Do-it-yourself church planting

You, too, can be a church planter. Right where you live. Perhaps you’ll meet someone like Natalie.

Try some of these:

1. Get out of your car and walk from place to place
2. Say hi to people you’ve never met
3. Ask others for help
4. Go somewhere new
5. Join a club or sign up for lessons in something
6. Talk to people without trying to determine what they believe
7. Talk about Jesus when it fits in the conversation
8. Gather the people you’re meeting so they can meet each other

Sound easy? Good.

Of course, you have to make a little room in your life. You have to want new friends. You have to plan extra time to get places. You have to see the advantage in getting lost, being confused, needing help.

That’s where we were when Natalie met us. Shannon and I were trying to decide which way to go in the Metro station. She asked us in English if we needed help.

Which surprised us. Not so much that she spoke English, but that she offered to help at all. She was quite handicapped. Her speech was slurred. We would have seen ourselves as the helpers and her with the needs.

During the next fifteen minutes she told her story: Belgian, studying four languages at the age of ten, an only child, and then a terrible accident. She was told she would never walk again, but, twenty years later, is living on her own and taking dancing lessons.

I kept thinking about what Jesus would have me do. Listen in love? Mention his name? Get her email address? Could we invite her into the community we are here to gather?

She mentioned that her parents live in Switzerland, which interested us. Later she told us they lived there because of her father’s work. No big deal. Just the Belgian Ambassador.

In the end, I told her I was a pastor and that I like to pray for people I meet. I asked her if there was any way I could pray for her. She said “Pray that I keep getting better.” So I am.

Of course, we wouldn’t have met her if we weren’t walking from place to place, hoping to meet new people, and giving ourselves some extra time.

And we needed help. I think this is important: in some curious way when we let people help us we are helping them.

Showers of blessing for ministries bathed in prayer

We were recently blessed by a visit from Rich Hardison, pastor of Tabernacle Church of Norfolk, his wife Kathy, and missions leaders Phil and Laura Farthing.

Rich told me about a book on dynamic church planting movements that compares and contrasts many ministries from many different cultures, but identified certain common threads, such as a passion for prayer.

Uh-oh. That could be a problem. If God were to hand out positions in His army based on prayer life, I’d be a private first class. The truth is my prayer life is neither disciplined nor intentional.

But here’s the good news: we’re a team! I’m recognizing that prayer is a non-negotiable ministry strength, but also an area in which I need help.

So, here are a few ideas: First, all prayer warriors step forward! Let me know who you are so I can keep you up to date on what’s happening on the front lines (or maybe you’re on the front lines already!). Second, share with me things that have helped your prayer life grow. Third, just pray! Current requests follow:

1. 25 nations are represented in Brussels at the European Union, in the Parliament and the European Commission. Pray that we would meet representatives from each of these countries and see them come to faith in Jesus.

2. We’ve arrived in a season of transition in Brussels. Last spring marked the entrance of ten new nations into the European Union and representatives are moving to Brussels. Elections (held once every five years) took place in June for Members of the European Parliament, who are newly arrived with their aides and interns. New Commissioners – one from each EU country – are now being appointed. Pray for the appointment of godly people to positions of power – and for Jesus to be recognized as King.

3. Pray for our teammates Steve and Mary Elizabeth Severs as they adjust to life in Brussels. Ask God to bless them and meet their needs. Pray for the baby Mary Elizabeth is carrying, due in January.

4. Pray for wisdom to know which relationships to pursue and how. Pray for settings for each team member that would allow them to make friends with not-yet-believers. Pray that God would lead us to people with keys to unlock all the right doors.

5. Pray that God will provide for all of our team members to move to Brussels soon and that we will work together in a way that brings Him glory.

Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel . . . Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should (Eph 6:18-20).

Restful thoughts

I’m tired. How about you? Too much to do, too many late nights, too much to do, too much pressure – and, I almost forgot – too much to do.

I think we’ve forgotten how to rest. I’ve been thinking about what rest means and what God wants for His people. We often think of rest as a necessity after an exhausting week or a reward for hard work or, perhaps, as a waste of time. But I’m learning that’s not what God intends. Biblical rest is a blessing for those who believe.

It’s not like I didn’t know anything about rest. I grew up being told that Sunday was a day of rest. I went to a college where rest on Sunday was obligatory. There was nothing we could do besides rest. No homework. No TV. No sports. No dating. Just church and people and spiritual stuff and rest. And also lots of food.

But it all felt a bit legalistic to me, so I discarded the rules in favor of the principle. Which is fine if you understand the principle, which I did not. Add enthusiasm for ministry, mix in a few good opportunities and stir to serve up a plate of exhaustion.

Hebrews chapters three and four tell the story of the people of Israel who were not able to “enter God’s rest.” Though they had received God’s promises in the past and had seen the hand of God in miraculous ways, they did not believe Joshua and Caleb’s report of a land prepared by God for their habitation. Their disbelief cost them a generation of walking in circles, a worthwhile metaphor to consider as a description of our own lives when we’re not experiencing God’s rest.

