Dr. C. Peter Wagner is the one most credited for making the claim, "the single most effective way to evangelize is to plant new churches." We want to see more people following Jesus; we want to plant a church.
How did we get to this point?
I have been in youth ministry for nine years. What drew me to this calling was the conviction that the way to affect change within our churches is by engaging the hearts of young people with the message of Jesus. This has been my commitment and passion for all of my adult life. Our young people are not the church of tomorrow, rather they are the church of today, and they are the ones who will lead us into tomorrow.
Yet in my youth ministry experience I have observed that there is another story being told. Our younger generations are becoming increasingly less-churched, de-churched, or just flat out uninterested in church, and for the most part our churches have been ineffective in reaching the emerging generations. In the Gospels, Jesus speaks of pouring new wine into new wineskins. Many of our churches are not functioning as new wineskins into which new wine can be poured.
For a while I had been reflecting on these two stories: a passion for youth ministry and yet a great concern for the many young people who don't know Jesus and the churches who aren't engaging their hearts. What emerged was an interest in starting a new church, with new paradigms and structures to engage the hearts of the unchurched in new and innovative ways.
During this time the church where I served as youth pastor was looking for a new senior pastor. For a season we had a interim senior pastor who had recently been hired by our conference to be the director of church planting and plant a church himself. Over time I had several conversations with him about church planting and this began to become more than just a mild interest for Bekki and I.
It evolved into a calling. And then I made a phone call that would change everything.
About a year ago I had this sense that God had something different for us. I had been praying and fasting and after months of seeking God in this I decided to pick up the phone. I contacted our church planting director and asked if Bekki and I could meet with him to talk more seriously about the possibility of church planting and what that process would look like.
Since then our excitement, passion, and commitment to starting a new church has only heightened. We have partnered with a church plant in its launch, we have participated in a rigorous church planting assessment, and soon we will formally begin the adventure of planting a new church. In July, we will begin a one-year church planting internship with Resolution Church in Naperville, IL. Resolution is a new church (launched in September 08), and is lead by Dr. Mark Davenport (our conference church planting director). During this internship I will serve on staff as executive pastor, will help develop a youth ministry, lead a small group, preach regularly, and immerse myself in a church plantimg culture. It is our hope to begin the process of planting our own church in the Fall of 2010!
As we continue to dream about the church we want to plant, we dream big. The truth is I don't want to plant a church. I want to be a part of planting a movement of churches. I believe that God is unleashing a movement of new churches that will engage the hearts of people with the Gospel in new and innovative ways. We hope that you will be a part of this movement. We hope that you might be a part of creating new wineskins that will accommodate the new wine that is flowing in our midst.
This is only the beginning of a new story...
If you would like to formally contribute to our church planting internship you can in the following ways:
1. Prayer. Our goal is to have 1,000 prayer partners by the time we plant our church in 2010.
2. Finances. This internship requires that we raise support. While our sponsoring agency
(The North Central Conference of The Free Methodist Church) is committing to offer some financial support, we will still need to raise a significant percentage on our own. If you're interested in supporting in either one or both of these areas please contact Erick at big_ewok@hotmail.com.
