Ministry Chronicles: Sending Church Step 1

Here at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Ashley County, Arkansas, we just took the step of voting to work together with SEND Network: Arkansas and a group in El Dorado, Arkansas. We're going to be the "sending church" for this group as they build on the ministry of Southside Baptist, El Dorado, and launch a new church from that now-closed church.

One part of what I want to do is chronicle here this process and what we do. Here, let's hit the basics:

First, Mt. Olive is not a large church. We have a large building, but we are a very typical Southern Baptist traditional church: mostly we're adults over 50, with a small number of people that fit in the "young adult" category. We're struggling to connect with youth and children going back to a church split back in the COVID-era. Our budget isn't wide open with lots of space; we've had to trim positions and activities pretty seriously in the last decade.

I'll also say something here that isn't meant to be negative self-talk, just honesty: our pastor (me) isn't one of those "amazing" pastors who can triple a church with his energy and charisma. He's not a great "people person" but more of a teacher and equipper-type. He's not well-connected with all the great and amazing cool preachers and groups in Baptist life, either. 

Now, first question: How did we get involved in this?

I went to an event called "Sending Lab" from Send Network: Arkansas (which is the church-planting collaboration between Arkansas Baptists and the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board). The main reason I went was to find some ideas that might possibly help us get our church moving in the right direction.

A couple of weeks later, one of the ABSC guys reached out to me and asked if our church would consider being the official "sending church" for a group that was at Sending Lab. They were working on finding ideas and setting up their new church to include sending out missionaries to start churches from the very beginning.

I'm always willing to ask a question. I may get shot down. But it's worth asking.

Here's the important part of step 1 in this process:

Prayer. A lot of prayer. First, by myself and my wife as we prayed about how to introduce the idea to our church.

After all, it's helpful to remember that if your church has never done something before, they will not understand what is being asked of them. And uncertainty is the foe of commitment. (I know there are some "experts" who will say that I should be so effective as a leader that folks will follow without certainty, simply trusting my judgment. See above.)

After Ann and I prayed about this, I brought it first to our deacons. Our church still runs a fairly traditional organizational model: if the deacons aren't for it, it's not happening. I shared the information with them, encouraged them to pray, and asked them for their questions.

Then, we shared the information with the church and gave them time to pray and set a designated point to ask questions about the process. 

Finally, after several weeks of working through that as the process, we actually voted in a normal business meeting that we would make this commitment.

This may seem like it was longer than it should have been, but the church is supposed to work together in serving the Lord Jesus Christ. If you cannot take the time to pray through and find a basic floor of unity in the church, you may just be doing it wrong.

That's the summary of how we are moving from "not involved in church planting" to "starting to be involved directly in church planting."

Next up, I'll walk through some of the questions that were brought up here about our involvement.