The preacher to the Hebrews warns his readers to consider that the promise still remains: there is an eternal rest prepared by God for those who believe. This rest finds its roots in the 7th day of Creation, set aside by God because His work was done. And today, nothing has changed – His work is still done.

God invites us to eternal rest, but it’s not the promise of an extended naptime. God’s rest equals completion. To enter God’s rest is to enter the peace beyond the conflict, the calm beyond the storm, the joy beyond the heartache – only fully realized in eternity, but available now to those who believe.

We rest, then, not because we have finished our work, but because God has finished His. We rest not because we are tired, but as an act of faith, to remind ourselves that God is the One who will bring all things to pass.

It makes me think that Biblical rest doesn’t happen last, but first. We can rest at the beginning of the day or the beginning of the week – or (looking for some application to church planting?) at the beginning of a ministry – because the context for all we do is that the Timeless, Self-existent One is done.

Can I invite you to join me in trying to make application to our schedules? Stop what you’re doing, sit down, take a nap, listen to music, watch the grass grow – and do so believing that God is at work, completing what He has completed. When you close your eyes at night, choose to trust. Biblical rest is a blessing for those who believe.

In the Passage

While involved in field orientation last week in the Hague, Holland, I had the surprising experience of turning a corner and finding myself in a restaurant in which I had eaten twice a year ago: once with a group of friends who were considering joining our church planting team; and once with my family while considering God’s leading for our lives. It gave me the opportunity to think about how God makes a complete circle out of things that sometimes seem confusing and disconnected. I wrote the following while sitting there, named after the shopping area in which the restaurant was located, called “The Passage.”

In the Passage

one year three months ago
to the day I think
I sat in this chair
across the table from my wife
in the presence of three young couples
all of us attending a special staff candidate orientation
designed just for us
would we be a church planting team from Tab church for Brussels?
to all of our surprise God said no
why and what did that mean?
for us and for them?
those couples who sat with me in the Passage

a week later
I sat in this chair
across the table from my wife
in the presence of my children
the four of us here to ask
would we be a church planting family from Tab church for Brussels?
we knew it wouldn’t be Geneva
but Norfolk? or Kazakhstan?
then in Brussels the man on a tram
an Ethiopian
reading the word of God
praying all night
for people to come and Belgium to hear
we said yes
in the middle of a hurricane
this family that sat with me in the Passage

now alone
I sit in this chair
no one here but the waitress
the same waitress
who served our team
who served our family
who reminds me of a faithful God
leading, guiding
confusing, compelling
daring, equipping
always there
God who sits with me in the Passage

Blessed be your name

Blessed Be Your Name
Written by Beth Redman & Matt Redman

CAPO II

VERSE 1:
A E F#m7 D
Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful
A E
Where Your streams of abundance flow
D
Blessed be Your name
A E F#m7 D
And blessed be Your name when I'm found in the desert place
A E
Though I walk through the wilderness
D
Blessed be Your name

PRE-CHORUS:
A E
Every blessing You pour out I'll
F#m7 D
turn back to praise
A E
And when the darkness closes in, Lord
F#m7 D
Still I will say

CHORUS:
A E
Blessed be the name of the Lord
F#m7 D
Blessed be Your name
A E
Blessed be the name of the Lord
F#m7 D
Blessed be Your glorious name

VERSE 2:
Blessed be Your name when the sun's shining down on me
When the world's "all as it should be"
Blessed be Your name
And blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

BRIDGE:
A E
You give and take away
F#m7 D
You give and take away
A E
My heart will choose to say
F#m7 D
Lord, blessed be Your name

© 2002 Kingsway's Thankyou Music
CCLI# 1596342

New old neighbors

Just in case there's any doubt that we found the right house . . .

Our next-door neighbors came over a couple days ago to welcome us into the neighborhood. They’re Belgian and have three teenage children.

As we talked, the mother said that her husband would not be around much because he was working for the United Nations in Africa.

We said, “Oh, which agency? We know people who work for the U.N. because we used to live in Geneva.”

She said, “Really? We used to live in Geneva.”

We said, “Well, actually, we lived across the border in France.”

She said, “Really? We lived across the border in France!”

We said, “We lived near a town called Ferney-Voltaire.”

She said, “Really? We lived near a town called Ferney-Voltaire!”

We said, “We lived in Gex.”

She said, “We lived in Gex!”

We said, “We lived on Avenue Vertes Campagnes.”

She said, “WE LIVED ON AVENUE VERTES CAMPAGNES!”

Incredible! What are the chances? We move to Belgium and find that our new neighbors lived on the same street we did in France.

This is the kind of thing only God can do. And I believe He does it to say, “I love you and am guiding you. I know where you are and what you need. And watch this – I can surprise you so that you won’t forget it.”

