The Joy of Receiving

You’ve heard of the joy of giving? How about the joy of receiving?

A few days ago, we received a Ministry Support Team response card from some dear friends. They are special friends that one encounters over the years in a ministry like ours, coaching and training church planters. The card indicated that this man, a new church pastor, and his church would pray regularly for us and also support us by sending $100 a month to help support us in our ministry.

What a blessing it is to have friends like him who support us and the Lord’s work through us. And, what a joy it is to know that God used us in the past to encourage them in getting started as a new church. We thank God for these and others of our supporters and know that God will bless them in the joy of giving just as he does to us through the joy of receiving.

The Lord put it this way in his Word: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38)

Here’s an update on our work of building a Ministry Support Team made up of people who pray for us and give for our support.

As of the end of May, we know of 18 people or families and one church who have been led of God to support our ministry through their prayers and giving. Through monthly, annual and one-time special gifts, last month we received over $1700 in salary. This is especially helpful since Marty does not yet have a job. The difficulty for us is that we have had to rely on sending requests letters and prayer letters since all but one or two that we know live far away from where we live. Please pray with us that God will introduce us to those who live near enough for me to make personal contact.

If you have not responded to my invitation letters yet, please let me know by sending the response card to the address with your gift or pledge or e-mailing us at charlieworley@gmail.com.

How have you been blessed by God because you prayed and gave of your resources?

Helping a Church Transition

This Sunday I will be speaking at a church whose leaders have asked me to help them make a transition from a pastor who is retiring after 10 years at the church to their next pastor. So, how will I help them?

First, this church needs to understand how to grieve the loss of a beloved and faithful long-term pastor. People in the church will respond in different ways, but there will be a sense of loss. Along with this emotion may come several possible reactions including a sense of loss of hope, feelings of abandonment, an unhealthy focus on the past, denial, depression, anxiety and even anger. In the end, there will be acceptance and a desire to move on and look to the future with full appreciation for what the former pastor added to their life and contributed to their growth. The keys to this are listening with compassion and understanding, and praying with and for hurting members. There may be opportunity to teach on transition involving a pastor and building hope for the future.

Second, both positive and negative issues that may exist in the church after the former pastor has left need to be dealt with. Sometimes there may be unresolved conflict between members or between members and the former pastor or previous pastors. The working relationship between the pastor and the church leadership often needs to be strengthened if possible and improving communication is a must. The leadership needs help in identifying top issues that need some work and then in working with them to address the issues.

Third, churches in transition often need help in evaluating church structures and ministries. But evaluation is not the end of the work. In times of transition, there is great opportunity to help the church leadership make changes, streamline and simplify. Both paid and volunteered staff can also be evaluated and recommendations for future staffing made. The church leadership needs help in saying no, yes and not yet to everything. Sacred cows can be fed and watered, or if necessary barbequed.

Fourth, the church leadership can often us some help and leadership in evaluating and improving the health of the church and its ministries. Leadership or coaching a church health team to accomplish this is often very helpful.

Fifth, the right time for the church to initiate a search for a new pastor needs to be discerned. Once that happens, the search committee or team can benefit much from coaching and consulting as it walks through a process which may take several months to complete.

My job is to help this church transition and prepare for its next senior pastor and then pass the baton of pastoral leadership to the new pastor so that there is unity, joy and excitement over the future in accomplishing God’s unique mission and vision for the church and its community.

“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1a) Please pray for Marty and me as I add this ministry to my growing labors of coaching, equipping and training in God’s Kingdom.

Learning (about God) from Church Planters

Today the District Superintendent of the Lower Pacific District in the EFC Canada and I held back-to-back meetings with two men. One is a church planter in Vancouver, BC whose new church is one year old, and the other who is a potential church planter I met at the recent Church Planting Bootcamp class at Trinity Western Seminary. I have introduced one of them, Sammy, to you before. The other’s name is Sam. Here’s what I learned today about God from them.

God honors faith. It’s possible to be resource rich, yet faith poor. Far better to be like these men and their families who being rich in faith rely on God rather than human resources including their own. A bold and realistic faith trumps money, facilities, equipment, experience, education, human knowledge, skills, etc. “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.” (Jer. 9:23-24)

When God puts a dream or vision in your heart, go for it. God lives within his servants and he gives to them his vision and dreams for ministry. These two church planters and others like them want more than anything to do what they believe God is calling them to do, each in a unique way and with different people. Let’s call it obedience to the Great Commission so that all nations and people groups on earth will be reached with the Gospel of the Kingdom. (Matt. 28:18-20)

Lost people matter to God, and therefore lost people matter. The church planters I know and coach have a compelling desire to .Like the Son of Man, they believe that they have come “to seek and save the lost.” (Lk. 19:10) God is in the business of seeking after and saving the lost, and so should we. And so should I.

