What Now?

“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
— Matthew 28:18

What now? That is certainly a question that I have asked myself recently as our plans for church planting have come to a moment of “pause.” I am thankful for a group of elders that is seeking to address this question seriously, biblically, and prayerfully and to lead our congregation in doing the same. A couple of questions related to “what now?” immediately come to my mind. 1) What should we make of this pause in plans? and 2) What does waiting look like for a church that is committed to planting churches? These are valid questions for us to consider together.

First, what should we make of this pause in plans? There are two extremes that we need to be careful to avoid. The first extreme is one that would say something like this: “Since God has sovereignly removed Paul and Jill from the church planting team (at least for right now) and brought about this pause then we should consider if we really need to be planting a church. If God has paused our efforts perhaps we should consider suspending them altogether.” This extreme could be a temptation for any of us who have had concerns about our church planting efforts so far. It will be tempting for us to view this pause as a reason that we should cease our efforts altogether.

The opposite temptation will be to press forward without prayerfully considering what God is trying to teach us at this time. For those of us who are “chomping at the bit” to move forward with a church plant, the temptation will be to not pause and reflect but to rush on with church planting efforts. Instead of falling into one of these extremes we should instead seek God’s will on this matter together. We do that as we search the Scriptures together, pray together, and seek the advancement of the kingdom of Christ together. Our waiting during this pause is not passive it is active. We should actively be making disciples now and we should actively be seeking to learn whatever God has to teach us during this time of waiting. Frances Ridley Havergal’s Take My Life and Let It Be provides wonderful words to meditate on and to challenge us with during this time of waiting.

Secondly, what does waiting look like for a church that is committed to planting churches?  Thankfully, Scripture is ripe with examples of people who have trusted an unknown future to a God who knows all. In relation to church planting, we see the early church in Acts both waiting on God and moving forward in gospel proclamation expecting him to grow his church. The sovereignty of God and church planting efforts come together in people who are striving for the advancement of God’s kingdom all the while knowing that if he does not act we will not have gospel success.

As I think about what waiting looks like for me there are 3 areas of application that I have been thinking through. First, this is a time to examine my own heart. What is my love for God like? It is easy at times, for me anyway, to have a disconnect between doctrine and application. Love for God can sometimes devolve into love for knowing more about God. Granted, we should strive to know more about God, but our knowledge must always move from our heads to our hearts. “How should I live in light of what I know about God?” should be the question that follows any head knowledge that I gain. Whatever I learn about God (during this time of waiting) ought to increase my love for him and the advancement of his kingdom. My prayer to God should be that my hands and feet would move “at the impulse of thy love[i].” The movement from head to heart to hands ought to be seen and known in my life.

Closely related to examining my love for God is examining my love for the lost. Scripture presents God as one who pursues his people. He is relentless in rescuing his own. For his glory and the good of sinners, he sent his only Son to ransom a people for himself from every tribe, language, people, and nation. As a redeemed image-bearer I should reflect the love, compassion, grace, and mercy of God to those around me. Is my life marked by an ambition to see Christ worshipped by people who are currently his enemies and under his wrath? As we often sing, do I need to plead with God during this pause to defend me from cowardice and awaken me from lethargy?[ii] Do I sit in the comfort and rest of salvation (which is a glorious gift from God) and forget that God has called me to be his ambassador and to implore others to be reconciled to him?

One final area that I have had to wrestle with is the tendency to safeguard our community at the expense of gospel proclamation to the lost around us. Two and a half years ago my family moved here from South Carolina. Without all of the backstory, we moved here for Grace Covenant Church. In the two and a half years we have been here we have loved the community atmosphere, love, and discipleship that is displayed by the body of GCC every week. There is a part of me that doesn’t want that to change. The reality is that as some of us leave for a church plant and new people come in (to GCC and the plant) things will change. If the Lord wills and we see lost or newly converted people start to attend both churches our dynamic will change once again. What we have to wrestle with is this: Is this change something to be feared? Should change impact our evangelism, outreach, and church planting efforts? Thankfully for me, God used my past to quickly help me in my thinking. When I was 26 the Lord saw fit to save me. He brought me into a fellowship that was made up almost entirely of people who had been Christians for 10+ years and raised in Christian homes. I was not like ANY of them and I am sure that in that small church I immediately changed the dynamic. Instead of fear of change though, I was met with joy. There was an excitement that God had rescued someone from death and hell. I am sure that I had many rough edges that they graciously endured for the sake of the gospel. Am I not willing to extend that same grace to others? The advancement of God’s kingdom must be worth more to me than the comfort of an unchanging community.

As I think about church planting, I trust that God is working all things according to the counsel of his will. If God has purposed for Grace Covenant Church to be a church that plants churches then we can trust that he will see it through and grow us during this pause. His plans will not be thwarted. If he doesn't send us then he will send others. Our desire should ultimately line up with his desire. We know that God desires for the name of Christ to be proclaimed throughout all the earth so that sinners would be brought to repentance and faith through our proclamation of the gospel. He is sovereign over the ends (the salvation of sinners) as well as the means (using his people to go to all the world preaching the gospel). When this is accomplished God receives the fame, honor, and glory he rightly deserves. His greatness is seen as more and more worshippers are brought into the church and as small kingdom outposts are planted throughout the world. Is this not something that we should strive for? Are we willing to sacrifice, to spend and be spent, for the sake of his name? Are we willing to work toward this end together as a body?

In closing, George E. Ladd provides a great challenge to us today. Writing on Matthew 24:14 he comes to the following conclusion:

“God alone knows the definition of terms. I cannot precisely define who ‘all the nations’ are. Only God knows exactly the meaning of ‘evangelize.’ He alone, who has told us that this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations, will know when that objective has been accomplished.

“But I do not need to know. I know only one thing: Christ has not yet returned; therefore the task is not yet done. When it is done, Christ will come. Our responsibility is not to insist on defining the terms of our task; our responsibility is to complete it. So long as Christ does not return, our work is undone. Let us get busy and complete our mission…

“Do you love the Lord’s appearing? Then you will bend every effort to take the Gospel into all the world. It troubles me in the light of the clear teaching of God’s Word, in the light of our Lord’s explicit definition of our task in the Great Commission (Matt. 28: 18-20) that we take it so lightly. ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’ This is the Good News of the Kingdom…  All authority is His. ‘Go ye therefore.’ Wherefore? Because all authority, all power is His, and because He is waiting until we have finished our task. His is the Kingdom; He reigns in heaven, and He manifests His reign on earth in and through His Church. When we have accomplished our mission, He will return and establish His Kingdom in glory. To us, it is given not only to wait for but also to hasten the coming of the day of God (2 Pet. 3:12). This is the mission of the Gospel of the Kingdom, and this is our mission.”[iii]

What do the next 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years look like for Grace Covenant Church and our desire to be a church that plants churches? I do not know, but God does and that is enough. Our task is to be obedient and faithful in the work of making disciples where he has placed us now and to the ends of the earth. By God’s grace let us follow him, and pray, and work to be a church that is busy about our Father’s business, for the sake of his name and for his glory alone.