended the conference.

The most enjoyable part of the conference was networking. We met families and individuals wanting to know more about church planting. Many were feeling God’s call, others were searching, questioning, desiring to learn more. Church leaders were asking questions about their personal and congregational involvements. We felt God moving in many lives.

My role in the conference was interesting. On one day of the conference I taught three classes on diverse topics, one on the need for domestic church planting, a second on the use of American money in global missions, and a third on international missions partnerships (with Dr. Phil Slate). The most enjoyable forum was a plenary panel facilitated by Jay Jarboe in which Stan Granberg and I spoke of how ministering internationally had prepared us for domestic church planting.

God blessed us greatly during the family reunion and the Global Missions Conference.