Standing Still Gets You No Where
Standing Still Gets You No Where
Believe this truth?
I am not talking about pausing to catch one’s breath or stopping to enjoy the view or slowing to evaluate one’s direction or recalibrating from failure or resting from energy well spent. I am talking about stopping, and not moving again.
The heart of the gospel is movement. God drawing close to us. Us responding back to Him. Us moving with Him. God does not call us to stand still.
God reveals this movement—His gospel—through church planting.
Ed Stetzer defines this movement as Incarnational, Indigenous, and Intentional:
Incarnational – Gospel that is deeply involved in communities—living, demonstrating, and offering hope in a lost world among lost people. It is the presence of Christ within a community. We move toward and embrace the godless because we understand what it means to be lost, loved, and conquered by Jesus.
Indigenous – Gospel that takes root in the soil of a local society and appropriately reflects the surrounding culture. We should look similar to those in our community but act like members of a heavenly community, not living like the world during the week yet looking different from it on Sunday.
Intentional – Gospel is delivered intentionally through methodologies (what we do) and cultural context (how we do it). Like Jesus our Saviour, we go pressing, charging, moving forward into the spiritual darkness to bring one message, our only hope, the Gospel.
At the heart of Christ is the gospel. At the heart of the gospel is movement. At the heart of movement is church planting.
If we are going to move, it will be costly. It will cost something financially—giving beyond what we think we can. It will cost us something spiritually—living humbly and praying longer than we feel like we should. It will cost us something mentally and emotionally—sending out workers into His harvest fields is hard to do because we have to let go of things and people that are dear to us. It will cost us physically—being disciplined in every area of life is hard.
The church, however, are changed people and when they are changed through Christ, they change their world.
Need motivation to move? Over the next number of months, you will meet, see, and hear Fellowship Pacific stories of choosing to stop standing and daring to start moving forward through church planting.
Stay tuned!
Written by Todd Chapman