It seems I’m always hearing this from people who are excited about our work.  I thank God for them. 

In our first year (2007) of our mission I studied myself full with books on church planting movements.  It was a good time for me to read these books.  They helped to provide just-in-time training for me and my team.  God’s Spirit especially directed me to a few good books that helped me clarify my vision, challenged me to unlearn “church” as I had known it, and gave me new tools and principles for catalyzing a church planting movement. 

In the process though I learned something about myself I didn’t like.  I realized I have the kind of personality that tends to copy (or hide behind) other people’s good ideas rather than pursue my own.  This paralyzed me as a leader at times because I was always in search of more information before moving forward with a plan.  After receiving several promptings from God’s Spirit via perceptive friends, I decided to make a change. 

During our second year (2008) on the mission field I declared a moratorium on reading ministry books.  The Bible says “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).  This year it was no longer time to learn from books.  It was time to learn from doing.  There is a kind of knowledge that can only be obtained through experience, and that’s what my team and I needed this year.  So in 2008 I decided not to read ministry books unless I was specifically required or asked to do so by my overseeing church, a mentor, or a coach (which thankfully has only happened once and it was about a week ago).  I’m so glad I made this decision!   

Ministry books are helpful but I had read a lot of them and God’s Spirit was leading me to stop depending on favorite authors, and truly learn to depend on him to guide me and my team.  Anytime a person recommended or gave me a book on church planting, this year I just added their book to the list or pile in my home office with the knowledge that I’ll get around to reading some of those books someday, and some I will never read.  It has felt good to trust the Lord and place more confidence in what he is doing through me as a growing leader. 

The only “ministry book” I’ve read this year is the Bible which has been life altering.  I’ve been reading it with the purpose of putting into practice what I’m learning right away.  I’ve tried to make reading scripture about more than just gaining spiritual information; it has been about discovering obedience and discovering leadership.  I don’t move onto the next biblical story or passage without applying and sharing it.  The idea is to do what I know so far, and I end up learning so much more from the doing! 

As my coach put it, our first year in E-Ho was about discovering our approach; the second year has been about doing it.  Consequently, I have grown more confident at evaluating other people’s ministry ideas and making necessary tweaks for our ministry context. 

Next year I will likely read a few ministry books but mostly on an as-needed basis.  I’m still a big fan of just-in-time training.  When I pick up the next ministry book, though, I will approach its pages with better questions and more confidence, now that my team and I have at least a little more experience being missionaries ourselves as a way of life.  

I want you to come visit us for a few days.  I want you to have the experience of walking the streets and going from house to house with us, so that you can engage, love, and learn from the future leaders of Christ’s church - the urban poor in our city.  But there is something I desire more than a visit from you.  No, not your money.  My prayer is that all of Jesus’ followers will become way-of-life-missionaries wherever we are.  Indeed, some of you already are living this kind of life.  You were our inspiration for giving up our old way of life, and ‘church as we knew it’ to be here today. 

On a related note, here is a must-read for our suburban supporters: 

Is anyone else noticing the suburbanization of poverty?  Check out a thoughtful post on this topic by Bob Lupton, author of Theirs Is The Kingdom (Harper and Row, 1989), and president of FCS Ministries, a community development organization serving urban poor neighborhoods in Atlanta.  In March 2008 Lupton wrote about how the poor are migrating to the suburbs. Here is an excerpt:  

“It was the first meeting of this kind I have had – four pastors, a county commissioner, three community leaders, all suburbanites. They had invited me to breakfast at their favorite local watering hole, for me a full hour drive north from the city during morning commuter time. Their issue, the one they felt I might assist them with, was the appearance of “my people” in their suburban community. In the past, suburban church folk – those with a social conscience – have commuted into the city to serve the poor. They have partnered with our urban ministry to build houses, tutor kids, donate used clothes. They journeyed into the city because that’s where the poor were concentrated. All that is now changing. There are still plenty of needy neighborhoods in the city, to be sure. But poverty is gradually, relentlessly suburbanizing. The poor are gravitating to the periphery of the city where more affordable housing can be found – like 40-year-old rental complexes, yesterday’s class “A” apartments that now show signs of aging. The “disadvantaged,” once confined to urban ghettos created by the out-migrating affluent, are now “out-migrating” themselves. And suburban pastors along with their parishioners are not quite sure what to do with their new neighbors.”

To read more of Lupton’s post, go to http://www.fcsministries.org/up/ and click on his March 2008 archive of “Urban Perspectives.” The archive is entitled Suburbanization of Poverty.

And while I’m on this topic, here is another helpful link just posted on May 20.  It is the reason I’m posting these thoughts today: “Looking for the poor in the Suburbs: Ten ways to engage mission in the suburbs” by David Fitch.  

Watson’s stuff is biblically-based, full of real-life stories from the mission field, and yet practical and down to earth for the “average Joe”.  If you’re like me, you’ll find yourself stretched and inspired!

If you grew up in the U.S. and are passionate about joining God in ”redeeming a lost world” (starting in another country or your own), I strongly encourage you to listen to these podcasts and watch the videocasts.  You can check them out here.  (more…)

Or perhaps the fear is more that they’ll read the same passages and conclude something different than I have.  Wouldn’t it be better to just tell them what the bible means and what to do in response?  But then what am I teaching that person to put their trust in - God’s word or my commentary about it?     

I’m challenged again by this statement in David Garrison’s book Church Planting Movements: How God Is Redeeming A Lost World:

“When modern day practitioners of Church Planting Movements refuse to counsel their converts with words of wisdom or time honored doctrines, but instead direct them to God’s word, they are living out the New Testament model initiated by Jesus and transmitted through the apostles” (2004:206). 

God’s Word interpreted by average people.  How scary.  How wonderful!

That is, I hope we don’t plant a church. 

If all goes well, we will equip others to start multiple churches themselves. (more…)

—–

Right now I’m revisiting some material by David Garrison in his book Church Planting Movements: What God is doing to redeem a lost world. Very good stuff!  Check it out if you are at all interested in the wonders God is doing around the world.  A must-read for missionaries, church planters and sending churches who want to join God in what he is doing!