Gary and Kim Shockley

by Gary Shockley

I was twelve years old and glued to our television set as grainy images were beamed onto the screen of humanity’s first step onto the surface of the moon. It was 1969 and the crew of Apollo 11, Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin, had me pinned to the edge of my seat. I was hooked! From that moment on I wanted to be an astronaut. As a kid I built model rockets (remember Estes?) and launched them high into the air. I infected my two sons with this “space bug.” Every now and then we’ll dust off the stuff and send another rocket skyward. Living in central Florida has afforded me many opportunities to watch the space shuttle leave and return to earth. There is nothing like being just a few miles away from the launch pad—the roar of liftoff. Goose bumps just like when I was twelve.

We often describe church planting in NASA terms like: developing a launch team, “Launch Sunday” and the like. We speak of getting our new churches “off the ground”. We all know it takes an incredible amount of energy to pull this off—people, money, equipment, and prayer—lots and lots of prayer. Churches that fail to launch usually run out of resources before they’ve reached “critical mass” or “sustainability”. So we work hard to launch-and we should. BUT what do we do after that? What’s the mission?

The purpose of Apollo 11 wasn’t simply to get off the ground, break through the gravitational pull of the earth or orbit our planet. There was a mission—walk on the moon AND return home again. What is your church’s mission? What are your plans after you get “launched”? Can you visualize the activity of your church five years even ten years from now?  How will the community around you be different—be better –because your church has launched? Would they miss you if you failed?

I can’t imagine NASA sending the shuttle into space and, once it was successfully launched, gathering together in a room asking, “what’s next?” The entire mission gets mapped out. Everyone knows their place and their part—before the engines fire!

Launch is critical but that’s not really the goal of planting a church is it? We are launching toward what? Where is this thing heading? What are the critical parts of our plan?  What’s the mission? How will we will involve our people, spend our resources, decide what we should or shouldn’t do? The time to think about these things is before we fire the rocket! 

Launching new churches is not our mission. Impacting the world for the Kingdom of God, helping others discover a relationship with Jesus Christ, transforming lives that will transform our communities–now that’s our mission!

2 Comments »