Chapter Nine. “Looks like he is going to fire me”
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So, these three ideas are beginning to live in my head. Church as family. A family where everyone contributes when they gather. And, most importantly, Jesus as the head, the leader, the master of ceremonies especially when we gather. But, what in the world would this look like in actual practice?
Remember that, at this time in the late 1980s, I’m the Director of Adult Ministries in a megachurch. Overseeing small groups, men’s ministry, women’s ministry, adult Sunday School. One of the areas that I was personally involved with was one particular adult Sunday School class. At that time, we had a need to do something for older (40+) singles. So, I started a Sunday School class for this age group. We began with about 15 people.
I explained to them that this class would be a little different from other classes. Rather than just another teaching/lecture experience, we were going to explore this idea of learning to listen to Jesus and see what it would mean for Him to lead the class. My wife, Tamela, was a huge help. Her gift of hospitality helped create a warm, family-like environment. And, her gift of worship often led us into spontaneous worship and praise. (Not things that happened in our standard adult Sunday School classes!)
As this class meet each Sunday morning, a number of things began to occur. People, in addition to older singles, began to show up. Younger singles, married people. It seemed that this was one of the only places in the church where there was both teaching and practice around the idea of listening to Jesus. Apparently others were hungry for this kind of intimacy with the Lord.
The number of people attending this class began to increase. Within six months, we had over 125 people and had to move to a larger room. This was now the largest adult Sunday School class in the church.
Listening to the Lord impacted people on many levels. Some weeks, for instance, He encountered their hearts in such a way that some began to weep. This was unheard of in our church. After all, as Presbyterians, we were God’s “frozen chosen”!
One day, one of the elders asked to meet with me. She explained that crying in a Sunday School class was inappropriate and that I should put a stop to that. I told her that it was Jesus doing this not me. And, besides, I didn’t know how to stop it.
Some time after that, the senior pastor asked to have lunch with me. There, at the restaurant, he said, “So, John, my sense is that your vision for church is different from my vision.”
At this point, I’m starting to feel scared. I’m thinking to myself, “Looks like he is going to fire me.”
To my amazement, he went a different direction. “I know you would never intentionally be divisive. But, I think it would be best if you planted a new church. Take as many people from our church as you can. You can continue in your current position and start meeting with your people on Sunday evenings here at our building. When you are ready, you can launch out. All the money given at your Sunday night meeting will go into an escrow account for your new church. And, we will pay your salary for a year after you leave.
As I left that lunch, I was a jumble of emotions. Stunned and scared. I had never thought about planting a church and had no idea how to do it. At the same time, I was extremely grateful. What a gracious offer the senior pastor was giving me! And, I was intrigued. It seemed that the Lord was giving me complete freedom and an ideal situation to try and live out these new found values. But, how would I do this?
Question to discuss with the Lord and your other friends: When was a time when He put you in a situation that you were totally unprepared for? What emotions did you feel?
I had a different i. Similar set up… I was in charge of small group ministry. The groups were growing and multiplying. The senior pastor decided to shut down all small group meetings for 6 weeks around Christmas and New Years and have all the people come and listen to him preach on his vision. Very few attended. My wife and I decided our gifts were not wanted and set off to wherever God would lead us.
That church closed down shortly thereafter. It was a specialty outreach to recovering addicts and the small groups were the lifeline of most of the congregation. Part of where He led was to the LK10 conference in Dallas about a decade ago where I heard about CO2 which I’ve been doing daily now for about 7 years. We were also led across the country, following grand babies, and found a small country Methodist Church. I am being asked to lead a small group so it may again be time to see what God wants done in small house groups. I don’t know if house churches can co-exist in a conventional church with programs. Of course with Him all things are possible. I’m staying curious.
Hi Dave, Thanks for you comment! I’m encouraged to hear that the CO2 concept has been helpful to you.
We are finding a growing number of institutional churches which are open to these concepts. If would be fun to experiment with this in your current church. Let me know if you would like to talk more about this.
I need to say first of all, amazing, amazing response from your pastor. If only all Pastors would respond like that!! Praise the Lord.
I have been put into situations many times feeling unprepared. I felt inadequate, scared and unsure but at the same time somewhat excited. First time was when I was asked to take over a ministry when the leader was called to another state. Another time the Lord started bringing many pastors from many nations to us. The first thing I do is to get down on my knees and ask the Lord if it is Him asking me to do this or is it man. We can do many good things but if the Lord is not doing the calling and going with us it will not succeed. If He confirms it is Him, I dig into His Word and listen for Him to build me up and increase my faith through the reading of the Word, and give me confidence to go on. Let Him speak and guide through spoken Word or written Word like, “open your mouth and I will fill it or I will be with you and guide you, or Who has made man’s mouth? Isn’t it I the Lord!” So many unlimited verses and unlimited ways the Lord speaks.
Great counsel, Jan!