The D.O.C. - Church plant plan for Downtown Outreach
Hello everyone,
I am excited about what God wants to do in downtown St. Petersburg. Rick Brown and his family, who attend Calvary Chapel, have very generously offered to let us use a room in Remax Realty (just across the street from Baywalk) to begin having meetings for the Downtown Outreach Church. I am not certain yet as to what Friday night we will kick it off, but I will keep you posted.
I am going to need some help moving some stuff to prepare the room, and I'll let everyone know when that happens. In the meantime, I wanted to share with you a copy of the original vision document that I shared with the pastors at Calvary Chapel several months ago, in order for you to get a better idea of the vision I have for the D.O.C. Obviously, some of the things you'll see mentioned in the document will be things that have already taken place.
A Church plant plan for Downtown Outreach Church
Name – The D.O.C. (Downtown Outreach Church)
Theme Verse – Matthew 9:12-13 “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Overall Vision – God has shared with me His heart for the next generation. Specifically, it is burning in my heart to reach the teenagers that hang out downtown in South Straub Park on any given Friday or Saturday night at an artificial rock structure called “The Rock” across the street from the Fine Arts Museum.
I have been leading Team Hope’s street evangelism team down there for the past 4 years. When we arrive downtown, I split the team up into groups to cover the whole downtown area, but I’ve been leading my group to the rock for most of the past few years. We have opened air preached, passed out literature, and shared the gospel with just about every young person there. We’ve experienced a lot of hardness of heart and a lot of hatred, yet at the same time a lot of love, good reception, and respect from those who’ve witnessed the harsh treatment toward us and our loving response.
Recently, I’ve been spending my time talking to only 2 or 3 young people a night for about 45 minutes to an hour each person. I have found that most of even the hardest hearts seem to melt when they’re away from the group. We’ve seen a handful of young people get saved, but I’ve found that many more have received the message of salvation that we bring with interest and desire to follow Jesus, but fear being ostracized by their friends. They are in the valley of decision and currently counting the cost of following Jesus. How exciting! We’ve already plowed the soil of these young people’s hardened hearts and planted the gospel seed for 4 years, and I believe that The Word implanted, which is able to save their souls, is about to come to fruition and that there is about to be a mighty harvest. I believe that the new wine about to be poured into this next generation calls for a new wineskin, a weekly outreach church service for this upcoming generation. I am not presuming that God wants me to plant an independent church at this time, so The DOC would be considered an outreach church service ministry arm of Calvary Chapel, St. Petersburg.
I have noticed at Calvary Chapel a growing number of singles and married couples in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s who are mature believers, standing on their own 2 feet spiritually speaking. They have daily time with the Lord, serve, tithe, have their own favorite Bible teachers that they listen to on their ipods, and understand that building the Kingdom of God requires sacrifice. I also see many of these people having music, administrative, leadership, mercy and other spiritual gifts that perhaps could be tapped more for the furtherance of God’s kingdom, if they were given the opportunity to avail them more in active ministry. I would ask the people that I’m speaking of, who believe they’re called to this work, to commit to making the D.O.C. their church service home for a 1 year commitment. Of course, other services could be attended, but those called would make this service their priority in church attendance. This length of commitment is not burdensome, and if one were to feel that God were not leading them to continue on with the meetings after the committed time, then they could move on with gratitude for helping us get started.
The criteria for the commitment would include these aspects:
- Regular attendance on Friday nights (the tentatively planned regular service would be Fri. night @ 7pm)
- Serve in some capacity at the church service. The worship band, the discipleship groups, small groups, and every other necessary ministry would need men and women to take the helm and steer them.
- Tithe at the D.O.C. This would allow the church service to be self sufficient. If only 20- 30 people committed to tithe at the D.O.C. it would, in my estimation, cover the costs of a facility rental and other costs of a church in its infant stage.
