Indiana Calls

NEXT STEPS

1. Ministry partners (5)
2. Core-Group – 10
3. A Team from the sending church or another partner church to provide additional leadership.
4. A written vision: To reach the lost, make disciples for Jesus and plant a church
5. Mission statement: To glorify God through gospel-centered outreach, discipleship, and corporate worship.
6. Core values
   • Spreading the gospel – sharing the gospel with all the people we can, at all the places we can, as often as we can.
   • Disciple Making- Training core planting teams to go and plant disciple-making Churches wherever they are needed.
   • Family and Fellowship – Doing life together with purpose, bearing one another’s burdens and advocating for the poor, the widow and the fatherless as one family together under Christ.
   • Gospel-Centered Worship –  Gathering corporately to worship, hear the word preach and giving of our time, talents and resources.

SMART Goals

1. Move into the community
2. Organize an outreach event once a week
3. Build a community through a network of friends
4. Share the gospel to the lost
5. Make Disciples of our Lord Jesus
6. Plant a church

 

 

Extending God’s Kingdom

Purpose

Planting new churches in order to effectively reach more people with the life-changing hope of the gospel is a high priority.  That’s because we believe church planting is the best strategy in transforming lives and communities.  Our great desire is to help our church planters get started strong in order to not just survive, but to thrive!  We will assist the church planter in personal training, as well as the training of launch, worship and ministry teams.

I. Goal

 

• Start an outreach oriented, reproducing church
• Lead the new church to be a parent church with future church planting being one of its primary values.

 

II. Primary Responsibilities

 

• After receiving a green light at assessment and District Board of Administrators approval, funding is provided.  Most church planters who work diligently at support raising find themselves able to have a full-time support package
• Write a vision statement for the new church
• Recruit a core group of people who are behind the vision, to work with in starting the new church
• Prepare the church for a public launch
• Lead the new church to be a reproducing church, being involved in reproducing within its first five years, through cooperation with other parent churches

 

III. Qualifications

 

• Prior experience as Sr. Pastor or staff person in a healthy church
• Vision and Leadership ability
• Entrepreneurial orientation
• Personal, growing relationship with Jesus Christ
• Commitment to the power and practice of prayer. (James 5:16)
• Genuine desire to win people to Christ and see them discipled in the faith. (Matthew 28:19)
• Commitment to the ministry of the local church and the importance of the home
• An interest in and genuine love for people; a cooperative spirit. (John 13: 34-35)

 

IV. Relationships

 

• Will be accountable to the _________ until properly recognized as an Established Church
• Will have a coach as immediate supervisor, who will work to help the planter to succeed
• Will be involved in a network of other planters in ____________ for support, resources, and encouragement

Four Questions to ask before joining a church

1. IS THIS A CHURCH WHERE MY FAMILY WILL BE REGULARLY FED BY GOD’S WORD?

This is the first question that needs to be asked. Not just are they faithful to the Word of God, but will this church preach and teach in such a way that my soul and the souls of my family will be nourished? In other words, are they preaching expositionally through books of the Bible as the regular, steady diet of the congregation? This approach does not automatically answer this question, but it is a great place to start and evaluate.

2. IS THIS A CHURCH WHERE I AM CONVINCED THE CARE OF MY SOUL WILL BE A PRIORITY?

Does this church have real pastors/elders who see their primary task to be the spiritual care and oversight of the souls of the members? In other words, just because they have powerful, biblical preaching does not mean your individual soul will be tended to on a regular basis. Ask the pastors. Ask other church members. It will not take much investigation on whether this work is a priority of the leadership of the church.

3. IS THIS A CHURCH WHERE MY FAMILY WILL EXPERIENCE MEANINGFUL CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP AND ACCOUNTABILITY?

To know this, it will require a bit of a commitment to one church for a time to build relationships, attend some church fellowship events, and get to know some of the pastors and leadership. Yet you must have a realistic expectation as you are not yet a member, so do not expect to be treated as one.

4. IS THIS A CHURCH WHERE I CAN SERVE GOD’S PEOPLE AND USE MY GIFTS FOR ITS BENEFIT?

It will help to know where you are gifted and what some of the needs of the church are. Some needs can be filled by your simple presence and commitment. Also, do not assume you know what those areas of need are by your limited observations.

You should be able to know the answers to these questions within a few months of attending one church if you give yourself to the process. If you can answer in the affirmative to all four of these questions, it is a good possibility you have found your next church. At that point I would encourage you not to delay but to pursue membership.

