When was the last time you asked God to crush your enemy? Have you ever prayed to God that He NOT cover someone’s guilt, or NOT blot out someone’s sin? For many of us the presence of this type of prayer in Scripture is difficult enough let alone the personal use of it in our prayer lives. In many ways, it is good that we are hesitant to pray like Nehemiah does in Neh 4.4-5. Nehemiah’s petition for cursing on God’s enemies is inspired by the Holy Spirit and isn’t about personal revenge but the glory of God and the good of His people. Nehemiah was fighting and laboring for the rebuilding of a city and of the church, and all around enemies were actively laboring to crush, discourage, distract, and destroy the work and God’s people. So Nehemiah prays that God would turn taunts back on the heads of their enemies. He prays to God that He would not cover their guilt or blot our their sin, and he does all of this because men like Tobiah and Sanaballat “have provoked you [God] to anger.”

Nehemiah is actually standing in a long line of people offering imprecatory prayers (just read Psalms). Praying like this isn’t unbiblical and is in fact grounded in God’s promises found in places like Genesis 12. Thousands of years before Nehemiah God covenanted with Abraham that He would bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him. Among many things, this means God cares about what happens to His people and that He will protect, defend, avenge, repay, and judge those who are hostile to the restoration, mission and people of the church. This truth is meant to encourage and embolden. God sees, God cares, and God will act. Take a minute and allow that truth to set in. As you fight for the church, as you labor to see Her thrive, as you offer your very lives in the mission of making disciples of all tribes and tongues God takes notice of every insult, every blow, every drop of blood from every martyr.

Nehemiah’s prayer goes even further than giving us personal confidence and hope that God cares about our opposition, it provides corporate fervor to keep laboring. The context for Nehemiah’s prayer of imprecation is the coordinated effort of God’s people to accomplish their God given task while facing a hostile environment littered with slandering, threatening, violent enemies. No doubt, God’s people then, as now, are prone to discouragement and fear, and one of the ways God encourages us is to know that what we suffer He sees and what we endure He will do something about. This was true for Nehemiah and the church at that time, it is true in places like Revelation 6 where those killed for their faith are told that God will judge and avenge their blood, and it is true for the church today.

How To Fight

It would be a mistake at this point to encourage any of us to constant imprecation. In fact, we would do better to allow the Biblical prayers to teach us more about who God is and what He is doing, and will do, than how to pray for the dashing of our enemies. However, this doesn’t mean that there is never a place to pray prayers loosely patterned and inspired after those seen in places like Nehemiah 4. We can rightly claim the promises that God will judge, God will avenge, God cares, God sees, God defends, God protects, and so on. Utilizing these truths in the context of our personal and corporate prayer lives gives glory to God as sovereign over all people and also strengthens His saints to keep fighting even as they face opposition at every step.

Here are a few ways you might incorporate ‘imprecatory’ type prayers:

“Soveriegn Lord, I know you see all things. You see our enemies and you see our  suffering. God we are facing fierce opponents. Would you save them and would you stop them. Do what you deem right for your glory. Let us know and believe that the blows and the blood of your saints matter to You. Let us with confidence and courage fight trusting that vengeance is Yours, and that you will repay.”

“Papa, right now there are great and wicked obstacles against your people. There are legal, cultural, spiritual, physical assaults issued forth by real people who despise and hate us. Your church is insulted and ridiculed. Your church that is called by your name. For your glory would you turn the taunts of our culture back on their own heads. Would you show the foolishness of opposing You by opposing your people. Would you cause knees to bow, and if they don’t bow, would you cause knees to break. However you choose to do it would you save and stop our enemies. Would you bring to an end their taunts. Would you remove their power over us. Would you vindicate your church that those who are now discouraged would be revived as our enemies are put to shame and your might is seen in the saving and stopping of those that currently curse You and hate us.”

As you can see I am slow to pray specifically like Nehemiah that God wouldn’t forgive sin or wouldn’t cover guilt. As a sinful man, prone to ungodly self serving revenge, I want to pray that God changes, saves, restores, and forgives my enemies much more than I would ever pray that He would curse them. Even more than the tendency to sin, we have the words of Jesus in places like Matthew 5.44 that say, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” Or Paul’s words in Romans 12.14; “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” However, this doesn’t mean we can’t pray in more general terms Nehemiah 4 type prayers that God would save and stop our enemies according to His good pleasure. In fact, sometimes that’s exactly what we need to pray, both for ourselves and for the people we are laboring with. Not so much prayers of cursing, but prayers of conquest.

The One Who Really Fights

Perhaps the biggest reason we should be slow to pray imprecation against others is that without Christ we are all enemies of God that deserve cursing. We must remember that before we were ever like Nehemiah, or the builders laboring, or even the people who’s strength was fading, we were like Sanballat and Tobiah discouraging, oppressing, and opposing. For many of us our activity may not have been as outwardly overt as the enemies facing Nehemiah, but we were no less opposed to Jesus. And in our opposition, as enemies of God, Jesus prayed and Jesus died. Amazingly, instead of cursing us, God blesses us by cursing Christ. The reason we fight in prayer by asking that our opponents would be saved is because Jesus died for us that our guilt would be covered and our sin would blotted out. No doubt, we can still pray that God would stop enemies of the church but the Gospel compels us to pray He stops them first and foremost by saving them, just like He did for us. For those He doesn’t save we know He will ultimately stop. He will bring justice. He will avenge the blood of His saints. He will defend His people and vindicate His name. With confidence in God we fight and we pray; ‘God would you save and stop our enemies, for our good, their good, and most importantly, your glory.’

What do you actually do when you are trying to plant a church?

We’ve found the Pauline Cycle to be massively helpful in answering that very question.

In the first post of this series, we discussed the core elements of the Pauline Cycle for church planting. And now we’ll discuss the initial steps of church planting from the Pauline Cycle–how to actually plant the gospel in a community.

In this series, our aim is to discuss the principles of the Pauline Cycle in order to equip churches and planters in the work of church multiplication for Christ’s glory.

The concept and structure of our Pauline Cycle Tool and this blog series is greatly indebted to and based on David Hesselgrave’s version of the Pauline Cycle and BILD’s course on Acts which all GO residents learn and study thoroughly.

