Manhattan Church of Christ is devoted to planting churches throughout metro New York. This past Sunday I and two others were asked to give short updates on our church planting efforts. This is what I reported:
I hoped that when this time came, the day in which I was to give an update on the happenings of the Brooklyn church plant, I would have a much better grasp of where we’ve been, where we are now and where we are going. I hoped that everything would be clear and that I would be able to speak with confidence as to the Brooklyn church’s situation and it’s future. If you would have asked me last fall as Tom and I pitched this church planting effort and as we gathered the clay pots up here representing the people committed to this planting effort, I would have spewed forth information about where we were going and when we would be going there. However, I stand before you today uncertain and unsure. I’m not uncertain about the need for a church plant in Brooklyn -- there is definitely a need -- nor am I uncertain about this launch team as I am coming to learn that this group of people have gifts and strengths that I could not have imagined. I stand before you today uncertain and unsure of the direction the Brooklyn church plant will take: next week, in a month, in a year.
As many of you know the Brooklyn church plant launch team, which is made up of about 20 people who were of this congregation, meets in our home on Sunday nights. We started meeting in our home back in January and continue to do so to this day. We eat together on most Sunday nights, we take the Lord’s Supper with each other, we pray, we sing, we listen, we cry, we laugh, we discuss our vision of spreading God’s message of love in Brooklyn, we talk about our own lives in an effort to get to know each other more intimately as we set out on this church planting journey together. So you would think that through all of that I would have, especially as the leader of the group, a good sense of where we are going. You would think that I would have some ideas of what is around the corner or what our next step should be as a burgeoning family of God.
However, I’m pretty short-sighted these days. I can’t see beyond the end of the day on most days. And to top it off, my well of faith is dry. This short-sightedness, this inability to look forward and into the future and this dry well of faith, well, they aren’t exactly desired characteristics for a church planter. They don't exactly inspire confidence.
But the unexpected has happened out in Brooklyn; the unanticipated has happened with our launch team: God has created for us a cleft in the rock and he has drawn us into the cleft of the rock and is covering us with his hand. And he is passing by, I’m almost certain, going into the unknown to prepare for us a way. He has yet to remove his hand and so we are waiting.
We are waiting for his hand to be removed. We are waiting to come out into the light. We’re waiting to see what direction we should go. We’re waiting to discover when we should open up to the public. We’re waiting to see what facility we should rent to house our corporate worship. We’re waiting for that next transition; the next step. Most of all, we’re waiting to see God's back which guarantees us that there is nowhere we will go in this church planting journey that he hasn’t already been. We’re just waiting in the cleft of the rock.
And for now, it’s a good place to be. It is the grace God has granted us today. On behalf of the Brooklyn church planting team I ask that you pray with and for us as we long to come out and follow God with confidence.
I hoped that when this time came, the day in which I was to give an update on the happenings of the Brooklyn church plant, I would have a much better grasp of where we’ve been, where we are now and where we are going. I hoped that everything would be clear and that I would be able to speak with confidence as to the Brooklyn church’s situation and it’s future. If you would have asked me last fall as Tom and I pitched this church planting effort and as we gathered the clay pots up here representing the people committed to this planting effort, I would have spewed forth information about where we were going and when we would be going there. However, I stand before you today uncertain and unsure. I’m not uncertain about the need for a church plant in Brooklyn -- there is definitely a need -- nor am I uncertain about this launch team as I am coming to learn that this group of people have gifts and strengths that I could not have imagined. I stand before you today uncertain and unsure of the direction the Brooklyn church plant will take: next week, in a month, in a year.
As many of you know the Brooklyn church plant launch team, which is made up of about 20 people who were of this congregation, meets in our home on Sunday nights. We started meeting in our home back in January and continue to do so to this day. We eat together on most Sunday nights, we take the Lord’s Supper with each other, we pray, we sing, we listen, we cry, we laugh, we discuss our vision of spreading God’s message of love in Brooklyn, we talk about our own lives in an effort to get to know each other more intimately as we set out on this church planting journey together. So you would think that through all of that I would have, especially as the leader of the group, a good sense of where we are going. You would think that I would have some ideas of what is around the corner or what our next step should be as a burgeoning family of God.
However, I’m pretty short-sighted these days. I can’t see beyond the end of the day on most days. And to top it off, my well of faith is dry. This short-sightedness, this inability to look forward and into the future and this dry well of faith, well, they aren’t exactly desired characteristics for a church planter. They don't exactly inspire confidence.
But the unexpected has happened out in Brooklyn; the unanticipated has happened with our launch team: God has created for us a cleft in the rock and he has drawn us into the cleft of the rock and is covering us with his hand. And he is passing by, I’m almost certain, going into the unknown to prepare for us a way. He has yet to remove his hand and so we are waiting.
We are waiting for his hand to be removed. We are waiting to come out into the light. We’re waiting to see what direction we should go. We’re waiting to discover when we should open up to the public. We’re waiting to see what facility we should rent to house our corporate worship. We’re waiting for that next transition; the next step. Most of all, we’re waiting to see God's back which guarantees us that there is nowhere we will go in this church planting journey that he hasn’t already been. We’re just waiting in the cleft of the rock.
And for now, it’s a good place to be. It is the grace God has granted us today. On behalf of the Brooklyn church planting team I ask that you pray with and for us as we long to come out and follow God with confidence.
posted by jch at
4:15 PM
5 Comments:
Joe-
I wish I could have been there for that speech. You know you're at a good church when you can say that and people are cool with it. If that were to happen here in Richardson I think people would look around and scratch their collective heads. I loved your use of the image of God passing by; what an evocative metaphor to live into for your group. We're praying for you guys. Shalom!
Krister, I'm not entirely confident that some weren't left looking around, scratching their collective heads. There were the few who came up and thanked me for my honesty but they were mostly young people who desire transparency in their leadership.
I suppose I tend to put the Manhattan Church of Christ on some kind of a pedestal with all the progress they have initiated within our tradition. What is it about this generation compared to earlier ones that finds comfort in transparent leadership? Are we less confident in people who know it all already and who force things to happen? I think that's an interesting insight. I am encouraged by those young people in your church who thanked you for being honest. In our church we're missing a generation (mine), so it's a tenuous existence at times. Our minister falls on the more transparent side of the spectrum at times, and it seems like half of our church doesn't know what to do with that.
Joe,
This was beautiful. I'm glad to hear that God still works when the crap is up to your neck. May He continue to as it gets higher.
Nashville is praying for you guys.
I appreciate honesty so much more than anything else; I am tired of people wanting to look good, for what reason? That's why I left the ICOC. If we are all brothers and sisters then we want to be part of what's going on in the body of Christ. After Joe's message, I said to myself, "Ok, that's fine; this is always how God works best, they will need to rely on God and he will lead them for His glory. Thank you Joe and thank you Manhattan Church for being honest.
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