When Things Don't Go The Way You Planned

We were informed a little over a month ago by our leadership that because of some legal residency issues between Chile and the USA, we would need to leave the country for 6 months. We have not done anything wrong, it's just something that got overlooked.

After our initial shock we began to think about all the plans we had made. We thought about the work of starting churches and the strategies for reaching out to some very isolated peoples. We take comfort because we know that this was not a surprise for God and that He will bring about good because of this.

We will be leaving for Montevideo, Uruguay on Friday. We pray that the 6 months there will be productive and that God will continue to mold us for His use. In spite of the quick departure the Lord worked out for a retired Cuban/American Pastor and his wife to come live in our home, continue the work and take care of our dog. Miami to Punta Arenas in 4 weeks! These are precious saints of God that have a heart for missions and evangelism.

At this point we are not sure about internet or anything for that matter. We know that we will be living in a furnished apartment and that Uruguayos are crazy about Mate! That's OK with me!

I hope to be up and posting again soon. We will miss our nice cold and snowy winter but what an adventure God has for us.
Grace,

Pictures for Friday

We recently took our oldest son to the Torres del Paine National Park here in the Chilean Patagonia. We had a couple of days of rain, snow and clouds. On the third day the sun came out and made it all worthwhile.


What a Creator is our God!
Have a great and blessed weekend.

A House Church Retrospective Part 3

I have been writing about some of my experiences and observations in Church Planting. This is the 3rd of 4 installments on the subject.

This brings me to another evaluation point, Doctrine. I realize that in this ecumenical Church Planting atmosphere we live in, it is not politically correct to question a Church Planters doctrine. It is assumed that the planting of Churches is far more important than doctrinal issues. Some have even said that doctrine is not important as long as we preach Jesus. My tongue in cheek answer I would like to give is which Jesus? I have actually heard a missionary say that he doesn’t teach doctrine he just plants churches. Without answering the impossibility of that statement my question is, are we to assume that Paul in planting churches was ambivalent towards doctrine? Are we to believe that the premier New Testament theologian was timid about doctrinal teaching? Some missiologist lobby for the least amount of doctrinal teaching needed to start Churches. I wonder if boiling our church planting theology down to the lowest common denominator is wise. I have heard and personally used the DNA analogy on several occasions. This of course is the illustration that states we must start churches with good DNA and they will reproduce with that same DNA. If the analogy holds true then does it not seem to reason that shallow doctrinal teaching in the beginning will lead to a steady diet of the same in the future. By shallow I do not mean that the teachings are shallow in themselves but that when we pick and choose what is essential as we see it, our teachings become unbalanced.

Unbalance seems to be the new practice in many churches today from Bible study to worship. In many church services much of what goes on considered by many to be worship and praise is but in reality is a thinly veiled attempt at entertainment and what makes “me” feel good. Just read the text of many of the choruses and you will see personal pronouns used far more extensively than is healthy or balanced in worship. (getting down from my soapbox) Returning to our look at the importance of doctrine, even in our evaluation of people groups, many would have us lump all Christian groups together and come up with an approximate evangelized number or percentage. Some would even include all those that are of the Roman Catholic persuasion reasoning that these if not Christians are very close and have easy access to the gospel. Is this true? Do deceived peoples have easier access to the gospel? There is no one quite so lost as those that think they are saved. Please do not interpret that I am saying a Roman Catholic can’t be a Christian (or a Baptist for that that matter!). Many think they are Christians because of something they have done or because they belong to the “It’s All About Me Baptist Church”.

As Southern Baptist we need look no further than the membership rolls of shame. We boldly and proudly proclaim 16 million plus members but how many changed lives do these numbers represent? Do we want to continue to propagate this travesty in our planting of new churches? You may be asking yourself if I am advocating less evangelism or church planting. I can answer that with a resounding NO! In thirty four years of ministry I have sought to evangelize plant churches and also encourage established churches to do the same. When we allow our doctrinal teachings to be watered down for the sake of planting churches in the end everyone loses. I have sat in on new groups or churches in formation that every study and discussion begins and ends talking about the love of God. I do not doubt the love of God for the world. I am amazed that a Holy God would even be concerned about my salvation and that he loves me so.

Rom 5:8 states, But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners,Christ died for us.

