Why we believe in Church Planting

Terry and Sandy Kreuger with three of their children relocated to Denver, CO in June of 2010 where they serve on the NCMI Trans-local team as well as the Church Planting / Leadership Team of Redemption City Church.

Why we believe in Church Planting 

Firstly in obedience to His call to go into all the world.

Mathew 28 makes it clear that our mission is to go beyond our neighborhoods and even beyond our Nation with the glorious news of The Gospel.

In all honesty there are many reasons to stay, some extremely valid, some less so. But ultimately there is one reason for us to go and keep going until all have heard and that is simply that Jesus required it of us.

Our modus operandi when it comes to church planting is simple – OBEDIENCE! Obedience to The King and a desire to see His Kingdom advanced is what we have been called to.

Secondly, because we still believe that there is no better vehicle to make disciples and transform communities and cities than the church. (Eph 3:10) is clear – it is “through the church” that God desires to make his manifold (many faceted) wisdom known. Acts 8:4 – 8 tells us … “there was great joy in the city.” Proverbs 11:10 also so tells us that “When the righteous prosper the city rejoices;” We truly, in humility, can see our churches as a gift to the city, bringing righteousness, joy and prosperity to the city and it’s people!

I wonder how many people in our cities love Jesus but have lost hope in the church. I wonder how many in our cities may love ministry but have lost their love for the church. The truth is that the church is the only thing Jesus is coming back for. When He comes again He is coming for His bride … His Church! I get nervous around people that will talk ill of this beauty, who prophetically, is without spot wrinkle or blemish and for who Jesus will return. I get just as nervous when some use language that suggests a local church is a bride as in “(church name) is a beautiful bride”. This suggests that Jesus has many brides that He will return for. I do not believe that Scripture bears that out and it make Jesus out to be a polygamist rather then the faithful husband of one wife/bride that He is.

We are compelled by obedience, we are convinced by Scripture and thirdly; we are motivated by compassion. Jesus our savior King is always our example and this Prince of heaven gave up His favored seat to not only walk amongst us but to take on our sins and pay the ultimate price for our freedom restoring our relationship to our loving Father! I love the number of times that Compassion is mentioned in The Gospels. (Matthew 9:35 -38) is a great example! The pattern here is clear – we must go … Then we will see … when we go in obedience and see with eyes of understanding that people are “harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd” the result will be compassion.

The call is to go and make disciples of all nations. While I am convinced that we can go and make converts while on short term mission I am less convinced that we can live out our call to make disciples without the planting of Christ centered, Gospel preaching churches that reflect something of the glory of heaven into broken communities.

Let me just speak into personal motivation for a minute here. I trust that we are beyond thinking that Church Planting is a way to climb the “corporate” ladder. I believe a planter needs to hear from God and know that God is calling him. But I also want to speak into why we go to a certain region/city. Once again allow me to go to the example of Jesus. His mission was clear – to seek and to save what was lost! (Luke 19:10). His mandate to us was just as clear – Go into all the world and do likewise. (Mathew 28) Holding these two truths in tension gives us a great picture of why we plant where – the simple answer drawn from these texts is that we plant because there are unbelievers in that region or city that we believe God the Father has called us to reach. We don’t go to plant a flag. We are not imperialistic planting in cities we have not planted in before. Nor should we avoid planting in cities or regions where there are already churches (relating or not relating to us as a team) unless they have reached the city and there are no unbelievers in that city/region! Church planting is in essence about reaching the lost and bringing them into a relationship with Christ and while we may gain some transfer growth that should and can never be the motivation for us planting anywhere. There are hundreds of cities around the world and indeed here in the States that need many base churches – Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, Boston are to name a few. I am trusting God that in the next few years we are going to see multitudes of churches planted so that we may see multitudes come to a saving knowledge of Him.

In conclusion: We need to plant millions of churches ... This is not an exaggeration we literally need to plant millions of churches throughout the world but we must plant from a foundation of biblical conviction as well as from a heart of compassion. My prayer for each of us is that these things are happening at “Home Base” before we try to export anything. But that as these things begin to take root in our churches may we give our attention to developing a culture of church planting as well as raising AND releasing church planters!

Tkay