Why Are You A Part of Coram Deo?

Have you ever thought about that question?If your answer is, "Because it's a good church and I like it," that's decent. But a better answer would be, "Because I am passionate about seeing Jesus exalted in my culture, and that means I must be a part of planting new churches. To do anything else is to fiddle while Rome burns."Sometimes we slip into thinking that church planting has to do with "starting something new and hip and cool." Sometimes I slip into thinking that. Thankfully, when I do, God usually brings me around by way of the facts. When I worked in politics, we used to say, "The numbers don't lie." Here are the numbers regarding church in America:

• About 3,500 churches close their doors each year
• Nationally, the population grew 13.2% between 1990 and 2000, but new churches were only planted at a 5% rate
• The churches that are "growing" are predominantly the megachurches, and most of their growth is not coming from the unchurched, but from Christians who are leaving smaller churches to move to larger ones
• The United States remains the fourth largest mission field in the world

If anyone asks you, "Why are you helping to plant a new church? Aren't there enough already?" now you have an answer. Statistically the answer is plainly, NO!! May God renew in all of us not just a calling to Coram Deo, but a calling to church planting in general. May He use our humble efforts as a small part of His means to exalt His name by re-contextualizing the gospel of Jesus Christ for a post-Christian, post-church culture.