Audience Contacted (Acts 13:14-16; 14:1)

This is the essence of audience contact: building bridges, culturally and relationally, while simultaneously removing the barriers that your audience have erected in opposition to the gospel, in order to create opportunities and avenues to proclaim the gospel. How you contact the audience and build bridges for the gospel hinges on this question: who is your audience? In other words, who are you trying to reach with the gospel? Based on that, where do they gather? How can you develop relationships in order to build bridges with this audience? Depending on your audience and context, contacting the audience might look like being a regular pick-up hooper at the YMCA or it might be joining a book club with some people from your core team. This step may include service projects, joining the natural gatherings of your community and meeting leaders, teachers, neighbors in the area—any forms of relational bridge building that will help you connect with your community, build a good reputation for your church, and in so doing, create avenues for gospel proclamation. For instance, seeing your core team serving at a city festival might, for some, help lower the barrier/objection that Christians don’t care for their neighbors and help your team build relationships with locals. Thus, a bridge is built at the same time that a barrier is lowered, ultimately creating an avenue for the gospel to go forward.

As you connect with your audience relationally, you work to build bridges through friendships and common interest, and then embark on the missiological work to understand their background, needs, hopes, fears, and barriers to Christianity. From this bridge building, you are then able to address and knock down these barriers to the gospel as you proclaim the gospel.

For Reflection:

• What are the natural gathering points in your community that you can participate in to build bridges and relationships?
• What the general demographics and pyschographics of your target audience?
• Where are some opportunities for service that might serve as bridge building opportunities in your community?
• What are the biggest objections and barriers to Christianity among your target audience? What do they think of when they hear the word “church” or “gospel”?
• How will you train your core team in relationship and bridge building?

Resource: Breaking the Missional Code by Ed Stetzer and David Putman

Gospel Communicated (Acts 13:17-41; 16:31)

In the process of contacting your audience, the work of church planting requires communicating the gospel. In order to communicate the gospel, you will need to know your community. While the gospel does not change, the way in which you contextualize and present the gospel may be different depending on your audience’s cultural and religious background (see Acts 13:16-41 and Acts 17:16-34). Know that this step will look different if you’re planting in Nashville as opposed to New England. For instance, in some places, good open-air preaching might be the bomb. In others places or contexts, open-air preaching might bomb and do more damage than good. So, know the gospel, the background of your audience, know their central objections to Christianity, and prayerfully communicate the gospel in the context of relationships and through whatever other avenues make cultural and missional sense.

One practical suggestion would be to find a gospel-centered preacher or two that has seen some level of fruit preaching the gospel in a similar context to the type that you will be preaching/communicating in and learn what you can from their gospel communication.

For Reflection:

• What’s the religious background and history of your community and target audience? How will this affect how you communicate and contextualize the gospel?
• What are the biggest barriers and objections to the gospel in your community?
• What is the biggest misconception about Christianity and the gospel in your community?
• What are the needs, hopes, fears, and longings of your community? How does the gospel address them?

Hearers Converted (Acts 13:48-16:15)

This step, like all the rest, is dependent on the work of the Spirit. Our work is to remember that the gospel is the power of God for salvation. Then pray. And then, communicate the gospel prayerfully to our contacted audience expecting that God will glorify Himself through bringing people to Christ. It’s important here to call people to respond to the gospel, not through the manipulation of emotions, but through sharing the gospel and asking if they understand and believe in Christ and His gospel—and if not, asking what objections do they have? Far too often missional living gets misunderstood as an excuse to merely drink beer with non-Christian friends and hope that the gospel will rub off on them without ever sharing the gospel and calling them to respond to the gospel. We must fight to not fall prey to this missional misunderstanding.

Having a biblical understanding of conversion is another vital aspect of this step in the cycle. Many of us that have grown up in the American church have seen the trail of damage left by loose understandings of conversion and altar calls with no follow-up and confirmation. We want a genuine, Spirit-wrought response to Christ that flows from a saving understanding of and faith in Christ and His gospel.

For Reflection:

• How does the gospel help free you from the fear of man in evangelism?
• What are you doing to not fall prey to the aforementioned “missional misunderstanding”?
• Are you modelling evangelism and missional living?
• How will you train your core team in missional living and evangelism?

Resource:  Mark Four: A Biblical Understanding of Conversion from Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever

Believers Congregated (Acts 13:43)

As people are contacted, relationships develop, the gospel goes forward, and people trust Jesus, the body of believers begins to congregate as a church. Depending on your philosophy on planting, this may happen based on a milestone of people (ex. 50 adults) or a certain number of community groups. Be sure that your milestones are also appropriate for your context and your skill set—and get the advice of other seasoned planters to help and coach you through this decision. Either way, launching your recurring public worship gathering is a key moment in the planting cycle. Let the context, community, and culture help inform the form (music, order of service, level of liturgy, type of gathering space, location of gathering space, etc.) of your gathering in light of your biblical convictions. (For example, we recently saw one church planter tweet that his church meets at 12:45pm on Sundays because in his community people aren’t up until noon on Sunday.)

This step in the Pauline Cycle necessitates a strong biblical understanding of what a church is, what it means to establish a local church, and the importance of membership or covenantal belonging in a local church. Without a strong ecclesiology, moving into life as a local church with recurring public gatherings can create a lot of unnecessarily pain and damage.

For Reflection:

• Do you have a strong biblical ecclesiology and view of the local church?
• What are the biblical functions of a local church? Based on your community, what form might those biblical functions take?

NOTE: In the third post in this series, we’ll discuss the second phase of the Pauline Cycle, “Adorn the Gospel,” and specific steps for church planters for establishing a church plant.

Download the GO Pauline Cycle Tool.

The book of Acts focuses on the Spirit-led advance of the gospel through the church as the Great Commission unfolds after the ascension of Jesus. Under this central theme, Luke spends significant time detailing both the means and methods used by the early church, and particularly Paul, to bring the gospel across the globe. It’s from Paul’s church planting work in Acts that the concept of the Pauline Cycle has emerged, providing us with a biblical outline on the “how to” of church planting.

The Pauline Cycle benefits us greatly as church planters and leaders as we see the patterns and principles for church planting given to us by God through His Word.

In this series, our aim is to discuss the principles of the Pauline Cycle in order to equip churches and planters in the work of church multiplication for Christ’s glory.

The concept and structure of our Pauline Cycle Tool and this blog series is greatly indebted to and based on David Hesselgrave’s version of the Pauline Cycle and BILD’s course on Acts which all GO residents learn and study thoroughly.

