For much of post World War 2 North America, we have planted churches by using strategies that depend on drawing upon a market of already existing Christians (see this article where I expound on these dynamics). One way or another, church planting in North America has been taking what’s left of Christianity and creating new versions of church over against the failures of existing churches. We organize ourselves as “the next new thing” to make up for what some other churches lack. (Here I argued this is another form of “organizing ourselves over against what we are not”)
This has been the modus operandi since the break up of Christendom. It began with the protestants telling the Catholics that they had lost justification by faith. Then the holiness/pietist churches told the established Reformer protestants they had lost the deeper sanctified life of God’s people. In N. America, we started Bible churches when the liberals took over mainline Protestantism in the 1920’s. They had lost the authority of the Bible. In the 1980’s we started seeker churches when the Bible churches became too entrenched in their own Bible speak and Bible rituals that they can no longer make sense to lapsed Baby Boomer Christians. They had lost their ability to speak the gospel in relevant ways. In the last fifteen years, we started progressive “Emergent” churches when the seeker churches become consumeristic and distanced from challenging injustice in the world. They had lost their ability to engage the world for God’s justice. And on and on it goes. We organize ourselves against what the other people aren’t.
One of the points of The End of Evangelicalism? is that we’ve reached the end of this long history. We can no longer expect to successfully cannibalize on ourselves in the planting of new churches. We’re running out of Christians/churches to reform to some truer, purer more relevant form of Christianity. As I said here, lets stop funding church plants (has anyone noticed it ain’t working?) and fund missionaries here in North America. We need to seed fresh expressions of the gospel that engage those outside the faith with the gospel and create the space for God work to bring people to Himself.
With this in mind, I’ve been working on a framework to fund and nurture missionary church planting in North America. I am doing this in partnership with Ecclesia Network and Fresh Expressions here in the United States. What I sketch below is a starting point for this effort. I put this framework out there as a starting point to invite people to let me know how they would change it/develop it (in the comments). If you’re candidate to participate in the program, either through funding it, partnering with it (say if you are a denomination), or being an actual missionary in the program, let me know through e-mail and I’ll keep you up to date on opportunities, and set up meetings when we can.
So here goes! My first shot at laying out a structure for the Luke 10 Project!
Luke 10 Project
THE GOAL
We seek to plant missionary communities/new expressions of the gospel in North America. We desire to plant missionary communities. Over against the patterns of the post WW2 years of franchise church planting where churches were either competitive, ordered towards extending a particular brand/denomination of church, or revising the church for relevancy, ALL OF WHICH CATERS TO ALREADY EXISTING CHRISTIANS, we propose to embed missionaries to plant churches that will reach people outside of Christ with the gospel of the Kingdom. We believe all people are ultimately lost until they are reconciled to God and living their lives as life with God and His mission.
WHAT WE DO
Plant three leaders/leader couples in a context. These leaders will know each other (their respective gifts/callings and how they work in complementarity). They will know how to submit to Christ through submitting to each other as a model for discerning life with God in His Kingdom. These leaders will understand the basics of ecclesiology, gathering a people into the Kingdom as a witness to the context.
Give them two years – of housing stipend and health insurance. They will be coached to get a job that can sustain them within this context for the long haul. Yet, with this aid, they can afford to go into a lower paying status where they can learn a skill, grow with the job and become indispensible with their skill. In two years they will be viable, sustainable without any further support. The goal is not to have a financially self-sustaining church organization in 3 years. The goal is to have 3 financially sustainable missionaries/missionary couples inhabiting a context in 2 years.
These leaders will then do the following:
- Exegete/get to know relationally the nooks and crannies of this context. Listen. Get to know people. Get to know where the third places are. Get to know where the hurts are. They will be immersed in a context as a rhythm of everyday life.
- Begin Rhythms of Inhabiting – strategies of living life with intentional inhabiting of third places, places of ministry (like hospitals, food sites. Etc.)
- Begin Rhythms of Mission: Having located places of hurt, or third places, we will join in. We shall be prepared to proclaim the gospel when the Spirit leads. This could take years.
- Begin a Rhythm of discipleship: We will cultivate a discipleship practice among us. We will work with, contextualize the discipleship shapes of Mike Breen and the missional practices of David Fitch, as well as other sources and means of developing a discipleship culture.
- Begin Rhythms Together: of prayer, gathering for worship/eucharist/ sending, discipleship pods, acts of mission engagement all as part of a way of life.
- Start to Gather and Relate: These three leaders will be getting to know other church leaders in the contexts so as to work in concert with them. We seek a renewal of the church as a whole. There will be those who have left church because of its hollow shell. We shall call them back into the Kingdom. There will be people who go to other churches. We refuse, SIMPLY REFUSE, to take them from their church home. But we will invite them to join in with us in Kingdom living in the neighborhood. There will be many outside the gospel who we will invite to join in with various mission engagements we are doing.
I firmly believe that all of the above is to be carried out as a sustainable way of life, not as an excessive work of human effort that consumes and destroys people’s lives. Each leader is to order his/her life so that he/she can work a job of 35 hours a week, and give 15 hours of labor to the cultivation of the Kingdom as everyday life in the context (see my post on the 15 hour rule)
Commit to This Place for Ten Years I firmly believe, if we put three leaders/leader couples in one place, committed to a context for ten years, there will be a fresh expression of the gospel in this locale until the Kingdom is consummated in Christ’s return.
