Brooklyn Church Project Blog

The Value of Team

noreply@blogger.com (Brooklyn Church Project) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:30:00 +0000

By Brian Steadman, church planting intern

In The Gospel of Luke chapter 10, Jesus sends out his disciples (in this case, the 72) to proclaim to the good news that Jesus' kingdom is drawing near. Luke notes that Jesus sent these ambassadors in pairs, "two by two." This pattern holds for the second half of Luke's gospel as we see the ministry of the gospel frequently carried forward in pairs – Peter and John, Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Silas, and many other combinations. Without trying to read too much into this pattern, I've always found this practice to be encouraging. I find it encouraging because while I've been attracted to ministry, and urban church planting in particular, for quite some time, I haven't been attracted to the prospect of going at it alone. Which is why the opportunity to minister as part of a church planting network was a no brainer for my family and I when given the chance. I have a team. As a church planting intern, I didn't have just one church planting pastor mentoring me, I had five. As an assistant pastor of a church plant, I draw from the narratives of not just one church plant, but three. And one day, should the Lord see fit for me to start a new congregation in Brooklyn, I will not parachute into a place to figure it out by myself. I will continue to have this team of pastors who are deeply invested in the success of that work.

The training and mentoring that I am immersed in continues to be a blessing not to be taken for granted. But the value of this team goes far beyond my development as a pastor and church planter. My wife has said on numerous occasions that without our network, our family's health would have a much rougher go of it. We need friends. Friends to process with. Friends to help carry our burdens. Friends to share our triumphs and joys as well as our failures and disappointments. We are far from some of our close friends, and while we are still strongly committed to those relationships, there's no denying that being able to physically sit across the table from friends who share the same day to day context that you do, is invaluable. We are far from family, but having the network is like having family built in. My wife testifies that just an hour of coffee with one of the other pastor wives in our network does much to re-ground her emotionally, spiritually, and physically. In a team, there is always someone there to listen. There to speak. There to give you a hug and tell you you're not alone. In short, my wife wisely says, "I just can't do alone."

Practicing the Basics

noreply@blogger.com (Brooklyn Church Project) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:44:00 +0000

By David Stancil, church planting intern

I began the church planting internship with Brooklyn Church Project a month ago, and there is one recurring theme that keeps coming up in my experience thus far: practicing the basics. What do I mean by practicing the basics? One of the core values of Brooklyn Church Project is the commitment to the central practice of the Christian church: corporate worship. In worship, we are devoted to the Word, prayer, and the sacraments as the means of grace for God’s people. These are the basics of Christian practice.

Peter told the early church, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have (1 Peter 3:15). How do we set apart Christ as Lord in our hearts? We take hold of the means of grace: the Word, prayer, and the sacraments. In other words, we practice the basics.

One of the reasons I am taking hold of this value so quickly is because of my familiarity with the concept of practicing the basics in a different realm. A few years ago, I had a short stint as a high school basketball coach. I drilled my players in practicing the basics: passing, dribbling, shooting, rebounding, defense. I drilled my team in practicing the basics of team offense and team defense. I wanted the basics to become such a part of their orientation to basketball that they were ready to respond and execute well in game situations.

When the church practices the basics of the Word, prayer, and the sacraments, worship becomes such a part of their orientation to life that they are ready to respond and perform their faith well in life situations. Peter assumes that lives centered on Christ will demand questions from the watching world. Therefore, a primary focus of the church should be the practice of worship. The practice of worship enables God’s people to celebrate the gospel and thus set apart Christ as Lord in their hearts.

The recurring theme of my experience (practicing the basics) may seem too simple and too obvious. However, the simple and the obvious are good. The church has been practicing these basics throughout its history. So, we will practice the basics of worship in order that we might become a worshipping community that celebrates the gospel throughout Brooklyn.

Proofreading our Mission

noreply@blogger.com (Brooklyn Church Project) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:43:00 +0000

By Chris Hildebrand, BCP Director

A few months ago I made a big mistake....

On a newsletter that I was working on I typed the following for our mission statement: Brooklyn Church Project exists to build the kingdom of God in Brooklyn by planting new congregations and partnering with existing Christian ministries. My mistake was using the word build instead of embody. It was just one word, one little verb, but it was a big mistake. Thankfully, someone proofread the mission statement and we caught the mistake before it was sent out. But, as I reflected on my blunder, I realized that it wasn't the only time I've made that mistake. I don't think I've made that blunder in a mission statement, but I do it all the time in the way I think and work towards our hopes for Brooklyn. I find myself acting as though we here in Brooklyn are responsible for building God's kingdom rather than embodying it, which is the big mistake. Here's why...