Core Elements for Planting

The gospel, the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures, prayer, and the local church are the essential ingredients from the Pauline Cycle which must be in place to plant a church.

The Gospel (The Message and The Motive)

You can’t plant a biblical church if you don’t have and know the gospel. You need to know the historical gospel message. You need to know this message and be resolved to make this message known explicitly—both for salvation and sanctification (Acts 4:12; 1 Cor. 15:1-2).

A church planter also deeply needs the gospel for his identity, value, and justification so that he’s freed from trying to plant a church in order to gain some sort of self-justification. A church planter needs the gospel so that he can fail without being crushed and succeed without arrogance because his identity and value in is Christ’s work, not his success or failures in planting.

Not only does a church planter need to know the gospel as his message and source of identity, the gospel must also be his motive for planting. The same should be true of the planter’s planting team and sending church. The good news of the gospel should compel us to have beautiful feet to see people meet Jesus for God’s glory. If this isn’t the case, then we ought to question our motive for planting a church.

For Reflection:

• Do you have a clear understanding of your identity given because of the Gospel? How does union with Jesus free you to plant without fear of failure or the temptation of self-justification?
• Do you and your core team know the content of the Gospel? Do you regularly connect the Gospel to implications, response, etc.?
• What tools will you set up to make sure the Gospel is not just inferred in this church plant but declared as the primary message for conversion and sanctification?
• How is your Gospel Identity connected with a Gospel Legacy?
• How does the Gospel motivate us to be passionate about Jesus not church planting? Why is this such an important distinction?

The Holy Spirit (The Director and The Doer)

The Book of Acts isn’t really so much about the acts of the apostles as it is the acts of the Holy Spirit in and through the apostles. In Acts, we see that the Spirit calls men to planting (Acts 13:2), He sends them (13:5), He directs them (16:9-10), He gives them boldness for gospel proclamation and He works powerfully through gospel proclamation (Acts 4:31). What’s this mean for us? It means that being called and sent by the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit, directed by the Spirit, dependent on the Spirit, and sustained by the Spirit are all absolutely essential to church planting. We cannot do the pioneering work of church planting in our own strength. We need God to direct and work by His Spirit, who loves to glorify Christ (John 16:13-14).

For Reflection:

• Do you have a functional belief in the Holy Spirit that matches what is seen in Acts?
• How often do you personally and corporately talk about the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church?
• What are some specific and practical strategies you can implement right now to ensure that the role of the Spirit is not tertiary in this plant?
• How are you specifically encouraging your core group by reminding them of the work of the Holy Spirit?

The Scriptures (The Foundation)

The Word of God equips us for “every good work,” church multiplication, church planting, and church establishing included (2 Tim. 3:16-17). We need the Scriptures to sustain us, rebuke us, inform us, feed us, and comfort us. We need the Scriptures to know how to establish a church. We need the Scriptures to know what an establish church looks like. We need the Scriptures for every aspect of the Christian life. For church planting, a humble, dependent, and constant submission to the Word of God is a must.

For Reflection:

• What does your own personal devotional life look like? Does this reflect someone who knows the value of the Bible?
• What do the devotional practices of the core group look like? How do they approach the Bible? Does this approach match what we see in the book of Acts?
• What role does Scripture hold in the life of the church? Think through all the various gatherings and the formal and informal ways you gather.
• What role does Scripture hold in the setting of vision, the development of methods, decision-making, planning, church structure, etc.? How is Scripture specifically applied to these, and other, situations?

Prayer (The Atmosphere)

Do you want to see your church plant another church so that more people find salvation in Christ? Do you have a heart for church multiplication but have no planters in your church? The first step and the continual step for each of those scenarios is prayer. Since we desperately need God to work by His Spirit to call, equip, direct and work for church planting to happen, we need to petition Him to do so for His glory through an atmosphere of prayer. An atmosphere of prayer is foundation to the work of church planting (Acts 13:1-4).

For Reflection:

• What do you believe a church looks like that has an atmosphere of prayer? Write out a vivid description. What can you do to help cultivate what you wrote out?
• What does your own prayer life look like? Does this reflect someone who believes prayer is vital and necessary to the planting of churches?
• How does the Gospel shape the way we pray?
• What does the corporate prayer life of your church look like right now? What can you be grateful for? What needs to change?

The Church (The Agency)

Churches plant churches (Acts 13:1-4; 15:22). The pattern set forth in Acts is one where men and planting teams are tested, trained, and affirmed in their local church and then sent by their local church to establish a new church. There are many denominations, networks, and agencies that model well what it looks like to partner in church planting while affirming and honoring the role of the local church as primary in church planting (for instance, Frontiers and Acts 29).

For Reflection:

• What are the necessary marks of a Biblical church?
• What is the relationship between the church you are planting and other churches, networks, denominations, or agencies?
• What key metrics are you deriving from Scripture and in particular the book of Acts? How are you structuring the church to pursue these metrics?
• What is the relationship between church growth and church multiplication? How are both important and seen in the book of Acts?

NOTE: In the second post in this series, we’ll discuss the first phrase of the Pauline Cycle, “Plant the Gospel,” and specific steps for church planters when beginning to plant.

Download the GO Pauline Cycle Tool.

In the first post of this series, we discussed the dynamics of church purity and how they can help cultivate humility, unity, and love within your local church and toward others. We also shared a filled-out version of our church purity tool that we use to assess the purity of our local church and celebrate evidences of grace.

Now, we’re sharing our church purity template and questions so you can use this resource to assess areas of purity and impurity in your church in order to celebrate areas of purity and pray, plan, and labor for increased purity in your church for God’s glory.

How to Use the Church Purity Template

Much of this church purity template’s concept and content is adapted from Dr. Gregg Allison’s work on missional ecclesiology, so we recommend reading his work on each category in addition to implementing this church purity template.

Before assessing your church, remember that you are justified through Christ’s work, not by the purity of your church.

Then, prayerfully, in light of the gospel, work through the questions in each category below and mark your level of purity in each category on the church purity template. When finished you’ll have a snapshot of the areas of purity and impurity in your local church.

Questions for Assessing Church Purity

DOXOLOGICAL
Oriented to the glory of God

• To what extent is your church oriented to God’s glory in all things? How does your church respond to failure? How does your church respond to success?
• What are the “false gods” in your church (money, size, leaders, programs) that are prone to receive glory rather than God?
• What do you count and what do you celebrate as a church? Are these metrics about God’s glory or the church’s?
• To what extent is your church engaged in false glory-giving to these “false gods”?

