Fruitful Plants

My Bananas

It's now Monday morning and I am sitting writing this and eating the most delicious small banana - quite different from our supermarket variety. These can be seen growing on the plants by the side of the road but this particular "hand" was a gift from a church we visited yesterday evening - clearly a very fruitful visit! Actually this was a fairly last minute addition to our programme for yesterday. Pastor Baya had been at the Church Leaders' Conference on Saturday and as Cesar is a great friend of his, he pressed him to allow us to come to his church. What a blessing it turned out to be. The church has the use of a middle floor in a building in downtown Zamboanga City. The ground floor is a funeral parlour; the first floor, where the church meets and the top floor is the home of the millionaire lady who owns the whole block. We joked that death is on the ground floor, life on the next floor and she is close to heaven on the top!

Worship was full of life; exuberant, whole-hearted and free - such a joy for us both to be able to participate in. I was preaching what God had laid on my heart; the naming of David and Bathsheba's second son and how they ignored the name by which he was known by God from before the dawn of time - Jedidiah - Beloved of God - and instead chose their own name for him by which we know him - Solomon.

I felt huge freedom and joy especially as this led to the scene of the Baptism of Jesus; the falling of the Spirit;  and the voice from heaven declaring " you are my beloved Son, in whom I delight". I won't treat you to the whole sermon but if you ever fancy exploring it with me, I am open!

Pastor Baya & his daughter

Worship was followed by food. About seventy families were there and everyone was fed a hot meal of rice, pork and chicken.This church clearly has some rich members, but the majority of the children looked poor and we suspect this might have been the best meal they would eat for a number of days.

What was most thrilling of all was to hear Pastor Baya share their plans to plant another three churches in the next two years. He is training three Assistant Pastors for this ministry and at the right time the church will split and multiply.Their vision is that the new churches will begin as house churches and grow to point when they too need to split and multiply. They could easily settle into a pattern of church life as they have it and they would be effective in building up the people of God, but their hearts are to reach more and more people for Jesus by daring to step out with God and plant new churches in other areas round about the city. He is a big man, with a big vision and a big view of what is possible as God leads and directs.

Having been involved in planting a church and having attended church planting conferences I recognise the beauty and simplicity of such a heart and purpose.It raises issues in my mind about comfortable church, intentional living in areas of the city as missional communities and dare I say it, what we in the west think of as church and what it could/might be. Oh dear something has stirred in me, something radical and disturbing. I wonder what that is about?