To suggest that we are building the kingdom of God is to suggest that we are initiating this work, that we are in charge, and ultimately all of this is up to us. And apart from being foolish it also simply isn't true. We believe (and we also see it happening in Brooklyn) that God has been working through his church long before we got here, that he is working here now apart from us, and now that he has called us here he is continuing his work to make disciples of the nations. This is why embody is a better term. It's not simply a matter of semantics. If we are embodying the kingdom, we are taking our rightful position of following after God and his work. If we are embodying then we are celebrating instead of stressing, if we are embodying then we are praying first and strategizing second. Everything changes when we embody the kingdom.

As I read the New Testament I take hope in the fact that I haven't been the only one to make this mistake. It seems as though the disciples made the same mistake when they were trying to find their role in the kingdom. In Mark 9, the disciples who have been traveling with Jesus, are arguing about who among them is the greatest. (That's a question you ask when you are building instead of embodying...) And Jesus' response to them is found in verses 35: And he said to them,"If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." Jesus' response is a call to embody. To serve is to embody the practices of Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve. Our hope here in Brooklyn as we try and embody the kingdom is that we will be known as those who serve joyfully and sacrificially our friends, our neighbors, and our borough.

And, after all, its so much easier to sleep when you realize your not building the kingdom.

Praise for When the Kings Come Marching In by Richard J. Mouw

noreply@blogger.com (Brooklyn Church Project) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:43:00 +0000

By Brian Steadman, church planting intern

As an intern of Brooklyn Church Project, I have a reading list that covers a selection of topics: Apologetics and Evangelism, Kingdom Ecclesiology, Worship, Pastoral Ministry, and Urban Ministry. These books were hand picked by the other pastors of our church planting network. Therefore most were chosen because they have something to offer that is particularly relevant to church planting and ministry in an urban context such as Brooklyn. I think my favorite I've read in my year as an intern to date is When the Kings Come Marching In by Richard Mouw. Now it could be that it's my favorite because it has been the shortest, by far, at only 131 pages. All jokes about my weak reading appetite aside, I think the brevity of the book is actually one of the aspects that gives it such impact. Professor Mouw takes Isaiah 60 and gives one of the best interactions with the "Christ and Culture" dialogue that I have ever heard or read.

I highly recommend this book to any believer, but I would even recommend this book to my non-believing friends. Mouw's insights into Isaiah's vision of the heavenly city of Isaiah 60 is one of such beauty that I think anyone would recognize and appreciate. And with great clarity, Mouw gives healthy correctives to common misunderstandings of how Christians should engage their culture. And of course, any who live in urban environments will resonate with Mouw's explanations of what is happening in the vision of Isaiah 60.

"The city that Isaiah envisions in chapter 60 is a "magnetic" place. It has drawing power. People and things are flocking to this urban center: they are being "turned" to this city, "gathered" from many places, coming "from afar." That the city has this magnetism is important. Many of the people and things that appear in its midst are not, on some accountings, likely candidates for inclusion within its walls." p. 9

Having lived in Brooklyn for over a year now, I easily see and feel the "magnetic" pull of New York City. It is a city that gathers people and things from many places (and Brooklyn, to note, receives a third of all immigrants who move to NYC). So it's striking to read these depictions of the heavenly city in this book, and think in terms of how the NYC actually parallels in the here and now this city that is to come at the end of all time. Of course, as Mouw says, there are many things of NYC that one would not consider a "likely" candidate to be included within the walls of the heavenly city. But the amazing truth of Isaiah 60, is that many of the aspects of culture (both people and things) that one might think could never be found in the city of God, will in fact be there.

I just recently watched for the first time the classic Martin Scorsese movie Taxi Driver starring Robert De Niro and set in NYC (not on the intern study program, but maybe it should?). De Niro's character Travis Bickle is asked by a politician what change he thinks America needs the most. Travis' response is a great rain, that would come and flush the entire city of New York right down the toilet, a city he finds hopelessly corrupt, wicked, depraved, and dirty. From Travis' perspective, it's going to take something massive, something greater than even the politician riding in his cab can ever attain, to truly rid NYC of all things that are foul. And Travis is right. There is much that needs to be changed in his culture and it will take something almost unimaginable to accomplish such a feat. But where Travis is wrong, is that "rain" having the effect of a massive flush down the toilet, the whole thing, completely erased. And to be honest, in moments of great pessimism and blindness, I'm given to the same sentiment, just flush it. And that's why When the Kings Come Marching In is a much needed corrective.