LOGOCENTRIC
Focused on the Word of God, understood to refer to Jesus Christ the incarnate Word and Scripture the inspired Word

• To what extent is your church focused on Jesus?
• To what extent is Jesus the Hero of your church’s preaching and teaching?
• To what extent is Jesus and His Gospel preached weekly from all texts from evangelism to sanctification and every area of life?
• To what extent is your church submitted to and dependent upon God’s Word? What is the final rule for all decisions? Do you tend towards pragmatism in conversations without opening the Bible?
• How central is the Word of God to your gatherings and the life of your church?
• To what extent are the people in your church rooted in God’s Word and sound doctrine?

PNEUMADYNAMIC
Created, gathered, gifted, and empowered by the Holy Spirit

• Is your church being equipped to do the work of the ministry by learning and using spiritual gifts? To what extent?
• To what extent is there unity, love, joy, and forgiveness happening in the life of your church?
• To what extent is your church engaged in mission and sharing the gospel beyond Sundays?
• How often do you talk about the person and work of the Holy Spirit?
• In what ways do you formally or informally apply the person and work of the Holy Spirit to the church?

COVENANTAL
Gathered as members in (new) covenant relationship with God and in covenant relationship with each other

• Is there a formal means of covenant belonging (ex. membership) in your church?
• What evidences are there that people know they belong to a local church as a family?
• To what extent is there evidence of belonging to the family of God in your church?
• If you are a pastor, do you know who is part of the flock you are called to lead? If you are a member do you know who else is part of your particular local church?
•  Are baptism and communion regularly celebrated in the life of your church? Are these covenantal signs explained regularly?

CONFESSIONAL
United by both personal confession of faith in Christ and common confession of the historic Christian faith

• Does your church have a statement of faith? Is it available for the church? Do people know what the statements are and what they mean?
• Does your church read Scripture corporately? Does your church incorporate any sort of catechism formally or informally?
• Is sound, biblical theology confessed/sung during your church’s worship through song?
• Does your church have some medium for teaching theology (ex. classes, book studies, residencies)?

MISSIONAL
Identified as the body of divinely-called and divinely-sent ministers to proclaim the gospel and advance the kingdom of God

• To what extent is your church engaged in the great commission locally and globally?
• To what extent is mission (locally and globally) taught and spoken about by church leaders?
• To what extent is your church engaged in church planting (funding, training, sending)?
• How are people in your church being equipped for everyday gospel ministry in their neighborhoods and workplace? To what extent?
• Does your church budget reflect an emphasis on mission and church planting?
• How often is mission highlighted during your corporate gatherings (each sermon, testimonies, updates, prayer, etc.)?

SPATIO-TEMPORAL-ESCHATOLOGICAL
Assembled as a historical reality (located in space and time) and possessing a certain hope and clear destiny while it lives the strangeness of ecclesial existence in the here-and-now

• In what ways do you see your church pursuing godliness?
• What areas of worldliness is your church struggling with? To what extent?
• In what ways does your church look like a redeemed version of the culture in which she is planted?
• Ask non-Christians in your community what they think about your church. What is their impression? If your church shut down would your city miss you? What exactly would they miss?
• Does your church tend to be more a mirror of the culture or a bomb-shelter from your culture?
• What positive influences have you had in your city? What measurements does your church have related to be servants in your city?

Download the blank version of the church purity template

You Don’t Have Because You Don’t Ask

As I am writing this our church is 12 days away from launching a 7pm service in a new location somewhere in our city but as of now we don’t know exactly where. We made the decision to launch this new service two days ago, so while we may not be procrastinating we sure could have done some better planning. But as we look at some immediate strategic opportunities to introduce a whole new group of people to Jesus we feel like this is what God wants us to pursue.

On top of not having a facility, we don’t have a core group, we don’t have a budget, we don’t have a band. However, we do have a good and generous God who has more than enough to supply every need, and we have a church asking Him to do just that. While I wouldn’t recommend what we are doing as a good strategy for other churches to follow, I will say it is a practical reminder that we need to pray. Because of the short time frame and the incredible lack of resources we are conscious of our dependence and need. Truthfully, we are always completely dependent but so often we don’t realize it because at the end of the day we think we are pretty capable to build the church on our own and without much prayer. We come up with vision and strategy and ideas about how to multiply churches and reach our cities and then we get to work on putting those initiatives into action, often without much prayer, if any.

As we look at Nehemiah in chapter 2 we see a telling, encouraging, and convicting narrative of how God provided resources for the rebuilding of a city. Nehemiah is standing before Artaxerxes and after some brief interaction the king asks; “What are you requesting?” Think about the question and who is asking it. The Persian King is asking his cupbearer what he wants. The one asking has the resources to supply just about anything requested as well as the authority and power to bestow it. But Nehemiah knows something that we so often forget as we labor in the church, God owns everything and can provide anything through anyone at anytime He wants. Before Nehemiah responds to the king’s question he “prayed to the God of heaven.” In that moment, most likely silent and standing before the king, he prays. And this isn’t just a feeble half hearted hope, Nehemiah prays to the God of Heaven. He knows who holds the check-book and so Nehemiah prays and asks God and then he asks the king.

Are you lacking musicians? Do you have potential elders? Are you seeing conversions? Well, are you asking? Now, I don’t embrace a prosperity theology that attempts to turn God into a giant vending machine pumping out treats if you only hit the right buttons. That’s offensive. But it is clear throughout Scripture that God is generous and does provide what’s needed to bring glory to His Name.

God often connects the resources needed for the mission with prayer. For example, Jesus tells us “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9.37-38). I’ll often read a text like this, spend three minutes in prayer, and then go spend four weeks recruiting people. Sadly, I do this with just about everything in the church. I don’t know what to preach so I’ll look at commentaries or check out other church websites for what they’re doing. If we aren’t seeing conversions I’ll read a book on evangelism. When our kid’s ministry doesn’t have enough volunteers I’ll do a passionate appeal to the church telling them that Jesus would serve the kids. Now, to be clear, these are all good and right things to do, but they’re not sufficient. Where’s the prayer? Jesus sees need and says ‘pray,’ we see the need and plan. Now, don’t drop planning, but perhaps it’s time to fall on our knees and really start asking.

