Recommended to Plant a church!
by Paul ~ July 5th, 2009. Filed under: Us.
Us on the last day of the assessment
Last week we went to the Converge Church Planting Assessment (see FAQ). We were “Conditionally Recommended“. There are four results we could have gotten, ranging from Recommended to Not Recommended. We got the 2nd to best result, which is really what we were hoping for. It was great news to us and of much encouragement! It means that a group of veteran church planters and ministry leaders believe that God has gifted us and called us to plant a church! This drastically pushes us closer to planting and is a HUGE confirmation of what God has been leading us toward.
Thank you for all your prayers during that week! They were felt! This was the first time that Luke was away from his parents with a babysitter for long periods of time. He did really well! Praise the Lord. Kaelin was able to make all the important parts of the assessment. God clearly orchestrated the week for us!
The assessment was fun but also intense. It was like being at an interview for four days straight. There were 13 candidate couples and a few dozen assessors. We preached, presented, went through interviews, and participated in group activities that were monitored by the assessors. We also did some personality assessments (Golden, DISC, and StregthsFinder). The whole process was to give the assessors insight into 16 major areas of our life and personality, including evangelism, leadership, devotional life, and marriage.
The week was a ton of fun and a great learning experience. We were really blessed by all the wonderful, God-seeking couples at the assessment and pray that God will use all of them mightily for His Purposes. We also were greatly encouraged by the assessors who were all loving, gracious people who Jesus has been using to build His church.
Us presenting 5 adjectives about each other. Kaelin said for Paul: Zeal, Forthright, Gentle, Observant, Knowledgable. Paul for Kaelin: Determined, Maximizing, Loving, Playful, Uplifting
You’re probably asking: Now what?
As I said, this was a huge confirmation for the path we’ve been on for two years. Paul will going going into this third and final year of LDI next year. Through this next year of LDI we’ll work on our “conditions” – such as preaching experience and experience with other church plants. So for that, we need to raise more support (or seek how else God wants to provide for us). We also are going to be seeking God for more specific guidance on the details of what church planting will look like for us.
You may ask, Why Plant a Church?
Church planting is basically starting a new Christian Community – which is a church. So why plant a church? Simply enough: because there are lots of people who need Jesus (like over 70% of Americans, depending on whose stats you use). Jesus is going to keep building His church until He returns, and since the time of the Apostle Paul, He has worked through planting new Christian communities (Church planting) or growing established communities. Jesus brings lost people to Himself in new churches, especially here in America. On average, for an American church over 10 years old, 1 person comes to Christ for every 89 people in the church. In a church plant that is less than 3 years old, 1 person comes to Jesus for every 3 people in the church. “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27). In the humble circumstances of church plants that have less resources and less people, God often works mightily.
Ultimately, people come to know Jesus by seeing Jesus in Christ’s followers. Church plants are exciting times where Christians are mobilized to engage, love, and serve the world around them. Starting a church afresh also creates new ways for Christians to connect with the lost culture around them and to build relationships with the broken souls God puts in their path. Thus, a church plant helps share Jesus with more people who need Him!