How Does God Plant a Church?

Barb and I moved into our first home eight days ago with a small army of family and friends volunteering. We are absolutely and totally grateful for the love, effort, and sweat of so many people.

Home ownership is a whole new arena of life for the two of us. It is great to be able to work on something that is theoretically mine--to add value, to think about what the future might hold, and see something that needs improvement and to tackle that problem. So last night I went to the Memphis Library. I made my way up to that sacred corner called "Home Improvement." As is my custom, I sat in the isle between the bookshelves with all of the books I could possibly be interested in scattered around me. After sifting the best for my next project I made my way through the check out and into the section of the library where they sell books no one loves anymore. I came away with several how-to books. Old books are great for old houses.

I met a woman there at the library who lives only a few blocks away from us. Her husband died in the summer. She seemed like she was in a fragile state and still trying to regain her footing, which is quite understandable. She saw my books and asked where I lived and what kind of house I was hoping to improve upon. In the course of this conversation she expressed her deep love for Cooper-Young and how it was filled with great, caring people. She also expressed her joy over seeing someone "young" like me move in. We agreed that it was good speaking to one another and that we'd see each other around at the alley cleanups or neighborhood association meetings.

That conversation stuck with me as I traveled home, had dinner with Barb, flipped through the books, went to bed and woke up to this day. It was early as I stepped into the office and I sought ways in which God was affirming our work here and ways in which he would have us go. The topics focus around hope, healing, the place of Jesus in our city and our place in this neighborhood. How will this happen? What are the next steps? Are we missing anything? And all of this sits before me like a pile of unread books. But this book is about redemption, about taking something that is tired, worn out, and dying and then restoring it to its original purposes. Page after page I see possibilities and I also see the thumbprint of God. He has read this book before because he has written it.

We believe that God has called us here to plant a church and to do whatever we can to help that church flourish. It's a mystery as to how it will come about, and I love that. But beyond the mystery, we as a team know some things. We believe that there are people here who are searching for purpose, hope, healing and unconditional love. An enduring Gospel is good for enduring problems and that is what we are sharing.

Each new sidewalk I step down, every new door I enter through, and every new story that is etched upon my mind is affirmation that this is the way of the kingdom, this is the way of endless possibilities, that this is the way God plants his church.