You Don’t Have Because Of Why You Ask

I am grateful for the way James pulls together prayer and provision in his letter in chapter 4 with a right desire in the asking. In James 4.2-3 we read; “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.” Here we see both the call to ask but to do some with right motives. In other words, God is inviting us to ask Him for whatever it is we believe is going to result in His glory. When we ask for things wrongly to spend on our passions, James means asking for selfish, adulterous, ungodly, self-exalting, God-cheapening reasons. Meaning, you can ask for good things with wrong motives, and by doing so, not receive what you ask for. For example, you plead with God for more people to meet Jesus. Great prayer. But why are you asking? Is this about God’s glory or yours? You ask God to fill every seat in the church building. Good prayer. But why are you asking? Is this for your reputation or for the fame of Jesus?

What we see in Nehemiah is a man asking the God of Heaven to provide resources ultimately for God’s own glory. One of the ways we know this is the refrain in Nehemiah “the good hand of my God was upon me.” Nehemiah isn’t looking to rebuild a city for his name. He isn’t asking for himself. Nehemiah, standing before the King of Persia appeals to the power God for the glory of God. Let us be people who ask, and who ask rightly and when we receive what we have asked for, with Nehemiah say it’s because “the good hand of my God was upon me.”

Jesus Asks On Our Behalf

James tells us to ask rightly, but if we are honest, not matter what we ask for we know our motives are mixed. I imagine this was true for Nehemiah to some extent, and I know is true of me far too often. I honestly don’t believe I have ever asked God for anything without the temptation to spend it on my own passions. This may be true for you as well. But amazingly, what we see in Nehemiah, a God-glorifying prayer-dependent leader, is a precursor to a perfect Leader who would give Himself to prayer for the good of others and the glory of God. Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus asking the Father, the God of Heaven, for the good of His Church who is so needy. As the previous post emphasized, Nehemiah must not firstly be an example for us to follow but a pointer to our Perfect Substitute who prays for us and gives good gifts to us, even when we forget to ask, or even ask wrongly. Think about the comfort that comes from having Jesus pray for the good of the church you serve knowing that He never asks wrongly. Jesus loves the church. Jesus sees the needs of your church. Jesus asks the Father and the Father gives good gifts. Knowing we have such a strong and generous and kind God who sees us through Christ and who over time conforms even our selfish requests to be about His glory and not our own, let’s pray. Ask knowing that God’s good hand is upon us because of the pierced hands of Christ. I am sure there is so much in your church that you need or would like for the mission. You see lots of needs and lots of lack. God may be giving you big dreams for His glory in your city and in this world. Praise Jesus for the dreams He is giving, now pray in the name of Jesus for the resources needed. Go to the God of Heaven and ask Him to supply every need. Ask Him for His glory and where your motives are mixed ask Him to purify those as well. Who knows what would really happen in our cities if the church just started asking.

Ask

God of Heaven, I must first confess that so often I see needs in the church and spend way too much time working to fill them and far too little time praying for you to supply for them. I know it is right to labor hard in planning but it is glorious and good and practical to labor hard in prayer. Make me, make us, a people that love to pray. Not only, or even primarily to get things from you, but because we love to commune with you. And yet as the most generous Father, you love to give good gifts for us to enjoy and you provide all the resources needed for your church to thrive. In the church I serve there have been far too many times where we limited what we do by what resources we had. Instead of asking you for more we just did less.  We look out at our cities and see how ripe it is for harvest, we see thousands in every neighborhood that don’t know you, and then we look at our church rosters and realize we don’t have the numbers to go get them. We are asking for more laborers. We want our churches to grow and multiply and preach and reach to the end of your creation that billions who don’t know Jesus will fall in love with Him. And as we receive resources may you make us remember that it is only because your good hand is upon us, because of the pierced hand of Christ. All of this we pray for your glory, asking for the good of your people and the fame of your Son. Amen.

Ecclesiological Lust

“The purity of the church is its degree of freedom from wrong doctrine and conduct, and its degree of conformity to God’s revealed will for the church” (Wayne Grudem). This is a full and important sentence. It means, among many things, that if a church is a “true church” then no matter how impure it is, it is Jesus’ Bride. To illustrate this point let me describe a possible church. They preach the Gospel but aren’t Gospel centered. The Gospel is preached almost exclusively for conversion. This church calls people to mission, but by mission they mean something “over there” for those few really committed Christians. They sing songs, some theologically strong and some not. They don’t even have a written statement of faith but if asked they would affirm historic orthodox Christian truths as expressed in the earlier creeds. We could go on but the point is this: this is a true church. She is a church that Jesus bled for and died for. She no doubt has many areas of impurity. They may be massive areas, but if the Gospel is preached and heard, she is a church.

Unfortunately, and far too often, this church is abandoned for another church that is more attractive. Now there may be times and legitimate reasons to leave a true church for another true church, but the occasions should be rare and the decision to move on should be slow, painful, and done in community under the Holy Spirit appointed authority in your local church.

Love Your Church To Make Her Lovely

Instead of leaving, try loving the one you’re with and perhaps she will start to look better. If you’re disappointed by the confessional nature of your local church pray and then try and do something about it. If your local church has a poorly developed understanding of the Holy Spirit then pray and then help. What typically happens, for example, in a church that is “off” mission, is that the few people “on” mission leave for another church that is “on” mission. You know what’s next? The church that is struggling in her missional identity just becomes weaker and more impure. The few people that could have helped change the culture are gone. What would it look like if you loved your local church in such a way that wherever she is impure, and every local church is, she actually started to grow in those areas?

Love the Church to Make Her Lovely

When you recognize the concept of church purity, you will realize this vital truth: if a church is a true church, then there is something to love about her. If a church is a true church, then there are things to celebrate and praise God for about that church.

Personally, understanding the dynamics of church purity has given us a more gracious and loving appreciation for the church that Jesus purchased by His blood. It’s given the young men we disciple a growing heart of humility instead an aura of arrogance toward local churches in our region that aren’t pure in areas that we, by God’s grace, may be pure in.

These young leaders have realized that a church that preaches the Gospel but doesn’t have a plurality of elders is still a true church. And yes, it is a church with areas of impurity that need work—just like our church.

When you recognize these dynamics of church purity, you will pray for the churches that you used to only critique. Why? Because you’ll remember that that church is a true church despite her flaws and she needs Jesus to make her pure.

