Explorers

In my circle, I am called a "church planter."  The idea is that I am someone who is "planting" (starting) a church which takes root, grows, stays.

Someday, this may be me.  I hope it is.  But for now, I am incorrectly named.  A better name for me would be

CHURCH EXPLORER

Why?

I think of how this country was settled.  Before the "planters" (farmers and settlers) came, there were the pioneers.  And before the pioneers came the explorers.

The explorers did not have maps (there were none).  They did not have roads that someone else had made.  But they did have tools.  Canoes.  Horses.  Navigational instruments.  And even an occasional native guide.  And they wandered in the wilderness for a long time.

I think about what the Lewis and Clarke expedition went through.  What they lost.  How they almost despaired.  How many rivers they started down that did not take them where they wanted to go.  How many mountain passes that almost defeated them.  It's amazing that the expedition survived.  It's even more amazing how clearly they were able to mark the territory for the future pioneers and settlers that would come.  

For most of this "church planting" journey, I have known I wasn't a "planter" but I've seen myself as a pioneer.  I had thought that while most people were behind me settling the land, there were still many ahead of me, marking the territory, creating the roads, making the way clear.

Now I'm not so sure.

I should probably name the territory I am exploring:  Those outside the church.  I don't mean people of faith who have left xyz church and are looking for something else (bigger, brighter, flashier, deeper, mystical, more 'authentic', whatever).  I'm talking about people who have no clear sense of faith, no personal knowledge of a God who loves them or has sacrificed for them, no sense of His invitations, His transformation, His purposes, His community call.   How do we create new church communities for those outside the church rather than in?  Too often I talk to people who think they know this territory... they have their statics and their one or two friends.  They've read the books, gone to the conferences, and bought the t-shirts.  But as I look out on this expanse, the landscape has dramatically shifted.  But most don't see it.

Tonight, I talked to two other explorers.  A rare treat.  And together, we grieved the fact that there are so few roads in this territory we are in.  Because of that, too often we feel lost.  No signposts.  No maps.

But we are explorers, who mark the territory.  Finding paths where roads might go, and finding mountains where they won't.  And we pray that we survive, and get to the other side, and in the process mark the territory well for those who will follow...