Many have probably heard the news by now.
Last night I finished my responsibilities at Calvary Church/resonate in order to start a new church in the northern Philadelphia region.
It is impossible to provide an exhaustive explanation of the events that have transpired over the past several months. However, while long, this communication can help to provide context and information regarding where we are at and what we will be doing in the future.
To start, Megan and I have wrestled with the church planting question for quite some time – even back several years ago in Colorado Springs where we lived for five years before moving to Pennsylvania. We thought about church planting for a while until we asked ourselves the question, “Do we believe that Colorado Springs [the Christian Mecca of America] really needs another church?” We believed that the answer for us was overwhelmingly no.
Before moving to PA to work at Calvary we had a few other options we were praying through. One was an opportunity to possibly work for a large church in the Chicagoland area and another was to join some close friends of ours in a church plant in Beijing, China near several universities and two blocks away from where this summer’s Olympic Games will be taking place. While we spent much time thinking and praying about this option, we did not sense God’s clear call to go to China to church plant. Instead, we felt we were being called to join the staff at Calvary Church and in a sense quasi-church plant the resonate community under the structural umbrella of a larger church.
In no way are we romanticizing church planting. We understand the pressures and hazards that church planters face. While we are excited, we are also extremely nervous, knowing that while this is exhilarating, it is also exhausting and overwhelming.
There have been many changes and transitions at Calvary Church over the past year. This has prompted us to step back and ask many questions. For the past several months Megan and I have been searching, wrestling, asking God, dialoguing with others and praying about our specific calling. We’ve sensed that there was something new on the horizon. As we wrestled with this over the past several months we began receiving calls from people all over the country (Seattle, Buffalo NY, Clemson SC, Pittsburgh, Charlottesville VA, South Philly) asking us if we would be interested in being a part of a church plant. We thought through each option, but we kept being drawn back to the northeast and realizing that our heart was in the northern region of Philadelphia.
We continued to ask the question, as we did in Colorado Springs several years prior, “Does this area really need another church?” Once again, we believed that the answer was overwhelmingly no. However, we kept being drawn back to the fact that while this region doesn’t need another church, what it so desperately needs are fresh expressions and fresh extensions of the kingdom of God that matches with many people who have been cynical, skeptical, turned off by church and may find Christianity offensive. We also realized that the region is in desperate need of rethinking what church could and should be.
Back in March we approached Calvary leadership and told them that we had sensed God’s clear and compelling call to start a new church in the region and offered a proposal of a potential opportunity to work together in this venture. I told them that we can’t not do this – that this call, this dream, is so clear that if I didn’t do it I would be disobedient. I offered a bold proposal: what if we worked together and what if Calvary Church sent resonate out as an official church plant in the region?
I listed the many reasons why this could and would be a win/win. It would allow our church to live out our values of being missional, relational and transformational. I can’t think of a more missional thing for a church to do than to send out new church plants. I also mentioned that this would provide some structural relief for all of us, as there has been quite a bit of confusion as to the role of resonate in the larger structure and my role on staff at Calvary Church. For the past several months I have been vocal about my concern of the unsustainability of the “church within a church” model that Calvary/resonate has. I communicated that the “church within a church” model lasts, on average, three years in most American churches. I also mentioned that there are three things that happen to churches within churches (i.e. resonate-type communities in larger churches). They either supplant (the DNA of the larger church is replaced by the newer expression over a period of time), they plant (the faith community is sent out as a church plant by the larger church) or they punt (they realize the structure doesn’t work and shut it down). In addition, it would affirm my calling in ministry.
