Mustard Seed Church
May 6, 2012: 10:30 a.m. Commissioning Service at The Gallery Church of Manhattan
To witness the beginning of this church plant visit (www.gallerychurch.com) for directions.
To
be disciples of Jesus, making disciples for Jesus. It’s that simple.
Yet, it’s that
profound. It starts with us as
individuals believing in the Gospel. It
starts small—like a mustard seed. It
ends with the ends of the earth being touched with the Gospel. It ends gloriously—with the return of our
King. Our mission is to first become
disciples of Jesus Christ ourselves. This
starts with a genuine, personal belief in the Gospel—the message of the cross. A life time of good works means nothing
without saving faith in Jesus Christ. We
believe that abundant life begins with the Gospel, and continues—a lifetime—in
the Gospel. As a church, we will strive
to center our individual lives around the Gospel. The Gospel informs us of who God is, of who
we are in Christ, and of what we are to do in this world.
Keeping the main thing central
The
Church of Jesus Christ is called to do many good works (Ephesians 2:10). However, the Church is called to be
steadfastly committed to one ultimate task—The Great Commission of Christ. In an age of spiritual ambiguity and
confusion concerning the primary task of the church, Mustard Seed will stay
committed. At Mustard Seed, we will
never confuse the penultimate things for the ultimate thing. The Great Commission as found in Matthew
28:18-20, states:
And Jesus came and said to them, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV)
Queens, New York City
As a church plant,
we are guaranteed success if we stay true to the Great Commission. Verse 20 ends with Christ’s promise for His
followers who will obey in working on the task: “And behold, I am with you
always, to the end of the age.” With an
intention of obeying the Great Commission, we will plant our church in Queens,
New York City. God is bringing the
nations to New York City, and we are picking the most diverse county of New
York City’s 5 counties. According to one
source, Queens “…is the most diverse place in the world, with approximately 138
different languages spoken and about 46% of residents born outside of the
United States, collectively representing over 100 different nations.” [1] In terms of sheer size, Queens is huge. With 2.3 million people, it is the second
most populous borough in New York City.
In fact, “Were each New York City borough an independent city, Brooklyn
and Queens would be the country's third and fourth largest cities,
respectively, after Los Angeles and Chicago.”[2] The nations have gathered. They are united (to some degree) by one
language: English. We are living in an
exciting church era. We are living in an
exciting city. This borough is very strategic
for Great Commission work.
What’s in a name?
What better name for a church
than an object Jesus likened the Church to?
The Church is the “kingdom of heaven.”
Mustard Seed Church gets its name from Jesus’ parable of the kingdom in
Matthew 13:31-32:
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is
like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the
smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden
plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in
its branches.” (ESV)
In
a city like New York (with barely a 3% evangelical presence), our church plant will
outwardly look insignificant and small—just like a mustard seed. And that’s exactly the point! If anything
eternally significant occurs, all the glory will belong to God! Just like a mustard seed, outside of God’s
providential and gracious hand, we will never grow into anything. However, since we are going forth in
obedience, we are confident of making an eternally mammoth impact.
1 comment:
wow, so awesome! praise God!
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