What We Have Is Faith: Developing a Gospel-Centered Vision for your Church

Here's a new article I just wrote... thoughts?...

Recently I sat down with an energetic young church staff wanting to get my thoughts on how they could re-engineer their church to effectively reach their city. I get this opportunity a lot, because our church was listed as a "Comeback Church" by Ed Stetzer in his recent book. We have seen a level of success in our ministries and, by some people's estimations, grown fairly quickly. So, sometimes other church leaders want to know what we did to "make it happen."

I found myself at a loss for words, as I often do, to explain why or how things have happened for our church as they have. We’ve felt mostly like a kite in a hurricane. Sure, we’ve had a few good ideas here and there that worked. But we did not have a great, detailed visioneer that sat down and strategically plotted our course according to a master blueprint. Some churches may be blessed with someone like that, and I have holy envy for them. But we didn't. We have stumbled backwards into many of the things that have proved most successful.

What we did have, however, was faith. Faith has been the key to any success that we have had. We always believed, and still believe, that God's passion for the glorification of His name and for the salvation of people in our area greatly exceeded our own. We believed that what the Gospel says about God is true—that the measure of His willingness to save sinners was the cross and that the measure of His power to do so was the Resurrection. And we often confessed to Him that we were stupid sheep and thus unable to build His church for Him. We needed Him to do it.

I know… I’m probably not inspiring you right now. Certainly not impressing you. But think about how God built His nation in the Old Testament. The stories of how the Patriarchs stumbled into the promised land are less-than-inspiring as well! For example, it was because Isaac wouldn't listen to God and favored Esau over Jacob that Jacob cheated Esau. Because of that Jacob had to run from home, but there he met the love of his life, Rachel, through whom (plus her sister and a couple of friends) he would have 12 sons which would father the nation of Israel. But because of Jacob's favortism of Joseph, Jacob's other sons hated Joseph and sold him into slavery. But that resulted in Joseph's ability to save all their lives and set up one of the greatest deliverance stories in history. From this clumsily-conceived nation would come the birth of the Son of God that saved the world.

I can so relate. Its hard to point to our wisdom and virtue that built the church. We have walked through some doors simply because all the others ones were closed; we have made mistakes that turned out to be strokes of genius. Why? I don't know, other than that we have trusted in the God of Abraham, Who is just as intent on building His kingdom through us as He was through Abraham! Abraham and the patriarchs are the "fathers of faith;" not the "fathers of the master-church-builders." Just as Abraham "received mighty strength" because of his faith in God's determination and ability to bless the world through him, we have received power by believing in God’s passion to bring blessing to the people of our city.

That’s what faith is: daring confidence in the character of God. Faith is believing that the same Lord Jesus that loved His tormenters enough to forgive them loves lost people today just as much. And faith is believing that the same Lord Jesus that heard the cries of the early church and swept through 1st century Jerusalem transforming His enemies into white-hot worshippers of His still has power and willingness to do the same today.

Faith leverages God's character "against" His inactivity. In Numbers 14:17­-20 Moses plys God's own character and words against God's "unwillingness" to save Israel: "And now, O Lord, I pray let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken (in Ex 34:6-7), saying, 'The Lord is longsuffering and overflowing in mercy...' So, pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now." And the Lord responds by saying, "I have pardoned according to your word, Moses." In the same way, I can apply God's character as revealed in the Gospel to my city. I have often said to God, "Was it not You, the God of the cross and resurrection, that in that event declared Your intent to save the people of my city? Overcome the weaknesses of our people and the pastor. Let it be to us according to Your word."

It is a lack of faith, not a lack of expertise, that keeps us from tapping into the overflowing reservoir of God's mercy. Isaiah 59:1­-2 says that "The Lord's arm is not shortened so that it cannot save, nor is His ear heavy so that He cannot hear. Rather, it is our sins that have separated us from God." In other words, it is no lack of mercy or power on God's part that keeps Him from sweeping through our churches and our city, but our sin--primarily the sin of failing to believe that God loves people and has the power to change them--that keeps us from seeing Him go Pentecostal on our cities!.

It's not even that our faith has to be that strong! Mine certainly hasn't been. It doesn't need to be. It's like tapping into electricity--the slightest touch still gets the strongest reaction. A mustard-seed amount will suffice.

This faith produces vision and creativity. Faith is defined in the Bible as seeing things that are not as if they were. The man of faith sees his city through the lens of God's passion in the cross and His power in the resurrection. He sees a fallen city alive again, and he dreams about how that will happen.

Confidence in the character of God is the primary thing that the Summit Church would hope to see replicated in other churches. We do not hope people will copy our strategies. Just because one strategy works one place doesn't mean it will work somewhere else. Our hope is not in the brilliantly-conceived plans of men. Sure, we have learned from others, but our hope is in God's passion for our area. Jesus died for our city. Jesus’ resurrection was the firstfruits of the resurrection of our city. Believing in that--really believing it--has been for us like stepping into a mighty, rushing river that sweeps us away to places we never imagined, places exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever ask or think.

If anything, I want to teach other churches to believe. To believe in the God of the Cross and Resurrection. To believe that the God of Rick Warren and Bill Hybels and Andy Stanley and Charles Spurgeon and the early Church is ready and willing to save, and a refuge to all those who put their hope in Him.

For our church, the best is yet to come. Raleigh-Durham is not yet resurrected.

And so for yours—all things are possible for those who believe.

Comments

[ethan]

i'm with you here. i think most Christians down deep have a lack of faith that holds them back from revolutionizing their homes, jobs, relationships, churches, and cities. it is crazy what we believe, and it is about faith. when we believe this crazy story/gospel...really believe...not with Sunday School answers, things change...mainly our lives. what would our cities look like if the church had authentic faith??

[Audra]

The paragraph that begins "Confidence in the character of God is the primary thing ..." pretty much sums it all up. We must see others through God's eyes; otherwise, how will our city come to believe and follow Him?

[kd]

I love the fact that you put all your recent sermons in there - basing building a church on the sure character and testimony of God that He displayed in His Word throughout history as being the redeeming God doing so for His explicit Glory! I shared it with my new staff to encourage them.