DRAFT: Opportunities for ministry and church planting at Redeemer Presbyterian in Indianapolis

Introduction

I’ve been wanting to share a story with you, I haven’t quite found a place for it yet, though I think it fits this morning. This is the first time I’ve shared this story publicly so I’m asking in trust that you hold it gentle and kindly for me.

Summer of 2022. Our family knew we had been called to the Near Westside for the location of this church plant. You might remember how much of an ordeal that it was for us to find a home in the neighborhood, it took over 8 months. This is right in the middle of that search.

We knew that our neighborhood has a great deal of skepticism toward outsiders, especially White outsiders. We knew that if we started ministry before we lived in the neighborhood that it would be perceived poorly by community residents. So this was a lengthy, painful season of waiting on our part.

I had been getting to know one of the leaders in the Black community, Jason, and as our relationship grew he invited me in to a big neighborhood party that was happening one weekend. I felt honored by the invitation.

So, day of, we drive up to Belmont Beach as a family, where the party is happening. And as we get close to the park, I realize that in this big massive event, we will be the only White people in attendance. Almost out of nowhere, all of these fears and anxieties hit me. What if we’re viewed as intruding on this space? We don’t live here, is this party even for us? Will we be viewed as outsiders?

I was nauseous. I froze. It was an experience unlike any I’d had before. And so I looked at Neva, who was driving the van, and I said, “I can’t do it. I want to leave.” And we turned around and left. We actually came to an event that was happening here at Redeemer at the same time, because it was much more comfortable for us to do so.

Friends, I was crushed by shame and a sense of failure for so long. It has taken me nearly two years to be able to share this story publicly. Over and over again I rehearsed my shaming thoughts to myself: Everyone told me I was cut out for cross-cultural ministry, and I can’t even do this thing? Everyone is counting on us to plant a church, and I can’t even go to a party? How can I possibly lead others into the challenges of cross-cultural work when I can’t even accept this invitation.

I was ashamed. I felt like a coward. A fraud. I didn’t want to tell anybody here. I think Charles was the only person I told.

I had an intercultural intelligence coach at the time, Barbara, just an amazing woman, who helped me process my shame. She said to me, Ben, first, you need to go to Jason and humbly ask for his forgiveness. Because in that invitation he gave you a gift and you rejected it. You need to practice repentance.

And then she told me this, “And second, I need you to get back up and try again. You’re not doing this ministry because you’re gifted, though you are, because you have experience, though you do; you’re doing it because God has called you to it for the sake of the church. And part of accepting this calling is going to be learning to say you’re sorry, learning to ask for his help, and in all gentleness and humility, learning how to keep going.”

That was, as you can imagine, a transformative experience for me. I have held Barbara’s words close to my chest for two years now.

Make every effort, Paul said. Here’s what is behind Paul’s exhortation. We are not going to simply drift into the hard things of the Christian life, whether personally, or corporately as a church. And so we need to make every effort, but not because we are talented rock stars, not because we are guaranteed success, but because Christ has called us to the work so that we might grow up in unity and maturity into his fullness.

So yes, make every effort. But not out of pride or strength, not out of guilt or for an agenda, but out of a deep dependence on grace, and a desire to grow up into the fullness of Christ.

Let’s just walk through this text together now and draw some conclusions together.

Making Every Effort

Paul exhorts us to keep every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit. John Chrysostom, a 4th century theologian, gave a wonderful sermon on this text, and he had a really powerful comment on this, it’s in your worship guide. He said,

What is this “unity of Spirit?” To this end was the Spirit given, that He might unite those who are separated by race and by different manners; for old and young, rich and poor, child and youth, woman and man, and every soul become in a manner one, and more entirely so than if there were one body.

Now then, what impairs this bond? Love of money, passion for power, for glory, and the like, loosens them, and severs them asunder.

We’ve said the last two weeks that it is God’s plan to unite all things in Christ and display this plan through the unity of the church. As the boundaries of the old world are torn down and his people begin to live as residents of the new, we display his wisdom, his plan, to unite all things.

And the Spirit is given to us to accomplish this work. It’s not possible without the Spirit. And even with the Spirit, it requires great effort from us. Great effort.

Last week we mentioned the sins of racial and class division that the Church has been complicit in. Two weeks ago we saw how the divisions between Jew and Gentiles were both theological and sociological. God address both. We still need to address both.

