Reaching the World...Right Across the Street

Back in October we hosted a CMN START Conference at North Central University.  It was a great time of connecting with students and inspiring them to consider being involved in starting a new faith community.  In fact many of them signed up to continue the conversation at additional events throughout the year.

Last night we held the second follow up event.  We were joined by over 20 students and a couple of our church planters.  The focus of the evening was cross-cultural church planting or ethnic church plants.  Dr. Lee Allison spoke on the need for cross cultural church planting in our nation.  He used an example that compared ethnic church plants and "emergent" or "post modern" church plants over the last several years.  In the time that 175 post-modern or emergent churches were planted over 700 Asian churches were planted.  Which begs the question which one is a "movement".  We need people to reach out to the world that has come to our doorstep.  The reality is that people from closed countries, where it is illegal to proselytize, are now here in the US where we are free to share with them the love of Christ and they are free to respond to His call.  This is an incredible opportunity to reach people who have never been reached before.  I was reading yesterday that the US is the second-largest spanish speaking country in the world and is estimated to take over the first place spot by the year 2050.  It is no wonder that our hispanic districts are exploding with new churches.  People from all over the world are pouring into our country and we have the opportunity, like never before, to reach the world right here at home with the Gospel of Christ.  Growing up my pastor used to say “find a need and fill it” look around you.  There are over 130 different language groups in Minnesota and they all need to hear about the love of Christ.  That is a pretty big need.  Now, who is going to fill it.  It could be you!

If you are interested in reaching any one of the diverse ethnic groups here in Minnesota please contact our office at mdwyer@mnaog.org or call 612-332-2400.

Make Missions Giving A Part Of Your DNA

Sandy and I were in pastoral ministry for 14 years before we became missionaries to the former Soviet Union. In 1985, we planted Abundant Life Community Church in Blaine. The city planner told me back then, “There are already too many churches in Blaine, why don’t you go to East Bethel or somewhere north, we will not let any more land be taken up for a church in this town”. But God had called us specifically to Blaine! For more than 6 years we searched for land. They were the years of our wilderness wanderings- 100s of people every week meeting in a JR high school gym, homes, an apartment building community room, a bank, all over Blaine- almost 7 years and still, no land, no place to build a home for our church. 

Over those years we had saved about $40,000 in a land purchase account (a lot of $ in the ‘80s!) But nothing was opening. One morning I received a letter from Rich Scherber. At that time Rich and Lynette were missionaries in South Africa. They needed $4K to build a church in the Orange Free State. And as I was reading his letter, God spoke to me- “tithe on your land fund and build that church!” I went to my board and told them what I thought God had said. We were a missions minded church, we supported missionaries and ministries all over the world.  We loved missions! 

But on this one, my board had every right to say- “pastor, what about our church? What about our needs? That money is for land here! We do a lot for missions, but we don’t even have a building- this money is ours!” I really expected some push back! But not one person said anything like that. Instead, my board said “Yes, this is God, let’s do it!”

We sent Rich the $4K they built the church, named it Abundant Life (like ours), sent us pictures! But within weeks of sending that check, a farmer came into my office who owned huge sod farms all over Blaine. He said, I don’t know why, but I’d be willing to sell you some of my land for your church. He sold us 10 beautiful acres within clear view of Hwy 65 right in the heart of Blaine. Today the church has 20 acres, a beautiful campus, and it’s surrounded by 100s of new homes and families!

Make missions a part of your church plant’s DNA. “Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you”-if God’s mission is our mission, He’ll make sure we have everything we need to succeed in what He calls us to do.

Dr. Lee Allison
World Missions Dir, MN District
Intl. Ministries Coordinator, Minnesota Church Multiplication

Why Plant Churches

America: Our work is done here!

John 3: 16-17; 2 Peter 3:9; Rev. 7: 9-10

I was taken aback a few weeks ago when, as a part of my DVD presentation for International ministries in MN I state that “America is the 3^rd largest mission field in the world”; 2 of our foreign missionaries came over and rebuked me. How dare I say that America is the 3^rd largest mission field in the world! America is not a mission field! What about the Bible belt with a church on every corner? What about the thousands of pastors and churches and ministries in America? There’s no way!

 And yet if you look at the population of every country in the world and the number of unchurched people in each country- the USA is #3! (over 100 million or 1 out of 3 Americans is unchurched).  The qualification for being considered “churched” is that a person went to church at least once in the past 6 months! In other words the 200 million “churched” people may not all be walking with God!  I tried to explain my heart- it’s not either/ or- home missions or foreign missions - God is not willing that anyone should perish! In my world- every nation is still a mission field- as long as there are people there who do not know Jesus!