God does not work alone. He uses people in his work and he works in community, first within the community of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and then within the community of the church. The church planters I met with today desire to work with others in association with other church planters and other churches. The church planters I know and coach want to work together in Kingdom ministry, encourage one another and partner in God’s work with other pastors and churches. "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20-23)

So what are you learning about God from church planters?

The Church Planting Bootcamp Experience

Nineteen students participated in the Church Planting Bootcamp training held on the campus of ACTS Seminaries at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC, Canada on April 26-30th.

The Bootcamp was an intensive five-day experience designed to equip potential and active church planters and district leaders for what normally happens in the first two years of a church plant. This Bootcamp was sponsored by the Evangelical Free Church of Canada and ACTS seminaries. It was led and taught by three national leaders in the church planting ministry of the Evangelical Free Church of America - George Klippenes, EFCA Church Planting Director, Dave Page and Ray Chang.


A total of 27 modules or sessions were taught over the five days. The content and individual sessions are the product of 10 plus years of experience in hosting and leading Church Planting Bootcamps across the USA. This was the first Evangelical Free Church Bootcamp offered in Canada with the intent that more will be held on Canadian soil in the Canadian context.


Day one of the Bootcamp covered six foundations. Day two included training in six dream dynamics (Mission, Vision and Values). Day three focused the students on six gathering strategies. Day four was all about five disciple-making stages, steps and classes. And Day five concluded the training with equipping for critical startup ministries.

What follows are some of my personal opinions and observations based on this Church Planting Bootcamp experience.

This experience is essential for the church planter and church planter wannabe. And that includes district or denominational church planting team leaders.

The genius of the Bootcamp experience is found in a combination of factors. There is teaching by experienced church planters and coaching by the trainers and other church planting leaders in attendance.
Small group interaction and fellowship throughout the event plus practical in-class assignments based on the content being presented add value. Combine that with hands-on personal and practical application of the content and the awareness that one is learning survival skills in church planting ministry. Many of the ideas and principles can be put to immediate use. Some models are presented and analyzed, but the important exercise is discovering the principles that can apply whatever the model chosen. Most importantly, the Bootcamp experience depends heavily on prayer and the leading of the Spirit of God in applying what is taught.


Some of the content needs more work on making it more adaptable in the Pacific Northwest and Canadian cultural settings. There was some apparent pushback when the concept of launching large and large church sizes and growth. The Pacific Northwest and Canada are more “post-Christian” and therefore need more tools to adjust church planting vision, strategy and tactics. More work needs to be done on identifying the principles behind missional/incarnational church planting.

The Bootcamp experience will be most effective and successful when it is combined with individualized assessment of potential planters and on-going coaching.

This Bootcamp is a good example of how partnerships between countries, denominations and districts can be used by God to advance His kingdom and build His Church.

I anticipate more opportunities for offering the Church Planting Bootcamp and other good training venues in the Pacific Northwest and Canada. And my prayer is that God will use me to train and coach many more church planters and church planting leaders.

Care to share your thoughts about the Church Planting Bootcamp experience?

Helping Planters Prepare for the Harvest

This past week my ministry as Church Planting Coach took me to the Church Planters Bootcamp held on the campus of ACTS Seminaries at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC, Canada. 19 students gathered for five days of intensive orientation and training in how to plant a church. It was my privilege to be the professor of record, help with administration, help teach two of the training modules, and help coach the students. These students were from across Canada and included Free Church District Superintendents, a district church planting team, church planters and seminary students interested in church planting.

During the week, it became obvious that God is up to something. Many years ago I served as a District Superintendent in the Canadian Free Church and dreamed about something like this happening. I believe God is about to send workers (church planters) into the harvest fields of Canada in response to prayer (Matthew 9:36-38).

.

Students worked hard on such subjects such as "Prayer Foundation: Prayer Driven Planting," "Vision Doorway: Where are You Going?," "Evangelism: Win the Lost," "Leadership: Developing Leaders," "Managing Growth and Change," and "Worship." In all, 30 modules covering the nuts and bolts of the beginning stages of church planting were presented.

I had the personal privilege of helping coach a district church planting team in how to develop a strategy for multiplying churches. God also used me to encourage church planters and apply what they were learning. Several EFC Canada leaders are now thinking and praying about having another church planting bootcamp next year so that many more can come. The excitement grows for kingdom expansion through planting missional churches that multiply believers, groups and churches for the glory of God.