Depending on an Unstoppable God

My heart goes out to pastors who have been called to pioneer new churches.  In talking to several such pastors recently it seems that the pressure from supporting organizations to focus on numbers and statistics is unreal.  Recently Ed Stetzer released some statistics that were a relief to some involved in church planting because they flew in the face of commonly held beliefs. 

In his article Church Planting Survivability and Health, Stetzer challenges the often repeated claim that 80% of church plants fail in the first year.  Stetzer has good news for church planters in every denomination.  Look at the following chart:                       

                                                                
 

The number of churches that survived the first year in this study was 98% with 68% surviving four years later.  Pretty good news for some. 

I know that as a church our goal is to survive.  We want to be found doing the work of Christ not only a year later but many years later.  None of us go into planting a church thinking, “We are going to fail.”  Nor do we wish to be among the 2% that cease to exist in the first year.  I am not saying that we shouldn’t be aware of the factors that worked in the churches that ‘made it’ past the first, second, third, and fourth years either.   

My concern is that we emphasize the survivability statistics and the processes and forget Who it is that causes these churches to survive.  I was reading Acts this week and was reminded of what Gamaliel said before the Council in Acts 5 when Stephen and the apostles had been jailed for proclaiming Christ.  He stood up in the Sanhedrin and reminded them they should not harm the apostles, “For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.  But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” 

If our purpose and activity is from God and certainly if we are planting a church we should be sure that we are proceeding under God’s direction, then we need not fear survivability.  We will be unstoppable because our God is unstoppable.  It is when our processes and our dependence on statistics get in the way that we are in danger of failing.  I know that there are practical things that have to be attended to when planting a church.  I am not naïve.  However, when our focus is on the practical we are risking the very survivability we are focusing upon.

Pondering Peter

 

After Jesus’ death and his resurrection, the disciples had gathered together in Jerusalem as Jesus had instructed them to do.  They asked Him the question that must have been on their minds since He had risen from the dead, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”  I wonder if at that moment Jesus wanted to laugh or to cry.  I cannot discern from the text His reaction but His response to them is recorded in Acts 1:7-8, “It is not yours to know the times or seasons which the Father appointed by His own authority but you will receive power – the Holy Spirit having come upon you and you will be my witnesses – both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and as far as the last place of the earth . . .” And then He left them rising gloriously into the clouds.

I get the feeling from the text that they all stood there with their mouths hanging open staring into the sky wondering, “Now what do we do?”  Maybe they glanced at each other occasionally with expressions that said, “Is He coming back?  Should we stand here and wait?”  After all, He had left before.

It wasn’t until that appearance of the two men in white clothing that and their assurance that Jesus would return that the disciples actually were roused toward some kind of action.  They returned to the Upper Room where they had been staying and remarkably to me, Peter rises to the forefront as the leader among leaders.

 In these first four chapters of Acts we see him leading them to find God’s man to replace Judas, explaining Pentecost and the Good News of the Kingdom of God to those in Jerusalem, participating in the healing of a lame man and all the while witnessing and pointing them back to the Christ whom they crucified.  None of this occurred until after Peter’s transformational crisis beginning at the third crow of the rooster.

I am not downplaying the role of the emboldening of the Holy Spirit that was promised by Jesus when the Holy Spirit came upon them with tongues of fire at Pentecost.  This is evident in the lives of all of those present.  However, the contrast in Peter’s life is especially poignant as he goes from denial of the Christ to testifying boldly of Him and also becomes a leader among those who will also lead the Church.

In Matthew 16 when Jesus asked the disciples who men said that He was, Peter had exclaimed to Him, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  (Matthew 16:16)  Jesus told Peter that he was blessed because flesh and blood had not revealed this to him but His Father in heaven had revealed it to him.  Jesus then told Peter, “And I also say to you that you are Peter a rock, and upon this bed-rock I will build this church – and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”  I wonder if Jesus was picturing in His mind those moments when Peter would stand before men boldly proclaiming His name – moments yet to happen for Peter but already accomplished in the mind of God. 

There are a couple of leadership principles that I see encompassed in this discourse.  The first is that God chooses leaders.  Without getting into a lengthy theological discussion over what is meant by ‘the rock’ I believe that we can see that Peter was chosen as a leader in the Church by God.  This is demonstrated by the compilation of the Matthew Scripture and his rising to leadership. 

Secondly, leaders do not always lead.  Peter had a definite crisis in faith when Jesus was on trial denying being a follower of Christ and yet Jesus did not deny Peter.  Having a crisis of belief or what others may call a transformational crisis does not preclude a person from leading.  As a matter of fact, this may be the very thing that propels them to leadership and qualifies them to lead.

The third and final point that I will make is that those who are faithful in a few things will be put in charge of many things.  Sound familiar?  It should.  It is from a parable in Matthew 25.  For Peter it was probably redemptive to proclaim the truth in the very place in which he had denied being a follower of Christ.  I think the same is true for each of us.  I wonder if that is why Jesus began by saying that we shall be witnesses in our local cities before taking the circle wider.  How important is it for our spiritual well-being to live in demonstration of the Good News and proclaim it before those whom we have lived and spoken in denial of that very truth before we venture out to the regions unknown?  Is it wise to send others out to Judea and
Samaria and as far as the last places on earth when they have not demonstrated the ability to witness in their Jerusalems?  I believe that there is a biblical principle that demonstrates that it is not.