Church and Mission
I was reading a blog tonight about a book titled “Total Church”. By the way, I’ve read the book and I am reading it again but I just came across the blog which covers some of the same material. (http://theresurgence.com/series/Total_Church?page=2 )
The following resonated with me. It reminded me of experiences I’ve had in the past band encouraged me to be thankful for where we are now.
The author writes:
The guy I first started church planting with used to tell the story of the first time he attended a church business meeting. He’d recently been converted and was looking forward to plotting the downfall of Satan with the other members of the church. What a letdown! They spent the meeting talking about the restrooms in the church building. Somehow churches have a tendency towards maintenance mode.
Over the years I’ve often seen this pull toward “maintanenance mode”. I’m happy to say our leadership and elders have always tried to resist that. Recently I’ve been recharged by several aspects of our ministry at Christ Community that have helped us keep our mission in the forefront.
First of all the church plant. We’re close to the launch of Restoration, the new church we will be planting in Port Orange this October. Already our commitment to church planting and to Restoration in particular has kept a healthy focus on our mission alive at Christ Community. That isn’t always easy in a church that’s been around over twenty years. I’m not sure that missional dynamic has been deeply felt by everyone in our church community but it has affected many. May it continue to do so.
One of the powerful affects of church planting is that it “puts mission at the heart of the church”. When you have twelve people meeting in a room at The Day’s Inn you have to think a lot about how you will reach out to new people. But the other cool thing about church planting is it puts the church at the heart of mission. Evangelism, reaching out to people far from God is too often disconnected from the life of the church as a community. That’s not the New Testament pattern.
Acts 14:21-28: They (Paul and Barnabas) preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. 23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
They didn’t just win people to Christ, they gathered them into local churches and appointed leadership and structure. “Mission is at the heart of the church and the church is at the heart of our mission.” The church-plant is a great expression of both aspects of this Biblical focus.
Another thing that has been helpful in keeping our missional/evangelistic focus has been the addition of new staff. Bradley Robinson as Worship Leader, Casey Johnson for outreach and church-ministries, and Alex Kirk as a pastoral apprentice. I’m encouraged by all these guys. Casey’s position was especially designed to help us develop our outreach and to sustain our missional focus including church planting. This has the potential to be a huge factor for our future. Most churches, once established, continually add new staff whose job descriptions keep them focused on caring for the present congregation. Of course we want and need to care for our congregation but Casey comes to us with a job description designed to also help us stay on course with respect to our mission. That’s not really something different than caring for the congregation it’s an important way to help care for the congregation by keeping us from falling into maintenance mode.
So please be encouraged and pray for this new season we’re facing with end-of-summer ministry initiatives, Church-Planting, ALPHA, MOPS, Porterbrook, Connections, there’s a lot to do in a church that is on a mission.
Larry is the senior pastor at 
There are many things going on right now! We will be praying for the fellowship, the workers, and all who will come to know Christ through these ministries.
I did not realize that CCC has been around for over 20 years now!
We recently visited and have been listening to a few sermons from a wonderful Calvary Chapel church in Philadelphia pastored by Joe Focht. In a recent sermon he discussed how God has impacted thousands of people around the world through the last 28 years of the ministry. And even today, one can see the hard work and fruit of the ministry. He noted that the 25th and 30th years of a church are historically difficult. He encouraged the congregation to remember not to look at all the programs and the “bells and whistles” that are in place that make up the church….but rather to see the following:
Revelation 2:
“I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.”
How important it is to know and realize that our first love is Jesus Christ. Our devotion to church ministry, planting, ministries, the lost, etc needs to be driven from a life that is hidden in Christ. Our efforts are futile without Him.