PRINCIPLES
1.) We Work With All Denominations For the Renewal of the Church of Jesus Christ in North America
We will work with all Christian denominations for “evangelical renewal.” By evangelical we do not mean traditional mainline evangelicalism. We mean a vital commitment to the gospel, the whole gospel of the Kingdom of God in Christ. This of course includes personal conversion, and the forgiveness received oin and through Christ’s sacrificial work on the cross. Yet this conversion is also a turning into what God is doing to make the whole world right, not only one’s individual relationship with God. By “evangelical” we also mean a renewal of submitting to Christ by His Spirit for a fresh expression of God’s Kingdom via planting communities in each unreached context in N America.
We seek a commitment to a.) creedal orthodoxy, b.) the inbreaking and coming reign of Christ to renew the world as made manifest among us by the Holy Spirit c.) the fresh expressions of the gospel that result. We uphold a high view of Scripture, the commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ as Lord, the commitment to transformational salvation available to all by invitation into God’s Kingdom in Christ via reconciliation with God and all relationships through the person and work of Christ in the cross and the resurrection, d.) the commitment to the church as God’s means to bear witness to the world of God’s work to reconcile the whole worl to Himself.
2.) There must be at least Three Leaders/LeaderCouples
We seek to embed (at least) three leaders and/or leader couples in places that have need for a renewed witness to the gospel or have been previously resistant to gospel. Our belief is that if we can locate three such leaders in a context, have them committed to the context for ten years, so that they learn it, love it, engage relationally with it and begin a rhythm/way of life out of the gospel, if these same leaders cultivate/discern the Kingdom andsubmit to the Spirit and what he is doing, there will be a fresh expression of the gospel in this context in ten years.
We believe that contraints such as building a self-sustaining ministry that pays a single pastor’s entire salary plus all costs contrains true missionary work. The planting of churches via these means most often devolves into competition for other church members, competition for best religious goods and services to already existing Christians, depletes and exhausts most church planters within three years because such a model is not sustainable (in post Christendom contexts). One person cannot meet the needs that engendered from such a calling of gathered people in.
These three leaders must have a solid foundation theologically in order to stand and plant and discern God’s work in a context. Yet so often, the seminary education that gets a person to this level, trains them to go get an established position in church or try to make their entire living via the church which counteracts mission. Instead, we need to find a way to fund these leaders long term, less stress financially, as well as train them to understand bi-vocationality as a way of life that has flexibility and capability to resist the demissionalizing structures of the church.
AT THE END – I ENVISION TEN YEARS – THERE WILL BE BY GOD’S GRACE AND THE WORK OF HIS SPIRIT – A NEW VISIBLE EXPRESSION OF THE GOSPEL AND HIS KINGDOM IN OUR MIDST UNTIL HE COMES.
FUNDING
To start such projects, we need funding for three plus leader/couples for
a.) housing stipend/health insurance for two years.
b.) part time theological education.
c.) Coaching/assessment for each team
d.) Theological education provided within a context for each leader/couple according to need.
IN CONCLUSION
LET ME JUST SAY THIS!! I know there are organizations already out there doing this. If you are one of them, feel free to list your organization and web site on this blog post’s comments. Get the word out! Let us spur on this kind of development.
If while reading this, you can think of anything to add to this document, any missing pieces, please comment in this post’s comments.
And, if you are interested in participating in this either as a leader or denomination or just knowing more about it once we get this started, pleas e-mail me with your name address and brief three line description of how you’re interested (being a pastor-leader-church planter, being a funder, being a denominational partner etc.). I’ll keep all the names and contacts in a file when we’ve got opportunities!
Blessings on this foray. Let us see where it goes!
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Man, I was describing my desire to start something exactly like this to a church planter friend. But here, you have done much better than I could have. Praise the Lord!
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my heart echos
Sounds interesting. I was wondering how is what you are doing different from a traditional Church plant? I am in a Church plant now. Yes they do some cannibalizing but also are reaching out to non-christians, like how most Evengelical churches do. So what is different here?
All the best with your effort. Back when I was in full-time ministry and with a congregation in northern New Mexico I saw this cannibalism in action. Church after church born out of splits or planted and soaking up members from other congregations.
David,
This resonates with the desires God has been putting on my heart for the last couple of years. Look for an email from me. thanks for articulating this vision so well.
Chris
“1.) We Work With All Denominations For the Renewal of the Church of Jesus Christ in North America”
How do you plan to bridge the gap between denominations and get them all to work together when the Holy Spirit Himself has not been able to cause this to happen (or perhaps, not wanted to) for the past 500 years since leaving the Catholic Church?
“We seek a commitment to a.) creedal orthodoxy ” Which creed is it you will be holding to specifically?
I ask these because it all sounds great on the surface but when you get into the details, everyone has such a different view of living out the Christian life, what the essentials are, what the gospel message even is exactly, etc. etc. that when you try to put any of this into practice (being interdenominational), it doesn’t always go as planned. We just end up creating believers who interpret the Bible the way the Pastor teaches them, which in turn makes them resistant to other interpretations. This is what caused the non denominational people to become a denomination (by accident of course) and caused us to use the phrase “in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity.” Only problem is, no church can agree on just which thing is an essential or nonessential. With your thing, you just end up creating another denomination (not on purpose, mind you) with a certain set of beliefs, correct? I know, like you, I wish the Christian life was so simple!! I envy the Catholics sometimes because at least they don’t have to have 1000 different denominations all trying to interpret scripture and claiming THEIRS is the true one… and of course they are more likely to all work together for a common goal because of that.
I’m not trying to rain on the parade honestly. I think it is a worthwhile goal to tell people about the Kingdom of God and how they can enter it through Christ. I think it’s great that you spotted what the problem is and to come up with a solution. That is more than *I* have done!
