Fighting in Faith for this Church Plant

I always knew that church planting was hard.

Leading up to our go-date in Boston, I have found myself in a new level of fight. Perhaps it’s because I’m the lead guy on this one. Perhaps it’s due to the hostile nature of our environment. Perhaps it’s the devil. Perhaps it’s what I ate for lunch…

In any case, I’m in a fight. I’m in a fight for God’s dream for Boston. I’m in a fight for people who don’t know Jesus. I’m in a fight for wandering, aimless Christians. I’m in a fight for the advance of God’s kingdom on the earth, even as it is in Heaven. I’m in a fight for the defense of the Gospel, once for all delivered to the saints.

So, just as Paul told Timothy, so the Scriptures tell me, Fight the good fight of faith. I will pray. I will fast. I will prepare. I will raise money. I will move. I will encourage myself in the words of Jesus, who went through a much tougher fight.

I will fight the good fight of faith for the future of that great city.

Who’s with me?

See God

There is a lot I don’t see right now…

…I don’t see the money I need to plant Aletheia Church Boston

…I don’t see a full team of people and staff

…I don’t yet see hundreds coming to Christ

…I don’t see the sound system, meeting space, small groups, or welcome signs

But…

I do see God. I see His promises, His character, and His love for Boston, which is greater than mine or anyone else.  I see God, even though I don’t see anything else. I don’t see what I think I need.  But I do see Him who gives to all beyond what we can ask or think.  Do you see him?

See God, not your issues.  In the absence of immediate provision, see him who will meet your needs and give him honor for future grace.

A Missionary Goodbye…

Almost 6 years ago, God spoke to Hope and I and told us to stop what we were doing, and to move to Scotland to help plant a church. So, we did. I cannot believe that the time has come for us to leave this place. But again, God has told us to go, and we are.

I thank God for this place, and our time here.  I thank God for the pain.  I thank God for the joy.  I thank God for the costly nature of it.  I thank God for the way it has changed me. I thank God for the people.  I thank God for, well, all of it.

I know that we have obeyed him.  We have borne fruit.  We have won lost souls to Jesus.  We have been faithful, and I know that Scotland is better because of the people we’re leaving behind.  I know, too, that I’m better because of Scotland, and her people.

Now, six years on, we are saying goodbye to the place that we once only dreamed of.  We’re looking back on memories that we once only imagined we’d have.  We thankful for experiences that we never thought we’d get.  We stand at the end of this moment, and, turning back to gaze upon it one final time, we smile.

My Assurance

I’m about to leave Scotland.

I am filled with excitement, fear, faith, sadness, happiness, and host of other emotions.  ONE THING I AM NOT, HOWEVER, IS CONCERNED. I do not lie awake at night wondering, “will they do okay without me?”  Certainly not.  In fact, I’m convinced that if I were, I would be both an IDOLATER and a BAD LEADER.

I would be an idolater because I would be implying that this church were somehow built by me.  Rubbish.  This church, and every other church, is built by Jesus Christ who said I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it. I am not Jesus. I don’t build churches. To believe that I do would make me an idolater and a fool.

I would be a bad leader because I would have illustrated exactly what I didn’t do: make disciples.  I’m going to steal a riff from Steve Murrell here, WE MAKE DISCIPLES, JESUS BUILDS THE CHURCH.  If I were concerned about this church, I’d simply be showing off how for 5 years I didn’t make a good disciple.

But… by God’s grace, I have made a few disciples, and Jesus continues to be the builder of his church. I’ve preached the gospel, and I’ve done my best to lay foundations in people. So, this is my assurance; I HAVE BEEN FAITHFUL to try and make disciples, and I BELIEVE JESUS WILL BE FAITHFUL TO BUILD HIS CHURCH in Edinburgh, in Boston, and all over the world.

You are all Awesome!!

I promise my blog isn’t turning into a shameless fund-raising portal.  But, I did want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of your generous faith and prayers.  Here’s where we are with A WEEK LEFT TO GO…

I’ll say it like Paul did, I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now… You are helping us to plant a GREAT NEW CHURCH IN BOSTON.

We still have A WEEK LEFT AND 44% TO GO, so If you haven’t had a chance to give yet and you’d like to, you can do that HERE.

Progress Report…

Thanks so much for your support.  CAN YOU HELP US GET HALFWAY BY SUNDAY?

$8000 in 14 Days! Can YOU help?

We have a need.

