So what
kind of churches do we seek to plant? (What are the key features? The essential DNA?) Those are important questions. Here's what we value most in a church plant…
- Gospel (Heart) – a big view of sin, Jesus, and grace that permeates everything we say and do as a church. We believe the gospel changes everything; it's not the ABC's of the Christian life, but the A-Zs of the Christian life, because grace is transformative. So we seek to preach the gospel daily – first to ourselves, then to others [See Keller, especially on Gospel DNA].
- Ethos (Culture) – the gospel of grace creates communities that are diverse, vibrant, and crackling with energy. They will be full of people who believe (and plenty who don't) – the un-churched; the de-churched; people who didn't come from another church; people who are amazed to be back in a church. The source of all the energy must be gospel epiphany (not music, programing, or charisma). There should be conversions (people becoming Christians) as well as rediscovery (people who thought they were Christians for years, but have suddenly understood grace in a whole new light).
- Discipleship (In) – this gospel of grace is disruptive: it shatters self-righteousness (by humbling-yet-affirming us); it makes us confident of Christ's love (so that we can be honest about our failings); it makes us want to follow Jesus (out of love, not duty or fear); it makes us people whose lives are increasingly shaped by Word, Prayer, Worship and Love (rather than culture); it frees us up to greatly forgive (because we realize we have been greatly forgiven); it makes us sacrificially generous (money).
- Missional (Out) – the gospel of grace sends us: longing for others to experience what we have tasted, grace drives us out of our tribe and into our city: to be friends with the poor, broken, marginalized and lonely; to serve and to celebrate. And as we invite outsiders into our lives, we will also see them explore our churches, because they realize we will still be their friends even if they never share our convictions.
- Worship (Up) – while the gospel of grace sends us on mission together during the week, it also gathers us together for weekly worship. As the primary face of a church, our public worship must be thoughtful, beautiful, challenging, and compelling. It must be intelligible to both Christians and non-Christians. It must demonstrate how the Gospel speaks to the questions our culture is asking, and offers hope for our deepest longings. It must engage people both intellectually and emotionally.
- Renewing (Cities) – the gospel of grace should make us the best possible citizens of our earthly kingdoms: Christians should be people who love their cities (Jonah 4:11), who work for their shalom (Jer 29:7), who pursue truth, beauty, justice, and mercy (James 1:27), who are neighbors to the needy (Luke 10:36), who care for those in distress (James 1:27). These signs authenticate our message (Luke 10:9).
- Place (Urban) – we focus on urban areas, because that's where we find the greatest need, the most post-Christians, and the greatest opportunity for cultural influence.
- Replicating – we want to plant churches that plant more churches (early, and often).
You can
download the pdf here.
