As part of Jesus’ church, we are a family of disciples on mission here in Seattle and to the ends of the earth. Jesus instructed his disciples (and us!) about their mission in Acts 1:8:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
We meet quarterly to discuss our mission opportunities, pray, and encourage one another in sharing the gospel both locally and globally, especially among the thousands of unreached people groups.
Last Sunday, Pastor Marco led our Global Missions meetup where we watched a missions video from Radius International, a partner organization that equips cross-cultural missionaries to establish healthy, indigenous, reproducing churches among unreached language groups.
Pastor Marco followed the video of Mark Dever and Brooks Buser from Radius with a discussion of the importance of planting healthy churches as the primary vehicle for spreading the gospel. That time followed with prayer for our current mission partners.
If you are curious about how our church engages in the great commission, if you’re considering whether the Lord is calling you to global missions, or you just want to learn more, we invite you to join us for future Global Missions Meetups.
Let’s be encouraged by the Lord’s work in us and through the mission field, and let’s continue proclaiming His greatness in our neighborhoods and to the nations. Read more below about our ongoing partnerships.
For the King and His Kingdom,
Pastor Justin
ACTS 29
Our church is a part of the Acts 29 church planting network, which provides a great structure and vetting to help us support a variety of church planting and pastoral training efforts around the world.
In addition to our Acts 29 partnership, we are also supporting the following individual churches/planters:
ACME
Our church also partners with ACME, a fellowship of like-minded churches that pools finances and provides grants to plant and revitalize churches, support international missionaries, and carry out other gospel ministry. See the list of ACME Member Churches across the country and the grants that have been provided through these churches this year.
DCC GLOBAL PARTNERS
We also equip and support our own members as our Global Partners in taking the gospel to the nations. Due to security reasons, we are unable to publicly list them here. However, if you are interested in learning more about our current Global Partners serving in Southeast Asia, or another currently in training at Radius International, email us at .
LEARN MORE AND GET INVOLVED
Have you considered how you can work towards the advance of the gospel, for the glory of God and the joy of all people? Here are a few ways to get involved:
Pray: Start here. Pray for our individual and corporate mission, as well as our partners. Pray for the Lord to lead us in going and sending. Pray for eyes to see those in need around you now, and ask the Lord to empower your evangelism.
Join our regular Global Missions Meetups: Our next meetup will be this Sunday, October 20, at 12 pm. Register here.
Bring the Gospel to the Nations: We’ve developed a Global Missions Development Pipeline to help provide practical pathways and training for engagement in missions. Either by going or by sending, you can begin taking the next steps here.
The letter to the Philippians is so full of theology and encouragement that we may not notice it is a ‘thank you’ letter from a missionary to a church. Paul goes as far as calling his relationship with the church at Philippi a ‘partnership in the gospel’, and he thanks God for it. Consider these words that the Apostle uses:
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. – Philippians 1:3-5
Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance… – Philippians 1:19
I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need… – Philippians 2:25
And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. – Philippians 4:15-18
As noted in the passages above, this partnership entails giving and receiving financial resources, prayer, exhortation, rejoicing together, and much more.
But what makes it a partnership in the gospel? The fact that both Paul and the Philippians have the advance of the gospel as a common desire and goal, and that their partnership is centered around that goal. This explains why Paul talks about the advance of the gospel rather than the discomforts of his imprisonment (1:12), why he rejoices when the gospel is preached even by hypocrites (1:18), why he repeatedly calls the Philippians to strive together for the gospel (1:27; 2:1-4), and why he emphasizes that Timothy, Epaphroditus, Euodia and Syntyche all worked with him in the gospel (2:22; 2:25; 4:3).
This partnership of mutual encouragement, prayer, and support for the advance of the gospel is a model for our own partnerships with other churches, church planters, and missionaries. While we may not have the same depth of relationship with all of our partners, our aim is to get as close to this model as possible. For this reason, I am including a few updates from our partners below, to give us all a chance to pray and rejoice together with our fellow workers in the gospel, and to stir in us a desire to work diligently towards this goal, either as senders or as goers.
As you read the names below, remember that these are not just names, but real people and real churches—our fellow laborers in the kingdom of God. Please join me in prayer for them. (You'll also find more information about our next Global Missions Meetup taking place on Sunday, February 5th.)
