SEVEN MILE ROAD

I want to have a bit more conversation about who our church plant is trying to reach.  While I am excited that we are uniquely able to reach Indians (b/c we are Indians) I am also scared at the same time.  And I know Anu is too. 

Anu & I have been part of non-Indian churches for the last 12 years (Calvary Chapel for 10 years, Grace Covenant for less than a year and now Bridge Community for 8 months) .  So the Indian, Mar Thoma world is not even in my rearview mirror…it’s just a very distant memory.  My biggest concern is that who and what we are at the begining will reflect, for the most part, who and what our identity will always be as a church.  That’s why its critical for us to determine from the begining what the DNA for our church should be.  Because, like it or not, that’s probably what we will look like in the future.  I know we can “re-invent” the church later, but that is awefully hard to do.

I understand why the Act29 people encourage us to reach the Indians, b/c they cannot easily reach them.  But as much as that is our strength, that could also be our weakness and downfall.   Even implicitly, I don’t want to communicate to Indians that the church is a place to foster their Indian identity.  If we were in India, then maybe, but not here in America.  Like it or not we Indians in America have been re-rooted in a land where there is a different ethnic and racial mix.  So every day, at work or in school, we are forced to interact and build relationships with people who are in many ways different than us.  The church shouldn’t homogonize that mix, but instead go one step further into breaking down even more dividing walls of hostility that exist in our culture and society.

The church should re-root our identity from our race & ethnicity to our identity in Christ.  A white church or a Korean church should want to be racially diverse.  And a white church that wants to be multi-cultural will struggle to bring in people of different ethnicity….so will a Korean church.  But the struggle is good!  We Indians should make it a point to struggle for ethnic and racial diversity, right from the beginning…so that its in our DNA.

So all Indians are welcome, but they shouldn’t be able to use the church to foster a hidden desire to create an Indian sub-community.  All non-Indians are welcome, but they should never feel, even sub-consciously, that they are second class members — standing on the outside of the inner circle.

 Being away on vacation this past week in the South (sort of a bible belt area) has made me think alot about this.  It’s sad how many people in the South associate being Christian as synonomous with being American.  That’s probably because the church has associated their nationalism into the church culture.  In essence the churches have said (at the very least by their actions), “the gospel +” ….added to the gospel message another component.  My fear is that we too will  teach more than the gospel to Indians who have disordered loves —- putting their ethnic identity on par with their identity in Christ.

 What do you all think?  How does this affect our vision?  Also, how does it affect the make-up of our core group?

Recently, I was at a wedding and met this guy that was raised in the Mar Thoma Church (an Indian denomination), but has stopped going to church altogether.  He’s Nicodemus – and so he knows religion, but his heart has not been born again.  He’s like the guys walking down the Seven Mile Road – and so he knows the facts of the Gospel, but His eyes have not been opened to see Jesus.  Anyway, we started talking about what we each did for a living.  When it was my turn, I told him about Philadelphia and our vision for church planting.  You should have seen how excited and interested he was in the idea.  If he was being honest, he sounded like he would be at a church like the one I described tomorrow!  I was so encouraged and reminded of why I believe God is calling us to plant a church; because there are a ton of guys like this guy.  He’s not even a Christian yet, but He was so excited about this church that is just being birthed.

I was also reminded that right from the start, our Core Group should be comprised with guys like this.  We’re at a point now where we have about 16 adults who are hoping to be a part of this church plant.  All 16 love Jesus.  Awesome.  But now, these 16 people need to be sent on mission to the city and culture of Philadelphia and grow this small church with unbelievers.

I was at a church planting conference a little while back and the speaker made us say aloud, “I will not take other Christians into our church plant.”  His point was that we should always seek to grow our church through conversions.  Missional growth must be a part of our DNA.  When churched Christians come into the church, they often come with a wide variety of preconceived ideas of what church should be – music played in a certain way, preaching done in a certain style, ministries organized in a distinct manner.  Often you’ll find that a young church plant is most frustrating for churched people and most exhilarating for unchurched folks.  Now I’m not opposed to having Christians come and check out our church.  I believe part of our call is to edify the saints, mature them, and send them on mission with us.  But right from the start, our shoulders as it were, should be pointed towards mission and our focus on those that are not yet a part of this church plant.  It’s for them that we’ll exist.

In the coming months as we begin to share our vision and grow our Core Group, we should do so by inviting guys like the one I met at this wedding.  Inviting them to come with us, live life with us, walk the road with us, and discover Jesus along the way.  I long for the 16 people in this Core to grow this church to hundreds by befriending, loving, serving, and witnessing to people who don’t know Jesus.

