Grace Roots: 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?