IMPORTANT NOTE

One final element is the key to persevering with the zeal required in this search. You and your family should feel a sense of persistent unease knowing that you are not in covenant fellowship with a local church and are not under the authority of undershepherds caring for your souls. The freedom and absence of accountability many experience in the search for a new church can cause a sinful complacency.

In other words, you do not ever want to become comfortable being one of God’s sheep who has wandered away from the fellowship of the flock and the accountability of shepherds to care for you, even if that journey at the time feels fun and exciting.

This article was originally published at The Gospel Coalition.

REBUILDING

After assessing the situation, it’s time to start facing reality and helping people start making some changes. Obviously, this is where it can get really tough because there’s a need to say some hard things firmly, while being gracious. In addition, you’re going to ask demoralized people to reengage who may feel like losers, even if they’re trying to put a good face on it. This is how Nehemiah approached things after his assessment:

So I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been burned. Come, let’s rebuild Jerusalem’s wall, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.” I told them how the gracious hand of my God had been on me, and what the king had said to me. They said, “Let’s start rebuilding,” and their hands were strengthened to do this good work (Neh. 2:17-18, CSB).

It makes it all sound pretty easy on the surface, but notice that Nehemiah didn’t ask them to do everything all at once. He just asked them to do one thing–rebuild a wall. In your case, who knows what it might be? Maybe you need to ask people to do a major “spruce up” of the property or building; maybe you need to ask them to start a new group or class of some kind; or maybe you need to work with people to organize an outreach project. Do whatever activity that will begin to build a sense of accomplishment among the people.

In addition, Nehemiah did speak the truth. He stated the obvious, and then he turned that into a battle cry. And the reason for it was that God was at work in the situation. That goes back to the first two points–having a clear sense of calling from God to love, serve, and lead the people and allowing God to cultivate a love in your heart for the people and the place.

Notice also that Nehemiah made it about “we” and “us,” not “me” and “them.” He challenged people to join the team, and Nehemiah saw himself as one of the team. It wasn’t Nehemiah against or above everybody else, and the people responded. Nehemiah didn’t rub all of this in the face of the people or try to make them feel bad for letting things get to that point.

In leading Lee Park Church to experience significant revitalization, Pastor Chris Justice kept things pretty simple. The vision he cast for the church revolved around two obvious things–preach the Word and love people. That’s it. He tried not to use the word “change” in the first year. What he did set out to do though, was highlight instances where he observed people loving others. Pastor Justice asserted, “The people were so used to hearing everything that was wrong and everything that they weren’t, I wanted to preach to them who they were.” Pastor Chris Justice and Nehemiah were working on building people up after being demoralized.

copied from https://edstetzer.com/2017/07/kick-starting-the-plateaued-and-declining-church-part-4/

Today’s Word

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36 (NIV)

Speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:12-13 (ESV)

Heavenly Father, thank you for being the Father of mercies and God of all comfort–the God of limitless patience, inexhaustible forbearance, and incomparable compassion. Instead of giving us what we deserve, you have given us Jesus–who is our perfect righteousness, everlasting peace, and greatest joy. May your mercy trump our critical attitudes and your grace gentle our antsy hearts.

Father, we lament and repent. We’re too easily irritated, offended, and impatient. We confess what you already know: We keep records of the ways people hurt, fail, and disappoint us, more easily that we overlook, forbear, and forgive. Thank you for the full forgiveness we have in Christ, and for grace to repent and change. To whatever degree it is possible for redeemed sinners, we want to be merciful with others as you are merciful with us.

And for our more complex relationships, Father, we appeal to you for wisdom and strength. Show us what mercy looks like with we feel like we are being exploited, manipulated, and “played”. We know you’re not calling us to be “doormats”, but you are calling us to wash the feet of repeat offenders, like ourselves. Our cry is, “Help, Abba, help!”

Teach us about healthy boundaries, severe mercy, and extraordinary grace. Free us for loving in the broken places, as Jesus loves us. Fill us with your Spirit, empower us by the gospel, and bring the right people into our lives that can help us navigate our hearts-exhausting relationships. Father, thank you for your promise and provision of daily mercies. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ kind and powerful name.

BORROWED from Together for the Gospel

Today’s Word

PSALM 144

¹² Then our sons in their youth
    will be like well-nurtured plants,
and our daughters will be like pillars
    carved to adorn a palace.
¹³ Our barns will be filled
    with every kind of provision.
Our sheep will increase by thousands,
    by tens of thousands in our fields;
¹⁴     our oxen will draw heavy loads.^[a]
There will be no breaching of walls,
    no going into captivity,
    no cry of distress in our streets.

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