The turn of the calendar presents a natural time for reflecting on the past, and considering the future. Over the past almost nine years Roots Church has existed, I have taken this opportunity to reflect and consider the state of our church. Here is some of what’s on my heart and mind as we enter 2026, first looking backwards, and then forwards:
Evidence of grace as we look back:
- From a broad view, I am so incredibly thankful and amazed with how God has sustained and grown and used this church. We officially launched the church with about 10 adults in April of 2017, after having met in homes for close to three years. Most church plants don’t make it past two years, and I am not aware of any obvious human reason we should be the exception to that statistic. God has been gracious to us, and shown his presence so many times in the life of this church.
- Zooming in a bit, the thing that stands out most to me over the last 6-10 months is the number of nonbelievers, unchurched, new believers, or those long distant from the church who have shown up at church. Some of this has been due to evangelism efforts among our body (keep it up!). Some has been due to God’s sovereign, mysterious workings to draw people to himself. This is all highlighted by the baptisms we’ve had this year, which always give us a visible, tangible view of God’s work. Baptisms remind us that the work God is doing—which he includes us in—is not only invisible and personal, but real and powerful and visible and corporate and life-changing! Be praying for those gathering with us who have not yet trusted Christ and been baptized.
- As the only full-time staff of Roots, I am incredibly grateful for all those serving the church in big and small, formal or informal ways. A church of our size relies on many people taking ownership and responsibility, and doing their part. And we have a church that does this well! Our deacons have been a great help, overseeing various areas of the church with wisdom and skill, and freeing the elders up to focus on preaching, teaching, shepherding, prayer and oversight. But many beyond these formal roles are contributing much: caring for and ministering to one another, serving on various rotations to keep the church functioning, praying for the church, and so much more.
Considering the future:
- In light of #2 above, we have a need for those newer to Christianity to be taught and discipled. This can happen in a variety of ways. Some people will plug into men’s or women’s studies, small groups, or youth group and receive training and teaching and examples to follow in those settings. But others will need individuals in the church to take interest and initiative in their growth. While I seek to do this as much as possible, I encourage you to prayerfully consider ways you may disciple those newer in the faith: ask them over for a meal; get to know them; if you have the bandwidth, ask if they’d like to read through a book of the Bible together (or a good Christian book); ask how you can be praying for them. Baptism is just the beginning of a life (and eternity) of trusting, loving, obeying and delighting in God!
- As we continue to grow numerically as I church, I want to encourage us to keep pressing into our membership IN Christ, TO one another (Romans 12:5). It’s easy to start thinking that membership loses its importance and value the larger we are as a church, but I propose the opposite is the case. When there are more people, and more structures in place, it becomes easier to stay on the margins and assume needs are being met, people are being cared for, and things like discipleship, mentoring and counseling are provided by the paid staff, or those in formal positions. Recall the vision for ministry we are given is one where “the saints” (i.e. all believers in the church) are equipped “for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…” (Eph. 4:11-14). The health of our church is largely dependent on each member first taking responsibility for their own walk with the Lord, but then taking some responsibility for others through being present and known, and pursuing, loving, serving, encouraging, and holding accountable one another.
- I won’t belabor this point, but as our world becomes more and more digital and online, the church has the opportunity (and need) to insist that human beings are created as embodied creatures, and designed to live and engage and grow-up face-to-face with other embodied souls. While other institutions and practices and habits may come to increasingly disregard this fact, the church should not. We should insist on the value of gathering together in-person, talking to one another in-person, working through disagreement and hurt in-person, sharing the gospel with others in-person, and the list goes on. This has benefits not only for us, but to some degree for our culture as well, as we demonstrate what it means to be human and how humans can thrive.
- Lastly, a word on singing. Pastor and author Dane Ortland says, “What a church sings tells you what they believe. How a church sings tells you if they really believe it.” I like that. Most of you don’t bear the responsibility for what we sing as a church. But all of you bear some responsibility for how we sing as a church. Do we sing like we mean the words we sing? Do we sing like God is glorious, good and worthy beyond all else? Do we sing like the gospel of Jesus is the best, most-life-changing news there is? Do we sing like we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalm 34)? I realize not every song calls for the same kind of singing: some are laments, some are songs of praise, some you find a hard time connecting with, some you may wish we didn’t sing! But in general, if a non-Christian walked into our gatherings (which they often do), would they come away from our singing thinking, “They really believe this stuff!” Let’s do our best to make that the case, not through being disingenuous and fake, but by really considering the deep and wonderful truths we sing.
The Apostle Paul writes about his ministry, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6). What a wonder and opportunity we have to plant and water seeds of the gospel of Christ crucified for sinners! Let’s be prayerful and courageous to enter into these opportunities. But what a joy that it is God who gives the growth: opening eyes, changing hearts, sustaining and strengthening his people, bringing real and radical and eternal change to people! Knowing that God is doing such things should give us confidence to do our part, however weak and insufficient it may seem. God causes the growth!
Derek