Our Starting Point

  • Paul Vroom
  • Feb 27, 2007

I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by!  It just seems like yesterday when Laura and I went through our church planting assessments and the Acts 29 Church Planters Bootcamp.

In doing some thinking about the process (in my "spare time"), I have been going through a number of articles that I have found helpful in my wrapping my head around what it means to plant a church.  I have read about all kinds of ways or models to start churches.  There is the:

  • Purpose-Driven model
  • House church model
  • Program-Based model
  • Relational-Based model
  • Seeker Sensitive model
  • Ministry-Based model
  • Multi-site model
  • or church split (not recommended, but they happen frequently!)
Now, although all these are good and I believe they all have their value (the last one is up for debate), I have been intentional in making sure to communicate to our Launch Team that Missio Dei Church starting place and central focus are not models and the wisdom of men.  Our starting point and central focus is Jesus.  Nothing more and nothing less.  Jesus.

When thinking about MDC, I resonate with Scott Thomas, who is the Acts 29 Network Director, when he says, "We won't water down our theology to reach more people and we won't attack the culture in the name of Christianity."  If Jesus is the center of all history and centerpiece of all theology, then that has to be more than enough for Missio Dei.  If God was intentional about sending His one and only Son into a culture to bring honor and glory to His name, then the same must be true for us.

It is my prayer that:
  • we will be faithful to God's mission.
  • in everything that we do we will begin and end with Jesus.
  • while being found in the midst of culture we will be known as a community of believers who is saturated with Jesus.

May God be glorified and honored as we seek to make much of Him at Missio Dei Church!