Maybe I am just too cynical in seeing Christians unable to get along with each other, and of course, each with their own Biblical backing for the reason they do so. Hopefully though this pushes you to try your idea all the more!
Mike,
my only answer is that “I” don’t plan on bridging the gap between denominations. That shall be the Holy Spirit’s work. It shall be when it shall be.
On creedal orthdoxoy, I think we simply seek to rally around earliest creeds, Apostles, Nicea., and then seek fresh renewal of the gospel at this time (that takes a discussion. But I have no assumptions that there will eb a broad healing of denomination’s fractionalism. There will be those denominational folk who get what we’re after here and can work together, and others who won’t. And we others wil grow in the exchange in working together …
DF
As you gather around the early creeds, what do you do with each element of the line
“I believe in
one
holy
catholic
and apostolic
church”
one, holy, catholic, apostolic.
This sounds fascinating and refreshing to me. Two practical questions/comments: 1) what if you had someone interested who is already gainfully employed (but at greater than 35 hours/week)? Does that by definition disqualify the person from being able to be involved in something like this? 2) I wonder if, in order to prevent reinventing the wheel each time, you’d want to build in some time for reflection, writing, and resource-creation so that those with some experience could offer their wisdom and advice to those who come after. But overall, I think this sounds fabulous. About the denominational question, I would imagine this would work itself out as people self-select with others of theological background. (Or you could just encourage everyone to be Evangelical Covenant; that at least covers everyone on the baptism issue.) =) I look forward to hearing more about this in the future!
Helen, I too am thrilled at this project’s possibilities. Here’s my two cents on why it’s often very good for fresh expressions to constantly “re-invent the wheel” among other practitioners instead of be handed a how-to manual from an expert…
A city-regional scale network of kindred practitioners cross-pollinating their stories and experiences and practices seems like a more organic, dynamic, and distributed alternative to a central-office approach of shipped & streamed media.
My hunch is that having too many pre-packaged resources and materials can actually inhibit authentic missional listening, participating in neighborhood life, and so on.
It can also quickly degenerate into consumption and control instead of conversation and collaboration.
Distributed power among practitioners, with Ecclesia Network and Fresh Expressions primarily facilitating conversations and funding, seems like a model that finds its durability in relationships instead of cutting-edge thinking and material — a difference worth seriously pondering.
Brandon, good points! I didn’t necessarily mean anything overly pre-packaged or centralized in terms of media. But I do think there is benefit from learning from one another’s experiences, which is really all I meant by my suggestion. Completely agree that the “durability is in relationships.” Maybe to your point, the suggestion is to build in time for mentoring of future planters as opposed to something written. (I’m a writer so I naturally gravitate to the written word!) But I hear what you are saying.
Dave, what do you envision as the eventual forms these expressions of gospel may take? Do you see them maturing to the point of being able to support leaders and possibly gathering spaces, etc.? Something more structured/stable eventually?
David — While the critique of existing “church planting” strategies may be overly energetic, I wholeheartedly agree with you approach. Like I said in our earlier meeting: give me three….
David, grateful a young pastor sent me this link. You asked for co-conspirators to chime in, so thot I would and see if we should talk further or get together.
Have helped plant a couple of churches, one as an engineer, the second as pastor. First one straight up cannibalize model, the second not intended to be, but is a mixed model at best. I’m still pastoring in the second one after 18 years, but no longer setting agenda, have been released for broader church strengthening and planting in U.S.
Working with a startup called Go2 Ministries out of Philadelphia, vision to mobilize/partner with existing churches to plant 5000 new post-christendom kingdom outposts in the U.S
Really, Go2 is not an “organization” so much as it is an apostolic team. Really an emerging team of teams. We are all church-planters-pastors-missionaries. Some old like me, others young.
We believe the future is not the individual, seminary trained planter parachuting in to a community. We believe the future is teams of marketplace kingdom leaders establishing a “Jesus community” in a place. Much like you, we envision marketplace jobs and long term commitment to a place.
We are actively pursuing several pieces of this puzzle: church-based theological education, this is well developed and functioning with accreditation if needed; economic engines/businesses, this is in design and proof of concept; resources to “go fishing” for marketplace kingdom leaders, in development; short term fund raising to bridge over to sustainable kingdom-entrepreneurship businesses, in process.
Personally, the rest of my life is to be about three things: teaching the Gospel of the Kingdom; establishing Kingdom outposts; and releasing a Kingdom Order of marketplace/apostolic leaders.
We’re all about partnerships. Your thoughts?
Go2 ministries ministry plan is very similar. We call our missionary groups “Pauline Teams”. We attempt to help the teams use business as mission by starting up businesses which fund the team and create natural contacts in the community. We allow each team to create its own number of team members. We utilize the Antioch School of Church Planting as our theological church based training, and finally we want to connect our PAuline teams in on-going dialogue for sharpening the focus. Our goal is to release 70 of these Pauline teams throughout 1,765 targeted areas in the United States and to see them create multiple new church expressions by the year 2020 AD. our site is http://www.go2ministries.com
Your thoughts and ideas about all of these issues are right on the mark! Thanks for following the Spirit’s lead!
David,
Godspeed, this sounds good. But, since you’re asking…
I would like to point out an assumption you seem to be making, as well as echo and further develop a concern that has been raised here.
With the mention of a housing stipend, health insurance, learning a skill, and training to be bi-vocational, it seems that you are assuming that the leaders/planters will be young(-er) people. Wouldn’t new retiree couples have better resources (financially and experientially), less demands than young families, and have a better handle on what it means to be bi-vocational (because that’s what “retirement” often means)? I’m not suggesting a particular focus on retirees, but the proposal looks as though a retiree couple would an exception to the kind of leader/planter couples you are looking for.