All this from a God who knows the hairs on our head before we lose them, the words we speak before we say them, and the neighbors we have before we meet them.

Notions of nations (answers)

I love to think about the fact that the diversity of nations remind us that God is bigger than any of us or any of our cultures. I also love to think how God is redeeming what went wrong before the Tower of Babel. God confused languages and scattered the nations because they were working together for their own purposes without Him. When we all gather around the throne, all nations will be represented and language won't be an issue.

Right now, we're located in history between those events and cultural diversity challenges us, but also reminds us that God is bringing something to pass that no one else could do.

Meanwhile, we're left to wonder . . . what would the "perfect" European be like? Here are the answers to last week's quiz:

The perfect European would be:

Cooking . . . like a Brit
Available (as in at work) . . . as a Belgian
Flexible . . . as a Swede
Talkative . . . as a Fin
Humble . . . as an Austrian
Sober . . . as the Irish
Discreet . . . as a Dane
Generous . . . as a Dutchman
Controlled . . . as an Italian
Famous . . . as a Luxembourger
Organized . . . like a Greek
Humorous . . . as a German
Patient . . . as a Spanaird
Driving . . .like the French
Technical . . . as a Portuguese

Wells and water

You know how sometimes you get the feeling God is speaking to you, but you’re not quite sure? “Wow, God, that’s the second time someone has said that to me. If I hear it one more time, I’ll know it’s from You!” We’ve got this thing here in Brussels about wells and water. We don’t know what God’s saying, but we keep running into the same idea time and time again.

It all started in March when we came to Brussels with our advance team. One of our team members, Mike Taylor, led a devotional from John 4, the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. Mike encouraged us as we walked and prayed around the city to look for the “wells” – places where people were attempting to find satisfaction in life. If we could meet them there, perhaps we could introduce them to Jesus, the giver of real life.

The passage really struck me and I thought about its similarities to ministry needs and opportunities in Brussels. Just like the Samaritan woman, we will be meeting people whose lifestyle choices have resulted in their rejection from society. Attitudes towards sexuality are very liberal here, so many would come to their wells with brokenness and confusion. The religious argument the Samaritan woman tried to start with Jesus reminds me of issues between Catholics and Protestants in Belgium. And we long for a response to Jesus like the Samaritan villagers, curious about Jesus once they heard the woman’s testimony.

As a team, we’ve all had surprising encounters with verses from Scripture about wells and water. Verses we have read in our quiet times, sermons in churches, and throwaway comments in seemingly random conversations have all pointed us towards God’s desire to quench the thirsty in Brussels with living water at His well.

Most famous European cities are known for large bodies of water that pass through them. Paris has the Seine. London, the Thames. Budapest, the Danube and Amsterdam, its canals. But what about Brussels? There’s no large body of water to be found - or so it would seem. But we have discovered that there actually is a river in Brussels – it just runs underground. And the truth is that it hasn’t always, but does today because past generations of Belgians built over it! We believe God has rivers of life for people who live in Brussels, but they may be out of sight, hidden, underground. We want to bring living water to places where people can drink.

So you can imagine our surprise when we were looking at houses and found that the one we liked was on a street whose name in English means, “Riverbank.” There is actually a small river across the street. Is God placing us on the bank of the river so we can offer life to those we meet?

But even more surprising to us was our village. We will live in Woluwe, a town that is just to the east of the center of town. It is very convenient to the European institutions and is widely recognized as a nice place to live for people who work there. But the name is what’s significant. “Woluwe” is derived from a Flemish word that means – you guessed it – “well.”

God has placed us on the riverbank, living in a well of God’s resources for a parched people. I think that makes at least three – God must be saying something!

Notions of nations

It doesn’t take long while declaring God’s glory to the nations to notice the differences between them! Of great amusement to all are national stereotypes. Perhaps you can think of a few. It’s always interesting, for instance, to consider how one’s one nationality is perceived. We’re making a concerted effort not to be loud, shallow, or dogmatic!

How well do you know Europe? Could you recognize nationals of different European countries by their language, their look, or their national stereotype? Take the following quiz and see what you know! Match the stereotype with the nationality, but you’ll catch on quickly that the answers aren’t necessarily a compliment.

The perfect European should be (for instance, 14H – driving like the French!):

1. Cooking A. Like a Greek
2. Available B. As a Dutchman
3. Flexible C. As a German
4. Talkative D. As a Spaniard
5. Humble E. Like a Brit
6. Sober F. As a Portuguese
7. Discreet G. As an Austrian
8. Generous H. Like the French
9. Controlled I. As the Irish
10. Famous J. As an Italian
11. Organized K. As a Finn
12. Humorous L. As a Luxembourger
13. Patient M. As a Dane
14. Driving N. As a Belgian
15. Technical O. As a Swede

Where would we be without diversity? We might think mistakenly that God was just like us!

P.S. I'll post the correct pairings next week.

(Taken from a postcard drawn by J.N. Hughes-Wilson)