Your partner in the gospel,
Pastor Marco
Local, National and International Partnerships
ACTS 29
Our church is a part of the Acts 29 church planting network, which provides a great structure and vetting to help us support a variety of church planting and pastoral training efforts around the world. In addition, we recently also voted to give significant one-time gifts to a pastoral training school in Ecuador, and to the building funds of churches in Albania and closer to home in Oregon.
In addition to our Acts 29 partnership, we are also supporting the following individual churches/planters:
Radiant Church Matsu Valley | Palmer, AK
(Caleb Richardson)
By God’s grace, Radiant Church installed their first elder other than Caleb, and are about to install another in the next few months. The biggest area of growth they have seen as a church in the last year has been in the area of authentic community. Some prayer requests they sent us:
They need to find a new meeting space in the next few months.
For boldness in sharing the gospel.
For the addition of a new elder.
That the core of their church will grow and own the mission of reaching their city for Jesus.
Sufficient Grace Church | Puyallup, WA (Noah Winningham)
“We are so very appreciative of your support of our ministry!”
Sufficient Grace just hit their 2 year birthday and are rejoicing with what God has done. By God’s grace, they have 2 elder candidates this year, and have added 13 families into their communities. They expressed deep appreciation for our support, and asked for prayers for continued growth and for more people to step into leadership, in order to support such growth. Noah would also appreciate prayer, as he balances his time being bivocational.
Soma Fuchu | Tokyo, Japan (Yoshito Noguchi)
Our brothers and sisters at Soma Fuchu are deeply focused on prayer, and in sharing the gospel with unbelievers (of course, those go hand in hand). Please join them in prayer for their work, both as a congregation (e.g. evangelism at the park) and individually (in the workplace).
Antalya Protestant Church / Reach Turkey | Antalya, Turkey (Kerem Koç)
Reach Turkey received some unexpected large gifts, which allowed them to rent a building and start the ‘Academy’, a 3-year long program for church leaders. Antalya Church is praising God for a variety of visitors, and two new brothers who joined their church in October via baptism. They had many visitors over Christmas, with 15 people hearing the gospel for the first time. Please pray that they would come to faith and repentance!
Restore Brazil (Jay Bauman)
In 2022, we supported Restore Brazil in the “Projeto Plantador” church planting cohort (residency) with 11 men, representing 11 new churches. We also supported twenty one church plants which are less than 3 years old, as well as various missionary endeavors in underprivileged areas and in the Amazon.
DCC Global Missionaries
We also equip and support our own members as our Global Partners in taking the gospel to the nations. Due to security reasons, we are unable to publicly list them here. However, if you are interested in learning more about our current Global Partners serving in Southeast Asia, email us at
Learn More And Get Involved
Have you considered how you can work towards the advance of the gospel, for the good of all people and the glory of God? Here are a few ways to get involved:
Pray: Start here. Paul is confident that he would be delivered through the Philippians’ prayers. Similarly, we can actively participate in all of the above by asking our triune God to work for his glory. Further, pray for guidance on how you can join this work as a sender or a goer.
Join our regular Global Missions Meetups: Our next meetup will be on Sunday, February 5th, at 12 pm. In this meetup, we will meet with Andi Dina, who is a church planter in Albania, and also leads a ministry to equip pastors and churches in that area. This is a great opportunity to think about how the unchanging gospel goes into very different and ever-changing cultures, and to pray for church planting in parts of the world that have fewer resources. Register here.
Consider taking a more intentional role: We’ve developed a Global Missions Development Pipeline to help provide practical pathways and training for engagement in missions. This is both aimed at people who think they may be called to be missionaries, and those who want to grow in becoming better senders. In order to successfully send a church planting team, all kinds of needs must be provided for: accountability, prayer, sending leadership, finances, business mentorship, and other types of practical support. Thus, there are many ways to be involved. You can read more about our Global Missions Development Pipeline and how you can begin taking next steps here.
In light of Pastor Adam preaching on God’s unfolding mission the other week, we thought it’d be fitting to send out a church planting update so you can be encouraged at what Jesus is doing in and through your faithful giving and prayers.
For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”
– Romans 15:18–21
Isn't it interesting that the apostle Paul can use the short phrase ‘bringing the Gentiles to obedience’ as a summary of the fulfillment of the ministry of the gospel of Christ? Of course, ‘bringing people to obedience’ is a summary of Jesus’ commission to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt. 18:20). One way to phrase our mission as a church is to bring others to obedience to Jesus Christ, which simultaneously displays our love to God (as we desire to see him worshiped and obeyed) and our love for people, who can only truly flourish if they turn to Jesus Christ in the obedience of faith.
