A Church Plant Response

Given the events over the last two to three months in geopolitics, economics, regional and federal politics, and ecclesiastical compromises, it might be worth spending some time reminding ourselves of several things.

Over the last several months, the members of our church plant have witnessed nations going to war, regional and provincial economies shrinking, coupled with a slow uptick in unemployment (especially for young people), a duly elected minority Federal governing party seizing a majority by soliciting members to cross the floor, leaving their constituents in the wake. On top of this, we have seen churches in our own fellowship come under discipline, culminating in the mass excommunication of eight churches because of their willingness to call out serious departures from the clear mandates of scripture governing the office of elder and pastor. These situations, in and of themselves, can be disheartening and demotivating, but when stacked on one another, the temptation to think that our influence as a new church plant is, at best, a drop in the bucket looms large.

It is true that the current cultural landscape is changing. The trouble with tunnel vision is that when you’re in your tunnel, you may forget that there are larger contexts, a longer time span, and a history. A ‘we’ve been here before’ gets squeezed out as you navigate through the tunnel. The culture we find ourselves living in has always been changing. Mostly in small, incremental steps, for the cultural change agent is keenly aware that raising the water temperature too quickly will prompt the frog to jump out of the allegorical pot.

It is true that the growth of the secular state continues. When an individual, group, institution, or nation removes God as the centre and pinnacle of what it means to live, work, and have our being, secularism is more than ready to pounce on the opportunity. Some would argue that secularism is the ideology behind cultural shifts, and that would be a sound argument. The Bible is clear that there are no neutral grounds. There are only two kingdoms. A rebellion against one kingdom is a demonstration of an allegiance to the other. The struggle is real, and it is a struggle, a battle, that cannot be downplayed, marginalized, or ignored.

It is also true that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is still relevant. We are, without God, lost. Jesus, in his dialogue with Nicodemus, declares that the Son did not come to condemn the world because the world already stands in condemnation. The Son came to redeem, to seek and save the lost, to grant eternal life to all who would repent and believe. That message is timeless. The gospel speaks to all generations, across all boundaries, cultures, nationalities, and political stripes. It is a message that has endured for close to two millennia. Nations rise and fall, cultures ebb and flow, regimes rise and crumble, syncretism dilutes, secularism dissolves, but the word of the Lord stands forever.

It is also true that the Lord Jesus is still King of kings. The refrain of the early church was centred upon a risen Jesus. The cross is barren, and the tomb is empty. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. When the apostles were jailed, they sang; others prayed. When they were released, they sang louder and prayed harder. Not for deliverance but rather for endurance. When Christians were (and to this day still are) martyred for their faith, countless numbers of them refused to deny the name of their King and Saviour. To deny the name of one King meant allegiance to another king. When Polycarp (Bishop of Smyrna c. 150 AD) was given one more chance to add the worship of a Roman system to his love for Christ, he responded,

“These last eighty years, I have served Christ, and He never once denied me or done me wrong. How can I possibly blaspheme my king who has saved me?”

The Lord is on his throne, the Son stands beside the Father, awaiting the time when he will return on his white horse and come in judgment. Until that time, the Holy Spirit indwells those who have repented and believed. Strengthening them through all grace and with all the strength that was used to raise the Lord from the dead.

The true church has endured from the moment the Lord ascended to heaven. The church has endured multiple empires, cultures, rulers, invaders, Popes and false Christs. The true church, standing on the truth of God’s word, believing that this Jesus is the Son of God, was crucified by Pontius Pilate, was buried, then raised from the dead on the third day, and now is in heaven, will always endure.

The church continues to grow even in the face of a sadistic and masochistic secularism. The current culture seems hell-bent on not only the marginalization and the disregard of Christianity, but its complete deconstruction. Yet, secularism is just another ideology which willfully ignores the reality that the Lord of the universe is unstoppable. The nations may rage and plot clever schemes and mechanisms against the Bride of Christ, but all that is in vain as the Lord looks upon them and scoffs, holding them in derision.

If you follow Christ, you follow a risen King. If you call yourself a Christian, you have declared your allegiance to his kingdom, a kingdom that never ends and whose blessings and promises never fade, tarnish, or perish. You are a child of the King. Co-heirs with him and as such will be kept in his hand, even to the very end of the age.

Christians in this land need to be committed to their Lord. There will be hard times, there will be troubles, and there will be moments of gloom. Remember, the church has endured, Christians have endured, not because they have pulled on their own bootstraps. But rather, they have endured because they were, through Christ, committed to generational growth and impact. They were committed to the gospel and all its implications.

Christians need to commit to the building of institutions that will not bow to the changing winds and tides of a secular culture. These institutions must be based upon, informed by, and stand unapologetically on the word of God. Building institutions that reflect the excellence and the beauty of God in and through all they do. To use the faculties of the mind, to lean into the affections of a heart that beats for Christ, and to engage the world with truth, virtue, and strength. This has been the calling. For every sphere of life falls under the Lordship of Christ, and as such, Christ-followers can know with assurance they can build lives, families, churches, institutions, and nations which will unreservedly honour their King.

Christians need to recognize that the church now stands on the precipice of opportunity. Now is not the time to run, hide, or be silent. Now is not the time to be quiet observers of culture, witnessing its decline, and then mourning its demise. Now is the time to grow strategically. Now is the time to begin building future generations which will, through the grace and strength of Christ, push back the darkness. Now is the time to face into the wind, holding onto the anchor that is set in the finished work of Christ, and in the face of a cloud of witnesses, run the race with perseverance.

If you want to know more about what we are doing at Covenant Redeemer, reach out;

we’d be glad to connect.