As we start our pre-launch meetings the main emphasis is preparation. We want to be as diligent as possible so that when we publicly launch on Easter we are as ready as we can be. Think of this time as hibernation in an incubator. When we emerge we’ll be transformed and ready – by God’s grace!
So I naturally thought of Joshua 1.
OK, so I really didn’t “naturally” think about it, but as I started my yearly read through the Bible, I was in Joshua and I realized that there are Biblical principles that we can glean from this text and how it relates to church planting. (Not reading thru the Bible this year? Read some thoughts here.)
Some background on Joshua 1. Moses has passed away, Joshua is now in charge and God is instructing Joshua that he is to go across the Jordan and take possession of the land that he has promised to them. Now…let’s just pump the brakes here. When interpreting the Old Testament we have to be careful. We can’t directly apply everything to us, most of it is written to a specific group, for a specific purpose in God’s redemptive plan. (Jeremiah 29:11 anyone?) I am NOT Joshua, the Highlands Core Team is not Israel and Vernon is not the promised land. BUT, there are some principles we can see here that apply. Now that the disclaimer is over, let’s dig in:
“Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”” (Joshua 1:8–9 ESV)(Joshua 1:5–9 ESV)
- Be strong and (very) courageous. Church planting is scary business. It is uncomfortable, unfamiliar. There is lots of work involved. We need to remind ourselves to be strong in God and His power, not ourselves. There are approximately 1,964 questions that still remain to be chased down and answered in the pre-launch phase. Don’t let that discourage you, let it remind you that this is not our work, it’s God’s and we are to be strong and courages in Him, not ourselves.
- Hold unswervingly to God’s word. What does it mean when it says “Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left.” Don’t compromise on God’s word. Submit to it. Do what it says. When we run across hard teaching in God’s word, we have to change, not God’s word. Some of us have direct experience with this already in the simple fact that we are in an uncomfortable chair in a gym in Vernon. You believe in spreading the gospel through the church, God placed it in your heart to come and you obeyed. However, we need to reading God’s word regularly – We can’t do God’s work if we don’t know God’s Word.
- We will have success wherever we go. Here’s where it gets a bit dangerous. We can misinterpret this to mean our personal success and for our personal prosperity. This is a deadly twisting of the gospel of Jesus. While it is certainly true that following God’s word and will leads to blessings, it is only in the context of accomplishing his will. God will give us success in accomplishing his will, not merely our own prosperity. We are never promised personal prosperity in Scripture. We are promised that God’s plan will succeed and prosper if it is done according to his word and his will. HIS success, not ours.
- God is with us wherever we go. God promises he is with Joshua and Israel to do God’s work, and he promises that he will be with us as we do his work as well. Not OUR work, but His work. What is his work? We believe it to be making and maturing disciples of Jesus Christ. Look at Matthew 28:18-20. “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.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. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” (Matthew 28:18–20 ESV). God is still with us as we do His work.
If we had to sum it all up, we could say that God’s presence is with God’s people to accomplish God’s plan. But why? What is the end goal for God? Joshua again helps us here – check out Joshua 4:24, the purpose of God’s plan for Israel is God’s glory – “so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”” (Joshua 4:24 ESV).
Church planting is about making and maturing disciples of Jesus Christ and that brings glory to God. Imagine seeing broken marriages healed, relationships restored, lives changed, the light of the gospel pushing back the darkness in the community! We do all that so that people will come to revere God, submit to God, fear him, honor him. God’s presence is with God’s people to accomplish God’s plan – for God’s glory. May we continue to prepare to do that well at Highlands!
