“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”
1 Corinthians 3:6-7
We ended our short series on church planting this past Sunday, and I closed the service with the following charge:
One temptation when we talk about church planting is to not only get excited about how God might use us out there, down the road, but to begin downplaying what God is calling us to in here, right now. We can get a “grass is greener” mindset, and begin neglecting what is right in front of us, failing to see the people and needs and opportunities God has brought to us right now.
As Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it: “The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”
And so I want to challenge you a bit: I don’t know what our involvement in helping to plant or replant a church looks like at this point, but the best way you can help prepare us to be ready for that is to be a healthy, committed member of this church. You have an opportunity right now to contribute to the health and vitality and godly growth of this church, as you seek opportunities to “plant” and “water.”
And the healthier we are as a church, the better positioned we are to send out and plant another church. The more members doing the work of ministry in this church, the more members willing to take responsibility for the health and needs of this church, the more members growing in their grasp of what a biblical church is in the first place (I can suggest books), the more qualified men willing to lead as pastor/elders of this church, the more we can pour out to help another church.
For more on tangible opportunities to plant and water seeds for God to grow, see my previous blog post.