So hear me, I have no doubt in the love of God, but is that the whole gospel? Sometimes I think we are so afraid to confront people with the fact that all have sinned and offended a Holy God that we try to soft sell the gospel. We reason that if we are careful we will not scare the people away and we can then slip the gospel message in at some point. I am not sure about it but I think that there is a mathematical relationship between the amount of time we spend dancing around the subject and the time we lose the chance to ever share effectively with people. I have seen it happen in our work so I am assuming that it must happen to others also. I am not advocating that we don’t have cultivating activities or two step evangelism as some have called it. In the culture in which we live we must take time to make relationships or we will not have the chance to share in any meaningful way. One of the ways we cultivate people is by teaching English and then getting these people into Bible study. What I am saying is that I know of a Bible study group that had met for several years before the claims of Christ we ever made in a personal way. There must be a balance in relationship building and proclaiming the gospel of Christ. Somewhere between a two year study and a 2 minute John 3:16 “all you have to do is accept Jesus” presentation. What are some of the doctrines that we must preach and teach? I think we must start with God and then move on to other important doctrines such as salvation, man, the Holy Spirit etc. This of course is not an exhaustive or systematic list but the idea is to build upon the whole word of God and not camp out on one favorite text or teaching. Some of the Confessions of Faith mentioned earlier would be a good source for a systematic study of God’s word. The current thought seems to be at this time that we are not responsible for doctrine nor for what happens after the Church is formed. The idea seems to be get in get out let the new Churches worry about such things as doctrine. I have heard the statement “we must trust the Spirit to grow these new congregations. The problem with this thought is that it is not biblical practice. (Yes, I do believe that the Spirit leads and guides) but I think Paul would have been shocked to hear his church planters talk this way. Church Planting is a spiritual work not a mathematical equation. I guess my questions are these; in your experience what are essentials concerning doctrinal teaching? What have you observed in Church Planting concerning these specific issues?

Think about it and have a great weekend.

Grace,

House Church Retrospective Part 2

Part 2 is an attempt to analyze further the role of leadership in the local church. If you have experienced something similar let me hear from you.

As I look back on our experience of House church or as some are calling it now “Simple Church” I can see the profound failure in the area of Leadership development. Did we not train new converts in leadership principles? Or did we not allow them ownership by giving them leadership roles with increasing responsibility? Maybe we devalued the leadership by taking over when the new leaders faltered? Were the Biblical principles not emphasized enough? In all honesty I cannot see where we failed as far as the Principles of Leadership are concerned. As far as molding leadership in the local Church; fail we did! I do not mean that leadership is not taking place but that the leaders are always looking to “professionals” in ministry for help. Services are still being planned weekly, Bible studies for men, women and young people are being carried out on a regular basis. Ministry in the local community is taking place as well as in the adjoining town; there has even been some support of cross cultural missions. With all this we might be tempted to just say that it is a phase they are going through and they will mature in the future. We might be tempted to say that this is a cultural phenomenon in that this church is a church of professionals and they expect a “professional” to lead the church. I think that in all the push that someone in the House Church could be the Pastor I never instilled the idea that they might have to pray about God raising up a leader from some other quarter.

The apostle Paul seemed to plant new work by going to the local synagogue, getting thrown out and then go somewhere close by to start the work. He then left Elders in each of the works. The word Elders needs to be explored a little more thoroughly for our evaluation. Strong’s concordance explains it like this.

G4245 πρεσβύτερος presbuteros pres-boo'-ter-os

Comparative of πρέσβυς presbus (elderly); older; as noun, a senior; specifically an Israelite Sanhedrist (also figuratively, member of the celestial council) or Christian “presbyter”: - elder (-est), old.

Of the 64 references translated Elder or Elders in the English New Testament; discounting the 32 times that it denotes a leader of the Jewish faith, and the 12 times in John’s Revelation where it is dealing with the 24 elders, we are left with 20 references that deal exclusively with the New Testament Church. As we can see the above reference to the word in Strong’s Concordance indicates older, senior, elder or old (I'm getting there!). What are we to make this key leadership reference? It also seems that Paul after having started work and maintaining a personal presence and or a trusted missionary leader at some later time appointed Elders in the churches. The question then must be asked, how long does it take to make an Elder? I am sure we all agree that this is a relative progression.

The Apostle Paul evidently spent 3 years in the school of discipleship before returning to evangelize and plant churches. Can we truly expect to leave firm leaders in newly formed churches that have been in existence for a few weeks or months? I am not saying that it could not happen, as we have stated earlier that the process is relative for every new believer. My question is should we take the best case scenario and make it the norm or model for planting churches? It seems to me that when we do this we leave in our wake frustrated Christian leaders, guilt ridden missionaries and local churches doomed to fail.