As you may know, Hope and I are being forced to leave the UK early. The great thing about that is that we’re being moved on to plant Aletheia Church Boston sooner than we thought.  The tough part is that we didn’t have nearly enough time needed to save the $20k it costs to move a family of five from one continent to another.

Here’s the GOOD NEWS: we’ve already raised over half of that amount!  The BAD NEWS is WE STILL NEED $8,000 to pay for our moving expenses.  We need this in the NEXT 14 DAYS so that we can pay our moving company. That’s where you come in…

For Aletheia Church Boston to start, the simple fact is we have to be there.  Would you consider giving whatever you can to HELP US MOVE BACK TO THE USA SO THAT A GREAT CHURCH CAN BE PLANTED IN BOSTON?

So, THAT’S $8,000 IN 14 DAYS.  God is big, and I know that He can do it!

Thanks for your help and support!

(Note: You can give via electronic check or credit card. Please feel free to email me with questions.)

Church Planting and Future Grace

If you know me at all, you know that I’m an ENTJ to the max. I get things done. In fact, DOING is what I do. There is, however, plenty that terrifies me about planting a new church…

• Preaching the gospel to really, really smart people who don’t know Jesus
• Raising the insane amount of money that it takes to start a new church
• Moving my family to a new city
• Making new friends
• Finding venues
• Training leaders

And the list goes on.

The great news for me, for my team, and for the city of Boston is that I will fail completely, fully, and miserably if I’m looking at me for this thing to work. The KEY TO OUR SUCCESS IS KNOWING THAT WE WILL, INDEED, FAIL.

But, why is this good news?

God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

It’s good news because if I know that, then I must look beyond me, above me, and outside me. I MUST DRINK DEEPER THAN THE SHALLOW TOPSOIL OF MY OWN GIFTING AND LET THE ROOTS OF MY LEADERSHIP GO DOWN DEEP, DEEPER STILL TO THE FLOWING AQUIFER OF ENDLESS, MERITLESS GRACE.

So, I rejoice that we will win, not because I’m gifted, not because I’ve got enough team, money, or popularity to pull off something awesome.  I rejoice because GOD PROMISES FUTURE GRACE FOR FUTURE TASKS, IMMEASURABLE HELP FOR IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS, AND SUPERNATURAL WISDOM FOR THE NATURALLY STUPID.

Future grace… my hope… Boston’s hope.

Dreams for the Future: A Church of Grace

Last time we looked at the first of Aletheia’s values: TRUTH.  Today, we’re going to mingle that value with GRACE.

GRACE is the context for truth.  Its been said that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.  It’s my dream that “aletheia is a place where it is okay to not be okay.”  Because God is so patient, so kind, so forbearing with us, we seek to be a community that is this way with everyone else.

There’s a balance here, and I love the GOSPEL TENSION this creates.  Church can’t only exist to deliver truth.  If this were the case we’d be mere clanging gongs, pronouncing true statements to a hurting people, beating them down with our propositions.  On the other hand, if a church is only there to show grace to people, then we show HATEFUL KINDNESS.  Hateful, because we deny them the one thing that will do them eternal good, which is the truth of the gospel.

So this is my dream, our dream, to be a church full of grace AND truth, just as Jesus was.

(This blog is also posted at Aletheia Boston, a new church coming to Boston in 2010)

Ezra and Team Church Planting

(Reposted at Aletheia Boston)

I’ve been reading the book of Ezra, and something interesting popped out at me.

Here’s the situation: Ezra, a priest of God, has been called by God to go back to Jerusalem and begin to re-establish worship of God in the city. He’s been called to go to a broken, dark, and destroyed place and proclaim the words of God to the people.

A slightly intimidating task, no doubt.

…this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the LORD, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him. (Ezra 7:6)

So, God’s favor was on Ezra to do what he had asked him to do. But, here was the part that jumped out…

And there went up also to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the people of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants. (Ezra 7:7)

God, in his goodness, had the good sense to not just send Ezra to the city, but sovereignly  to stir up the hearts of all sorts of other people crucial to the mission to move there as well.

See, in church planting a lot of pressure is put on the lead guy, as it should be. But let us not forget that it takes a team around that guy, orchestrated by God himself, to make the mission actually happen. In short, it’s one thing for God to have called me to lead a church plant, but its going to take a whole team of radical, called, and focused people to make it happen.

Might you be one of those people to whom God is speaking to help us plant this church? As he’s called us, could he be calling you?