When you recognize the dynamics of church purity, you’ll be guarded from perpetual discouragement and dissatisfaction when you think about the state of your church and how your church isn’t quite up to par in that “one area” that you tend to really focus on. Instead of falling prone to subjective blanket assessments of your church, the nuanced dynamics of church purity will help you assess purity in your church in a more comprehensive way. This will ultimately help you cultivate love for your church as you see glimpses of Christ’s work in her that you otherwise may have overlooked.

On the flip side, when you recognize the dynamics of church purity, you will be guarded from an arrogance that says your church does everything the way it’s supposed to be done. Instead, you’ll develop a posture of humility as you assess and see that your church has areas of impurity, just like every other church.

No One’s Spotless, Except Jesus

When we see impurity in the local church, we have several subsequent options: we can bail on her, we can diss her, we can get discouraged, we can think we are the only one who knows how to fix her or we can look to the One who has died to make the church to lovely.

We need to remember the glorious truth that there is One who has loved the church and made her lovely despite all of her sin and impurity. Guess what? Jesus loves His church—both the universal and the local—far more than any of us ever will. Guess what? Jesus cares about the purity of His church far more than any of us ever will. Jesus cares about the purity of His church to the point that He—the only pure and spotless one—died on the cross to make the church, a dirty and sinful people, holy and without blemish. As we remember Christ’s work to save His church, we can rejoice that He will sanctify and purify His church.

This means we look to Jesus to bring purity to His church in our areas of impurity. This means we pray, plan, and act remembering that Jesus Christ is the only pure and spotless one. The following church purity audit resource is one of many ways to pray, plan, and assess the varying areas of purity and impurity in your church. This resource is an actual example of how we’ve assessed our church in light of the gospel and God’s Word to see our areas of purity and impurity.

Remember that as we pray, plan, and labor for purity in our churches, we must always appeal and look to Jesus, the spotless one who died to make the church spotless.

Note: In the second part of this post, we’ve included a blank version of this church purity tool linked to above along with tips and questions on how you can use this tool to assess and celebrate the state of your church. Read the second part of this post here.

Passion Produces Tears

My wife was giving birth to our first child and things didn’t go as planned. Emma got stuck and both my daughter and my wife were in trouble. It was a frightening time for all of us. But one of the things I remember most about those hours of uncertainty was seeing my wife struggle in pain and fear. I watched a strong courageous woman keep fighting while her body was breaking. At one point I just started weeping. I couldn’t control it and I didn’t want to. I adore my bride and I ache when she hurts. I wasn’t as concerned with what would happen but what was happening. In that moment I saw one I love with deep passion in great trouble and crumbling, so I wept. What I felt was natural. When you love someone, really love someone, if they ache you weep.

This is how Nehemiah must have felt as he received the news that God’s church, and His city, was in shambles. Nehemiah wept because the church was broken (Neh 1.3-4). The report had come in and it wasn’t good. What once was glorious had fallen greatly. There had been many attempts to rebuild the broken city but they weren’t successful. On top of broken walls, the city was full of broken lives and spirits. Imagine a hundred years of rubble. Day in, day out, living with the visible and constant reminders of brokenness. It was like that for God’s church during the days of Nehemiah and it is like that for many today. I have friends laboring in places where Jesus used to be adored. In fact, there are a lot of those “used to” places. Far too many. So we weep.

But even more than a broken city, Nehemiah wept for the glory of God. In Nehemiah 1.11 we see his prayer conclude with a word of delight in the fear of God’s name. Compelled by fear, reverence, and awe for God is a constant theme for Nehemiah. What is true for Nehemiah is also true for others. Those who delight to fear God’s name are moved to tears as His name is maligned, cheapened, or ignored.  Throughout the book of Nehemiah we see that the central motivation must have been the glory of God. He continually made clear that any advances in the mission were due to God’s good hand. He rallied people for the mission by grounding people in God’s promises and power. Nehemiah even stopped oppression for the reputation of God and His church among their enemies. Nehemiah cared what people thought of God and so he wanted to see the church rebuilt, renewed, and thriving. Think about it this way, how gloriously will God be displayed as He revives the UK? How ignored is Jesus in Boston where He is seemingly forgotten? Imagine the kind of praise that would resound if New York City experienced revival. And we could go on. Just think, what would happen if the church in your area came to life and everyone could perceive “that the work had been accomplished with the help of our God” (Neh 6.16).

Tears Produce Prayer

Nehemiah is passionate for God’s people and God’s glory so when his eyes are opened to the condition of the church he weeps and mourns and fasts and prays, for months. When was the last time you cried that your crucified King isn’t adored in your city? Or walked by a church that now preaches a different gospel and fell down and prayed? If you love the church and you love the glory of God you will weep. Like Nehemiah you will cry out for help. And this kind of prayer isn’t something you get to do, it’s something you have to do. When I saw Kati hurting, I hurt, because I love her. When I see the Church hurting, I hurt, because I love Her. This isn’t something you work up but something that spills out. Passion produces tears, and tears produce prayer.

It is helpful to note that Nehemiah’s prayer in chapter 1 is not helpless or hopeless sobbing. If you read the entire prayer you will see a man greatly moved but through those tears he is confident that God can do something. God invites us to mourn with the promise and hope the He hears and He can heal. He invites us to confess sin, corporate and private. He listens to the cries of His people and He cares. He invites us to weep and pray. So let’s do just that. Let your passion for the church and the glory of God produce weeping prayer.

Jesus Wept

One of the dangers in looking at the prayer life of Nehemiah is we would see him as the hero and make every effort to be like him. That isn’t all bad. God uses men and women to inspire us through their lives and model for us ways to live. Their passion and pursuit of God can help us and we should imitate others as they imitate Jesus. But that’s just it. No matter how godly someone appears, they are at best, imperfect imitations of Jesus. The goal in looking at how Nehemiah prayed isn’t to make ‘every effort’ to be like Nehemiah, but directed to the One who prayed with more passion and tears than Nehemiah could possibly imagine. As we weep on behalf of the broken church we have to see the One who first wept for us, a broken people. In fact, throughout the story of Nehemiah we aren’t first or foremost like Nehemiah. We are the shamed, busted, scared, vulnerable, rebellious, apathetic, needy, poor, stained people in need of intercession, in need of a weeping Savior. In Jesus, that’s what we have.