In the past we have seen a parade of Church Planters expounding their methods, writing their books and then urging all missionaries everywhere to “adopt” their model. We as missionaries are always asking to see the Latin American model of CPM. I know that it sounds simplistic but we have the model before us in the New Testament. The problem is that this model is not flashy nor does it have a flashy acronym. The principal flaw occurs when we get away from the Biblical model and use other models that do not adapt well if at all. Time does not permit to list all the models that have assaulted us over the last 20+ years. I guess under the Leadership question we must determine to take the time necessary to train and disciple new Christians to become leaders in the local Church.

The other point is can we expect the new churches to prosper without God called Elders/Pastors? Many people point to Models where the churches are multiplying very rapidly without such leadership as proof that it can be done. Only history will be able to evaluate the truth of what is taking place. Do I sound cynical? I can truthfully say that it is not cynicism but a true desire to see New Testament Churches started and become multiplying in nature. I guess one thing I do react against is the syllogism of church planting that says a+b=c. Some people would place Church Planting in the same type of equation without regard to other factors.

Charles Finney made similar claims about revival. He stated that revival was no more a miracle than a crop of wheat! By doing certain things he could guarantee revival would come. The problem with this thinking is that we assume that revival or in our case a CPM is something that is in our hands. It is pure ignorance of God’s word and work to suppose we are the determining factor in Church Planting, evangelism or even discipleship of new believers. Finney’s legacy in spite of all his impressive numbers was one of shallow believers, worldly Churches and many unregenerate Church members.

Can we so easily discount scriptural models that call for Elders or Pastors as the human agents in the plan of God for Church starting and growth? Looking back to the house church experience this is the major failure. Some would argue that the fact that the church is not constantly multiplying as the major failure. I personally feel that the leadership issue is the failure that I must assume. The house church is ripe for doctrinal error without a God called shepherd. Please do not interpret anything I have said as advocating a “professional clergy” or even paid leadership. One of the most effective pastors I know without a doubt, is an engineer that works full time in a chemical plant. He has started a thriving cell church and receives no pay from the church at this time.

In part three we will talk about the role of doctrine in Church Planting.

Grace,

A House Church Retrospective

Points of Concern Part 1

Having the experience of starting, working with and then leaving a “thriving house church” has led me to some recent evaluation of that work. Retrospect is a wonderful tool in that as we try to plant churches we can learn from our mistakes as well as from the things that seemed to work.

This series of post has the objective of evaluating several aspects of that work as well as the work in general that we call mission, offering some thoughts concerning this work and proffering some suggestions from the personal perspective.

Leadership

No one would deny the critical nature of forming, training and making disciples. The New Testament is clear on our task as those who are called to go and make disciples. In Matthew we find what is called the great commission.

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28 18-28 (ESV)

Discipleship concepts are as varied as denominations, local churches or even individual Christians. If you ask 10 people what is discipleship you will get multiple answers. Historically Baptist and other denominations have used many different plans. Confessions of faith were the staple of almost all mainline denominations including Baptist until the advent of the 20^th century when most of these confessions were relegated to being “suggestions of faith”

Confessions of Faith have always been important to Baptists. While not approaching the status of creeds, nonetheless they have played a very significant role in Baptist life. Some of these documents are as follows:

• 1644 London Confession
• 1689 London Baptist Confession
• 1742 Philadelphia Confession
• 1833 New Hampshire Confession
• 1858 Abstract of Principles
• 1925 Baptist Faith Message
• 1963 Baptist Faith Message
• 1998 Amendment to BF&M
• 2000 Baptist Faith & Message

Even early Southern Baptist while not adopting a confession of faith as such; based most of their teachings on these earlier confessions of faith. In the 20th century Southern Baptist adopted a statement of faith know as the Baptist Faith and Message. All of these early documents had a purpose in stating basic doctrine in a systematic way and many Churches used these confessions as a way to prepare new converts (disciples) in doctrine and practices of the local church. This along with strong Biblical preaching and teaching molded the believers into a somewhat homogeneous body of believers. As Southern Baptist some have chafed under the historical confessions and even more recently under the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. (Thats another post)

As I look back on our experience of House church or as some are calling it now “Simple Church” I can see the profound failure in the area of Leadership development.

In the next installment I will continue with some areas of concern.
Blessings,

Free Translations of Gospel Resources

The guys over at Sovereign Grace Ministries are helping to put together an interesting resource. It is in the development stage and new resources are being added as we blog! This is from their newsletter.

Sovereign Grace Ministries is partnering with Desiring God, Ligonier, 9Marks, and others in a groundbreaking project called Gospel Translations, which aims to provide translations of gospel-centered teaching online, for free.

Pic of the day

We are going off for a few days, but thought I would leave you with a picture of where we are going. I will be away from the computer during this time but I do not think I will miss it!