Honestly, we don’t know how it happened.  But it has.

Shainu and I haven’t hidden from you guys, but have confessed freely our fears and hesitations about moving to Philadelphia.  But somehow, over these last few months, God has brought a great amount of clarity and peace concerning this call to leave Boston.  In His grace, God has also used this time to mature our marriage and make us more ‘one’ as we prepare to go.  Don’t get us wrong – we still think Philly is ugly (and I could never root for the Eagles), but somehow we feel ready, even excited.  In some ways, we don’t know what to expect…but we feel like this is the right ‘next step’ for us and we long to be obedient to God.

We’re so grateful to God for you guys.  Your patience, and prayer, and encouragement have meant a ton to us.  And we’re so grateful to God for working in our hearts.

Since the day of our cookout at Edgeworth, I haven’t stopped thinking about a name for our church. Here’s 7 reasons why I love the idea of a name emerging from the Emmaus Road story.

By the way – 7 Mile Road is taken from Luke 24:13-35. If you haven’t already, go read the story. You’ll love it. Basically, two disciples are walking 7 miles to a village called Emmaus. They’re completely downcast because it had only been a few days since Jesus had been crucified. On the way, the Risen Christ appears to them but they don’t recognize Him. He’s right next to them but they’re completely blind to Him. Anyway, as they’re walking this road together, Jesus begins to show them the Scriptures and how it all points to Him. And as they’re hearing His words, their hearts are just burning with the truth. Finally they get to the village, Jesus breaks bread with them, and immediately, their eyes are opened. They get it! At once they run back to Jerusalem to tell others about who they had just seen.

Got the story. Ok, 7 miles, 7 reasons. Here we go.

Mile 1 I love the whole theme of a road or a journey or a walk. The idea of people walking together and discovering the truth over a journey is hugely important to us. That has been a huge shift in my thinking over the last few years. Previously, my only framework for ‘becoming a Christian’ was the instant decision for Christ. But now I see that unbelievers often catch Christianity as they hang out with us, share life with us, and walk with us, rather than in just a response to a distinct moment or a single sermon. The idea of a journey, or a process, is a Biblical one, whether it is the salvation of sinners, or the sanctification of saints. So, I’m drawn to the idea of a church that invites unbelievers/almost believers/believers to walk the same road together and discover Christ along the way.

Mile 2 I love that Jesus reveals truth to them. Biblically, we’re convinced that apart from God opening our eyes, we are blind to spiritual truths. And so the Emmaus Road narrative is a great picture of God awakening two men to the reality of Jesus. Edgeworth wrote this song called Awakened. I love the lyrics to ‘Awakened’ and I feel that Emmaus Road captures that same idea. We long for a church where God comes as He did on this road and reveals Himself to people so that they shout, “Now You are my God. You have awakened something deep inside of me. You took my heart and made it new. My eyes can finally see.”

Mile 3 I love that Jesus opens the Scriptures and shows them how all of it was about Him. This totally reflects the commitment of everything we want to do. We don’t read the Bible and see dozens of heroes – Abraham, David, Paul, etc. We read the Bible and see one hero – Jesus Christ. The teaching, the preaching, the singing, the gathering, the sending, all of it must be centered on Jesus Christ. We long to be a church where every detail orbits around this central truth – Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

The Emmaus Road narrative also captures the response we long for in the hearts of all who would hear the Gospel. After Jesus had left, the disciples asked one another, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures.” We ask God that people would experience that among us a thousand times over as they hear the truth of Christ.

Mile 4 I love that it contains a picture of the three of them sitting at a meal. Food and eating and community are important parts of the Kingdom of God. If you love to eat with friends and family, you’ll love the Kingdom. The whole experience is likened unto a feast. Plus, we long to be a church that takes the sacrament regularly. When we come to the Communion Table, we will do so as one body, seeing Jesus through simple elements like a piece of bread and a small cup. The disciples sat in Emmaus, sharing a meal with Jesus, and as they did, they saw Him.

Mile 5 I love that they “rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem.” Someone pointed out that the first thing these disciples do after discovering the truth of Jesus is run back to tell others about Him. They walk the 7 miles back to Jerusalem and share the good news of the Risen Christ. Our church must exist for the sake of mission and we are called to respond as these disciples did. We long to be a people who encounter and experience the Gospel and then return to our culture as witnesses of Jesus Christ.

