Though the reason I came to New York is for a government job, I am convinced that one reason I am up here is for “church planting.” I won’t do this at work, of course! First and foremost, I will be a good employee.
However, after work, one of the things I want to do is plant a church. So in a sense, I’m church planting on the government’s dime! This kind of church planting does not require any fundraising. In a sense, since I am a government employee, all of you who pay federal taxes are technically supporting my church planting efforts. So thank you! I appreciate your generosity!
Anyway, I have already realized that it would be nearly impossible to plant a typical church in area of New York. In fact, as I meet more and more people, I am convinced even more that the only kind of church that will make any progress at all up here, is the type of church that most Christians would not consider “church.” It wouldn’t even be similar to what has come to be called “house church.” I doubt we would ever have a “church service” or have any paid “staff.” There will probably not ever be a “church building” or any sort of “church programs.” Definitely no bulletins, songbooks, Sunday school classes, overhead projectors, worship teams, or websites. We would not give ourselves a “church name.” I am convinced that the less “churchy” we are, the better we will do as the church in this area.
We would be so unchurchy, that most of the people in the church would probably not even know we are “church.”
Is that possible?
Right now, the church consists of five people (not that I’m counting numbers! ha ha): myself, my wife, and our three girls. This next year or two, we are going to focus on loving and serving each other, and loving and serving one or two of the families in our immediate neighborhood (within 100 yards of us). There will be no strings attached. We just want to love and serve.
Some people will say, “That’s not church planting! That’s just following Jesus’ instructions for believers!” Yep. I believe that if we follow Jesus, we will naturally be the church. And wherever the church is, the church gets planted. That is my entire “church planting strategy.” Simple. Organic. Reproducible.
Will this strategy result in a mega-church? Nope. But that’s not my goal. My goal is to change lives, and that gets done one person at a time.
