things that make me happy right now: city church.

A week of my favorite things . . .

In November, we moved to the center of our city, because we wanted to be apart of starting a church here.

You know, the fact that I’m saying “we” is a big deal.

David has talked, dreamed and prayed for as long as I’ve known him about planting churches.  It’s in his blood.  And in college, as we were friends, then fell in love, dreamed about the future, got married, and dreamed some more, I always thought, subconsciously, This is David’s dream, and I’m going to support him in his dream.  But I wasn’t very happy about it.

He knew that, I know, and was disappointed.  But he is a patient man, and loved me through my ambivalence, through lots of talks and even arguments about our future.

And God was working on me.

Then, in 2007, we had a newborn baby and we joined a church plant in Lancaster City, PA.  And there, worshipping week after week in that mildewed old church building where we met on South Christian Street, something happened in my heart.

I made friends with lots of different people, some very similar to me, and some very, very different.  I helped cook and serve church dinners.  I worked in the nursery and I tutored kids after school.  I learned from women my age, with young children, who had moved with their husbands to the city to live among the people they served, even when it meant tripping over a drunk who’d passed out overnight on their front porch (the friend in this story said, in that moment, all she could think of to do was to go inside and pour him a cup of coffee).

I learned from women much older than me, who, in their retirement years, had left the comfort of their suburban church to come help start this tiny fellowship in the inner city.

And I marveled to see that they were all still growing.  In their late twenties or in their late sixties, they were open to being led by the Spirit, to doing something brand new, to building relationships and entering into a style of worship way outside of their comfort zones, and to trusting God with all of it.

We were all learning together.

We spent a busy, rich year in that church family, and when they sent us out with tears and hugs to continue our preparations to go overseas, I knew that church planting was in my blood too.  It’s always been in my blood . . . I was raised in church plants, in little, growing, worshipping communities of faith where every person is needed, where friendships are built across age-and-stage-of-life gaps.  Where people come to faith and newcomers are greeted and drawn into the fold and given a job to do.

I’ve always loved worshipping in this context, but then I realized: this is the context I am called to worship in—to serve in—full-time.  It wasn’t just David’s dream anymore.

Fast forward two years, almost exactly.

At the end of January, we prayerfully began a Sunday night Bible Study with two couples on our team.  We worship and study the Word together, and we pray.  And God is adding to our midst.  Two Indian families have joined us and invited friends, and on Sunday nights our little flat is bursting at the seams with people.

The kids start out in the study with us, and we all sing together and learn a memory verse.  Then we take turns leading the whole herd of them up to the terrace for a Bible story, food and games.

We’re all stepping forward in faith, seeking counsel from those who have gone before us, praying.  We don’t have a pastor.  We don’t know when this Bible Study will turn into a church.   But we are so, so grateful to be on this journey together.

Here’s where you might ask: So what exactly do you love about it?  What does a church-planter’s wife actually do?

I guess the answer to both of those questions is the same.  Every church planter’s wife is different and has different gifts, so there’s no right or wrong answer.

But if I had to put it in one word, I’d say: relationships.  I see myself as someone who loves relationships . . . I love meeting and connecting with people, making friends, I’m a “quality time” kind of person.  And all these years, amidst my protests of “I don’t sing!  I don’t do VBS!”  David has been quietly saying, “You just need to be friends with people.  Christians.  Non-Christians.  Be in their life.  Pray for and with them.  Share about how God makes your heart free.”

So here I am, seeking to do those very things, and I love it.  It’s a perfect fit.  I love the people God is already bringing into our little group, how different they are from me.  I love Maggie’s gift with children, Asha’s boldness in evangelism, Alison’s friendships with her neighbors.  I love how, when we’re all together, we complement and encourage each other so well.  Like a team.

I love spending time with and praying for the non-believing friends I have and dreaming that one day they will join our study, ask good, hard questions, challenge us to have an answer for what we believe.

[Side note: you know what this means for you?  You and your family do not have to be in full-time ministry to help plant churches!  Most of the friends we’ve served with over the years have been businessmen and teachers and doctors and stay-at-home-moms.  The people we met who are planting a church in upper Manhattan are artists and choreographers and musicians.  It is usually these people who challenge me the most–with their creativity and commitment and boldness to share Christ in their unique sphere of influence.  And this diversity is what makes a church community so beautiful].

We need prayer.  This is new ground and way outside of our comfort zone and we’re young and inexperienced.  But we’re willing.  Please ask God to guide us and protect us and give us favor in our community, for the gospel.  Ask him to add non-believers and new believers to our midst–because we want to be relevant and to meet true needs.  Think of us when you wake up on Sunday mornings, because it is our Sunday evening and we are meeting to worship together.

I can’t wait to see what’s next.

 

P.S.  An article by Kathy Keller on raising kids in the city has been a big encouragement to me of late.