Jesus cried in compassion for Mary and Martha and others (John 11.35) even though He knew the situation would emerge in life and glory. Jesus grieves over the rebellious city, Jerusalem, in a touching lament for His people to be brought near (Matthew 23.37-38). And on the Cross, Jesus cries out while spilling blood. There are many churches in shame and dishonor waiting for renewal. But because Jesus is the Hero, our shameful indifference toward the church is forgiven and as we see the infinite price Jesus paid for His church and how He much loves His bride, our sometimes cold-hearts are stirred to love God’s glory and pray for His church. In other words, as we hear Jesus weep we cry out. We hurt for the church but do so with hope because of the One who can heal the church. Passion produces tears. The more you love the church the more you’ll mourn and fast and pray. Weeping produces prayer. The less people adore God and dishonor His name the more you will fall down and cry out. Because Jesus is the Hero, we can weep and pray knowing that Jesus can wipe away tears as He renews the church.

Jesus Wept, So We Cry Out

O LORD God of Heaven,

We look out at the church and we can see so much to be hopeful about. People are meeting Jesus. People are hearing the Gospel. There seem to be whole nations turning to you. And yet, there are so many others that are running from you. The church, in places like France and Germany, have experienced some great revivals, and yet now appear as if they never knew you. In the Unites States, in regions like New England, we see Universities that began with the mission to train men to preach Jesus, now turned into institutions that ignore and even hate Him. Church building after building flipped into someone’s home leaving a steeple-sized reminder that there used to be a church there. We long for the church to live. We ache over every loss of every congregation, every fracture, every split, every weakening of your people. And above our sadness over the state of your church in far too many places is our great pain that the value of your Name is not esteemed.

So, like Daniel we cry out that you would hear and forgive, and pay attention and act. We do not come in our righteousness, for we deserve open shame. True, the church has enemies but so often Her brokenness and disrepair is the product of our neglect and abuse. And so we come before you God of Heaven, our great and awesome God, and ask that you would incline your ear and hear, that you would open your eyes and see our desolations and the churches that are called by your name. We come to you not according to our merit but your mercy and ask, for your name’s sake, for the glory of your Son, for the fame of Him among all people, that you would revive, renew, and rebuild and restore. All for the glory of your beautiful name, which we delight to fear, and the good of your church, that we know Jesus will make beautiful. And it is in the good and mighty name of our weeping Savior we pray, Amen.

“O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants…” (Nehemiah 1.5-6)

Great Trouble And Shame

The condition wasn’t good. The city was burnt. The walls destroyed. The worship anemic. The people discouraged. The enemy strong. These were some of the challenges Nehemiah faced as he considered leaving Susa and traveling 1,000 miles to Jerusalem to labor for revival. The first few verses of Nehemiah 1 give us a glimpse into the desperate situation of the people of God and books like Ezra and the rest of Nehemiah provide even more background as to how fierce the opposition was and how God’s church was in “great trouble and shame.”

What Can You Do?

As you look at the condition of your local church or the church in your city or region what do you see? Do you see a Spirit-filled people proclaiming with boldness the penal substitution of Jesus? Is the church passionately engaged and actively laboring for the fame of Jesus among all people? Are churches being multiplied? Are people being saved? Is there aching and weeping because God’s glory is dismissed and His value ignored? Is worship fervent and powerful? Or, is the church lukewarm, puttering along in complacency with Jesus more of a mascot than a King? In far too many places the church is in “great trouble and shame.” What can you do?

Or, perhaps you’re part of a church planting or replanting team facing stone heart resistance, and rock hard ground, laboring and toiling for the glory of Jesus among people who are not just uninterested but hostile. You have almost no resources, a handful of discouraged people, a rusted legacy, and an oppressive and strong enemy. For example, “one study suggests that Christianity will be statistically irrelevant in countries like the Netherlands & Switzerland within a few decades. In a recent British poll of people claiming to be ‘Christian’, less than half believed that Jesus rose from the dead. Germany has seen a year-on-year decline in Christianity over the last 25 years yet Islam has grown. In France mediums, faith healers and fortune-tellers earn as much money as medical doctors” (Steve Timmis). This is the context and condition many finds themselves in. So, what can you do?

The First Answer, The Last Answer

When confronted with the condition of the church in Jerusalem Nehemiah’s first response was to pray. In fact, as you read the book of Nehemiah, you realize that he never stopped praying. In 13 chapters we see at least 11 different occurrences of prayer. Nehemiah prays in private and public. He prayed by himself and with the church. He prayed at planned times and on the spot. Some of the prayers are short and some long. Nehemiah prayed for himself and others. There are prayers of praise and confession and repentance and commitment. He has prayers saturated with Scripture and others a humble collection of just a few simple words. There is no set pattern to all of Nehemiah’s prayers but the ever-present reality that he prayed.

We see from Nehemiah 1.5-6 precious truths that drove Nehemiah to pray, and can help motivate us to do the same. God is strong and for us. We pray, in part, because God is completely capable of answering. He is the “LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God.” But that’s not all. He actually wants to answer prayer as the “God who keeps covenant and steadfast love.” So often what keeps us from praying is a functional disbelief that God is God and God is good. The other thing Nehemiah understood, and far too often we don’t, is that we are weak and needy and so much less impressive than we think (you’re welcome). In fact, often our prayerlessness is arrogance. Pride is one of the greatest obstacles to prayer. We believe if we plan more, work harder, keep pushing, cast vision, make good decisions, the church will live. But what we see in Nehemiah is a man who did all those things but consistently in the atmosphere of prayer. Can that be said of you? To my shame, I know it can’t for me.

Jesus Prays The Church To Life

So where do we go from here? The great and good news for prayerless people who long for revival, is that there is only One who prayed without ceasing as He labored so the Church would live. Nehemiah is a precursor, an echo, to the One who would fast and pray and die for revival as the Savior who would crush Satan, cover sin, kill death, and promise resurrection. In places like John 17 we see Jesus intercede for the Church. We hear the strong words of this righteous man lifted on our behalf. Even on the Cross as Jesus died in our place we hear Him pray. Prayers of intercession, promise, praise, of completion. Jesus is the one who prays the church to life. Let me state that again, Jesus is THE ONE who prays the Church to life. He cares infinitely more about Her ‘trouble and shame’ then we ever do or ever will. The sure and certain hope is that even in our prayerlessness He is still interceding for us. And as Jesus prays the church to life the church will start to pray.

