Romans
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1:10 p

Our new church, Grace Bible Church in Ann Arbor, is currently searching for a new Senior Pastor. They handed out a survey in the bulletin yesterday asking for demographic info from the congregation as well as thoughts on what members of the congregation want in a Senior Pastor. I’m trying to organize my thoughts on that question so that my survey submission will be clear and concise. So, here goes

• Meets elder qualities as set down in Titus 1:5-9 and 1 Timothy 3:1-7
• Has passion to reach the lost in Ann Arbor with the gospel
• Has a specific vision to reach the lost in Ann Arbor, a pre-Christian town
• Sees the local church as having the primary responsibility for theological education and raising up leaders in the church (following the Paul/Timothy model)
• Commitment to creating and nurturing a culture of discipleship and mentoring at Grace
• Passion for planting church-planting churches
• Firmer-than-average grasp of core Christian doctrines (from Mark Dever)
• Firm grasp of doctrines distinctive to particular church (from Mark Dever)
• Firmer-than-average grasp on doctrines that are currently under cultural pressure (from Mark Dever)

I have intentionally left off educational requirements like seminary or bible school degree, for education isn’t specifically mentioned in the Bible as a quality of an elder. That doesn’t mean that an elder should be uneducated, but we shouldn’t be more strict than the bible when identifying and raising up leaders.

Pride and arrogance are probably the sins with which I most struggle. I’ve tried to rationalize it by saying that I don’t think that I’m better than other people, but I expect a lot of myself. Frankly, that’s baloney. Any time I think of myself highly, that is sin. Every time I am prideful and seek my own glory, that is sin. It’s clear as day in verses like

Proverbs 16:18 - Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall

Proverbs 29:23 - One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

Mark 7:22 - And he (Jesus) said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ²¹For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²²coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

Those verses need to affect me, they need to convict me of my pride and arrogance. I can’t read these like they are good advice or only for other people. I need to know in my heart that these are written for me, that God is speaking to me through His word, telling me to die to self and live in Him.

These sins of pride and arrogance come to surface especially when I think of planting a church in Ann Arbor. When I hear of other churches planting, I sinfully think that they are doing what I should be doing, that they are stealing my idea. Then I am reminded that “I am the worst sinner I know” (paraphrase of 1 Timothy 1:15) as I attempt to put myself above God’s providential plan. I should rejoice that other men feel called by God to plant churches in Ann Arbor. Praise God that there will be new congregations proclaiming the gospel – the good news that Jesus, the Father Son, came in human form to freely offer salvation through repentance to a rebellious people who would otherwise be rightly condemned to hell. I need to pray for the success (faithfulness) of these other church plants and see their work as FOR God’s purposes, and not against mine.

PS – The impetus for this post was the Insight Podcast interview with Young Pastors. I was greatly encouraged by two pastors who, while being only miles apart, did not see each other as competition. The quote was something like “There are 950,000 unchurched people in the Raleigh/Durham, NC area. If their church has 900,000 in attendance, that still leaves us with 50,000 people to reach with the gospel.” What a great attitude and a stark contrast to mine, where I see other church’s work as inhibiting or preventing what I think is my work. That is me limiting God, thinking that He won’t reconcile all of Ann Arbor to Him. My prayer is that God will bring all in Ann Arbor to Him, that Ann Arbor would be known as a city devoted to God and His purposes.

Ed Stetzer’s Breaking the Missional Code included some questions at the end of each chapter to force the reader to think critically about being missional. I’m including the questions here and I hope to work through them on this blog.

Ch 1 – The Emerging Glocal Context

1. Describe the specific people groups, population segments, and/or cultural environments that make up your geographical context.
2. What are some practical ways you can begin to expose those you minister with to opportunities to break the code?
3. How would you define success when it comes to the Great Commission in your given context?

Ch 2 – Breaking the Missional Code

1. Describe the specific people that God has called you to reach.
2. Identify other churches that are being used by God to reach similar people.
3. Write a brief paragraph on what your church would look like if it broke the code among that people.
4. Identify the adjustments you need to make in light of what you are learning.

Ch 3 – Responding to the Commissions of Jesus

1. In order to be sent what are some personal preferences you must overcome?
2. How can you help those you lead to see the divots in your community?
3. What does it mean for your church to be the missionary in your community?

Ch 4 – The Missional Church Shift

1. Review the chart on Page 49. Circle one area on each row that best describe your church.
2. Based on your evaluation, where does your church fall? How would your church fit on the Missional Matrix?
3. What are some steps you can take to become more missional?

Ch 5 – Transitions to Missional Ministry

1. Identify specific areas listed in this chapter where you need to transition to a more missional approach.
2. Describe how these specific areas need to be transformed in your specific context.
3. What would your church look like if it was truly missional?