The other concern is that which has been raised with regard to a commitment to “creedal orthodoxy.” Why not just ask for a commitment to the New Testament as the inspired Word of God? May I suggest that the same reasons why this cannot work are the same reasons why ancient creeds will not do the trick either. Every faith tradition has its own unique take on the orthodox faith, just as they have their own unique take on the New Testament. And church planting, by default, replicates the DNA of a particular faith tradition even as it takes root in a new and foreign context.
I think the only way past this ecclesiological impasse, particularly if we are going to plant churches in cooperation with each other, is to start openly discussing our faith traditions–which begins with simply naming them. In our day this is more of a challenge, because denominations no longer consistently and coherently represent faith traditions. A little John 17 for the Luke 10 project, n’est pas?
Peace,
Michael V.
Dr Fitch,
When I read through the activities of the Leader Couples I start to wonder if it will be problematic to be labeling this activity “church planting”. These are really people who are going to be intentionally living a daily Christian life within a context. Given that, they will need the ability to freely move between and be accepted by different people-groups. That may mean participating in community, governmental, business, charitable, and church activities across a broad spectrum.
For example, the Leader Couples may or may not attend worship services together (I would go so far to say that they should not develop their own “worship service” and always attend an existing one in their context). They may not all work among the same ministries. They may each be suited or passionate about different causes. They may not all become involved in the same work for social/justice issues in their context. Their relationships may expose them to different aspects of the hurts of the community.
What will keep them together is their theological understanding of their roles as citizens living in exile and shared daily prayer. Living in close proximity to one another (within walking distance) and purposeful establishment of a stable touch-point–the evening meal or a pre-dawn gathering–would also be advised.
I think if the couples begin with the idea of planting something they will be trapped into having to define exactly what that thing is and risk alienating the very community they are called to serve. People need to feel that others are “one of us”. That would mean participating in *their* activities as a redemptive element rather than planting your own (foreign) element.
Just an addendum here: I’d like to take some of the emphasis off of the “dailiness” of the Leaders contact. This is a long-range effort and any attempt at daily anything is to set yourself up for failure. As someone about 7 years into this lifestyle, I understand the reality of living intentionally in concert with other couples. Contact can be sporadic or fleeting. But it is important not to underestimate the power of simply driving past a co-leader’s house each day.
[...] December 2, 2011Weekly MeanderingsFiled under: Weekly Meanderings — scotmcknight @ 9:39 amNowDavid Fitch and the Luke 10 Project (must read).Meanderings in the NewsThose Neanderthals were apparently overwhelmed: “As the [...]
great stuff, Dr. Fitch, thanks for putting what that you’ve been challenging me with in class (DMin) all in one place. I’ll be eager to follow how this develops and possibly see if there is a place within my denominational contacts (RCA, CRC) to plant in this fashion. maybe I’ll jump on board as a planter/team member at some point (depending on how things play out in my current plant).
probably too early for this to be a focus of my DMin project, though…
perhaps I could look into similar dynamics (bivocational and/or team planting models)
Mijk, great point regarding retired couples!
Bob, you asked about the traditional marks of the church (one, holy, catholic – universal – apostolic).. LeRon Shults has some helpful thoughts on this, along with Ron Snyder..
here –
http://nextreformation.com/?p=2315
Bob, good question regarding labeling this activity as “church planting.” DOn’t find such labels in the NT — OTOH intentionality is important, as is vision in response to the leading of the Spirit. I would ask the same intention question around the regular meeting of the leader couples. Not building strong relationships at the beginning is at risk unless there is a rhythm of gathering with those who share this covenant at the center of the initiative. I’ve seen good things happen with initiatives like this that are later sabotaged because of lack of relational connection in the key families.
Evangelistic fervor has always been a defining mark of Christian Associates in its 40+ years of starting national and international churches in post-Christian Europe. And as we bring our learnings from cross-cultural missioning and planting into North and Latin America, we continue to cultivate a learning community of planters devoted to making a dent in nonChristian populations. We too agree this tends to be sorely missing in the birthing of churches on this continent (http://christianassociates.org/blog/story/bills-and-erikas/).
So David, we are with you in your efforts to remedy this, and I personally applaud you for the creative response you’ve articulated. Our planting approach would be less insistent upon bivocationality as a required long-term trajectory, although we clearly see the benefit of that in the early phases of planting at minimum. Our own experience with planting over the long haul has also taught us not only to deploy diverse shared leadership, but also to make provision for point leadership within that (i.e. we believe God still does gift particular men or women with strong facilitative leadership to orchestrate groups forward, so we try to integrate that).
In CA we want to see mature ecclesia emerge in whatever form needed; and at times that means our communities empower and pay their leaders. It also means more often than not we unleash the passion/giftedness of a point leader who is often able to come up with a way to plant that generally defies the odds. Ultimately we want to see churches multiplying themselves with a strong emphasis on new discipleship. It’s exciting and refreshing to see that that’s what you want too!
I, and my community, have been mission-planting in the Milwaukee area for about ten years now. We plant mission first, and let community form around it. Long story…but good results. The issue for us isn’t getting people in jobs and houses. It is getting people who we get into jobs and houses trained. I am interested in knowing more about this. And for what it’s worth, I TOTALLY agree that it takes five to ten years in a context to even really begin to see transformation and impact. I am pretty sure we’re in the same conversation.