Mile 6 I love that it’s Biblical. Every time you say the name to someone new, you’ll have to have a conversation about what it means and what it’s about. So inevitably, you’ll be engaged in a conversation about the Bible, and more specifically about Jesus. You’ll get to point unchurched, Biblically illiterate people to Jesus with every mention of the name of the church.

Mile 7 Plus, in terms of Philly, many second generation Indians resemble the disciples in this story. They know who Jesus is, but they don’t really get it. And so many of the Indians we hope to reach are like these disciples – they’ve got the facts right (Jesus was crucified), but their hearts need to be awakened, their eyes need to be opened. So this story fits like a glove for many of those we hope to connect with.

[Reason 7.5 Shainu thought of it!]

I tried to keep that as brief as possible just to whet your appetites and get you to reflect further upon the story as a possible name for the church. Journey, truth, revelation, community, Gospel, Christ-centered, missional – its all there.

So what if the story of that 7 mile road was our story as well. What if we were a church that invited everyone to walk with us – believers, non-believers, seekers, curious, skeptics, opponents, whoever – and discover the truth of Jesus along the way? What if we were a community who shared life and meals together, experiencing Christ through it all? What if we were a people whose hearts burned with the truth of the Gospel and ran back on mission to our culture with the Good News to begin the redemptive cycle all over again?

What if we were called the 7 Mile Road?

It has been exciting and a bit frightening to see how this church plant is becoming more real. I trust that our great Lord has some wonderful plans for us. I recently listened to a song by casting crowns where there was a line that said, “How refreshing to know you don’t need me, how amazing to find that you want me”. What an honor it is to play for Him!!

The time has come where the church plant is going to incur expenses and will need our tithing and offerings to help sustain and expand this vision. We have talked about the process of formalizing and becoming a non-profit organization but that will take some more time and effort. In the meantime, Pastor Matt has allowed us to use his church as a mode of transfer of payments. This will allow us to receive a tax deduction for the amount that we give.

Checks can be made out to ‘Edgeworth Church’ with either ‘Philly church plant’ or ‘Ajay Thomas’ on the memo line. The mailing address is; 238 Highland Avenue, Malden, MA 02148.

It would probably be a good time to begin discussions on how finances will look for at least the next 2-3 years. This is especially the case since we have to state our financial projections on the IRS forms for approval of non-profit status.

On a separate note, thanks for remembering my mom in prayer. Please continue to do so as we are going to find out how far it has spread and begin treatment over the next two weeks. Pray that she remains strong.

Ok guys, it’s official.

We’re applying to be a part of the Acts 29 Network.  I just got their Application materials today.  No exaggeration – this stuff is more intense than any college/job application I’ve ever seen.  I will need to work on this every day to get it done in time for the August 19th deadline.

The next Acts 29 Boot Camp will be September 19-21 in Raleigh, NC.  Shainu and I are planning to attend this one and go through assessment.  If any of you are free/able it would be awesome to be at this together.

Church planting…it’s getting more real everyday!

After talking with Matt here at Edgeworth and Geoff Bradford at Liberti, both guys stressed the need for recruiting prayer as a part of our preparation for church planting. And not just a little of it – but “several hundred people to pray.” That makes sense, doesn’t it. If we’re serious about the “Vision” we’ve laid out – there’s no way we can pull any of that off apart from God’s involvement.

This is a huge moment and an important foundation for us. As we’re getting ready to take some concrete steps over the next 12 months, we want a bedrock of prayer support undergirding this entire work. So let’s pray and call others to pray as well. Here are some of the things that needs to happen:

◊ Make Lists
Think about how many people we could garner if all of us could sit down and make a list of every person we can think of who might be willing to partner with us in prayer (friends, family, co-workers, pastors, missionaries, people from church, school, etc, etc). Once we have individual lists, we’ll combine them into a master list.

◊ Draft a letter
We’d need to write a letter introducing ourselves, our vision, and inviting people to partner with us. For those who respond with interest, all subsequent communication can be through email or our blog.

◊ Give
Those of us who are able can contribute towards this mailing (expenses for envelopes, stamps, printing, copies, labels, etc).

◊ Bi-weekly or Monthly Updates
We need to decide how frequently we will send prayer requests to our prayer partners. While there will be no shortage of things to pray for, we’ll need to articulate all of them as well as personal and Core Group needs.

………

We want to try and have these letters in the mail by August 1st. So within the next week or two, please email me a list of your contacts (Name, Email, Address). Also, if you have any ideas on how we can best mobilize prayer, or specific needs to be prayed for, shout em’ out.

Let’s be praying that God would raise up people to pray.