It is instructive to observe how Paul went about fulfilling this ministry – we get a glimpse in Acts 19-21, where Paul starts with a small group of twelve men (19:7), plants a local church, and teaches them the whole counsel of God in public and from house to house (19:9; 20:20,27), even as he works with his own hands to support both himself and others (20:34-35). Paul spent three years in Ephesus (20:31), and as a result, “all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks (19:10)”, after which Paul proceeded to strengthen previous churches (21:1-16) before making it his ambition to preach the gospel and plant more churches amongst those who had not yet heard the gospel.
In addition to our local evangelism and discipleship, we want to follow Paul’s pattern, by partnering with other churches or church planters. We also train and send some of our own members called by God to proclaim the gospel somewhere else, prioritizing peoples among whom Christ is yet to be named. It is for this reason that we set aside at least 10% of our budget towards ministry outside our walls.
What follows below are some updates on these various efforts, ways you can be praying, and resources on how to get involved. (You'll also find more information about our next Global Missions Meetup taking place this Sunday, February 13th.)
Let's continue to pray for these missionaries, churches and ministries. Pray that the gospel would go forth, pray for that more souls would be saved, and that the Lord would make us a people who live both as those who were sent and those who are sending others, for his glory and our joy.
In Christ,
Pastor Marco
Local, National and International Partnerships
Acts 29
Our church is part of the Acts 29 church planting network, which provides a great structure and vetting to help us support a variety of church planting and pastoral training efforts around the world. We also ‘personally’ support the following individual churches / planters:
Radiant Church Matsu Valley | Palmer, AK
(Caleb Richardson)
Radiant is encouraged by how the Lord is continuing to grow them as a church. Although they’ve experienced quite a bit of churn from Covid, they are trusting in how the Lord is growing them in maturity. Be praying that the Lord would raise up more elders and leaders within the church and that God would use their upcoming church conference to encourage their hearts and be a catalyst for more church planting in Alaska.
Sufficient Grace Church | Puyallup, WA (Noah Winningham)
Sufficient Grace Church is a church plant we’ve been supporting since its conception, around 1 year ago. As you can imagine, finding a meeting space during COVID was a big challenge, but God providentially blessed them with fellow believers at a local school who were eager to help them rent a space. It is a blessing for us to watch a nearby church grow in maturity, as they grow in prayer, teaching, and gospel proclamation. The Lord continues to go before them through growing and multiplying communities. They are thankful for his provision as they work towards being less reliant on external giving, and as the church grows in size and generosity. Continue to pray that the Lord would use SGC in Puyallup and the South Hill area to declare the gospel and make disciples.
Soma Fuchu | Tokyo, Japan (Yoshito Noguchi)
Our brothers and sisters at Soma Fuchu are rejoicing at finally being able to meet face to face. They recently held a joyful ordination ceremony for Jon Cole, who was appointed as pastor and are celebrating God’s grace to them in many other ways this past year. They ask for prayer so that many friends and acquaintances of members would hear the gospel, that they would be able to develop a local (Japanese) intern for ministry and leadership, and for partner churches in Japan. Finally, “many spiritual forces are strong at work throughout Japan. Please pray that the gospel will be deeply rooted and that the gospel will be boldly proclaimed.”
Antalya Protestant Church / Reach Turkey | Antalya, Turkey (Kerem Koç)
In addition to Antalya Church, we are supporting efforts to train church planters in Turkey and translate gospel-saturated resources (e.g. books) into the Turkish language. Ministry in Turkey presents a variety of challenges, but the Lord has been faithful.
Restore Brazil (Jay Bauman)
Our support to Restore Brazil is disbursed to a variety of small churches and church planters participating in their church residency program. They also have an initiative specifically focused on training pastors who minister in Brazil’s slums, and have recently started developing work in Mozambique, Africa – sending Brazilian missionaries (the language is the same), and developing a local institute for theological training.
DCC Global Missionaries
We also equip and support our own members as our Global Partners in taking the gospel to the nations. Due to security reasons, we are unable to publicly list them here. However, if you are interested in learning more about our current Global Partners serving in Chad, Africa and Southeast Asia, email us at
Learn More and Get Involved
Friends, we are all called to the mission of ‘bringing the Gentiles to obedience’, for their good and God’s glory. Here are a few ways to get involved:
Pray: Start here. We cannot fulfill Jesus’ mission for us in our own strength. Just as Paul appeals to the Romans to strive together with him in his prayers to God (Rom. 15:30), we appeal to you “by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit” to pray to the Father for all of our partners above, and for guidance on how you can join this work as a sender or a goer.