As we labor as church planters, Gospel leaders, blood bought sons and daughters, may we start praying like the One who never stops. As Marin Lloyd-Jones wrote, “Let us lay hold upon Him and plead with Him to vindicate His own truth and the doctrines which are so dear to our hearts, that the church may be revived and masses of people may be saved.”

This resource sheet is designed to help you draw from a wealth of potential action items in order to develop your own Gospel Leader Personal Discipleship Plan (PDP) or help someone else in your local church do the same. For some of you, we suggest you take these action items and begin implementing them immediately in a Gospel Leader PDP. For those of you that like thorough processes, we suggest you complete the Gospel Leader Pre-Assessment and then based on your perceived strength and growth areas, you can use this resource to develop your PDP accordingly. That said, we have designed this resource for to help you, so please use it however you think is best for the development gospel leaders.

The actions items that are bolded are items that we have used several times and have found to be effective. This means the items in bold come highly recommend and encouraged.

Directions for Gospel Leader Resource PDP

1. Review your Gospel Leader Pre-Assessment prayerfully
2. Determine what action items from the Gospel Leader Resource PDP best fit your areas of growth
3. List these action items (with up to 1-5 items for each sub-category–be sure to include dates for completion) on your Gospel Leader PDP
4. Begin using your Gospel Leader PDP items for training

Gospel Leader PDP Resource Sheet

Download Gospel Leader PDP Resource Sheet (PDF)

LEARNER
This Category May Include Goals Related to the Spiritual Vitality, Study, Theological Clarity

• Write a one-page description of your current typical devotional pattern (Word and prayer) and how you specifically plan to develop this area.  (Spiritual Vitality)

• Determine a Scripture memorization plan to develop love for Jesus, God’s Word, and Fighting Particular Sin (Spiritual Vitality)

• Memorize and mediate on 2-3 biblical passages that focus on the glory of Christ (Spiritual Vitality)

• Develop and implement a prayer list/chart/journal/spreadsheet with categories for adoration, thanksgiving, praise, and intercession and room to track prayer requests and answered prayers over time (Spiritual Vitality)

• Read CJ Mahaney’s Living the Cross-Centered Life and write a reflection on how the importance of the gospel in your daily life (Gospel)

• Watch the Gospel Fluency talks and write a reflection on the centrality of the gospel (Gospel)

• Read selected chapters from Don’t Call It a Comeback and write short reflection  (Theological Development)

• Read Wayne Grudem’s Christian Beliefs and write short reflection on questions, agreement, disagreements supported by Scripture  (Theological Development)

• Read select chapters from Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology and write short reflection on questions, agreement, disagreements supported by Scripture (Theological Development)

• Read Sam Storms’s Chosen for Life: The Case for Divine Election and write a short reflection on questions, agreement, disagreements supported by Scripture (Theological Devleopment)

MISSIONARY
This Category May Include Goals Related to Personal Evangelism, Living on Mission, and Missional Engagement

• Develop 2-3 friendships with non-Christians in the next 2 months and engage in gospel conversation.

• Pray regularly for salvation of 2-3 local non-Christians acquaintances and pursue them in friendship

• Read Porterbrook Module: Missional Community Life and write a short reflection

• Read Porterbrook Module: Apologetics and write a short reflection

• Set up a time to Interact with Your Gospel Community Leader on how to present the gospel and call for a response

• Co-lead a discussion or training session on Missional Engagement/Gospel Conversations in your Gospel Community

• Write a short reflection on how the gospel addresses “fear of man” and the implications for you and evangelism and share with your Gospel Community

• Read the “Ordinary Lives with Gospel Intentionality” Redeemer Blog Post and write a reflection of how you can develop this type of missional living in your life and in the lives of those that you disciple

SERVANT
This Category May Include Goals Related to Serving in Your Neighborhood, Church Family, and Beyond

• Organize and lead a monthly prayer night for your Gospel Community

• Brainstorm ideas with your Gospel Community Leader and organize and cast vision for a service opportunity for your Gospel Community.

• Begin discipling 1-2 people and work with them through a Pre-Assessment and help them develop their own condensed PDPs

• Work with your Gospel Community leader to identify area of Sunday service in local church and begin serving

FAMILY
This Category May Include Goals Related to the Local Church, Gospel Community, and Marriage if Married

• Help develop and implement a PDP for your spouse and family

• Read Ephesians and write a short reflection on how the gospel impacts and unites a church community

• Read the Gospel of John and write a reflection on how Jesus made disciples and how you can begin to implement what you’ve learned

• Read “Local Church” chapter from Don’t Call It a Comeback and write a short reflection

During my first 19 years of life, I lived a lukewarm, nominal pseudo-Christian lifestyle…and then Jesus saved me. Church planting was never on my radar. And now, two years later as a 21 year-old, I am beginning to discern the call to be a church planter.

The GO 1-Year Gospel Leader residency has transformed my uneducated “that-sounds-kinda-interesting” inclination toward church planting into an authentic, constantly growing passion for Jesus and His Church, and as a result an increasing passion for church planting.

Through my local church, GO has equipped and trained me, triggering a deeper affection for Jesus, a more biblical understanding of the Great Commission and a greater love for the local church. I have become increasingly aware of my purpose as a believer. Jesus says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus gives His followers this commission, and then the book of Acts happens. For some reason, after reading the Great Commission, I forgot to look to Scripture to see what happened next. Well, church planting happens. I have learned that the Great Commission is not some unstructured, independent objective that I begrudgingly undertake as a believer. But instead, it is a joy-filled, cohesive mission that flows centrifugally from the local church as this body of believers is on mission together to advance the gospel by telling people about Jesus and plant church by the power of the Spirit. My desire to plant churches has been urged on by an increasing understanding of what the Church means to Jesus – a people “which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).

The Gospel Leader Residency has led me through a comprehensive study of Acts as well as Paul’s letters, enhancing not only my biblical knowledge, but equipping me as a potential church planter and connecting this biblical concept of the Great Commission to the work of church planting. Through GO and its use of BILD material and our cohort discussions, I have learned that God builds His church through the church. I have been swayed from thinking that the Great Commission is an individualistic pursuit. Instead, I see that the Great Commission is fulfilled in and through the local church. And I have found that all of this is done to the glory of God. And whether or not God calls me to be a lead planter, I plan on helping my local church plant churches and make disciples in whatever role He calls me to.