Church Growth in a Cemetery

Was at this cemetery yesterday. It's near our house. I had to drop off our computer for service at one and had an appointment at two, so I had some dead time- pardon the pun.

I read another chapter in Simple Church while I was there.

The cemetery is a good place to think- to put the day in perspective. I don't know anyone who is buried in this cemetery, so I feel a little out of place there. There were two other cars that came through the medium sized graveyard... they knew someone there.

There are two spots where people have obviously been laid to rest recently. The head stones have not yet been placed.

Creepy.

Why creepy? Why am I not comfortable enough with the realest reality we know to not get the willies when I come face-to-grave with it?

I went through this same cemetery a few months back when we were first thinking about doing this new ministry.

It clarified.

I want to do something that will matter after I am dead and gone. I am trying to do that with my family, and yearn to do that in everything.

I want to help people come into a meaningful connection with the God who loves them more than they will ever know. There were people who helped me come to that, and I want to keep helping others do the same thing.

One day striving will be over. Programs will end. Busyness will cease. And what will remain?

Only one life, then it's past. Only what's done for Christ will last.

The Story

How did we get to this point? Let me give you the story.


We left Fort Wayne last April and were sad to go. However, we honestly never thought we would be moving back. I knew I wanted to preach and lead a congregation and the opportunity to do so in Fort Wayne wasn't there.


Through the summer I did 12 hours of Masters work and loved it. And I actually got all As (though this semester I got two A-s so my GPA has plummeted to just above 3.9). We were thinking about what was next as we came into the fall and never considered church planting- ever.


Then, in September I was in a class I actually just audited with Dr. David Roadcup. He said, "Friends, do you realize that more people are coming to Christ in America today surrounding new church plants than in any other way?"


To be honest, I didn't know that. But it got me thinking, to say the least. The next 48 hours was one of those times when you can't turn something off. God was speaking and I was writing (even in class, sorry Dr. Roadcup). I kept quiet about it until the next evening when I told Kristen.


"I've got a crazy idea" I said. Then I told her I thought maybe God was talking with me about going back to Fort Wayne and leading a ministry that would focus on leading people to Christ.


She rolled her eyes.


How will it work? What about the other resumes and offers out there? Who will work with us? How can we do this in a way that builds the body of Christ as a whole? How will we provide for our family? What do we need to do/learn/research before even thinking about this?


At that time we had few answers.


Over the next few weeks I realized some things God already had in place. Three of my friends down here were 1) A missions pastor, 2) An elder of a new church plant, and 3) A minister of a church plant. Besides that, the class I was auditing, Characteristics of a Healthy Church could also be called "Church Planting 101".


Things began to fall in place. Before Thanksgiving, after countless hourse of prayer, research, talking, asking, learning, etc, we took a week to fast and pray about this idea. At the end of the very busy week, we felt as though God had not yet spoken.


Until Friday.


On Friday I got a call from the only couple who at that time planned to join us in the work in Fortt Wayne if we made that move. The man essentially shared that his schedule had opened up considerably and he would be more available for ministry that he would have been.

Later that afternoon, Kristen called a friend in Fort Wayne. She asked, "If there was someone who wanted to rent your home when you move at the end of the year, what would you think?" The friend said that they had decided not to rent their house out unless God dropped renters in their laps.

God was dropping- even though Kristen didn't tell her it was us at that point.

There are a million more details I could share about our experience up to this point. However, I share these just to give you a glimpse of the story to this point. I am tempted now to write about the plans for the future, but I think I will leave that for a later post.

Vision

10-Year Vision

Ten Year Vision: Launch eight congregations that have a vision of replicating themselves.

Sub-points:

• The churches will follow a general pattern of spending 2 years focused on outreach, followed by one year focused on discipleship and a launch of a daughter church.
• The churches will not own property or have the goal to do so.
• Each church will be interdependent on the others.
  