Ch 6 – Values of Leaders and Churches that Break The Code

1. Identify the values that you must have if you are going to break the code.
2. Which of these values challenge you the most?
3. How can you put these values into action?

Ch 7 – Contextualization: Making the Code Part of Your Strategy

1. Based on the definition of indigenous on pages 91-92, what does it mean for you to be an indigenous church?
2. Evaluate how effective you are at contextualizing the gospel in the areas of communication, worship, evangelism, and discipleship.
3. What are some practical steps you can make to become more contextually relevant?

Ch 8 – Emerging Strategies

1. If the code is to be broken in your community, what are some new types or expressions of church that need to be considered?
2. Who are specific people living in your community that may require a new expression of church?
3. What practical steps can your church take in order to reach people groups, population segments, and/or cultural environments?

Ch 9 – Spiritual Formation and Churches that Break the Code

1. What does it mean to be a disciple?
2. What is your process for connecting with disconnected people that developing them into disciples?
3. What are the steps you need to make to develop a more holistic discipling process?

Ch 10 – Revitalization to Missional Ministry

1. Would you describe your church as a church with an evangelism strategy or a missional heart? Why?
2. What is it important in today’s world to have a missional heart and not simply an evangelistic strategy?
3. Who are the people that can give you honest feedback from an outsider’s perspective?
4. What are the next steps for beginning a transitional process?

Ch 11 – Planting Missional Ministries

1. Identify people groups, population segments, or cultural environments in your community that will require a church plant in order to be reached.
2. How can your church participate in planting churches to reach those outside of your direct influence?
3. Where do your already have a ministry presence that could best become a church plant?

Ch 12 – Emerging Networks: New Paradigms of Partnership

1. What challenges you most about emerging networks and new paradigms of partnership?
2. With whom could you partner to break the code?
3. What can you do to help your denomination remain viable in our emerging missional context?

Ch 13 – Breaking the Code without Compromising the Faith

1. Describe traditions in your context that may hinder your church from breaking the code.
2. Describe areas in your church and mission where you may be compromising truth.
3. What does it mean to be a biblically faithful and a contextually relevant church?
4. How can you help lead others to understanding what it means to connect with culture without compromising the truth?

Ch 14 – Best Practices of Leaders and Churches That Break the Code

1. What Scriptures and/or experiences have most shaped you as a leader?
2. How do these Scriptures and/or experiences still drive you to break the code?
3. What do you need to do to continue to cultivate a passion for breaking the code?

Ch 15 – The Process of Breaking the Code

1. What specific passages of Scripture has God used to confirm and shape your calling to break the code?
2. How can you cultivate a love relationship with your community?
3. Describe the culture to which you are called to minister in terms of music, dress, leadership style, learning approaches, how people relate, etc.
4. Describe the culture within the church you need to create in order to effectively reach your community

Ch 16 – Breaking the Unbroken Code

1. What code remains unbroken within your community?
2. What will it take to break that code?
3. How do you turn your church into an army for breaking the unbroken code?

Today we again visited Grace Bible Church in Ann Arbor. This was the final church in Phase 2 of our church search, and it went very well. It sure seems like God is leading us to Grace. The service was worshipful and reverent, and the ABF (Sunday School) was theological deep and thoughtful. The class we went to is studying the Atonement, which fit in well with my reading of late, including In My Place Condemned He Stood and Death By Love. Julie enjoyed it too, which was important. She also met two other couples that went to Cedarville, including one girl that she recognized from school. Crazy.

In the shower this morning, I was again reminded of God’s providence and sovereignty. Were it not for a staff member at New Life (Graig Austin), we wouldn’t have re-visited Grace.  od works in His own ways and Graig, and the rest of Admin Core’s, encouragement in our church is great reminder that we are all working together for the kingdom. For me to worry or stress about other churches planting in Ann Arbor is sinful, arrogant, and prideful. There are over 100,000 people in Ann Arbor and even if other churches in town had attendence of 95,000 people, that would still leave 50,000 people who need to hear the gospel. That’s the important part, humbling myself before my Glorious God that He may God be glorified in all that I do, say, and think.

I finished reading Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community by Ed Stetzer yesterday. Like Lost and Found before it, there wasn’t much new in this book, especially for people who read Ed’s blog and his research.

Quote

Simply put, evangelism needs to be returned to an ecclesiological (church) focus – the focus of evangelism is people coming to faith in Chris through God’s chosen missional instrument, the church. Conversion is part of discipleship. As God works in the lives of men and women, they have already begun their spiritual journey, and conversion is one step, albeit the most important one of all. (Page 104)