If this is the future, I can’t wait to get there.

I sat there thinking, “If this is the future, I can’t wait to get there.”

I spent last weekend at the Northwest District Church Planters Retreat in Puyallup, Washington. These couples will be among the pioneers of our future life together as a church planting movement.

When I planted a church back in the 1980s I had no training, no sponsor, nothing; just a belief that I had heard from God and a boatload of ignorance and ambition (a very dangerous combination). I can only dream of what my journey would have been like had I started out like these church planters.

District Supervisor Dave Veach and District Missional Pastor GabeBarreiro are leading a transformative approach to church planting. Here are three observations I made that give me great hope for these potential church planters

1. Their hearts are being shaped by the Mission of God.

The Mission of God is the central theme of the Bible. These church planters are learning how to make the Mission of God the central activity of the church.

We have all known churches started by men and women who want to change the world and somewhere along the way they have drifted so far away from the Mission of God they just want to survive another Sunday service: Another victim of the gravitational pull of maintenance and bureaucracy, another leader who drifted away from mission.

Dave Veach said it well, “the church is the only business that can go out of business and remain in business.” One church planter summed it up like this, “We start out wanting to make a difference, but then along the way we start wanting the numbers, the budgets, and the staff to validate who we are and that we are successful.”

It is the ecclesiastical version of the American Dream of “a white picket fence and a two car garage.” 

These church planters are being fitted with better standards of measurement. They are learning that whether they are seeker-sensitive, purpose-driven, simple-church, a missional community, or any trendy buzzword you use the only thing that matters is “Are we fulfilling the Mission of God?”

Jesus Christ did not die on the cross so that Christians could have nice buildings and pastors have good careers. These church planters are learning to keep the main thing the main thing.

2. Their practices are being shaped by Foursquare missiology.

Foursquare missiology is what has caused the Foursquare Church to grow from a single church to a global church comprised of about 70,000 churches in more than 130 nations. Our missiology is pretty simple. Here it is:

Now, these U.S. pastors are being trained to think and act like missionaries.

Our missiology is full-orbed, embracing our apostolic mission of making disciples of all nations and our pastoral ministry of building up the local church.

3. Their churches are starting out as global partners in Mission of God.

I sat there as a missionary thinking, “Wow, I am getting more partners in mission.” Mission work is not the work of a missionary; it is the work of the body of Christ. These church planters get it.

A big shout out to Dave, Gabe, Brad, and everyone in the Northwest District of Foursquare Churches for encouraging these leaders to go make some messes.

You can see why I left that retreat filled with hope for the future. My daughter and son-in-law being there was icing on the cake.

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