This is really fantastic! My wife and I have felt like this was the direction we are headed for the last few years and are now in the process of trying to discern and meet with folks who would want to be part of that core group of leaders.
My question is this, and it’s one I’ve been wrestling with for some time now: do we not need a worshipping community to begin with? This may seem like a question of which came first, but I’m finding myself more and more Hauerwasian in the sense that worship is evangelism. But if I’m hearing you correctly here, the mission depends on 3 leaders/couples. I see a dilemma here. Do we have a worshipping community from the get go? Sending 3 leaders/couples on a mission sounds dangerously close to a sort of individualism that separates evangelism/mission from worship and the life of the church. What are your thoughts here?
Love the paradigm shift away from “church planting” and toward “missionary sending.” Especially love the idea of creating “Kingdom Outposts” that was mentioned above.
We are working on starting fresh expressions of the Body of Christ in two contexts. The first is growing out of our Asset Based Community Development efforts in a public housing complex. The “church planter” is a 63 year old African American female pastor with more than 30 years community ministry experience. Certainly not the person I think most people would have in mind when they read your post. However, if you were to send a 20 something, white, kid with no street credibility into our very rough urban context, they would get eaten alive.
I love your paradigm shift but I think you are really missing the mark by assuming that you have to “parachute” three people/couples in from the outside. I have been doing Christian Community Development work for almost eight years. Some the best “missionaries” are already there. The ones that are already there have trust, relationship, experience and they can mobilize people, gather people and connect people far better than someone with no understanding of the context. All they need is coaching, training and someone calling out the missionary within them.
No effort of this nature will succeed if we do not begin to see that there is already a latent church waiting to be called out. Ignoring the “remnant” is not only hurtful to the community, it is counter productive.
So, what we are doing is entering into communities, loving the people, looking for the saints that are already there, equipping them, helping them do what they can with what they have, forming small mission-centered groups and after three years of listening, gathering, organizing, and coaching, one of our own is starting what she is calling a “ecumenical worship center.” It grew out of the desire voiced by the community that they wanted “safe Godly alternatives” to the madness in their community on Friday and Saturday nights so that is when she will gather people for a meal, study and worship.
I welcome the shift you name but caution us all not to overlook what God is already doing in a place and through the people who are indigenous to that place.
Amen. Amen. And Amen, Wendy.
Fantastic! This is what we have found ourselves doing in Cincinnati over the past 18 years but you articulated the strategy so well that we only intuitively felt our way into over the years… where were you 18 years ago =)
Now, I am also working with Fresh Expressions in the Episcopal diocese of Southern Ohio to plant/nurture more kingdom outposts along these lines.
I love what you’ve written here David and look forward to digging in more to learn and apply in our contexts.
Thanks for posting this.
If i actually still believed in God as an omnipresent, all caring, all loving ‘being’, this is the style of church that i would want to be a part of. Pure unity of faith does not(of course this is just my foolish opinion so bear w me), coerce those into being forced to follow a strict set of guidelines to be ‘accepted’ as a loving individual and a member of the church community as a whole.
I was raised Roman Catholic, so i know how unaccepting that religion actually is, n how they focus on covering up the destructive actions of their own clergy, instead of protecting all of our youth, which are, in fact, our only hope for the future…
That is why i am a fan of your concept, accepting help from those that are clearly only trying to aid you in your true mission, again this is only what i have discerned from your article, of bettering the world as a whole, bit by bit, saved soul by saved soul.
Now, the reason that i must admit that i do not believe in an ever loving GOD, is because if such a being did exist, why would HE allow so many humans to kill each other in his name, such as not only allow them, but also ask his only son to commit suicide to ‘save’ us. Jesus knew what was coming, but didn’t fight to save his life, that is the definition of suicide, perhaps i’m totally in error here, but that’s how i read it. Anyway, that has always been the style of men in the world as well, sacrificing others(warlords, dictators, some generals(but not all…)) to forward their own agendas.
If there were such an everloving creator of the world, it would obviously be female, and not male in nature(MOTHER EARTH after all), and men, for the majority anyway, cannot ever birth or nuture our own offspring. Simple biology dictates that if we were indeed created in God’s own image, we would all be women. Now, I’m not saying that i want to be a girl, they have a tough haul in life, and i know for a fact that i am personally not strong enough to be female.
I trueley(weak spelling, lol) do believe tho, that organized religion was created in the first place as a way to control, and not aid, the public. It was simply a way to ‘tax’ the community. But your model does not seem to follow this structure, and i applaud you in your efforts.
I would be honoured to share ALL of my designs for off the grid, self sustained structures with solar panel walls and roofs, grey water usage and building by building water storage and filtration, and mini wind turbines for all, with either a large scale wood furnace/steam generator for electricity backup, as well as biodiesel generators that simply burn either excrement, or food waste products. All of the hydraulics and lubrications for these machines would be food based, such as canola or vegetable oil, so when the inevitable breakdown does occur, you are not polluting and ruining your own ground, which is your source of food. You simply spread the ‘oil’ spill around, or let your animals lap it up as a treat.
I have sent a quick post to John Deere, simply on their facebook page with an outline, but they have, as of yet, not replied to me yet. I am hoping to partner with Chevrolet to distribute battery charging/replacement stations at every intersection out in the country, and in towns and villages we could simply have a solar/wind/steam storage and charge station behind each of your ‘faith’ stops.
