I had to create these for a class I just finished. We have tried to implement these “commandments” in our own family throughout our years of parenting.

Yes!!! I have broken my own commandments many times. But, these “commandments” have helped to keep me pointed in a direction with parenting of my own kids. I want so much to be a better parent for my children. They deserve it.

Steve Timmis is the director of Acts29 Western Europe. This particular church planting organization was started by Mars Hills Church in Seattle, WA, a church founded and pastored by Mark Driscoll. Timmis is the co-author of Total Church along with Tim Chester. He recently had an article posted on the Resurgence website that I found interesting and caused me to think about what we having been doing in our adopted city here in Western Europe. I thought is would be good to interact with Timmis’ ideas on How to Plant a Church.

Timmis list 5 principles for planting a church; 1) Preach the Gospel, 2) Understand the Context, 3) Connect with People, 4) Connect with the Right People and 5) Train and Appoint Leaders.

1) Preach the Gospel – I wish starting a church was as simple as moving into a city and beginning a worship service and preaching strong Gospel-centered messages. Timmis isn’t saying this is the first thing you do, but is saying it must be done. I would propose it be done throughout each of the principles. The Gospel must be central to everything we do and say. In other words it must be woven so deeply into our message that it can’t help but seep forth from our topics of conversation. So, even in our connecting upon first arrival into a city, region or country we must be able to express why and how the Gospel has brought us to town. Definitely at the point at which people begin to meet in homes, public spots or in a corporate gatherings the Gospel must be clearly spoken.

2) Understand the Context – This is a process that has no ending point. In a new culture you must “ramp up” quickly to learn the cultural cues in which you live. Whether it’s in the city of your birth or in another state, region or country. Everywhere is different that where you are today in someway. Everyone thinks different, dresses a little different and not everyone has the same practices. What are the things that make where you live unique and how does the Gospel speak to the people who live there. The only way in which learn these things is to go to number 3.

3) Connect with People – This seems like the easy thing to do. Go find people and get involved in their lives. But depending on the context you live in and the context you came from this could be difficult. If the place you are coming from is vastly different from you present surroundings you may draw a crowd quickly, but will you communicate clearly and effectively in a way that people will understand and not be offended. For the one who is “planting”  or “starting” a new work the connecting can seem to take too long. Taking time and learning to connect with the people and culture you now live in is vitally important to starting a new work. We presently are involved in various social groups, we are involved in our kid’s school and we meet with people individually weekly to listen and ask questions.

4) Connect with the Right People – I agree with Timmis on this point. We must be willing to let people know who we are and why we are in the city. For our team we have chosen to meet with local religious leaders from various Christian backgrounds to introduce ourselves. We want the local leadership to know we mean them “no harm” and we are not interested in “their people” being in the new work. We are here to bless the city by serving, growing the Kingdom of God by living, speaking and teaching the Gospel in both word and deed. We also want to be a blessing to their churches. How can we serve your local body through partnering together? We must work with people who have tenure in the city we have been sent to work and live in. We must learn from their history and wisdom. We also continually ask the Holy Spirit to guide us toward “persons of peace” who will lend their wisdom and influence to us for the sake of the Gospel in the city. We also continue to look for people who are influential in the local communities we live to develop relationships with people who influence the city.

5) Train and Appoint Leaders – As part of a city with existing churches we are seeking to bless the existing churches and para-ministries through partnerships and training. As we work together for kingdom purposes we model and train as we are allowed influence. Only through relationship will partnership with existing churches happen effectively. By allowing others to speak into our vision for a new church in the city with sending and multiplication in the DNA we are then given opportunity to train others. We seek to model missional living, effective evangelism, relational outreach and biblical models of community for those we walk among. Even as we are developing relationships with those who will one day cross the line of saving faith in Christ we seek to give them opportunity to serve and lead in ways that are appropriate.

These five principles for planting a church are solid, proven and effective. Thanks Steve for the opportunity to dialogue with your ideas.

That’s Christmas (Short Film) HD from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

I enjoy my family and my personal space.

I really like relaxing at home and just closing the door to the world. I like to turn on the television, have a nice glass of iced tea and let the evening go by without thinking. This type of relaxing works for me after having conversations, solving problems and dealing with the work-a-day stuff we all face.

But, in the realm of developing relationships with those who we live near it STINKS.

How can we get to know others when we close our curtains, shut the doors and absorb the television or computer for hours at a time? There are relationships that need to be built all around us. Each of us have been given a level of influence in our workplace and the places we live that can only be enhanced or grown by spending time with people outside of “expected” or “programmed” time together.

Inviting people into our personal lives is time-consuming, it can be energy draining for some people and it’s risky to be vulnerable in relationship.

But, developing relationships is also life-giving, exciting and worth while to our life. We were created to have relationships and influence with others. If we hide from these opportunities we are the ones who lose out on what we were created for in this life.

What new relationships are you building?

Who are the people you are investing time with each week a way from work?

Risk doesn’t have to mean reckless though.

When I think of risk I think of assessing obstacles, counting the costs, knowing as much information as possible about the intended goal and making a knowledgable decision. Some might say “Where is the risk if you have walked through all of those steps?”

