Devoted to Sending: Church Planting

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1). Crafty indeed. Much was lost on that terrible day when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree.

But the darkness did not stay in Eden. It grew and spread—a metastasis that, according to the Book of Genesis, reached its apex in the shadow of a tower in the plains of Babylonia. They had built the tower to “make a name” for themselves (Genesis 11:4). The darkness was complete. Sin reigned. The pursuit of human glory was in full force.

I find it striking that what we read next is God calling a man named Abram and telling him, “Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:1–3). That’s God’s answer to the spread of sin and darkness—to call a man to leave his homeland. To send him into the unknown.

A few years ago, I moved back to my homeland—the city of Cleveland—to explore the possibility of leading a team to plant a church. And 18 months ago, we had our first service!

Church planting is insider language. I don’t use those words when describing what I’m doing to the people who live in my apartment complex. But I do like the phrase. We are planting seeds with the hope of seeing new life. Jesus often used this language to describe the kingdom of God. One thing you learn about planting is that it takes a lot of patience. And faith. And persistence.

I couldn’t imagine doing this work if I hadn’t been prepared for it. I’ve been blessed to be a part of three churches that had a major impact on my life: Cuyahoga Valley Church, where I grew up; City Church in Cleveland Heights, where I did a church planting residency; and Creekside, where I did a pastoral residency and met so many of you.

These experiences taught me what a church is, how a church functions, what a pastor does, and how to lead. (You only have to look at recent headlines to know how important it is to have Jesus-shaped leaders.)

Going into the unknown is daunting. There is so much uncertainty. We face many challenges. And above all, we know we wrestle “not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms,” as Paul reminds us (Ephesians 6:12). The dark powers are always seeking to drown out the light. I cannot imagine doing this work without being sent and supported.

The kingdom of God is here, and it’s not here. Jesus is on the throne, and the signs of the kingdom are in our midst. But we await its fullness.

I think one of the hindrances to sending people into the unknown is the belief that the fullness of the kingdom is already here. That the renewal of all things has happened. We get comfortable, and then we fear losing that comfort, all the while failing to recognize that there is still work to be done.

I want to take you back to the 400s AD in Britain. A young man whom we now know as St. Patrick had been kidnapped as a teenager by Celtic pirates and taken to Ireland as a slave. Some years later, he miraculously escaped and began to take his childhood Christian faith seriously. And some years after that, he decided he wanted to go back to Ireland to proclaim the gospel there.

People thought he was nuts. The Irish people were “pagan barbarians”—and Patrick knew their potential for harshness all too well. It was a dangerous venture. Church leaders urged him not to go. There was a spirit of fear in the air at that time—monasteries were being built inside high-walled castles. The church had turned inward.

But Patrick took a different approach. He drew a circle in the sand and said: this is our monastery. Yes, we are creating a different sort of community built around Jesus that lives differently. But the barrier of entry is low. We will not flee to the castles but live amongst the people. We will be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

That’s been our approach here in Downtown Cleveland. We minister in a very transient community: professionals, students, residents—people in town for work, pleasure, or medical care; actors and actresses who perform in the theaters. We even had a couple come to a service who had been boating through Lake Erie for weeks and docked in the harbor Downtown to be in church on Sunday. We get some true wanderers.

When we gather each Sunday, and during the week, we have these folks amongst us. We share the hope of the gospel with them. And we seek to live our lives in step with this hope so that they can see there is another way to live. True life is to be found in Jesus.
When the darkness of Eden had spread to Babel, God sent a man into the unknown. And He is sending us as well. He has called us out of darkness and into His wonderful light so that we might shine His light to a world in great need of it. And planting new churches is one essential way we do that.