So it’s not just that the Church is complicit in ongoing division. It’s also the way of the world. Here’s just a couple softballs for us that I think describe Indianapolis pretty well. In saying these things, for the moment, I’m not evaluating whether they are good or bad. I’m just stating facts.

First, we tend to participate in institutions not because of our proximity to them but based on our wants and cultural affinities. For example, school choice in our city, I still don’t get it. So complicated. But many people in our city do not simply attend the neighborhood school. We choose what we think is best for our kids and families, even if its all the way across the city. Again, not good or bad, that’s the system we’ve been given.

Similarly, our church choice. I know of very few neighborhood churches. Most of our churches are set up to attract based on a particular style, culture, or ministry focus. Again, not good or bad, that’s just the religious mood of the city.

Second, another reality of our city. There is a measurement known as the dissimilarity index which measures the distance between different racial groups in any given city. The higher the number, the more segregated a city is. Depending on the ranking you look at, Indianapolis is somewhere between the 15th and 25th most segregated city in the country. That just confirms what many of us know by experience. Our city, both on racial and class lines, remains very segregated.

Here’s my point. If we live our lives simply going with the flow, we’re not going to drift into unity but into further separation. It will take an intentionality on our part, relying on the Spirits work, to draw us toward people who are very different from us. Hold this thought for a minute. I’ll come back to it.

Verse 2 is really the how of verse 3. How do we maintain the unity of the Spirit? Gentleness, humility, patience, bearing with one another in love. Two weeks ago, we observed that the characteristics of a people who share redemption in Christ ought to be? Gentleness, humility, tenderness. This is Paul completing that thought for us.

What kind of attitude is this? It’s an attitude that puts others first. It seeks the good of others ahead of our own. It’s an attitude that flows so beautifully out of the gospel’s work in our heart; for Jesus himself came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for us.

What does it look like for you to be humble? Where do you struggle to be gentle? To bear with others?

Before we moved here to Indy, I considered myself a very compassionate and understanding person, including toward people very different from me. And then we moved into the city from the suburbs, and I began living next to all kinds of people I’d never lived next to before. I was devastated by how many sinful judgements and stereotypes emerged out of my heart; how my natural inclination was to move away from difference rather than toward.

I think often we’re unaware of what’s hard for us, where we might be complicit in disunity, because we’ve just always chosen what is comfortable for us. Once again, without intentionality, we are never going to discover those places in our heart where Jesus still intends to work grace and transformation.

Let’s take this a step further. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul used very similar language about spiritual gifts and the body of believers. And there he said that we must give greater honor to the parts that lack it in order to avoid division and so all might have equal concern for the other. In other words, as we put the needs of others ahead of our own, we ought to be especially sensitive to those who are most neglected among the body.

So, we’ve said that, more often than not, racial minorities and the lower class are under represented here in our body. To that I think we could add the contribution of women, though that is an area I think we have grown tremendously with women’s shepherding team, deaconnesses, and so on.

Let me tie this up as we think about ways for Redeemer’s ministry, as well as the ministry of church planting, to grow. As we seek to grow our witness here at Redeemer, as well as growth in the work of church planting, this is an exhortation for us to take seriously.

How do we grow, with the Spirit’s help, in unity with those whom we have the most difference? How do we learn to bear in love with those whom we may not even know we yet struggle to love? How do we center the influence of those who hold little influence here?

Intentionality. Make every effort, Paul said. Not out of guilt, because we’re living into a social or political agenda. But because this is God’s design, and we want to grow up into that.

Truth and Love

Look at verses 4-6 and verse 15, we’re going to take these together. I don’t know about you, but sometimes it feels like I’m stuck between two choices. On the one hand, it feels like if I want to hold onto historic, Christian, orthodox teaching, that I have to become like, a real jerk, to do it. Unfortunately those who are loudest about doctrine can sometimes be the least kind people of all.

On the other hand, it seems that if I want to promote peace, unity, humility, that I need to join myself with those who want to tinker with core Christian doctrine, or even those who want to outright reject historic Christian beliefs.

But this passage really puts the kibosh on that way of thinking, doesn’t it? Look at verses 4-6 and how closely they’re tied to verse 2. Those who are growing in gentleness and humility are those who hold fast to one Lord, one faith, one baptism, this historic faith that has been passed down to us. There is a way in which this says then, if you think you need to fight for Christian doctrine, and you’re a complete jerk in doing so, you don’t really believe the doctrine you’re fighting for. It’s just an idea to you. Not a transformative reality.