Torres del Paine National Park Chile

How Long Does It Take To Make A Disciple?

This is a question that has been on my mind for a long time. Many missionaries talk about planting churches rapidly and in turn these new churches plant churches. I must admit that I am in awe of movements where this is taking place. Obviously there are disciples being sent out to form these new churches and the Spirit of God is working through them.

My experience has not been such. In working with new Christians and making disciples I have encountered for the most part slow mostly steady progress in making disciples. Sometimes the growth is excruciatingly slow and sometimes it is three steps forward and two steps back. I have had many experiences of new believers (and not so new) getting their feelings hurt, getting angry, pouting and basically throwing tantrums. Did I hear someone say welcome to the New Testament Church? It does cause me to think at times that our team must be doing something terribly wrong in Church Planting. Maybe part of the slowness comes from the fact that we do not try to court Christians to come and be a part of our groups. We tend to have an inordinate number of floating Christians here in the Patagonia. These are church members that for some reason or another stopped going to their church and are now "free agents". I spoke to one of these sisters recently and she told me her story which included membership in 4 different churches from three different denominations.

The disciple process is slow work. I must admit that when one of these new disciples; prays in public for the first time, gives their testimony or talks about how God has changed their lives, I shed a tear of joy. I wonder what the Master thought when He was teaching His followers? Did he wonder if they ever would "get it"? The personal touch takes time, energy and the conviction that the Lord has placed you in the right place at the right time. I know that the Lord of the harvest is bringing His people unto Himself. I have the privilege of serving Him and being amazed at what He is doing.

Painting in the Patagonia, It's a breeze.

It was one of those rare Saturday mornings. A beautiful fall morning with blue sky and temps to the mid 40’s with forecast to hit 50. An inspiration hit me while drinking my morning coffee. I would paint the old shed out back. The shed is a converted crate where we store anything that doesn’t fit anywhere else. It’s not big but it needed paint badly. The door had been unpainted for about a year so I figured before it rots off I would give it the coat of paint it needed. I gathered together my supplies; rollers, brush, roller pan, paint cans, screw driver and a couple of old plastic bags. I got around to the shed and began my preparation for the great endeavor. I placed the bags under a paint can because you never know when the wind will blow here in the Patagonia. They call it the breeze here… The breeze can make the most seasoned sailor long to be a "landlubber". I picked up one quart of paint and immediately the wind gusted a little sending my plastic bags into the atmosphere. One of the bags landed about 20 seconds later in the neighbor’s yard and Rodolfo; their dog enjoyed grabbing it out of mid-air. Not to be deterred I continued on, but taking note that I needed to be a little more careful with the paint. I would not need the bags! I then opened the can of cream colored paint and began to pour the paint into the roller pan; the wind was constant but manageable although it did spackle my polar jacket that I have used for the last ten years. Finally I dipped the roller and began to paint. Everything was going pretty well when a gust of wind blew the two quart paint cans over sending them helter skelter crashing into the back wall. I was quite amazed that the roller pan did not move very much. I retrieved the cans placing them in a position that would not be exposed to the wind. Then an inspiration hit me, a precaution. That hole at the top end of the roller pan which is presumably to hang it up after you finish painting. I reasoned that if I took my trusty screwdriver and drove it through the hole and into the ground it would hold the pan in place. I continued painting; everything was going well, until I needed to open the shed door to paint the edges. The “breeze” caught the door and slammed it against the shed slinging any loose paint to the winds. No problem, at least the wind would keep the door open while I painted. One thing I had not counted on was that the wind then sucked a box of Christmas ball decorations into the yard. So now I am holding a paint roller in one hand, holding the door with my foot and I am desperately trying to retrieve the Christmas balls which are now blowing everywhere. I finally get all the decorations back into the box and I just get the door closed on the shed when a gust of wind swept away everything lighter than what Arnold Schwarzenegger bench presses. Just before the roller pan was swept away… remember the screwdriver idea? The screwdriver acted like a pinion which allowed the paint roller pan to spin like a circus carousel making about three 180’s before taking flight and crashing into the back wall. I now realized that the great paint adventure was now a rescue operation. The wind now was a constant 30 miles an hour with gust much higher. I managed to get all the paint supplies together I now realized also that with the wind chill I had lost all feeling in my hands. I retreated around the house to the carport and put my supplies away. Turning around, one of the bags I had lost early on in the process landed at my feet. One positive thing is that the paint dried really fast! I think next time an inspiration like this hits me I will just reach for another cup of coffee.
Patagonia Mike

A Spring Ride