Join our regular Global Missions Meetups: This month we will hear from The Al-Ma'idah Initiative on how we can be better equipped at reaching Muslims with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Register here.
Consider taking a more intentional role: We’ve developed a Global Missions Development Pipeline to help provide practical pathways and training for engagement in missions. This is both aimed at people who think they may be called to be missionaries, and those who want to grow in becoming better senders. In order to successfully send a church planting team, all kinds of needs must be provided for: accountability, prayer, sending leadership, finances, business mentorship, and other types of practical support. Thus, there are many ways to be involved. You can read more about our Global Missions Development Pipeline and how you can begin taking next steps here.
It's hard to believe it has been over 16 months since we had our last in-person Prayer Night! However, this Sunday at 5 pm, we're going to resume physically getting together for the high purpose of praying, to go before our Father and ask him to do what only he can do. I can't wait!
In one of my favorite books on prayer, Paul Miller writes these helpful words when it comes to prayer:
“If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent are all you need in life….What do I lose when I have a praying life? Control. Independence. What do I gain? Friendship with God. A quiet heart. The living work of God in the hearts of those I love. The ability to roll back the tide of evil. Essentially, I lose my kingdom and get His. I move from being an independent player to a dependent lover. I move from being an orphan to a child of God.”
In one sense, we're getting together to pray. But in another sense, we're getting together to get God himself. So, whether you are weary and heavy-laden (Matt. 11:28), or find yourself abounding in the joy of the Lord (Rom.15:13), come. Pray with others. Let your heart be stirred afresh at how big our Father is and how much he delights in his children coming to him in prayer.
For this month, we're going to hear from Gil P. (who is back on home assignment from Chad!) as she shares how the Lord has been at work in her life and in Chad. And of course, we're going to pray, focusing our time on praying for the unreached; in the world, in our city, and in our lives.
So whether you've joined us for every Prayer Night since 2011, or you've never yet had the opportunity to corporately pray with us, I want to invite you to join us.
Doors will open at 4:30 pm, we'll kick off our time at 5 pm, wrapping up at about 6:15 pm.
Looking forward to praying with you all,
Pastor David
Note: Although you are free to bring your children, please note that we are not yet able to provide Cornerstone Kids at this time.
As Pastor Adam preached on this past Sunday, one of our prayers from the beginning of planting this church is that we’d be a church-planting church. Meaning, that we’d be able to raise up and send out our people to be a part of planting other churches, both in this city and in cities around the world.
To that end, we've created intentional discipleship pathways for developing ministry leads, community leads, women's discipleship leads, deacons, elders, church-planters, and pioneer global missionaries. All so that more people would come to know, love, and trust Jesus—and be equipped to make other disciples!
In light of the immense task that is still unfinished, a few years ago we created our Global Missions Development Pipeline to help provide a pathway of learning and growth for those considering becoming pioneer church-planting missionaries.
Maybe after the sermon this Sunday, you are wondering if the Lord is inviting you into being one of the ones that "goes?!" Or perhaps you are interested in learning more about frontier missions so that you could be a better sender and equipper. Whatever the case, let me give you 5 opportunities that you could begin exploring today:
#1 Pray
Visit the joshuaproject.net and begin praying for the thousands of unengaged and unreached people groups that have never heard the Gospel.
#2 Become a member
Begin serving, become known by a pastor, and start growing in learning how to love and serve our family here first. Our next Foundations Class starts in two weeks, and you can learn more and register here.
#2 Learn
Join one of our quarterly missions meet-ups or our next missions class to grow in your love and heart for the nations. Our next meet-up will be on Sunday, March 14th, and the next missions class will start on Wednesday, April 14th. Registration forthcoming.
#4 Read
A great place to start learning about how our church defines missions, and how the local church is central to God's unfolding story, is by reading Missions, by Andy Johnson.
#5 Join the Missions Cohort
If you're already a member of DCC, and are seriously exploring what it might look like to give your life for the greatest cause in the world, learn more here, and talk to one of the pastors about joining the Missions Cohort.