And in another way, this challenges the strong current right now that says if you want to pursue unity you need to reject historic Christian doctrine, make the gospel less offensive. I was in LA last year, speaking with some other pastors, who were all caught up in some big church who had recently left their denomination in the city. I didn’t know the context, so I asked for more information. One pastor said, “Well, they left over progressive ideas.” I asked if it was the church or the denomination that became more progressive. Then another pastor spoke up and said, “It was the church. They embraced a number of progressive Christian ideas because that’s just what you have to do if you want to reach a city like LA.” No! That’s the exact opposite of what it takes to reach a city like LA! What are you reaching them with anyways if its not the gospel! What has Ephesians been showing us? Unless you know you’re someone who needs Christ’s saving mercy, unless you have the Spirit giving you the humility to love across difference, you’re never going to reach unity in human strength. Never. As soon as you start to mess with the gospel, you will create a narrow ideology that excludes those like you.

How do we grow in unity and invite others in to share in these riches of Christ? With all gentleness and humility we proclaim this historic gospel delivered to the saints for all ages: Jesus saves sinners.

So, it’s love and truth then. As the old saying goes, people don’t care what you know until they know how much you care. I think this is something that you all are exceptional at. Truly. So many of you, your families, your community groups, you’re loving people well. You’re babysitting. You’re wiping tears. You’re doing laundry and grocery runs. And this is not only true for those you love in this congregation, but also for your non-Christian neighbors or coworkers. I bring this up only to say, keep going. That’s ministry. That’s Jesus in you.

But, if you’re like me, then you might struggle in those relationships - especially with non-Christian friends - to share the truths of Jesus with them. Maybe, like me, you can recall moments where in your heart you knew you wanted to say something, to share Jesus, but you tensed up. Anyone? You felt anxious, your heart started racing, your hands got clammy. Just me?

Ok, so sometimes, you move forward and you share. Often, like me, doesn’t happen. Then what? You feel guilty. You shame yourself for being scared and timid. Right?

I want to suggest a different way for you to reframe these encounters. What if in these moments you’re not feeling tense and clammy first because of fear or anxiety? What if in those moments what you’re feeling is the energy of the Spirit in you as you begin to experience God’s desire for this person to come and be joined to him? What feels like fear might actually be the Spirit’s excitement that your body doesn’t know how to control, an excitement that this person might be brought into God’s uniting of all things in Jesus?

Here’s what I want you to remember next time you are with someone and you begin to feel a certain way about sharing Jesus with them. Yes, there may be fear in you, but what you’re also feeling is the Spirit’s desire to join. Like a magnet, your heart is feeling God’s intention to unite all things. Rather than dwelling on your fears, release yourself to the excitement of the Spirit. Let yourself overflow with the love you have for this person and the truth of Jesus.

Not fear, but the desire and excitement of the Spirit.

Growing up in Christ

Look at verses 7-13 and 16 together. I know some of this reads a bit clunky. Here’s the main point. In his victory over sin and death, as a generous and good kind, Jesus has poured out spiritual gifts for his people so that, in serving each other, we might become who we are supposed to be.

Allow me to draw out a couple things for us to think about.

First, in other places, like 1 Corinthians, Paul references a wide range of gifts given, gifts of service, leading, speaking, and so on. Here, Paul makes special mention of teaching gifts given to leaders in the church. However, such leaders are not singled out because they are more important. Instead, Paul is trying to show us what the purpose of leadership is. The purpose of leadership is not to do all of the work. The purpose of leadership is to equip others to grow into their gifts and work that the Lord has given them.

What does this mean? It means, first, that it is not the responsibility of the leaders at Redeemer to do all of the work of ministry for this church. We, leaders, can get this wrong when we take everything upon ourselves. But our church culture can get this wrong when we set it up as the expectation that leaders will do most of the work.

Now, all things in balance, right? It is a gift that many of our leaders, especially paid staff, are freed up in a special way to do work that most of you, with your jobs and such, could not commit to. And, I think we have a really wonderful and talented staff.

However, there are lots of ways we’d all love to see Redeemer grow. We’d love to see Redeemer grow in ministries of evangelism, of works of mercy, of our cross-cultural efforts so we might grow into diversity. We’d all love that.