To take a risk so small that everything can be accounted for or to eliminate any chance of failure is no risk at all. Risk will always have failure as a possibility. There is a chance we won’t obtain the desired outcome.

To see a challenge that needs to be overcome, knowing there is a possibility of  failure and still risking it all for the perceived better way is inspiring to me. Doing what others think is impossible, unattainable or don’t desire to do is where I want to be in life.

What risks are you taking to accomplish the desired outcome?

F.I.D.O. is one of the mottos or sayings I have lived by for the past 20-something years. I wish I could remember exactly who said it to me or where I read it so I could give proper credit to those who deserve the accolades. The unique saying has helped me greatly in days of trouble also in days of basking in success.

F.I.D.O. has kept me pointed in a forward motion and thinking about what is coming down the road at me with full steam. After a failure or disappointment I have to prepare myself to move forward since life still happens in increments of seconds, minutes, hours and…you get the picture. I can’t sit and wallow too long in self-pity or despair. There is more to life and it is about to happen with me fully engaged or not.

This saying, F.I.D.O., has also served to focus my attention when I wanted to stop for too long and exalt in a great success or happening in my life or the organizations I have been a part of leading. We can’t live on the success of the past alone, we must be watching and walking because the sun rises tomorrow and we have to be ready to face the new challenges that are waiting for us.

What is F.I.D.O?

Forget

It

Drive

On!

Yes, I need to feel the pain of the setback, but not for too long.

Yes, I need to revel in the joy of the accomplishment, but not for too long.

Everyday is a new day and we must keep moving.

Have you face a F.I.D.O. moment recently?  

What is one of your mottos or philosophies?

What are the critical training components for a team?

Training is definitely church and team specific….one size does not fit all.
The beauty to Sending Church…the church is taking an active role and part in the training.

Equipping

1. Spiritual Maturity  growing in community (Catholic, Islam, Christology, Personal Evangelism)
2. One Year together in community worship and study

This would allow us to grow together, learn together, serve together, get into arguments and resolve them, families get to know each other

FriendRaising

1. Kent Jones of To Every Nation (TX) www.toeverynation.net was our trainer
2. Books -
3. Getting Sent – Peter Sommer
4. People Raising – William Dillon
5. Friend Raising – Betty J. Barnett

Purpose to communicate the vision and need for a reproducing sending church in the countries we are sent to.

Team Building

1. StregnthFinders
2. Counseling (Marriage/Financial)
3. Serving Together (great team building)
4. Arguments/Resolutions
5. Team Traveled to Brussels together

If team/personnel issues are the #1 factor for people leaving the field…we wanted to spend lots of time working on our team dynamics. If we are a strong team we can work through the other stuff. Whatever it is…

Language Training

1. 5 months of basic language for orientation (local tutor)
2. Many purchased Rosetta Stone, used podcasts and other resources
3. Commitment to learning French while on the field

major value for our team…we are relational and if we cannot communicate it will be more difficult.

+++there is more that goes on in language learning than learning a language…the Lord shapes you..dependence, struggle, sufficiency found in Him

Outside Training Partner

1. Upstream Collective

Expertise in Western Europe Context to help us think through Strategy and make suggestions to our team
Our church thinks intentional, missional, strategic, but we knew we needed to have someone with the exper. on the field where we were going. Plus filling in the gaps and blind spots and challenging our thinking in many areas.

They visited with our team every 4 months and prepared us for our scouting trips as a team.

Pre-Field Training for Adults and Kids

1. Designed by church and training partner

So huge to have a partner that we could trust as we both designed the elements to our pre-field training.
Kids training was incredible – mk2mk.org

What are other essential trainings you would add for a team being sent by the local church?

I believe in it.

But, this tag-line carries a lot of meaning. Obviously, one of the first questions must be what do we mean when we say church. The church as we mean it is about people not buildings, though buildings are necessary for the church (people) to meet together in many parts of the world. Whether it is a home, a café, or an auditorium buildings are useful, but not the church.

The tag-line can mean sending the church (people) literally to where there are no believers in a region of the world. It can mean sending the church (people) to an area of the city where a church is not existing presently. It can also mean sending the church (people) into the world to be a visible expression of Christ to a community of friends and associates.

In the country I reside there are many churches that exist already so why have we been sent to be the church where there is no church?

As I have thought about this over the last several months I have come to realize we are sent here to be a church that lives out the message of Christ incarnationally among of a people where churches are already found. We have been sent to reproduce disciples by the power of the Spirit. To reproduce leaders can live incarnationally among their sphere of influences in a way that will lead to new churches being birthed. We have been sent with intentionality at the heart of who we are. The DNA is sending, reproducing, incarnational living, multiplication, leaders, disciples and new generations. We have been sent to plant, partner and reproduce.

Being the church where there is no church in my context is more than a church building in a community with no physical gathering place. It’s more than groups of people who are meeting each week doing the same things time and again.

It is about sending healthy leaders to plant a healthy, reproducing body of believers who are reproducing and sending a new generation of disciples and leaders.

Sounds good in a blogpost and makes a great tag-line…but it is difficult, risky and dependent on the Spirit. Where else would we want to be?

How Did This Happen?

How Did This Happen? pt.2

The Whole Story (video)

From Here To There

I hope this helps you process what He is saying to you.