Church planting = making disciples

Wow, I cannot believe it has been two years since I began writing this blog! Since my trip to Chile, I have graduated from JMU, begun my 5^th year as a graduate student (also at JMU) and believe it or not, I’m not done with school yet! Through my student teaching experience, God has revealed to me more of who I am and what I want to do with my future. I have decided to stay an additional year at JMU to take classes to receive a TESOL Certification to teach English as a second language. When I returned from Chile, all I wanted was to be finished with school and move somewhere new and different, but God’s persistence and faithfulness have changed my plans yet again, and I’m so grateful!

I’m so glad that many of my friends and family have been following me here and are actively praying for my experiences in missions. Like many of you know, I will be going on another adventure this summer – to Toronto! Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in North America, with thousands of new immigrants arriving every year. With all of these new people coming all the time and very little church growth, there is a great need for the Gospel. My boyfriend Eric was presented months ago with an incredible opportunity to recruit, develop, and lead a team of college students to Toronto for 6 weeks through the North American Mission Board (NAMB). Since his biggest passion is to discover the passions of others and help employ them in a mission context, he was so glad to have this chance, and I am so blessed to be supporting him in it.

Something I explained briefly in my support letter was my initial discomfort about the idea of “church planting.” When I first heard about it, I imagined a team of pastors who were trained in shepherding a community of people that would travel somewhere where the gospel was desperately needed and start a church there. While that is definitely part of the church planting process, that conception in my head also left no room for me. What in the world did I have to offer in that context? I’m young, I’m not professionally trained in ministry, and I am certainly not gifted in eloquently speaking about the complexities of God and His Word.

As I learned more about what church planting involves, I became more aware of its’ sole purpose: 

to make disciples.

Church planting is not building a physical building or even filling that building with people; it is creating disciples by living missional lives that allow God to use the passions he has given us to love others, whether they are believers or not. 

And ANY Christian, young or old, educated or not, rich or poor, single or married, man or woman, can dedicate their lives to God’s purpose for them. Every single member of the body of Christ is not only capable, but called to make new disciples and grow existing disciples of the church, because together, we are the collective church of Christ.

 I cannot wait to enter the city of Toronto to discover more of what this means for me and the other members of the team. I envision God answering prayers and leading us directly to people whom He desires to shower with love and cast out their fear. I can see these people all coming together as the living stones of the church, building on Jesus as our Cornerstone. 

As we prepare, we as a team are praying for more team members. There are more spots available to fill, and we desire students to be passionately moved to change their lives for the glory of God – more specifically, their summer plans. Pray that those who are meant to come with us are moved by the Spirit and obey His prompting. We are also praying for the team of missionaries that is presently in Toronto. They are currently deciding what neighborhoods in the city our team will focus on, and we pray that God directs them to areas of need where He will use us.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement! I can’t wait to share more with you all as the trip quickly approaches!