Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Location: A Beginning

Last post, we talked about finding the right place to start, a place where God wanted you and how to know where to begin. this post is about making the path to opening a church.

Nothing in the beginning will be easy. You will be under a microscope for much of the beginning. Everyone will watch to see if you are truly something different, or just some fly-by-night shyster who has come to grab a few dollars and run.

To be honest, the beginning starts long before anyone knows you are looking to plant a church at their location. Paul always found a way to be part of the community and we must do the same thing. We must be part of the community before we can start to make changes as drastic as adding a church.

The best advice ever given to me is to be so important to a community that they ask you to start the church. To do this you must first:

1. Join the club. Be a member and be active at all the functions.

2. Be productive. Make being part of the community a priority in your life, so much so that you become part of the infrastructure. Join committees. Show up for work days. Volunteer for open house days. Take small, under appreciated jobs and do them well.

3. Make a place for yourself at the club so that when members think of the club, your name is near the top.

4. Make a point to help people in need. This sounds like something that needn't be said, but we miss this too often. Feed the hungry. Visit the sick. Begin praying for the health and welfare of the club and community.

5. Become so known and respected that when you say you want to start a church meeting at the park, they can't find a reason not to let you.

One special note. If you look at what I am suggesting, you will see a definite pattern to the work. For those who wish to have a better understanding about this, re-read Acts. Spend some time reading about Barnabus and Paul. This is what they did. I think it worked well.

Till another time...

3 comments:

Unknown said...

What can I say but Amen? One of the things that has encouraged me to endure the sparks of iron sharpening iron in CNC staying mindful of the fact that we have an amazing opportunity to emulate the New Testament church in promoting Jesus rather than denominations. In due time we'll reap the harvest if we don't give up!

Allen said...

Sing it Brother John!

Anonymous said...

"For those who wish to have a better understanding about this, re-read Acts."
Correct. If done right, people will be wanting to get in, not us trying to get them in! I have mentioned that the Church should not be a boring, dry, dirge, but a party celebrating who we are in Christ! So much that others are knocking on our doors to let them in! Or telling us to keep it down! ;-)

Life is God

Boyd