"The transformationalist camp is correct, as I view things, in expecting the transformation of culture. Christ will transform culture at the end of time. The ships of Tarshish, presently vessels that serve rebellious designs, will someday carry the wealth of the nations into the presence of the Creator. Political power will be gathered into that City wherein the saints will rule forever. The peoples and tribes and nations of the earth will sing praises to the Lamb who was slain. In short, the "filling" of the earth will be harnessed and remolded for the sake of God's glory."

There is so much more to say in terms of Mouw's use of Isaiah 60 to show just how culture will be very present in the heavenly city. But really, why hear it from me. The book after all, is only 131 pages. I highly recommend it.

Church Planting and Cornerstones

noreply@blogger.com (Brooklyn Church Project) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:42:00 +0000

By Chris Hildebrand, BCP Director

I pass the cornerstone of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church several times each day and see the year 1884 etched into the stone. This stone serves as a reminder to me of what we ultimately want to see happen through our labors: we want to move from planting churches to laying cornerstones. There are many reasons we want to lay cornerstones. Perhaps the most obvious reason is that to have cornerstones means you own buildings, and while that may happen that’s not what I’m talking about here. Rather the cornerstones upon which these beautiful old churches rest represent something even more than the buildings themselves.  

First, a cornerstone represent longevity. St. Paul’s has been around for 125 years. That’s 125 years on a street where living 3 or 4 years makes you an “old timer”. In church planting often times planning for the future means planning for the next 5 years. But we want to think not just about the next few years but also about the next few decades, and even about the next few generations. So we are always asking ourselves, are we planting churches that will stand the test of time? Are we planting churches that will be the cornerstones of their respective neighborhoods? We want congregations that are serving Brooklyn in word and deed long after we are gone.

Second, a cornerstone represents a specific place. The cornerstone at St. Paul’s has been in the same physical place not just for my eyes to see but for several generations of Brooklynites to see. It has literally weathered the storms of the neighborhood. And we believe that for our church planting efforts to be effective we also need to think in terms of neighborhoods. Like that cornerstone we need to be a presence on specific street corners, worshipping, serving, living with our neighborhood always on our hearts and minds. 

Lastly, a cornerstone reminds us of the hope we have in our mission. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians writes: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

Paul reminds us that our only hope in our mission to plant churches rests on Jesus Christ who is our cornerstone upon whom everything rests, and by the power of his Holy Spirit he continues to work through his church from generation to generation.  So our hope is that the churches we plant now will dig deep roots in their neighborhoods and that in another 125 years these churches, like cornerstones, will represent and proclaim the power and hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ to many generations of Brooklynites.

Preserving Preference

noreply@blogger.com (Brooklyn Church Project) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:41:00 +0000

In the spring of the year, the time when many college students go out to sow their wild oats, Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) students from colleges across the nation come to New York to visit churches and Christian ministries during the day and enjoy various restaurants and other attractions at night. All in all, these are great trips that expose Christian students to works with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar and some of them move to the city after graduation in order to participate.

Today we hosted RUF students from the University of Connecticut and I was able to share with them our vision for starting dozens of parish churches throughout the borough. They asked insightful questions about the receptivity of New Yorkers to the Gospel compared to other parts of the country, about our fraternal relations with other churches in our neighborhoods as well as practical questions about our local network.

I have delivered some version of my talk today innumerable times in the last five years to other student groups, churches, boards of directors, potential investors, friends and neighbors, yet I was unusually energized by my experience today. Part of the reason was that today's student group was unusually perceptive. Mainly I was energized by the fact that as Park Slope Presbyterian Church celebrates its 5th anniversary this weekend, I am more convinced today than I was five years ago that God is blessing our church planting efforts. And my conviction is rooted in many things, but the reason most prominent today is that I still love talking about Brooklyn.

Matt Brown, Senior Pastor
Brooklyn Presbyterian Church

It's easier, actually

noreply@blogger.com (Brooklyn Church Project) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:41:00 +0000

People often ask my wife and I how hard was it for us to move to Brooklyn to take on a church planting internship with Brooklyn Church Project (BCP). To the surprise of many, we often reply, "It was easy, actually." God has been forming in our hearts a love for cities and urban life for the past nine years. When offered the chance to take part in this unique and rare internship with BCP, it was a no brainer. There are many details as to what attracts us to urban church planting, but one aspect in particular lies at the heart of why we desired to live in a place like Brooklyn–sidewalks.