DCC, because we are all gospel carriers, let’s keep praying that Jesus would raise up more men and women in our church that want to live and proclaim the gospel boldly and that we’d get to see more churches planted in Seattle and around the world!
It is estimated that there are over 7,000 unreached people groups and 3 billion people in the world that have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, have a Bible in their language, or have a church to gather with. We know, even in the midst of this reality, that God continues to use his saints to carry out his mission of saving his people across all tribes, nations, and tongues (Rev. 5:9, 7:9).
The light that dawned on us two thousand years ago is still reaching the ends of the earth (Is. 9:2, 49:6), and we get to participate in spreading this light! (1 Pet. 2:9)
Imagine a people who were once separated from Christ being brought near to him (Eph. 2:13), having the privilege of being called his own (Jn. 1:12), becoming part of a thriving local church (Acts 11:26; Col. 1:28), and spreading the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ to others (2 Cor. 2:14)! Many of us relate to this because we have been beneficiaries of the faithful, gospel-proclaiming work of others who came before us.
How can we be participating in carrying on this gospel legacy? While we are under God’s sovereign hands, he calls us to be diligent in our efforts to equip, send, and support those who are carrying out Jesus’ commission of making disciples of all nations (Mt. 28:20; Rom. 15:16). This requires careful thought and navigating practical realities even as we rely on God’s glory as the fuel for missions work (Is. 40:5).
One of our speakers, is an instructor at Radius International which is focused on equipping cross-cultural workers to establish healthy, indigenous churches among unreached people groups. Watch a short video below on how Radius is taking this task seriously.
Want to learn how you can better pray for and support missionaries we send out? Are you considering maybe one day going to the mission field yourself? Do you want to have your heart stirred afresh by the story that God is unfolding throughout the world?
We invite you to join us for a one-day Missions Conference sponsored by Acts 29 Northwest and hosted by Downtown Cornerstone Church.
Date: Saturday, March 21st, 9 am – 3 pm Venue: DCC Building Registration: $20 per person (scholarships available)
Throughout the day we’ll look at the biblical case for missions, the current state of missions, examples of missions done well, and practical next steps for our churches.
Note: We are still planning to gather unless the circumstances surrounding the spread of Covid-19 do not permit us to do so. In such cases, all registrations will be reimbursed.
Update (03/11/2020): Due to government restrictions related to Covid-19, we are postponing this event to a later date. Registration will reopen after a new date is determined. For more information, see related blog post.
As Pastor Adam preached on yesterday, one of our prayers from the beginning of planting this church is that we’d be a church-planting church. Meaning, that we’d be able to raise up and send out our people to be a part of planting other churches, both in this city and in cities around the world. All so that more people would come to know, love, and trust Jesus Christ!
To that end, it was my privilege to share yesterday (video below), that we will be sending one of our members, Gil P to Chad, Africa, to join a church-planting team working with the M people. This tribe is made up of over a million people in Eastern Sahara that have never had the opportunity to hear of God’s love for them through Jesus Christ, have a bible a bible in their own language, or a church to gather with. By God’s grace, the team she is joining is seeking to change that!
If you’re wanting to learn more about why Gil is going to an unreached people group, and the state of the missionary efforts in the word, this is a helpful short clip explaining the great need that still exists.
HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE
Pray: Sign up to receive updates and her newsletter HERE
Meet-up: If you are interested in learning more about how you can support Gil, drop her a note.
Donate: Lastly, if you are interested in helping support our sister with helping her meet her one-time startup costs or ongoing monthly support, you can contribute HERE. †
BE PRAYING
That Jesus would provide for Gil’s every need and that she’d be fully funded by the end of February.
That God would give Gil humility, grace, and perseverance as she leaves Seattle, transitions to a new culture, and learns a new language (Chadian Arabic).
That God would be preparing the M’s hearts to receive the Gospel.
That we, as a church, would be a faithful sending church to support our sister well until the work is done, he leads elsewhere, or Jesus returns.
The plan right now, is to send and commission Gil the last Sunday of March. Until then, she’ll be around for the next month or so, and then grabbing some time with family before heading out to Chad the first week of April.
Let’s keep praying that Jesus would raise up more men and women in our church that want to boldly live and proclaim the Gospel and that we’d get to see more churches planted in Seattle and around the world!