10-Year Plan

• January 2009- Begin formation and fundraising of first church
• June/July/August 2009- Begin monthly services
• September 2009- Launch, 18-24 month outreach campaign
• September 2011- Begin 12 month discipleship campaign
• June 2012- Launch first daughter church- replicating and personalizing the pattern of the mother; Mother church begins outreach campaign again, followed by discipleship campaign.
• June 2015- Both churches launch daughter churches- replicating and personalizing the pattern of the mother; Mother churches begin outreach campaigns again, followed by discipleship campaign
• June 2018- All four churches launch daughter churches- replicating and personalizing the pattern of the mother; Mother churches begin outreach campaigns again, followed by discipleship campaign

Result: 8 Congregations with the pattern of replicating themselves

Why Plant a Church?

Why Plant a Church?

The national need:

• Evangelical churches have failed to gain an additional two percent of the American population in the past fifty years. In other words, we are not even reaching our own children. (George Barna, American Profile)
• Church attendance nationally is under 30%. (George Gallup, Church in the World Today)
• We lose 72.11 churches per week or 10.27 per day and gain 24.03 per week or 3.42 per day. (ASCG)

The local need (Per Percept Demographics study based upon a 4 mile radius from the intersection of Coldwater Road and Perry Lake Drive):

• Population- 38,397; 91% white
• Growth anticipated in the next five years- 6%; however, four of the nearest six block groups within the 4 mile radius are expected to grow 10-19% in the next 5 years.
• Largest people group- Survivors (27-47) 11,000 in total population; 28.9%
• Family structure is extremely traditional; Education level is very high
• Potential for giving is very high; Average household income is $83,437
• 50% of the population is either under age 14 (children middle school and younger) or between the age of 25-44 (potential parental units in young families)
• Generation Z (age 0-6) represents 18% more of the population in this area than the U.S. average
• About 35% of the population likely has no faith involvement at all; 32.6% are strongly involved; 31.5% are somewhat involved
• The Bottom Line- Approximately 10,000 people in this area are individuals within a young family who are not involved with their faith or only somewhat involved with their faith.
  

The Answer:
A ministry purposefully focused in three ways:

1. Geographically on the area indicated above
2. Socially on young family units
3. Spiritually on those who are not strongly involved with their faith
   

The Goals:

1. Leading those family units come to love God in Jesus Christ
2. Enabling the believers to grow together
3. Serving the community in an effort to encourage those on the outside to love God in Jesus Christ

Read This First

Read This First. Don't you love the idiot proof instructions that come with stuff you buy at Christmas? Did you assemble anything on Christmas this year? I did- well, really I just put batteries in a few things mostly.

One in particular. It was a 'flying dragon'. It said explicitly that it was intended for indoor use. So, we charged it up, turned it on and started pushing buttons. The things looks like a dragonfly. It is real lightweight and has plastic sheets for wings. I, with my three boys gathered round, held it out parallel to the ground and hit the button. In a flurry it hit the ground. And again and again. It seemed to be trying really hard to fly, but could not. Until we gained some context. (Of course, the boys thought it was hilarious that this dragonfly-looking thing furiously flew into the ground over and over).

Turns out, you are supposed to hold it perpendicular to the ground. And when you do it flies all over the house (though it mostly just dive bombed the adults' heads in the room).

We are beginning something big. And it is important that you get a proper hold on it from the beginning so it doesn't head straight to the ground.

So, let me give you two bottom lines that will assist you to interpret anything else that follows:

1. The three year goal is to lead about 150-250 people to Christ that are not currently actively involved with their faith


2. The ten year goal is to establish 8 congregations that have the same three year goal mentioned above

Therefore, when you hear that we are 'planting a church', please interpret it thus. We will not be buying some land, putting together some bricks and mortar with a steeple on top and trying to fill it up.

Please look through the documents "Why Plant a Church?" and "Vision" to get more info on these two bottom lines.

By His Grace,

Patrick

Before God

Before God. On my laptop that I have been using everyday since I began my Masters last May I have a file folder entitled "Before God". It is where I have been filing everything that has anything to do with this new ministry in Fort Wayne. It's contents are growing everyday. But it must all remain before God.

A guy with his PhD told me that the most important thing for any leader, especailly one who has sought some higher education, is to humble yourself everyday. Get on your knees. Confess your sins. Worship the sinless one. And walk away in the confidence that comes not from self-assurance, but from being accepted by God.

With that, we begin...