Sidewalks? Well, before you think I'm too far out in left field with that answer, let me point to someone who actually put into writing what it is about sidewalks that would attract us to urban life. Eric Jacobsen's book, Sidewalks in the Kingdom, points out the obvious, but often overlooked, importance of how one's place shapes how one's life plays out. So, sidewalks. Sidewalks have quickly become my family's most vital tool for building relationships with our neighbors. We routinely meet our neighbors on our way to work or while running errands. We converse with other families as we walk to and from school, perhaps even stopping to hang out with them at the playground between our house and school. Just taking a moment to say hello while someone sweeps off their stoop has been a great way to have simple, but meaningful conversation with our neighbors. Brooklyn, a place with pedestrian friendly sidewalks, public transportation, public spaces, mixed use zoning, local economy, and abundance of people shapes our life for greater community.

If you're from Brooklyn, or from any urban city, you're probably saying, "Duh." But for us, this experience is something we never had and longed for. The places we lived in the past were not designed for this type of community. If we went somewhere, our family got in a car, nicely sequestered in our own little space from others in their own little spaces on wheels. When we came home, we pulled into the garage and went straight in the house, quite effectively avoiding our neighbors. If we played in the yard, we were probably separated from our neighbor by a 7' tall privacy fence.

Can you find community in a neighborhood like I described above? Sure you can. But in our experience, you have to work a lot harder at it. Which is why I say jokingly, but in all seriousness, to pastors and church members where we came from, "You guys have it a lot harder than us. Brooklyn? It's easier, actually."

Brian Steadman
Church Planting Intern

Gracious Savior

noreply@blogger.com (Brooklyn Church Project) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:40:00 +0000

As someone who has a love for old hymns and gospel songs, and as someone who has tried his hand at composing music for those old words, I continue to be impressed by the work of Christopher Miner. As many folks who are familiar with Reformed University Fellowship know (where his music is especially well know), Miner has produced many new musical treatments of old hymns that have been well received in churches and ministries. His songs are singable, memorable and simple, while remaining musically interesting.

While Miner's work is (rightly) most well known from having been sung corporately, his own recordings of his songs are lovely and powerful in their own right. Accompanying himself with simple fingerpicking and strumming, recorded by what sounds like one microphone, Miner walks earnestly and simply through the potent old lyrics of Puritans and "Negro" spiritualists that he has chosen, riding on the current of his own winsome melodies, all the while conveying the sense that he is singing with and to the Lord who is both the one who wrestles with us to the point that after encountering him we walk with a limp, but also the one who promises to always walk with us.

My wife is especially fond of this song, singing it to our son many nights before bed. I can hardly think of a better lullaby.

Vito Aiuto

Gracious Savior

1. Gracious Savior, gentle Shepherd,
Our little ones are dear to Thee;
Gathered with Thine arms and carried
In Thy bosom may they be
Sweetly, gently, safely tended,
From all want and danger free.

2. Tender Shepherd, never leave them,
From Thy fold to go astray;
By Thy look of love directed,
May they walk the narrow way;
Thus direct them, and protect them
Lest they fall an easy prey.

3. Let Thy holy Word instruct them:
Fill their minds with heav'nly light;
Let Thy love and grace constrain them
To approve what e'er is right,
Take Thine easy yoke and wear it,
And to prove Thy burden light.

4. Cleanse their hearts from sinful folly
In the stream Thy love supplied;
Mingled streams of blood and water
Flowing from Thy wounded side:
And to heav'nly pastures lead them,
Where Thine own still waters glide.

©1997 Christopher Miner Music.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

http://www.christopherminer.com/cd.php

Neighborhood Churches

noreply@blogger.com (Brooklyn Church Project) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:39:00 +0000

If you’ve made it this far into the website, it will come as no surprise to you that Brooklyn Church Project exists to help plant neighborhood churches. Such a purpose immediately begs an important question, one that is often on my mind as a planting pastor in Flatbush: What is a neighborhood church?

On the one hand, this is not a particularly profound question. A neighborhood church is one that orients its worship, life together and ministry in a particular geographic location, a.k.a. a neighborhood. Such a church understands that it exists not just for its own sake but is, as one urban pastor puts it, “compelled by God’s Spirit to be concerned for the present and eternal well-being of our neighbors.” Such a church believes that the best way to be Christ’s hands and feet and life in our world is to do so in a particular place filled with particular people. In Brooklyn, which is made up of 80 or so distinct neighborhoods with unique cultures and identities, such a vision is extremely compelling.