I am a fan of your gesture here, which is why i offer all of my skills, n no, they are likely not as bountiful nor plentiful as your own, but they are the world’s to use as it best sees fit. For i put all of my faith in humanity, even tho i love and trust animals much more, for they seem to possess true spirit and character, n only kill when hungry, not for sport or ‘fossil’ fuels. I do not believe in the current economic structure of this entire planet, and that is why i only studied economics briefly in university, the basis is supply and demand, the rest is purely symantics, and over supply, especially when it comes to money, devalues the product as a whole, causing pure greed and a lack of knowledge for where the true worth lies…
Your children, your community, your neighbours in need, your LIVING friends and family, for if you continually and purposefully hurt those who are alive, and pray only to those that are already dead, are you REALLY a loving soul??? I think not, but many of my ‘so called friends’, continually call me ‘horrible’, and mean, and selfish, and state that i do nothing but ‘lash out at those that are trying to help’, strange that the only time i hear from them at all, is when i test their character by firing off a comment that is both rude, insulting, degrading and painful for myself to even type(and the reason that i must type them is because this vitriol infused language burns my very fingertips as i tap the keys, n when i speak them aloud, my tongue lights afire, n my brain does ache for hours).
So after this cruelty, i hear from them aplenty, but when i simply ask for their companionship, love, comraderie, etc… simply to give me a glimmer of hope, that there are people that claim they care for me, and actually do, in fact, care for me sans conditions such as:
We’re your friend, but if you speak, we now dislike u,
We’re your friend, but if you disagree, we shall disown u,
We’re your friend, but if you cry, we will turn our backs on u
We’re your friend, but if u get locked up, we will ignore u,
We’re your friend, but once you’re finally free, we still will not celebrate your freedom, we shall suggest that you be locked up elsewhere, and farther from the place that has always been your home, that you have been FIGHTING to purchase, or at least rent, yet your own family calls u a failure, and a ‘manic’ individual that cares only for self preservation, now i WILL NOT LIE, of course i desire selfpreservation, this is the basis of all life, if you do not save yourself, how then, can u ever expect to save another???
But i have not, nor never shall i be, concerned only with my own well being, for if i must live, simply to destroy the lives of others, then i would have ended my own existence years ago. But as these words prove, i am still ALIVE N KICKIN N SCREAMIN N DANCIN N SINGIN N DREAMIN N YES, sometimes i froth at the mouth like a rabid animal.
For i am 50% Irish madfacestyles, 50% Scottish selfish/frugal/william wallacestyles, but in the end this all simply adds up to the
FACT THAT I AM 100% PURE CANADIAN!!!!
and of this fact i am more than proud, for i live in a country that allows me the most freedoms of any that i have ever been lucky enough to visit yet on this round PHAT sexy mother earth of ours(not yours, Y not?? cuz she is OURS together, for meek and for strong, for those that fight for what is right, n try to gain forgiveness for their own many wrongs…) n i do hope to circumnavigate this entire globe, town by town, village by village, laughin n cheerin n singin n playin… but that will take time, n energy, n planning and one hell of a long ass lifetime…
Thank you for your ideas on religion, for organized religion has always felt like simply a cult to me, i desire communities living in unison, regardless of creed or colour or religious denomition, and this organization seems to be headed in the proper direction.
i was lucky enough to receive this information from Nathan Colquhoun, a true fighter for what i believe is good, a true Canadian Man, with a beautiful and loving wife by his side, whereas i am simply a bitter n broken boy, that continues to labour both night and day for self improvement, as well as to try and discern if it is possible to finally improve my community as a whole, and by MY COMMUNITY, i am referring to this entire world as we know it.
I apologize for the lack of brevity in my reply, but my soul is damaged, my heart is broken, n my spirit and faith are at an alltime low…
And please do not assume that i am asking for pity, for i have been informed time and time again that the fault for all of the wrongs against me, are the fault of my own, and no one else’s. So i take the hate hurled in my face, n i try my darnedest to grin n bear it, but it is shredding not only my facade, but my foundation as a person as well. I have never been the best at anything that i have ever attempted in life, but in fact, that has never ever been my goal, and perhaps this is where i do err once more…
But i have always been aiming for second place, for i desired every piece of golden achievement to belong to tha beauty by my side, it’s just that i am such a poor character, that no girl desires this position for very long at all. I can not blame them, but one day i really do hope to be good enough and lucky enough, to find someone that wants all that i have to offer, n to steal from Mr Clint Eastwood, tha best white man i’ve ever heard of in a black hat, i’m a punk, so her love would ‘Make my day!!!’
n one thing i have also stolen from a friend’s tshirt company,
MALCOLM X n MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
R
MY WINGMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BUT BARACK HAS GOT MY BACK!!!!!!!
thanks for readin my rants n raves, n thank u for puttin true love into your communities, and for desiring the input of all, for as more minds come together, we can not help but achieve a better understanding of the BIG PICTURE…
peace peace y’all…
TK
I love this! My question is this: What if that stipend is not available, even for ONE person? How do we move forward when there is no means to help give time to the team?
Lord knows, you can’t life a Christian life without a paycheck…
Jamie,
What if the “co-laborers” are not people from the outside but are people whom God has already embedded in the community? What if the energy and resources we put on training the outside “missionary” was put on developing the assets already there? What if instead of “doing our own thing with our own people” we found others who are already present and joined together.
I used to think that if there was no visible church active in a community,there was no church there. The reality is there is a latent church, we just have to have eyes to see them and humility to join them.
Wendy, 90% of our church leadership is local, as you say. Rather, it is the reality that we need some people (be they from the community or not) to give some more intentional time & energy towards serving the community. I think David’s premise is good, however, only when there is means to subsidize people. If I could subsidize a few of our leaders, that would be great. It just isn’t an option and most of them are worked to death already.
