As we prepare to travel back to Dearborn, Michigan we are excited to take the next steps to get the ball rolling for what we're calling the "Dearborn Initiative." The Dearborn Initiative is all about the vision to plant a new church in Dearborn for the glory of God and a witness for the gospel. We have chosen the name, “Christ Community Church” for our new local body. What's the rationale behind this choice?
First this name conveys simply and straightforwardly the biblical testimony
about Whose church we are planting:
It is Christ's church. Dr. Dennis Johnson describes a Westminster Seminary
(CA), DMin. student under Dr. Edmund Clowney who was touched by the centrality
of Christ to all the scriptures:
Twice
a year, Dr. Clowney would fly to California to take a group of shepherds on a
week-long, whirlwind tour of Christ in the Pentateuch, or Christ in the Psalms,
or Christ in the Wisdom literature, or Christ in the Prophets, or Christ in the
Gospels, or Christ in the Epistles of Paul. These classes…were heady trips; and
one pastor, at least, was touched so profoundly by the glory of Christ radiating from the Bible’s every page
that he proposed to his fellow leaders that their church be renamed, from the
nondescript reference to its locale to “Christ’s Church.”[1]
The local
church-planting work of preparation and evangelism does not belong to us. The church once established does not belong to the planters or the launch team, or to our conference, or to our mother church, Faith Bible Church in Livonia. Also this church will not be primarily identified by
its location or particular crossroads. First and foremost, then, this church
plant is Christ’s church. Jesus is the Bridegroom and Sacred Head of
this local church and we are His Bride. Furthermore, this church is also a community within a community.
Community: Acts 2:42-47 and
all the “one another” commands and admonitions in the Gospels and Epistles
testify that Jesus never intended his people to follow him in isolation from one
another, like islands, only tolerating each other for an hour and a half once a
week or interacting only through the anonymity of chat rooms and social networks.
No, Jesus called us to be a gathered community, an extended family, centered
around Him, His purposes, His gospel message, and for glorifying His grace. So,
we must convey to our city and the world that we are more than a building on
the corner or even a series of meetings. Christ’s church is not a building, and
it is not a meeting. Rather it is the people called by Christ’s name living in
connection with God and one another around God’s purposes. By community we mean
believers embracing real face-to-face communication, and living in intentional
relationships that are ever growing in depth and trust. By community we mean we
are nurturing a common unity around our
theological distinctives and our core values as a church. When we have a group
of people who are demonstrating grace in their lives, equipping one
another and being equipped, participating in
God’s kingdom work in the city and the world He’s placed us in – a group of
people collaborating in ministry, living sent lives
and sending others out for His mission, locally and globally, then we will
have entered into biblical community.
To
live in community takes sacrifice of time, privacy, preferences, and finances.
Frankly, community is counter-intuitive to most modern urban/suburban
Americans. We must push against this reality in our culture. Here we can learn
a lot from our Middle Eastern and Latin-American neighbors. Generally speaking,
the community bonds of “togetherness” are much stronger in these cultures. This
is something we must redeem and practice in our own church which will be
rubbing elbows with multi-ethnic neighborhoods populated by people whose sense of community is strong. But
strong as it is, without Christ at its center, it is not biblical community.
Biblical community is based on the shared love and grace of Christ and the
common indwelling Holy Spirit in each believer. Biblical community is not
closed to outsiders but always reaching out and inviting with the gospel and welcoming strangers – receiving them and loving them like family even before they become
family through professed faith in Christ.
Biblical
community requires exercising hospitality as a way of life. If we are
practicing biblical community we will always be aware of caring for, serving,
and comforting the people around us. In this way our Christ-community spills
over into our local secular community.
Biblical
community will necessitate nurturing intentional mentoring relationships. It is
sadly often pointed out that in any given church only 10-20% of the people do
80-90% of the work. We absolutely must push against this tendency if we
ever hope to survive and thrive in this church-plant. This is part of what it
means to be a “Community Church.” We must commit to avoid micro-managing
the areas of ministry and service we’ve been called to take up. We must bury
the mentality that says, “If you want it done right, do it yourself,” and
constantly resurrect a new mentality which says, “If you want to nurture
Christ-exalting community, do it together.” We need to serve in community – in relationship with one another. So the term ‘Community’ in our church name
represents two movements of life together: 1.) We are a “Christ-community”, in
other words, we belong to Christ together and we reflect the Bible’s definition
of community, and 2.) We are Christ’s voice, hands, and feet in our local
secular community (i.e. we are a witness in word and deed) with the aim of
transforming that community with the gospel message. If you are a resident of the Dearborn/Detroit area, we pray you will consider becoming a part of this new Christ Community.
[1]
Dennis E. Johnson. Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from All of the
Scriptures. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing. 2007.
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