Why I'm Excited About Church Planting in South Carolina - Part 1

Being the "baby" in the game (about two months in) I can say that I am more excited about the future of church planting in our state than I was before I began.  There are numerous things that excite me, and I'm going to share a few of them in this series of posts, beginning with:

Return to the Gospel

I am not sure that the church planting I observed five years ago forgot the gospel, but I do think they assumed it and therefore neglected it.  Many of the young church planters that I meet are now seeing the fruits of this neglect in their own hearts and in the churches that they lead.

As a result, the gospel seems to be more prominent, more explicit, and more necessary for the guys that are planting now.  This is greatly encouraging because, for a young church plant to be a vibrant, healthy, community of believers there must be a clear and concise focus on and love for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The truth of God’s Word in the gospel should be in the forefront of everything that the church does and says: that God created mankind to worship and obey Him (Genesis 2:15), that man sinned and continues to sin (Romans 5:12; Romans 3:23), that the relationship between God and man was severed by man’s sin (Romans 3:10-12), that the punishment for man’s sin is death (Romans 6:23), that Jesus Christ bore the punishment and shame of sinful man on the cross (1 Corinthians 15:3), that Jesus rose again on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4), and that by grace alone, through faith in Jesus Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8), we can be restored to a right relationship with God (John 14:6).

While in seminary my professor, Mark Liederbach, said:

"the extent to which these truths have become old news or mundane to you is the extent to which you do not understand or appreciate the gospel."

I pray that we never miss the gospel and that it is the primary means of church planting in the future because it is the only hope we’ve got.

May each of us be able to say, in the words of Paul the Apostle, “I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” (1 Corinthians 9:23)