Then the days came about seven years ago when the vision for The Village began to form in my heart and my soul. I was praying deeply. God and I were like this. You can ask my family. I got a bit obsessed. I couldn’t talk about much else. I dreamed of a progressive church where everyone is welcome. We would be committed to outreach and mission in our community. I dreamed of a church where the language in our worship would be simple and not weighed down by churchy insider language. The atmosphere for our worship would be comfortable and welcoming, with music that sounds more like what you listen to on the radio rather than a bunch of 18th century cathedral music. (Nothing against organ music but there are plenty of churches out there with beautiful organs, so we would offer an alternative.)
The time came for me to share my dream with the powers that be in the United Methodist Church. I wrote a proposal for The Village Church. God and I knew I had a good plan; it was bathed in prayer. I felt called to plant this church. I remember telling people that everything in my life had prepared me for this work. I was born to plant this church. It was exhilarating.
So, I had to be assessed by a man named Jim Griffith. He is the national guru for church planting in the United States. Kurt went with me to that assessment. I had to turn in all this paperwork to Jim about my vision and my call. In this assessment meeting he asked me hard questions. He pushed me and quite frankly, I choked. I came out of the meeting fearful that I had failed the assessment. I remember talking to my coach Paul Nixon. Paul said, “What are you going to do if they tell you no?” Because a positive assessment was crucial for getting approval to plant the church. I thought for a moment and I said to Paul, “ I’m going to have to plant this church anyway.” I was that sure that God was calling me to plant The Village. Nothing was going to stop me. Paul laughed and said, “Well there is something to be said for clarity.” Thankfully I passed the assessment (with Jim’s highest level grade Kurt adds).
But then came the request for funding. I submitted a grant proposal to the West Ohio Conference, asking for funding for The Village, and they said, “no.” The reason? Because we did not have a mother church. You see, the preferred model for church planting in the conference was, (and probably still is), to have a mother church. But in Toledo there was no existing church that wanted to help launch The Village. So I was stuck.
The institution said, “no” to The Village, but I kept hearing God saying “Yes” to me. I decided to listen to God and that is how we are here today. I persevered. God and I found a way. We found a partnership with the United Church of Christ and eventually the United Methodists got on board too, but that is a story for another day.
The point of my story is this: there are times when human beings will say to us “no”, but God says “yes.” Human forces are strong. The United Methodist Church is a powerful institution in my life. I had been a pastor for 18 years when the church said “no” to me. I could easily have second guessed myself and decided it was not the right time to plant The Village. I could have decided I was misguided. Surely these smart people in the church that I had given my life to, could not be wrong. Who I am to question the church?
But there was a higher power at work. Yes, a higher power than the United Methodist Church. That power was God. God had prepared me my entire life to be a church planter. That church had trained me. But God had given me the vision and the perseverance to move forward. And so we moved forward.
So, How was I able to do it? Through PRAYER. Lots and lots of prayer. I put my trust in God. My prayer life was never deeper than during that time period when I was preparing to launch The Village.
This brings me to today’s scripture about a man named Nehemiah (Nehemiah 2:11-20 from The Message paraphrase for those following along from afar). Nehemiah also had a calling. As I mentioned last week, he was living comfortably in Susa, a city in Babylon. He was working for the king. The Jews were living in exile in Babylon but for some, like Nehemiah, exile had become the new normal. They had been away from their homeland of Judah for 40 years. That’s a whole generation. Nehemiah could have remained comfortable in Susa.
But he did not. Because his brother traveled to Jerusalem and came and told Nehemiah that their people were living in terrible conditions. The wall around Jerusalem, a wall which gave safety to the people, was in ruins. Nehemiah got permission from the King to go to travel to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall.
He traveled to Jerusalem. In today’s scripture we read as he surveys the damage to the wall. He does his investigation under the cover of darkness. Then, in the light of day, he comes and tells the leaders of his people: “Face it: we’re in a bad way here. Jerusalem is a wreck; its gates are burned up. Come—let’s build the wall of Jerusalem and not live with this disgrace any longer.” He tells them how God was supporting him and how the king was backing him up.
They said, “We’re with you. Let’s get started.” They rolled up their sleeves, ready for the good work.Ah, not so fast. Some of the local leaders do not like Nehemiah waltzing in and trying to take over. They are part of the institutional hierarchy.
The scripture says: “When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they laughed at Nehemiah, mocking, “Ha! What do you think you’re doing? Do you think you can cross the king?”
He didn’t even bother to tell them about the King’s permission, he went right to God. He shot back, “The God-of-Heaven will make sure we succeed. We’re God’s servants and we’re going to work, rebuilding. You can keep your nose out of it. You get no say in this—Jerusalem’s none of your business!
You see, Nehemiah is not concerned with what the local officials have to say. He answers to a higher power. God calls him to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and that is exactly what he does. He calls together the people and they rebuild the entire wall around the city. It is a massive project. I am sure there are times when they get discouraged. But they have God on their side, they have strength. The local officials think they cannot do it, but the Jews persevere. They put their trust in God. In the end, the wall is fortified and their city is made strong once again and safe again.
How are they able to do it? Because Nehemiah prayed and listened to God and because the people listened to God and they worked together to achieve a goal.
My friends at the Village Church we are being called to work together toward a common future too. Last week I reported to you that the United Church of Christ approved us to charter as a congregation. On Monday I went and met with a district committee of the United Methodist Church asking for their approval and they were hesitant. While they value the good ministry that we are doing they are concerned about our small numbers of people and money. These are institutional fears getting the best of God’s people. The committee, rather than saying “yes” to us and to our vision to be a chartered church, decided to “table” our request. They sent our request up the chain of command to some officials in the conference.
I am disappointed with their decision, but not shocked. Often, institutional leaders get caught up in numbers, don’t they? I wish they had been willing to take a risk with us, and put their trust in God. But sadly they are not.
Friends, we are at a crossroad. It’s true that we are small. Our numbers of people, and our financial resources may be small, but we have a big vision. I believe God still has wonderful ministry in store for us, if we will put our trust in God.
There are people here whose lives have been transformed because of this congregation, people who tell me they are alive today because they found this church. There are many more people out there who need a church like the Village church. You can’t put a price tag on that. But there are more people out there who need God and who need this church. We need to find them. We need to pray that they find us. A church needs to grow in order to be healthy. As long as there are more people out there who need the love of God in their lives, our work is not done. We need to build a strong future, a strong future together.
So I am going to ask you to join me in a season of prayer for our church. Pray that we will find the people who need a church home like this. They are out there, and we need to find them. This church is too amazing to keep it to ourselves, that wouldn’t be fair.
And I ask you to pray that we will have the financial resources necessary to carry on the great ministry that we are called to do. We have the money. God has given the money to each of us. We just need to give it back to God through this congregation.
Nehemiah put his trust in God. He rebuilt the wall, even though the local authorities thought he could never do it. I put my trust in God when I set out to plant this church even though some local authorities said I could not do it. Here we are. Now, it is time for us to move forward together.
I am going to ask all of you to take home a prayer card. Put it somewhere where you will see it every day. Pray for the people who need The Village for their church home. Pray that we will have the financial resources to live out our mission. Ask God to bless our life together.
Let us pray: God, Thank you for The Village Church. Lead us to the people in our community who need The Village Church and who need you. Give us generous hearts so we will have the necessary resources to live out our mission. Bless our life together. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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