Jamie,
I really think leaders who are “worked to death” need to take a step back and re-evaluate what they are doing.
Bob, I was talking about the urban poor who are worked to death trying to feed their families. I was not referring to church leaders. It was the work that robbed them of the ability to invest in the church as much as they would like.
I don’t get “the work that robbed them of the ability to invest in the church as much as they would like.”
What do you mean by “invest in the church”?
Hi Jamie,
I hear you. I totally feel your pain. I am not suggesting I have it all worked out and that all those who labor at Embrace are fully funded. I also agree that those who co-labor from within the community would also benefit if we could afford to reward that labor better. My co-laborers in the community receive a modest stipend of $5,000 per year. Without that stipend, I would likely have half the people I have today.
My comment was more a reaction to the idea that a successful plant depends on bring people from the outside into a neighborhood. I have met a number of “relocators” who really don’t value the gifts of the people in the community. YOU would never cross my mind as being one of those people. I know you are doing all you can with the assets that are available to you.
I wish I had an answer for you. Perhaps you can be one of the Luke 10 Project groups. I think having laborers to work alongside you is a great idea no matter where they come from as long as we don’t forget there are some already there.
Just to be totally transparent and honest. There are 3 pastors on my core team all from outside our neighborhoods. There are 2 seminary interns both from outside our neighborhood. There are 5 stipended co-laborers from inside the neighborhood. I started with a heavy team of outside talent and it has taken me 3 years of intentionally building up the community residents to get to the point of reducing my dependance on outside talent. Next year our ratio will be 2 outside pastors, 1 intern, 5 community leaders but we are collaborating extensively with community pastors to make this shift possible. Every year my goal is to move our resources from funding outsiders to funding resident leaders and connecting them to local pastors who are already working in the community. It has been a process but the process does not happen if you are not intentional.
Most church planters I know define success by the number of people in their worshiping community. I think success is the number of missionaries we grow from inside the community who will sustain the work when we are no longer there. But that is just me. It may not be the call of everyone. From what I know about you, I think you get this better than most.
Agreed, Wendy. I also realize that Canada is MUCH further down the post-Christendom path, which has a lot of added challenges. Thanks!
Wendy,
I’m tracking with you. I have been amazed over the years at how my neighbors have been uniquely assembled and how often I see them ministering to each other. “Leading” them has proven to demand little else than just inviting people out of their homes and into each others lives. People’s gifts manifest themselves organically and community grows.
Bob,
I have had a similar experience but I also know that in some contexts, people have been beaten down so much that they need people to call forth the beauty within. So glad you have had the privilege of doing that. It is my favorite thing to watch.
Of course, many are so broken that no amount of calling forth will unleash the Christ within. Many of our friends need to be a part of a healing community for years before they heal to the point of sharing their gifts with others. That is the area that I am not so gifted at.
I am thankful God has brought an amazing minister to journey with me who is gifted in pastoral care and healing. We make a great team. What I hear Jamie saying is he needs that co-pastor and that is my prayer for all who are laboring alone right now.
[...] got very excited when I read these words in a post titled, On Planting Churches That Do Not Cannibalize: The Luke 10 Project, by David Fitch: Let’s stop funding church plants (has anyone noticed it ain’t working?) and [...]
Great stuff Dave.
Since you invited, I’ll throw in my shameless plug. Missional Monks (http://missionalmonks.com) is an organization I started to work with congregations and groups to cultivate missional life and leadership. I’m a church planter – but I also believe there are still plenty of established congregations who are trying to engage their context.
Also, I teach in the Academy for Missional Wisdom (http://MissionalWisdom.com) – a 2 year program which helps prepare and coach individuals for forming a missional micro-community. Though I’m not myself, at this point our participants are primarily from mainline traditions (which is pretty cool in itself).
Our goal fits particularly well with what you’re working on here – and the comments that several (like Wendy) have suggested. Some of these participants are relocating to a new area, but most are looking to connect incarnationally where they live.
To Wendy and Jamie’s conversation about missionaries who relocate and those who are latent – I’m not sure this is an either/or scenario. In many of the (as the new monastics say) “forgotten places of the empire” there may well be “persons of peace” in the Luke 10 sense. But typically someone is going to have to relocate to that place in order to discover, equip and encourage them.
To whatever degree we can work with folks to live as missionaries in their own neighborhood, then great – but many, many neighborhoods will continue to be overlooked if this is our only approach.
Jamie, you know how much I wish I had an answer for the funding issue! We’re still scraping by on a hodgepodge of minimum individual support and multiple part-time jobs.
For years I have felt like a lone wolf until a college professor turned me on to this site. I have a church meeting in homes where reaching new people is our mission and discipling those God has given us is our goal. I’m employed in the electrical industry. My church does not support me. I have no need of any support from any other source than the jobs God gave my wife and me. I began when I was unemployed about 9 years ago. We are here for the long haul. Our community is Northeast El Paso, Texas. We covet your prayers and look forward to interacting here more now that we are aware of your presence.
Phil Parker
Planter / Pastor
[...] my post yesterday, I both commended and challenged David Fitch in his missionary vision. The basic disconnect for me in many of the more missional expressions [...]
Hope David and others will read both Wendy and Jaime’s post’s on their own sites about the need for local indigenous leaders to be a part of things from the start, and make that a vital “leg” of this vision…how about one local and two outsider people/couple’s for each team of three? Many benefits, many problem’s avoided, much more humility endemic in the work from the start.
