Why is church planting important? (Part 3)
Jun/01/2009 11:33
Planting churches in the heart of Western Culture is what we’re about; it is crucial because God cares about culture and because the West is the primary producer of the type of culture that the global population consumes. Much of Western culture is wonderful and ought to be celebrated but much of it is a vial and putrid substance poisoning the hearts and minds of the human race. Soul diseases such as greed, exploitation, pornography, sex trafficking, slavery, genocide, decadent opulence, flippant materialism, naturalism, and corruption are running rampant across this globe and undoing any good that we produce. In the midst of this nightmare we in the West continue to produce (in collusion with Hollywood) a cultural fantasy pretending that none of this horror exists or worse, celebrating the depravity of our condition. Sadly, we’re content to dream away our existence, oblivious to the hurt and pain in the world all the while setting new records each summer as we flock to the latest air-conditioned cinematic blockbuster. God is not aloof to our condition. Through Jesus he continues to rescue people through the cross, breaking our addiction to sin and changing our hearts while adding us to his new culture, the church. God through the prophet Ezekiel tells us in Ezekiel 36:25-27:
One of the great promises of God to his people foreshadowing the work of Jesus was the promise that a part of his salvific work would be a new heart, one that no longer desires sin and self, but one that longs to please God and seeks his fame as well as the well-being and salvation of our fellow man. Paul writes to Titus in Titus 2:11-14:
Jesus, through the Holy Spirit helps us throw off the yoke of worldliness and cleanses us from our worldly infection. Not only are we saved from something but saved to something. God works in his people and his church to cease producing evil culture and start producing a redeemed culture; “a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
So how exactly can this look in the realm of today’s church planting? In the past, the image that comes to my mind is of missionaries going to exotic locations and trading shirts and ties for the loincloths of the “savages.” This reveals a belief that all of culture is bad and must be completely swapped out, it will not work in the West. As a participant in and member of Western culture there is much that can be celebrated while planting churches and transforming culture. Good food, fine wine, stunning architecture, productive workers, happy families, fun vacations, God honoring art and cinema, and cool gadgets can all be celebrated and embraced, as long as they conform to the word of God. “...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8 As Christians we should be the first to champion these things without falling into excess; God has not called us to monastacism. However, those things opposed to God (as I mentioned earlier) must be redeemed or eradicated, meaning if something cannot be redeemed (made holy) it must go. Pornography for instance cannot be redeemed, it is an aberration of God’s design, a perversion of holy sex within the confines of marriage and cannot remain in the heart or mind of a child of God. A love for food however can be redeemed once someone becomes a Christian and learns self-control so that food is no longer their master. Healthy churches that plant healthy churches and understand these distinctions are our best hope to transform culture and reach the increasingly hostile West. Healthy churches as God designed them filled with redeemed people living redeemed lives is the primary means by which God is transforming us and putting an end to the soul diseases of our Modern/Post-Modern culture. This is our vision and the reason we have joined KontaktMission; God loves the West and wants it renewed and because of Jesus, so do we.
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
One of the great promises of God to his people foreshadowing the work of Jesus was the promise that a part of his salvific work would be a new heart, one that no longer desires sin and self, but one that longs to please God and seeks his fame as well as the well-being and salvation of our fellow man. Paul writes to Titus in Titus 2:11-14:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Jesus, through the Holy Spirit helps us throw off the yoke of worldliness and cleanses us from our worldly infection. Not only are we saved from something but saved to something. God works in his people and his church to cease producing evil culture and start producing a redeemed culture; “a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
So how exactly can this look in the realm of today’s church planting? In the past, the image that comes to my mind is of missionaries going to exotic locations and trading shirts and ties for the loincloths of the “savages.” This reveals a belief that all of culture is bad and must be completely swapped out, it will not work in the West. As a participant in and member of Western culture there is much that can be celebrated while planting churches and transforming culture. Good food, fine wine, stunning architecture, productive workers, happy families, fun vacations, God honoring art and cinema, and cool gadgets can all be celebrated and embraced, as long as they conform to the word of God. “...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8 As Christians we should be the first to champion these things without falling into excess; God has not called us to monastacism. However, those things opposed to God (as I mentioned earlier) must be redeemed or eradicated, meaning if something cannot be redeemed (made holy) it must go. Pornography for instance cannot be redeemed, it is an aberration of God’s design, a perversion of holy sex within the confines of marriage and cannot remain in the heart or mind of a child of God. A love for food however can be redeemed once someone becomes a Christian and learns self-control so that food is no longer their master. Healthy churches that plant healthy churches and understand these distinctions are our best hope to transform culture and reach the increasingly hostile West. Healthy churches as God designed them filled with redeemed people living redeemed lives is the primary means by which God is transforming us and putting an end to the soul diseases of our Modern/Post-Modern culture. This is our vision and the reason we have joined KontaktMission; God loves the West and wants it renewed and because of Jesus, so do we.
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