Vision Study- Giving Birth (12/7/08)

For our Final Vision Study of 2008, I thought it would be a good time to step back and ask…WHERE are we on the church planting timeline and WHERE do we go from here?
For those of you who are not part of our core group, some of the things on this blog might not make sense or might generate a question or two. If that is you, and you would like to find out more about our church, please email me at: will@nanuetproject.com.

Here is a summary of our discussion:

Two weeks ago, I emailed you all to challenge you to wrestle with one question, “How on earth are we going to do this crazy thing called church planting?” Hopefully as you’ve thought and prayed about that, what you’ve realized is that in order for this church to be “born”, there is much work to be done! And quite honestly...we can't do it. So up front in this discussion, we need to freely admit that this is not about our own efforts and/or coercive abilities, but about the work of God and our participation in it. With that as our starting point, we are free to be real, free to fail, and free to trust that God is at work (even if that looks differently than what we first thought it might).

However, admitting that church-birthing is God's work, does not mean it's unhelpful to recognize where we are at in the process, and how we can be working with (instead of against) Him. So to get at the answer to this question, "Where are we?", we took a look at the stages of pregnancy, because after all, church planting is a lot like giving birth—it takes INCUBATION!

A natural way to describe a pregnancy is in terms of trimesters of development. In the first trimester, the baby develops organs & a central nervous system, and the parents start to tell all their friends they’re pregnant. In the second trimester, the various parts of the body begin to develop (fingers, toes, nose, etc.) and exercise their functions. In the third trimester, the baby grows! This is when the baby matures to the point of being able to sustain life outside the womb.

Giving birth to a church follows the same general pattern. In the First Trimester, we focus our energy on developing all the necessary organs of a church & spreading the news that a birth is coming. In the Second Trimester, we focus on preparing. This is where we are at right now…getting our hearts & minds in the right/same place, and developing our corporate body so that our various parts can function and aid our growth. The Third Trimester is all about Growing! This is the stage we are about to enter, and just like a fetus, we need our body to be at a critical mass before birth happens, otherwise we will be premature and will struggle to survive from Day 1. But just a pregnant woman gets anxious to have her baby in her arms, especially as it seems to be growing quite well, we too will struggle to want the baby here before it’s ready! In patience, but with eager expectancy, we need to focus on exercising our particular function as a member of this body, so that we can grow (both in depth & in breadth). This means each of us wrestling in prayer with how God wants us to use our time, talents & treasure to see this church plant come to fruition. NOT so we can simply plant a church, but so we can see the renewal of our lives, our families, and our community through the power of the gospel. We want to know what it means to truly live…and we want to invite others to join us in that quest.

So where are we? Second Trimester
Where are we going? Third Trimester
What is our hope in Christ as we walk this path? Real life...to live...and to share!

Praying,
Will