One of my “bucket list” items in life is to set sail on a sail boat one day. I know that doesn’t seem like an ambitious dream to some people especially if you’ve had the privilege of sailing before. But for me its truly a dream.
I don’t know much about sailing. I know the conditions certainly have to be perfect, and I know that there is a great deal of preparation in making sure the sails are set just right before launching out to sea. I think I would enjoy the preparation part, but the part I would enjoy most, which is what I presume most “sailors” would say is their favorite part is when the wind hits those sails and the boat truly launches. I imagine there is no more breathtaking feeling to stand below massive cloth panels with wind and to glide across the water.
Another item on my “bucket list” was to plant a church. A life giving church that was committed to truly being the church that Jesus created during his time on earth. After nearly six months of preparation, last week we finally raised the sails, and launched RiverChurch officially out into the city of Chattanooga.
Now if you’re a church planter reading this, when I say the word “launch” you will certainly have a prescribed set of images that may run through your head. At least images of what you’ve heard a church plant launch should be like:
An energetic worship service, with lights, smoke machines, a rockin band of 20 somethings in Aerropostle shirts and pointy shoes, nifty giveaways for the guests, all preceded by a huge community wide marketing blitz letting people that your church, a different church from the other 50,000 in your city, is coming and its “gonna be cooler than all the others.”
Well the launch of RiverChurch was probably nothing close to that. We did the community blitz a week before, just letting people know we were new to the neighborhood and would love to get to know them. We left them a couple pieces of candy, with the expressed wish that we could find a way to make their lives a little sweeter, (cheesy? Maybe. Effective? Likely.)
I can tell you more about the specific details of our launch, but let it suffice for me to say that the launch of RiverChurch was certainly not textbook. In fact, one friend told me sometime ago that I was going about this whole churchplanting thing in a very unconventional way. That bothered me at first, but I’m cool with it now.
No, our launch Sunday was primarily attended by the 25-30 people that had comprised our launch team and then about twice as many guests and people who were meeting us for the very first time.
Launch Sunday for RiverChurch was more about launching our individual lives into our own worlds, fulfilling the Great Commission. It was kind of like untying the ropes of multiple sailboats, and launching them out into the spiritual waters of our city, rather than one large mother ship. That day we focused on the fact that we’ve been called to make disciples and in fulfilling that Commission we will find our purpose.
For those who were new to our gatherings, which had been in existence for several months before, we invited them to become a follower of Christ, if they weren’t one, and challenged them to set sail as well, living a life as a disciple who makes disciples.
It was an exciting day. It was a cold day. Two days prior snow and ice fell on our community, forcing nearly every other church in the city to cancel services or meet at an alternative time. But for us launch Sunday was as much about a community of faith recommitting to be launched back out in a cold world that needs our light, as it was about opening our doors, and flipping on the neon lights that would say, “Yes, We’re Open”
Unless you follow us on Facebook, or twitter, our launch may have come and gone, and you may have never felt a tremor effect from it. But that’s okay. Last Sunday was launch Sunday for RiverChurch, Last Sunday a fleet of disciples were launched into their community for the purpose of making disciples, guided by the principles of loving God & loving others. And as unconventional as it was, I believe Chattanooga will never be the same again.