I’m a youth pastor in western NY who has begun to perceive a call to church planting. I’ve given a lot of thought to how it might work, what I would want it to look like initially, in five years, in 10 years, etc. Your ideas are interesting, but not entirely original. I’ve seen a few similar versions of this in the research I’ve been doing. In fact, I know of one church (in Syracuse, NY) that is trying out this model almost exactly, with some success, (whatever that means.) To be frank, I’m not sure yet how I feel about it, whether I would commit to something like this. I have questions.
The goal, as stated, is to make new disciples in a community rather than reorganizing existing, disenfranchised churchgoers. I am all for this, and no matter what I do in church planting, I want this to be characteristic of what I build. The way you propose going about it amounts to communicating the gospel by osmosis of a life lived. It reminds me very much of the method described in the Celtic Way of Evangelism, except that you aren’t building monasteries and inviting seekers, you are sending the monks to live among the seekers. It is very much a missionary method, and I see it bearing much fruit over time. My reservations lie with the end goals and presuppositions you seem to hold.
What is “a visible expression of the gospel and God’s kingdom in our midst”? Is that your definition of “the church,” the bride of Christ, united to him like a wife to her husband? Does it seem necessary to you to utilize a New Testament model of making disciples and spreading the gospel? Or do you sense a greater need to create a model more relevant to American culture? I could go on, but this is gist of it.
I respect what you are about, and what you’re attempting to do. I have my own sorting out to do. God bless.
I resonate with much of what you are saying here. At the Buffalo Christian Center we are working together from people from many different churches. We have seehundreds of “unchurched” (people that don’t attend church) come in and receive Christ through different outreaches. We are training people in follow up and discipleship to incorporate these converts in to the body of Christ. We started a multi-cultural group in our home and are multiplying cell groups with multiplying the home groups as well. our strategy in reaching those in need is to implement the eight key components of CCDA (see CCDA.org). We have people working together from different classes and races. Some leaders are living in the “hurting places” like you refer to. We have a full time and part time Americorps position to reach out to the youth that are coming out. Full time includes health and child care. Must hire by Dec. 17th. Our evangelism, discipleship and building the kingdom of God through home groups is done by lay pastors. New leaders come from those coming to know Christ more than those who are already Christians. For more information on this strategy see “members of one another” by Dennis McCallum and see http://www.Xenos.org. We add the CCDA eight key components to this model. My wife and I have been. Planting these multi-cultural groups for the last 20 years.
Jim
Hey Jim,
I’m familiar with your great work through other contacts. Blessings! I’m also connected, although not directly involved, with CCDA through Northern Seminary (where I teach) and Wayne Gordon. All great examples of missionary living in N America. Hope to meet along the way!!
[...] McCaig recently posted a response to my proposal for the Luke 10 Project on her blog last week (read it here). She applauds a lot of things. She is less enthused on [...]
[...] week I have been engaged in a number of back and forth conversations with David Fitch. While I strongly disagree with David suggesting that I equate Asset Based Community Development [...]
[...] of Man, who came, not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for others.”David Fitch and the Luke 10 Project (must read).Roger Olson has an excellent post and discussion about whether the Churches of Christ [...]
This sounds like something I would be interested in. Where can I get more info. My e-mail is jwardjazz1@gmail.com. Thanks.
Hey David,
Long time no talk! I LOVE the idea, the way you have expressed it and structured it, and I think you are right on. Obviously it will change as it gets fleshed out but I completely agree with your rationale. Great thoughts.
Kevin Bobrow
Hi David and All,
I just finished writing a basic manual for a church planter apprenticeship that follows closely on this theme. We are currently testing it out at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and it’s going well.
You can download a full copy of the apprenticeship manual (for free) at http://www.21stcenturyjesus.org and have a look at it, adapt it, and use it in your own context.
I’d love to see this tool be of use, and hear what some of you think! Merry Christmas and God bless!
Matthew
[...] with their multi-staff structure, full worship band and large group gatherings are expensive and few have proven to be successful. This is one area David Fitch and I totally agree on. The church of the future will likely be [...]
[...] I take no credit here for being original, just a provacateur. This post led to this and then to this. I resolve to keep involved with organizations that promote mission in the [...]
[...] few weeks ago, David Fitch wrote a helpful post that helped me flesh out our modis operandi in planting The Church [...]
[...] with their multi-staff structure, full worship band and large group gatherings are expensive and few have proven to be successful. This is one area David Fitch and I totally agree on. The church of the future will likely be [...]
Dave, I just stumbled across this intriguing web site, which is affiliated with the CMA. I suppose you are aware of these folks and this site? What do you think?
Simple Church Alliance
http://simplechurchalliance.faclex.com
“The Simple Church Alliance is a network, or ‘alliance,’ of simple churches originating in Central Kentucky.”
Greetings,
I would like to offer some input for part time theological education that can be provided within a context for each leader/couple according to need.
We are establishing communities of the Kingdom among the poor in America’s inner cities. We all realize that for a movement to take place among the poor it must happen within the harvest field by the poor. As we have evangelized and witnessed the Spirit transforming lives, we have also witnessed the Spirit calling many of these urban warriors to pastor and establish communities of the Kingdom. To empower them has required us to develop a “seminary in a box” curriculum called Capstone. Please check out our site: http://www.tumi.org. The Capstone curriculum is formed around the Nicene Creed, is affordable for the poor (not free; not a welfare handout; ownership), is provided in their culture (The Hood, Barrio, etc), and caters to the bi-vocational person who can’t leave family and work to go to the western delivery system for theological training. People are welcome to contact me for more information.
“…not of those who shrink back…” Hebrews 10:39
Bob