-Pastor David
† As a Global Missionary Partner, we, as a church, are funding Gil with about a fifth of her monthly budgeted need. So if you are giving to DCC, we’re all funding her in some way. However, we know that many of you are looking for ways to give above and beyond your normal giving to DCC, and would love the opportunity to support our sister in this way.
The prophet Habakkuk prophesied of a coming day when “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). God’s millennia-spanning rescue project is global in nature.
Jesus re-emphasized this globe-sized vision, and how it would be brought about, in his Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28:19). In other words, God’s glory fills the earth as disciples are made in every nation and will culminate with his triumphant return. The scope and significance of this mission are staggering—and we play an integral part in it.
How? By supporting the planting of Jesus-centered, gospel-preaching, bible-teaching churches that then, in turn, plant churches here and abroad. That is why we belong to Acts 29.
Last week, I went to Brazil to teach and get a sense of how our partnership with Acts 29 Brazil and Restore Brazil is progressing. Honestly, I couldn’t be more excited to see what Jesus is doing there and the impact we are having through our financial, relational, and spiritual support.
We were one of the first two churches to support Acts 29 Brazil. When we began this partnership there were no Acts 29 churches. Today, there are 28 churches, along with 30 more candidate-planters in the pipeline.
Integral to the development of these planters is a Residency program that our financial support, in large part, makes happen. The Residency consists of two cohorts of ten pastors (i.e. 20 total) who meet every month over the course of two years for training. Here is a photo of the current Residents:
One of those Residents is Eduardo Faria. He is at the very beginning of planting a church in the Ipanema neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. Yes, that Ipanema. Like every other major city, including our own, Rio is divided into distinct neighborhoods. There are 40,000 people in Ipanema and not a single gospel-centered evangelical church. This is the first and we are playing a key role in role in making it happen.
Here is a personal note from Eduardo:
As a church, we have directly helped plant over 100 churches through financial support, training, and ongoing coaching—and that’s just in our short seven and a half years of life. It is so kind of the Lord to allow us to participate in such valuable and concrete ways. This is not, in any way, to draw attention to ourselves but to highlight the ways he is using us to point to him (Ps. 115:1).
So, let’s stay faithful, prayerful, and generous. Who knows what he may do next? But, what we do know is that he will get the glory, and we will get the joy—until the world knows.
This fall we’re rolling out two church wide discipleship training tracks: a 1-Year Gospel Leader track and a 2-Year Pastor/Church Planter Residency. You can get all of the information here.
WHY? At the very heart of Jesus’ commission to his church is the call to make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:18-20). Since that is Jesus’ aim for his church, that must be our aim as well. Disciples of Jesus are not made overnight, but forged over time. It is one thing to say we want to make disciples and plant churches, but it is another thing to actually have a strategy to do so. Our strategy for creating gospel-centered disciples includes our Sunday gathering, Cornerstone communities, Discipleship Groups and now, these two in-depth training tracks.
WHAT?Those participating in the Gospel Leader track will go through a mix of resources from Porterbrook (Gospel living, Reading God’s Story, MIssional Community LIfe, Apologetics), BILD (Book of Acts, Pauline Epistles, Sound Doctrine) and other reading over the course of three quarters (fall, winter, spring). The goal of the Gospel Leader track is to cultivate men and women with deep gospel fluency, understanding of the story of God, study of the Scriptures, missional living, and dynamics of personal change.
Those participating in the Pastor/Church Planter Residency will go through a mix of resources from BILD (Book of Acts, Pauline Epistles, Sound Doctrine, Interpreting the Word) in addition to carefully selected reading in the areas of gospel fluency, systematic and biblical theology, personal change, missional living, study of the Scriptures, preaching and more. The Residency will run for six quarters, taking a break over the summer. The goal of the Pastor/Church Planter Residency is to cultivate men who are passionate about Jesus Christ and who sense a future calling as a pastor/elder/planter within His church.
WHEN? Those participating in both tracks will meet once per week for approximately 2 hours, over the course of 10-12 week quarters. The majority of the time will be spent discussing the homework from that given week in huddles. The Gospel Leader track is currently slated to meet Sunday afternoons. The meeting day/time for those participating in the Residency is currently TBD.
WHO? The Gospel Leader track is open to both men and women who desire to grow as followers of Jesus, whether at home, within the workplace, within the church or within your neighborhood. The Pastor/Planter Residency is open to men who sense a future calling as a pastor/elder/planter within His church. Note: We believe the Bible clearly teaches that the pastoral office is reserved for called, gifted, qualified men.
