Would You Plant a Church ?
So my time in California is just about up. Heading back this morning to fall head first into the mission in Central Ontario.
I was a little surprised (and excited) when we polled the room at the Orange Tour stop in LA Friday to discover that 75% of the people in the house had planted a church within the last year. That's exciting. California is a beautiful state geographically and naturally, but deeply secular the moment you get around people. God just seems to have been vacuumed out of the ether.
Friday night I had dinner with Raf, a church planter from Poland. As we talked about his country, I learned there were 40 million people, 70% of whom don't go to church. To serve those 40 million people are only 400 evangelical churches (all the other churches are Roman Catholic). 400 evangelical churches - 40 million people. The average evangelical church has 40 people. And according to Raf, the secular landscape there is even deeper than in California or even Canada.
I had some great conversations with so many leaders these last few days - people who are deeply committed to making an impact on their home territory for the Gospel.
It made me really grateful for the team at home at Connexus. A few lead pastors and I swapped theater church stories, and I continue to thank God that people at home are so willing to sacrifice so much so people can have a full relationship with God.
Church planting is hard work. You sacrifice just about everything and are guaranteed nothing in return. But I LOVE people who take that risk. Glad to be heading home to hang out with hundreds of folks who have done just that in Central Ontario.
Hi Carey.
My answer is YES! Since hubby and I stepped out in faith & in obedience to plant this church in Pickering this year, we've seen God in ways we've not before & we've grown in ways unimaginable before. We truly serve an awesome God.
http://www.thesanctuarypickering.ca
Not sure if I would go as far as to plant a church. I much prefer to be behind the scenes. Have had some ideas about creating a space where people can go to think, read or seek direction for their life also a space where pastors can decompress & be "normal". Still in the real early stages of discernment for this project but it is something that has been tugging @ my heart for awhile.
Things like this & what has happened during the formation of the Connexus community call for everyone involved to step out in faith & trust God to provide–terrifying but so worth the risk.