Creative Scribble

For years we’ve been told the statistic that people are so much more likely to come to faith in Christ before the age of 16. But today I read a statistic that was just as interesting: 90 percent of adults who come to faith in Christ report to have had at least a spiritual seed of some kind planted early in life.

With both of those in mind, we must make our ministry to children on Sundays more than just story time and a piece of candy. Eternity truly hangs in the balance for countless numbers of lives in OneLife Kidz –birth to 5th grade – each week. These kids really need to discover God and how their one life can make a difference.

Seeing that happen will take a great deal of intentionality.

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The most obvious system at any church is the Sunday morning worship experience. Think about it: even in the most traditional church somebody has to plan the bulletin, print and fold the bulletin, rehearse the music and choir, pick the hymns, plan a sermon, make sure the offering is collected, clean the sanctuary, practice the “special music,” get those flowers on the offering table, and on and on the list goes.

But what I’ve learned over the past two years is that most of these churches – in fact most all churches – operate in a “put out the fire closest to the tent” mode when it comes to preparing for what really is our most influential hour of the week. Afterall, this is the hour that our target, the lost and unchurched, are most likely to attend.

So what is OneLife’s plan?

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Over the next two weeks our launch team will be visiting other churches. Since we won’t be meeting together formally, I am going to take these two weeks to blog about our systems and structures. Then at our next meeting together we will “debrief” about our church visits and these blogs.

The first and most important system for OneLife Church is simplicity. Our mission is simple: to see people discover God and how their one life can make a difference. The strategy to accomplish this is also simple. We will embrace our culture in a way that engages people who are far from God with his unchanging message of salvation. Specifically, we will be laser-focused early on in how we do that.

That’s where it can get interesting.

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22 years ago my mom started going to an awesome, new church in Raleigh. It started in a hotel and then moved to a renovated horse barn. The atmosphere was casual and the music was loud - guitars, drums, and just a couple of singers. No choir? Woah! Hymn books and pews were absent, too. The words were on a screen, albeit the handy dandy transparency projector. There was no Sunday School and no services on Sunday nights so people could go to small groups that met in homes.

This church was cutting edge. Contemporary music, small groups, casual atmosphere. Sound familiar?

But did you catch those first three words - “22 years ago.” Granted, I do believe this church was a little ahead of its time in a rather progressive city considering the South. But that was nearly an entire generation ago. Thousands of churches just like it have sprung up since then. They used to be culture-engaging and cutting edge. But are they still?

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One of the biggest things I've learned through preparing to launch a church is that there are a lot more things in my head than I communicate. Certain things that I take as "understoods" aren't as clear to other people that are new to the process or haven't been around me much.

That became very clear to me on Tuesday. I was meeting with a UT student who is going to be a part of the launch team. He comes from a church plant in his home town that started as a group of small groups before they ever launched. Because OneLife is doing it completely differently - focusing on Sunday mornings before starting small groups - he had some legit questions.

In my presentation of this, I had simply said "For the first year we are going to stay simple and focused." But what I had not communicated was how we would ensure people were taken care of, discipled, and didn't fall through the cracks - especially as we hit our target of seeing unchurched and people far from God drawn to Him. This question forced me to think outloud and put words to my thoughts.

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