Lastly, we want to ensure that anyone who feels led to participate is able to do so. Therefore, if you are in need of financial assistance, please indicate that within your application. If you would like to help scholarship those in need, we will be rolling out information to do that as well.
Please pray for this process and those involved. By God’s grace, may we make disciples, plant churches, serve the city and glorify our good God and King – until the earth is covered with the glory of God as the water cover the seas.
If you have any questions or concerns, whatsoever, please e-mail .
We’re stepping out in faith, with a deeply-rooted conviction that we are honoring Jesus by prioritizing the making of disciple-making-disciples.
On Sunday I planned to offer some practical help on how to engage others for the purposes of the gospel based on our text, Acts 8:26-40, but I ran out of time. If you missed it, you can listen to or read the sermon here. There was too much gospel gold to serve up in one sitting. What follows compliments what has already been said there.
God’s Heart
One of the reasons I love this passage is that it shows us so much about the heart of God. It shows us that God loves those who are really, really, really far from him. It shows us that God can use even the briefest, chance encounters to effect eternal change. It shows us that God is weaving a story beyond our comprehension. It shows us that he invites us in to be part of the action as conduits of his grace.
Where Do I Start?
One of the questions I often get is “Where do I start?” Many of you want to participate in God’s mission of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, but you don’t know where to begin. This passage gives us some help to do just that. What follows are five practical principles for joining Jesus’ mission, based on Acts 8:26-40.
#1) Keep it Simple. Don’t over-complicate what it means to live life with gospel-intentionality. You don’t need to carve out 10 extra hours a week. No one has 10 extra hours in their week. Rather, ask yourself, “Where is God already at work?” and then, “What would it look like for me to join him in that?” We don’t know exactly what Philip was doing when he heard the angel of the Lord tell him to head to the desert, but we do know that he was (1) in a place to hear the Lord and (2) ready to follow Him. Are you? Keep doing what you’re already doing, but with ears ready to discern where God is working and a spirit ready to obey. Keep it simple.
#2) Ask Questions and Listen. (Acts8:30,34-35) The very first thing that Philip did was ask a question, Do you understand what you are reading? That’s a good principle. It is easy to assume that we know where people are at and what they are thinking. But, often, the truth is we don’t. If we’re ready to share the gospel of grace, we must also be ready to tangibly demonstrate that same grace by patiently asking questions and listening to others – that’s just love. When the timing is right, they will eventually ask, How can I, unless someone guides me? You’ll be surprised how people will express interest in your beliefs, if you do the same for them.
#3) Use the Word of God. (Acts 8:35) We are told that, beginning with this Scripture [Philip] told him the good news about Jesus. He started with the Scriptures. When possible, we should too. Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. The Spirit uses His inspired word to work faith into hearts. There is no other way to say it, other than it is a supernatural work. I experienced this first hand when I became a Christian. This means it is important for every follower of Jesus to, not only have a Bible readily available, but also have some verses that you can quote from memory, such as John 3:16, 1Jn 4:10, Rom 5:8, Eph 2:8-9, Rom 6:23, John 1:12, etc.
#4) Open Your Mouth. (Acts 8:35) This almost goes without being said. Almost. We have to open our mouths. Yes, we need to pray. Yes, we need to demonstrate the grace, mercy and transforming effect of the gospel in our lives. Yes, often others need to know that we care, before they will care about what we know. But, there comes a point where we must open our mouths to communicate the life-changing, world-altering, sin-forgiving news of the gospel. Much wisdom and love is required to walk this tension.
#5) Lookout for Hungry Hearts. (Acts 8:28) If you want to share the gospel with others, look for hungry hearts around you. Who is seeking? Who is asking questions? Who seems to be interested when you talk about church, the Bible or Jesus? Who is going through a rough season of life and potentially more open to talking about deeper things? If there are people around you that this is true of, that’s from God. It’s not a guarantee they will turn to God, but it is a sign that God is stirring faith in them. Act on that. Pray for everyone, but lovingly pursue hungry hearts.
So, where will you start? Invite neighbors over for a monthly BBQ? Ask a co-worker out for lunch or coffee? Be more intentional with that one friend? Adopt a Real Change seller downtown? Pray for greater sensitivity to the Spirit’s movement? Look at everything you’re already doing, and everyone involved in what you’re already doing, and ask, How can I best live every day, ordinary with gospel intentionality? Just start and watch Him work.