And yet on the other hand, the question of what such a church will look like in an urban community becomes a bit more complex. With the best of intentions, it is possible to be a neighborhood congregation and not actually be good news for the neighborhood.

In a very helpful article titled Authentic Strategies for Urban Ministry, Robert Linthicum offers three ways that a church can respond to its surrounding community arranged from least to most beneficial.

1. Church in the community. This church will not feel any particular commitment to the neighborhood nor identify with it. It simply exists there. Often this dynamic occurs when the demographics of a neighborhood change significantly and the church becomes a commuter congregation with members traveling in on Sundays but living elsewhere. Brooklyn is home to many such churches, and I’ve found that often the pastor desires to have an effective presence in the community but is leading a church that was not able to adjust to the changing neighborhood.

2. Church to the community. This church recognizes that God calls it to engage its neighbors with love and concern. It’s desire is to be present in the community with both evangelism and social action. In Linthicum’s words, “the Achilles heel of this approach is the perception that the church knows what is best for the neighborhood.” An “us and them” mentality is established and the church assumes that because it possesses the gospel it will by default know first what the true needs of the community are and second how best to meet them.

3. Church with the community. This church incarnates itself into the fabric of the community. It enters into the life of the community, identifies with it and becomes a partner in addressing its needs rather than the self-appointed savior. According to Linthicum, this church is most authentically and effectively a neighborhood congregation. The profound difference between it and the first two models is the recognition that it is the people of the community who have the greatest understanding of the needs of the community and that they must be part of the solution. There is true partnership here as the church comes alongside the community and offers support, empathy and its own particular gifts and strengths to the process of holistic healing.

As a church planter with a particular cultural background planting a congregation in a wonderfully diverse neighborhood, I resonate with Linthicum’s insights. He offers a nuanced biblical understanding of human communities. There is so much about Flatbush to celebrate and affirm as God’s good gift: the diversities of culture, the richness of its civic life, and most importantly the gifts, talents, and wisdom of its residents. So it would not be the way of Jesus for our congregation to come in as new neighbors and proclaim that we have the corner on the answer market. And yet, Flatbush is filled with the effects of sin both in its systemic structures and its individuals. This neighborhood does indeed need congregations with the power of the gospel animating their love to their community.

Flatbush needs a church with the community. It needs a neighborhood church. We hope to be one of many!

John Sweet, Church Planter

On Spying...

noreply@blogger.com (Brooklyn Church Project) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:38:00 +0000

The pastors at BCP have been reading through Eugene Peterson's book, Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work. As is typical with Peterson, this book is full of gems (or stones, i guess) that are well worth taking the time to ponder. One that has been bouncing around in my head is this quote: "The pastor is God's spy searching out ways of grace." In this context Peterson is describing how we help one another find God's story of grace within our own life stories. But I've been thinking about this notion of "spying" in terms of living and ministering in the city.

I like the word "spying" because it suggests that finding God's grace, or seeing Him at work, is not always obvious. It takes a careful look and a sensitive ear to uncover what God is up to in our own lives and in the lives of others. And when this is set in context of a specific place, either a city or a particular neighborhood, the spying gets even more challenging, because when we commit ourselves to a few city blocks we limit the field in which we can spy. After all, the broader the boundary the more we can roam, the farther we can wander in search of some obvious evidence of God's grace at work. If we can't see any evidence on this street or the next, there's always the next neighborhood, the next place to continue the search. But that isn't what a spy does. A spy commits to a place and then begins the work of understanding their specific culture and context and undertakes the slow and sometimes tedious work of gathering evidence.

This is the challenge and the beauty of "limiting" ourselves to specific places as we think about ministry and specifically planting churches. The challenge is staying put and digging in and gathering evidence of God's work and simply taking the time to do it. These are basic challenges of patience and faith. The beauty is in discovering that the very thing we are hoping to see, the reason we "spy", is actually there. That God is at work on our streets, on the sidewalks, in the lives of our neighbors and we actually don't need to go very far to see this evidence. We just need to get better at being spys.

Chris Hildebrand

Welcome to BCP

noreply@blogger.com (Brooklyn Church Project) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:37:00 +0000

Welcome to the BCP blog. Our hope is that through this blog we will be able to keep you up to speed with what is happening at BCP.