We have had several fundraisers lately, in which local restaurants partnered with PoC to give a portion of the bill to PoC when people came in on a designated day. Today it was Avanti's, and have one more coming up next week--Monical's. As I've been making these flyers available to our launch team to share with others, it started feeling like we've been asking for money a lot over these past few months. I felt led to offer a bit of explanation on my Facebook wall today, for those friends who may be getting irritated with my fundraising flyer posts or just don't understand exactly what planting a church is about. That post is below.You may have noticed that we are part of a team helping to plant a new church in our city. You probably noticed we’ve been asking for money a lot. You might have wondered why we would suddenly leave church we’ve loved for more than 10 years. You may have wondered or assumed and felt you shouldn’t ask...but there are no secrets here.
It all comes down to this: God told us to.
There are many
wonderful churches in our city. But, there are actually very few churches in the southwest part of town where we are planting. People in every corner of every town need the Lord. Jesus told us in Matthew 28:19, to “...Go and make disciples of all nations...” We are starting right here where we are. God has put us here, in this corner of this nation. We are burdened for the people of our city and want them to be able to know Jesus.
I have heard some people say that all the church wants is your money. I’ve really found that is not true--at least not in the churches I’ve been privileged to be part of. However, I will say, starting a church from nothing does require some funding and donations. We want to have Bibles to give to people who come to our church that don’t have one. We need to have systems and resources in place to protect and teach the children who come. There are a lot of basic needs required, and God is helping provide these through the generous donations of many people. We are so grateful, and we are committed to using the resources wisely to bless as many people as God brings.
We would never have chosen to leave our church home, where we have been grown and ministered to and learned so much about the love of God...We would not have done that of our own choice. But, we prayed and fasted and sought God’s will and clearly felt His calling to go. We needed to obey God! We didn’t feel that we left, but that we were being sent, lovingly by our church family, along with others from our church family...not to divide the church, but to multiply and extend the family and the love of God. Churches are not in competition. We are all in the same thing together...to love people and tell and show them that there is love and joy and peace and forgiveness in knowing Jesus, and to live and get through life together. We are grateful to have had such a wonderful church family who taught us how this works, and sent us out to continue this in another part of our community. They are still our family, and we love them all so much.
Planting a new church is pretty hard work. We depend on the Lord, and we depend a lot on others. We lose some sleep working into the wee hours. We have lots of meetings. But, most of all we pray. We continue to live life and have troubles and need Jesus all the time. We take time to pray for others and minister to those in need. We get overwhelmed by all there is to do sometimes, but more than that we are constantly overwhelmed at how great it all is when we are constantly walking with the Lord. He is incredibly good to us.
Right after He told us to GO, in Matthew 28:20 Jesus promised“...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” And He keeps His promises.
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I have heard some people say that all the church wants is your money. I’ve really found that is not true--at least not in the churches I’ve been privileged to be part of. However, I will say, starting a church from nothing does require some funding and donations. We want to have Bibles to give to people who come to our church that don’t have one. We need to have systems and resources in place to protect and teach the children who come. There are a lot of basic needs required, and God is helping provide these through the generous donations of many people. We are so grateful, and we are committed to using the resources wisely to bless as many people as God brings.
We would never have chosen to leave our church home, where we have been grown and ministered to and learned so much about the love of God...We would not have done that of our own choice. But, we prayed and fasted and sought God’s will and clearly felt His calling to go. We needed to obey God! We didn’t feel that we left, but that we were being sent, lovingly by our church family, along with others from our church family...not to divide the church, but to multiply and extend the family and the love of God. Churches are not in competition. We are all in the same thing together...to love people and tell and show them that there is love and joy and peace and forgiveness in knowing Jesus, and to live and get through life together. We are grateful to have had such a wonderful church family who taught us how this works, and sent us out to continue this in another part of our community. They are still our family, and we love them all so much.
Planting a new church is pretty hard work. We depend on the Lord, and we depend a lot on others. We lose some sleep working into the wee hours. We have lots of meetings. But, most of all we pray. We continue to live life and have troubles and need Jesus all the time. We take time to pray for others and minister to those in need. We get overwhelmed by all there is to do sometimes, but more than that we are constantly overwhelmed at how great it all is when we are constantly walking with the Lord. He is incredibly good to us.
Right after He told us to GO, in Matthew 28:20 Jesus promised“...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” And He keeps His promises.
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As Jeremy is off work this week, we decided to head into town at lunchtime to catch the Avanti's fundraiser at lunch. The kids love their pizza bread! Jeremy had their yummy spaghetti with meat sauce. I tried something new to me today, and totally grossed Jeremy out! ;) It was spinach rotini filled with feta and artichoke and topped with clam sauce. It did look pretty unappealing, but it was good. Jeremy said he didn't even want to pay for it! ;)
We ran some errands, and by the time we finished the grocery shopping, it was almost time for supper. So, we called Avanti's and ordered a couple pizzas to pick up on our way home. Mmmm!
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