Calvary communicated to me that church planting is not in their vision nor are they interested in planting churches in the future. Instead, Calvary is committed to helping existing churches that want to be more healthy and more effective through the consulting wing of the church. While they said they would be unwilling to support this new church plant, they invited me to work together to see if we could come to some sort of mutual agreement over an 8-10 week process to see if I could receive their official endorsement, which I was glad to do. The purpose of this endorsement process was to strive for mutual agreement in areas such as mission, vision, values, timeline, transition, launch team members, location and communication. This endorsement meeting process, I was told, would last until July 15. A team was developed and we had a few meetings. Just a few weeks ago in one of our meetings I was informed that if I planted a church within a 15 miles radius of the parking lot of the church I would not receive endorsement from Calvary leadership. They said that if I could not make that commitment that I would be leaving in ten days.
I told them that I was unable to comply with their request and said that we feel called to plant a church in the region and would need to pursue that calling, with or without their blessing. What is disappointing is that within a 15 miles radius of Calvary Church there are 955,000 people. Catch that: there are almost 1 million people – most of whom are far from God and have not embraced the ways of the life of the Jesus – within 15 miles!
Much to our surprise, we were informed that our last day on staff would be June 1. We are surprised by the suddenness of it all, believing that we would be here at least until July 15.
Yes, while I have respect for each elder and directional team member, it is true that there have been some philosophical differences between Calvary and myself. We have tried to work through those differences. However, the future vision of Calvary Church is new and different. And we have realized that the dream for which we agreed to move from Colorado to PA cannot be realized at Calvary Church. We need to continue to pursue this calling, this dream, and be obedient to what God has called us to do. This is not a right/wrong, good/evil, us/them thing. It just simply is different. And thank God that he uses different visions while working under the same mission of seeing people come to a personal relationship with Jesus.
We do not see this new venture as competition in any way. It’s important to remember that our competition as churches is not against other churches, but against the work of the Evil One! In fact, I see this as a great extension of the kingdom of God at work in this region in order to make God more famous!
As we have shared with Calvary elders, leadership, staff and the resonate community we genuinely desire for God to continue his work at Calvary. It is His church. We continue to pray that God would bless Calvary in the future. We have committed to continuing to pray for each elder and directional team member by name in the future as they navigate through this new vision.
Anytime something of this nature occurs rumors swirl. And there are many rumors we have heard recently that are simply untrue. Let me clear up some of these untrue rumors in an attempt to preserve unity and pursue truth.
-We are not leaving because we are angry or bitter at Calvary or leadership.
We are not leaving because we were fired (though we are disappointed how things have ended so abruptly).
-We are not leaving because things got difficult and the easier thing to do was to go and plant a church (no, in fact, our lives are several times more difficult now…the easier thing to do would be to stay at Calvary).
-We are not leaving to cause a church split. (In fact, we want to encourage many people from Calvary: do not follow us. Simply pray for us. That's all we ask).
-We are not leaving on a whim and we did not make this decision hastily.
-We are not leaving because if I didn’t get my way I couldn’t be a team player.
In fact, in many ways we feel as though we aren’t even leaving.
We are going. Going to our calling that is clear for us.
There is much more of a pull to our calling than a push from Calvary.
We are going to pursue the dream: to see people far from God experience the love of Jesus and see those people sent out to live that mission. We believe that this is close to the heart of the First Missionary, the Holy Spirit.
And as we pursue our calling we are so excited we can hardly sleep!
We are excited - and scared to death! – but we wouldn’t want to be in any other place as we step out and take this risk for God.
What is exciting is that many others have stepped up and said that they want to own this vision, too. Many have expressed interest in joining us to see people reached with the gospel in this area. Others have reminded us that this is not just my vision – it is their vision, too – and they want to join God in what he is already doing in the region. What an amazing and perilous journey it is to follow Jesus!
There are many people and many things at Calvary that we will miss, but we don’t want to miss out on what God is up to right now.
We ask that you pray for Calvary leadership, resonate and for us as we launch this new faith community in the region. We know that many have been excited to know more about the vision and direction of this new church. We will be having meetings in the next several weeks to talk about the next steps.
If you are interested in knowing more or if you are seriously considering joining us in this venture please feel free to email me and I can give you further information.
Recent Comments