Planting Partners

Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to participate in TeAmerica’s Church Planting Assessment Center as an assessor. TeAmerica is the church planting ministry of the Baptist General Conference and these assessment centers are held about 10 times at year at the Green Lake Conference Center.

One of the tasks the church planting candidates completes is a presentation on their philosophy of ministry. In almost every instance, included in this presentation is the desire and goal to plant a church that is relevant.  What church planter will disagree with that?

 I’m a big fan of a relevance. I value it. Being relevant is important to me as a Christ-follower, pastor, friend, family member, and human being. But I think in many instances the value relevance in church planting is, at the best miss-communicated, and at the worst is misunderstood.

 Too often, relevance is viewed as an end and not a means to an end. Most of the church planters I hang around with want to biblical. That’s a goal to be valued. It’s way more than “bringing people to Christ.” It involves how we live and how our lives are structured. It’s about being people who love God’s Word and seeking to live differently because of it.

 Relevance is a means towards that end. Making sense to our culture does matter. Ministry models do change because the unchanging message of Jesus Christ is conveyed in a changing world. Our message needs to be understandable. Relevance is important. But it’s a tool…a means to the end of spreading God’s message.

Be careful how you use relevance. We all want to be relevant, but our goal as church planters should be so much more. Make your ministry and your life speak to whatever context God calls you. But don’t stop there. Don’t be satisfied with merely being cool, trendy, or cutting edge. Ed Stetzer suggests we wander through Athens and look at the cultural idols, letting them break our heart and burden our mind. Then confidently take the Gospel to those who’ll see its uncluttered message.