Mission Alive

Wow! What a month!

Three words summarize the events: connecting, learning, planning.

Connecting

During the early part of the month, we connected with many future interns, apprentices, and mission associates at various Christian schools. Robbie James, campus minister at Boles Home and one of our Mission Associates, accompanied us on each trip.

We were impressed with the mission fervor on the campus of Oklahoma Christian. Bob Carpenter had graciously arranged for us to speak to quality students in various classes. Attentive searchers attended their Monday evening Outreach group to hear of the vision of God working through His people to plant numerous churches in North America during this generation. While there Becky and I were hosted at the Mike Oneal home. Mike was best man at our wedding and currently is president of Oklahoma Christian. We appreciate our long-term colleague Sonny Guild for arranging times and places for us to speak at Abilene Christian University. We not only talked about Mission Alive in many classes but also spoke to the graduate mission group Thursday.Com that meets in Sonny’s home. It was also a joy to be asked to speak in chapel and in classes at Southwestern Christian College in Terrell. Michael Landon graciously made these arrangements. Finally, Robbie James spoke in chapel and in classes at Lubbock Christian while Becky and I were in California attending a church planters’ lab.

In each place we found receptive hearts seeking future ministry. We feel that a few students from each campus will join Mission Alive as summer interns, as 15-month apprentices, and as mission associates. We are continually amazed at the interest in church planting in this generation. This affirmed to us that this new generation needs a “pathway to church planting” to fulfill God’s direction in their lives.

We also connected with Christians from the emerging urban areas around Dallas-Ft. Worth. They frequently give the Macedonian call, “Come over and help us!” Some are seeking to plant churches in rented properties or in their homes. Others drive many miles to attend churches in the rings around the city where churches were planted in another generation. These cries make us realize that the fields are white unto harvest.

Learning

Becky and I spent ten days during April attending the church planters’ lab developed by Stadia, the church planting organization of the Christian church. We enjoyed the collaborative spirit of Phil Claycomb, Mark Leeper, and Marcus Bigalow. We were impressed with the process and pragmatics employed to start a church. Each church planting family put together a contextual plan to start their church including basic beliefs, mission statement, core values, vision, strategic implementations, practices, and programs in the planting of a church. We were exceptionally impressed with the pragmatics of growing a church through such things as forming a team, vision casting, children’s ministry, contemporary worship, and development of small groups.

While incorporating many of the pragmatic methodologies of Stadia, we believe that Mission Alive must also focus on the biblical foundations that guide us to do practical ministry. We must not only ask, “How do unbelievers come to Christ” and “What makes the church grow?” but also questions that are fundamental to the nature of Christianity: “What is the gospel? How does the gospel form the evangelist? How does the gospel form the new church? How does the gospel shape those who hear and experience it?” Guder writes that “Christianity has . . . consistently reduced or distorted the gospel. . . . [Many of the problems in new churches] may be attributed to their willingness to struggle afresh with the basic challenge of the gospel. We simply may not assume that our formulations of the gospel, as familiar and time-tested as they may be, exhaust the fullness and the scope of God's great good news, culminating in the life, death, resurrection, and mission of Jesus Christ. Every judgment we will make about the methodologies of evangelism will depend upon our answer to the questions: What is the gospel? What is the fullness of the apostolic message? What is salvation? What does the church's gospel mission intend? What is the missio Dei ("mission of God") that defines the identity, purpose, and the way of life of the church?” (Darrell Guder in “Evangelism and the debate over church growth” Interpretation 47 [April 1994]:148; Italics mine)

We have learned much from Stadia and hope to use their personnel in preparing our Mission Associates in the pragmatics of church planting. We will also teach church planters to always begin theologically and then move from these understandings to the practice of ministry.

Planning

We praise God for the many mature church planters coming into Mission Alive. Three important dates are before us.

Mission Alive
P.O. Box 117575
Carrollton, TX 75011

Pray for Us!