Letter from Sean Lucas February 9, 2017

February 9, 2017 My Dear Friends: I’m writing you this morning from Christ Presbyterian Church, Oakland, Tennessee. We are meeting here for presbytery. It really is amazing to see how God has raised up this congregation with its new building in the country (with its dove field in the back ten acres)! What a beautiful facility and gracious people in this new church! And of course, the church is pastored by our own John Sartelle, who has done an amazing job as God has used him to grow another congregation.

But sitting here reminds me once again about how important church planting is. Church planting is the best means of evangelism and it is really a Presbyterian way of doing this because we believe not only in individual conversion, but community discipleship and covenantal relationship. In other words, not only do individual men and women need to come to faith in Jesus, but they need to be part of a congregation that will point them to Jesus again and again and that will form them spiritually.

Another thing that being here in Oakland reminds me of is that we need churches in all sorts of places, not only downtown or midtown but in Henderson and Fayette Counties too. We need churches in north Memphis and south Memphis, Whitehaven and Southaven and many other places. Sometimes in our zeal for urban church planting we might forget that we need churches in the country too.

We believe in church planting. Ed Norton and I serve on the executive committee of the Midsouth Church Planting Network. Since the network started in 2013, we have been involved with five church plants (Fayetteville, two in Little Rock, Jonesboro, Arkansas; Lafayette, Louisiana). We are hopeful to see churches planted on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, in Jackson, and especially in Memphis. As you know, my long-term dream and vision is to see a strong Memphis presbytery. We currently have twelve churches in Memphis, west Tennessee, and the three counties that boarder Memphis; it would be a beautiful thing to see twenty churches by 2025, which means we need to be involved with eight church plants in our area over the next eight years.

Making new people and a new Memphis requires new churches. I’m so glad for the part that we’ve had in Oakland; I’m excited to see how God will lead us in the days ahead.

In the grip of God’s grace,