Over the next few weeks we are going to be launching Christ Church Downtown (CCD), and so I thought it would be good to give a few basic reasons why we are doing things like this. The central reason is that Christ commanded us to disciple the nations, and this can only be accomplished as the church grows and flourishes. As the church grows and flourishes, this growth must be accommodated by new congregations in some manner—otherwise it is not growth at all. So when God adds to our number, as He has regularly been doing, it becomes necessary for the elders to provide a channel for that energy to run in. A second service in another location is one way of doing this.
Another reason is that with the sale of our triangle property downtown, we wanted to make a strong statement that we have not abandoned our stated strategic concern for an evangelistic presence downtown. We are committed to outreach, and in a college town like this, a downtown presence is really important.
As with every new venture, there are cautions. For example, some rootless Christians sometimes find it easy to avoid accountability by bouncing around between different services. But we trying to provide more opportunities to plug in and serve. We are not trying to provide more places for people to say hey as they float by.
Another temptation, as old as dirt, is to let the wrong kind of loyalty choose up preferences. Instead of accepting the differentiation as the price of evangelizing the world, we embrace our distinctives as a new and very carnal glory. Instead of seeing it as a kingdom advance, we see it as a glorious creation of some new thems for us to set ourselves against. I have been involved in many new ventures, plants, launches, creations, establishments, and so on, and I cannot recall an instance where some form of this didn’t happen. Men will always be tempted by this form of vainglory (Acts 20:30). This is why, thinking ahead, we have established this work as another service of this church, with both services governed by the same body of elders.
However, the inevitability of challenges is no reason at all for shirking the challenges. And this is why we invite you all to pray and work with us.
Christ Christ downtown?
Thanks. Fixed.
Doug often says that our faith should come out of our fingertips, so I guess it’s no surprise that Jesus shows up in his typos!
One might enjoy this as an occasion to ask ourselves again:
What form should this accountability take? —
Should elders actually get to know their charges to the extent that sheep bouncing around to different services is moot when an elder visits them regularly?
Doug — do your elders call & visit the sheep in person more than once a month?
This would also be a good time to ask ourselves which verse in the Bible requires pastors to visit each parishioner once a month or more.
Along the lines of how little contact suffices?
The Bible doesn’t say, so I wouldn’t put a number to it. That would just create a man-made rule rather than exercising wisdom based on biblical principle. (Much like when a discussion of Biblical modesty occurs, and everyone involved wants to create exact measurements for how long skirts must be.) Just saying that the shepherd should know his sheep is sufficient. That may look different for different pastors in different areas with different churches. For that reason, it’s good to avoid criticizing pastors you don’t personally know in churches you have not spent significant time in.
Cool and hip. Will you be joining Acts29 and using a video link for the preaching?
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Somebody else will be preaching that service. ????