But many people still insist- America is a reached nation, not a mission field. In fact there was a Gallup poll done awhile back that showed that the vast majority of Americans DO believe there is life after death and that what we do in this life makes a difference in the afterlife. How does this affect the mission of a church planter?

This conversation reminded me of an idea written by Philip Yancey called Imagine there’s no heaven- first line of a song by John Lennon.  I went back and read it and I’d like to share some of his thoughts and add to them a few of my own. He said that anthropologists have found that every society ever discovered has had some sort of belief in an afterlife. And that got Yancey thinking- what if you could find a society that DID NOT believe in heaven or an afterlife- I know it’s not America- but what if there were a culture where this world, this life is all there is- what would that society look like? He began to list some of the beliefs and values and actions that would mark that culture:

• They would value youth above everything. Since there is no future- youthfulness is the only hope the society would have. So anything preserving youthfulness would flourish. Athletes and celebrities would be a national obsession, magazine covers would feature these cultural icons with wrinkle free faces and perfect bodies with secrets of how you too can look 10 yrs younger! Medical necessities covered by insurance in the society include cures for baldness, special youth preserving medications, diets, cosmetic surgery, lasik surgery, and 100s of other medical means of masking the effects of aging.
• A society that did not believe in an afterlife would value external appearance and social connections over inner integrity and character.
• Religion in such a society would focus on the here and now- on being relevant. Sermons focus on personal growth and fulfillment, family life, well-being, peace, joy, strength, love. Outreach replaces the old word evangelism and focuses on improving the well being of humanity. The approval of God in their religion would be measured in terms of good health, happy families, good kids, prosperity, needs and wants met, and a spiritually centered life. Biblical doctrines of heaven, hell, eternal life, eternal punishment, the millennial kingdom, are at best ignored, at worst explained away as alternate realities or metaphors describing human existence.  Lost people are suffering the darkness of hell every day of their lives, but God’s people experience the Kingdom Now.
• Crime in the society would be increasingly violent and bizarre because there is no fear of future judgment.
• The society would spend billions of dollars on life support for the dying, and abortion for the not-yet-living. This isn’t a paradox because for them- life begins at birth and ends at death. 

 I’m so glad we live in the good ol’ USA- a reached nation, a Christian nation, a nation where, as George Gallup proved- the vast majority of its people believe in life after death! I’m so glad our work is done here!

Lee Allison

International Ministries Coordintor

What Makes A Good Church Planter

Many times I am questioned about what I am looking for in a church planter. Identifying, assessing and recruiting potential church planters is a challenging task. For me the process is both intuitive and objective. I believe it is reasonable to assess people intuitively especially when that intuition is subjected to the discernment of the Holy Spirit and validated by objective data. The objective component is often determined by behavioral interviews that are built around the assumption that past behavior is a good indicator of future performance.

ChristianityToday.com recently conducted on online survey that I found very interesting in light of the behavioral activities that can be assessed in potential church planters. The survey question was, “when planting a church the most important quality in potential leaders is?” Here are the survey results:

Passion for the unchurched and the lost: 26%
Vision: 24%
Ability to build relationships: 18%
Active Faith: 18%
Motivation: 4%
Resilience: 4%
Ownership of ministry: 2%
Community awareness: 2%
Ability to build group cohesiveness: 2%

It’s obvious from the survey results that when assessing potential church planters there are at least four qualities that cannot be overlooked. First, an incredible passion to see pre-Christian people introduced to Christ in a redemptive way. Secondly, they must have the ability to cast (articulate) a compelling and magnetic vision. Thirdly they need to have an ability to model how to build healthy relationships with others and empower others to do likewise. And last, an unwavering faith in God’s calling, God’s plan and in God’s provision for the creation of a new faith community is vital. I would add my affirmation and be in agreement that these are necessary characteristics of an effective church planter. And these are the kind of people we are looking for. Are you one?

His servant and yours,

Roger Stacy

 

Roger Stacy is a Leadership Coach and the Director of Church Multiplication for the MN District Council AG.

Equip Backstage Session with Dr. Sam Helgerson

Here is a short conversation we had with Dr. Helgerson at the Equip conference.  Check out his site as well www.greatridge.com

Equip Backstage session with Dr. Sam Halgerson from Minnesota Church Multiplication on Vimeo.