- Church members would be strongly encouraged to be active in some sort of outreach ministry in the geographical area of downtown St. Pete. This could include many facets of ministry in the downtown area such as homeless feeding and outreach, prayer station outreach, street evangelism, caring for the elderly downtown, and youth outreach. It is clear that the D.O.C. vision encompasses more than reaching the young people, however that is the aspect that I will be laser focusing my efforts on as God anoints other leaders to head up the other facets of ministry. My plan for reaching the young people is to set up a mentoring ministry. As mentioned earlier, many of them melt when peeled away from the group setting. I would set up a program where very simply, the mature believers attending the D.O.C. would invite 1 to 3 of these young people into their lives to spend time together. Have meals together, invite them to family functions, teach them how to have time with God, teach them how to serve, share heart to heart with them, and just live out the Christian life in front of them. Basically, the youth would have someone to hold their hand through the first steps of faith as a new believer.
What would the church look like?
The church service would function as a home church for the people who come. What constitutes a church? You can watch a church service on the internet, or listen to sermons online, but is that being a part of a church as defined scripturally? No it is not. The D.O.C. would need to provide the biblical elements that are called for in a local body of believers. The church must provide regular spiritual food to feed God’s sheep. The D.O.C. would provide expository teaching through entire books of the Bible, in order to cover the full counsel of God’s Word, except when leadership feels a topical message is in order and is prompted by God’s Spirit. I would do all the teaching in the beginning, but would pray for another teacher to be raised up to share the responsibility and allow for me to plan various outreach events. I also envision the church embracing passionate worship, with a very lively style of music that will spring from the heart of young people as they grow in the grace of our Savior.
A church must also practice the sacraments ordained by the Lord Jesus, namely baptism and communion. The D.O.C. would practice both sacraments. Tentatively, communion would be biweekly, and baptism when needed.
A church must also provide opportunities to fellowship and opportunities to serve. Lord willing, fellowship opportunities will be provided as small groups develop. Small groups provide the best opportunity for real, more intimate fellowship to occur. They are also the best biblical way to see people grow, because they sharpen one another as they get involved in each other’s lives. Opportunities for service will abound at the D.O.C. because if someone doesn’t take responsibility to serve in a particular ministry, the ministry will not exist.
Lastly, a church must provide biblical counseling and discipline first for those who desire godly counsel in order to obey God in every situation that life brings, and secondly for those who claim the name of Christ, but are living in open and blatant sin. This discipline must be provided by clear leadership and is administered for the benefit of the recipient and must be brought in love. I realize that this is not a summative list of all the functions of a church body, but encompasses my current understanding, and I believe God the Holy Spirit, will lead me into further truth in this area as the plan for the D.O.C. is carried out and the will for the church is revealed.
As far as physical appearance is concerned, this church would be geared to reach the next generation. As such, the meeting place would probably look more like a concert hall then a traditional church building. Most of the upcoming generation have absolutely no connection with anything in Christendom, yet have a strong connection with music and concerts. Why not make them feel comfortable in an atmosphere they know, while bringing uncompromising truth to them and exalting Christ as their only hope for salvation?
A Plan of Action for Starting Meetings Downtown
Option #1 (Preferred Option) Pray over all options
An announcement could be made for a downtown church plant interest meeting at Calvary Chapel for both a Saturday night and a Sunday morning. At those meetings I could present my vision with some photos and gauge interest. I could also present the 1 year commitment idea and ask people to pray about whether the Lord is calling them or not to be a part of this church plant. I want people to be called of God, not talked into it, because if I talk them into it, I’ve got to keep talking them into it, but if God calls them, then the suffering and trials are between them and God. A follow up meeting could be scheduled a month later, at which time I could see who really feels called to this work. Then I could ask those who do feel called to write their names on a commitment sheet. This would not be viewed as some binding contract, but would allow me to see who really has a heart for the vision that I believe the Lord gave me. I would then begin printing up invite cards for those who plan on attending to invite people downtown.
