Decide to Support Kick Start 2 in 2012

People - Jones, SteveI recently had a young man take me out to a fancy restaurant and ask if he might marry my daughter. I recently had a search team ask if I might accept the position of National President of our Fellowship Movement. I recently had a builder ask me if I wanted to sign a contract so he might build my family a home in beautiful Elora, Ontario. Decisions. They direct the course of our lives. Big decisions change our lives. We make decisions and our decisions eventually make us.

I recently arrived in my role as your new National President. This transition has been huge. Decisions will be made to move our movement forward. Thank God that he goes before us to make the crooked paths straight. I would appreciate your prayer support.

In July I spent a week with 30 of our furloughing Fellowship International missionaries. I heard inspiring stories of their ministry initiatives and wonderful church-planting efforts. Church multiplication was a common theme in all I heard among our missionaries. I was very encouraged and thanked God over and over again for the sacrifice and passion our Fellowship International missionaries are exercising.

I then spent three weeks in Quebec upgrading my French at the University of Montreal. I can now conjugate the verb “être” in several different tenses. It’s yet to be determined whether I can use it in an intelligible sentence. I was able to visit four of our Fellowship French Churches. All of them are committed to church multiplication. Study after study shows that the most effective way to reach the spiritually lost across Canada and beyond is through the planting of local churches. 

Our churches in Rosemont (Montreal), Terrebonne Mascouche and Granby have planted 15 churches between them. I visited one of their plants, an “Operation Kick Start (2011)” church plant. Pastor Eric and Carole Lanthier officially kicked off their new church on Sunday, September 11, 2011. As I visited I sensed the enthusiasm as we spoke of reaching Québécois near the “plateau” of Montreal.

I hear of similar exciting stories elsewhere in our Fellowship Regions across Canada. My church family at Temple, Sarnia just completed a five year plan including a church plant. I don’t know of another occasion in recent history when our Fellowship has been planting more churches. However, we must double our efforts. The spiritual orphans all around us are counting on us to value highly church multiplication. In this case, it is truly a matter of life and spiritual death.

I call on our entire Fellowship family to support our church multiplication efforts. In this edition of Thrive we will introduce you to the Fellowship’s upcoming Kick Start 2—another faith-filled project to support our regions in planting more new churches. The Fellowship’s past has been all about planting churches. It is in our DNA as a movement. One of the greatest legacies we can leave future generations is more local churches.

Will you support our Kick Start 2 project? If you won’t, who will? Our own National Staff and Council are coming to National Convention in Toronto (November 7-9, 2011) with a financial pledge. I pray each of our pastors, local church leaders, treasurers and every Fellowship believer who fully understands the enormity and urgency of our task will support our Kick Start 2 project with your prayer, vision and finances.

In Luke 7:9 we read that Jesus was “amazed” by the faith of one man. Often we read in scripture how people marveled over Jesus’ miracles and teaching. How often do we read that Jesus was amazed? Jesus most often marveled over our unbelief or our great faith.

Great faith, like great strength, is most often revealed when it is easily exercised. When a weight-lifter struggles to lift a weight, it only reveals he was not as strong as we thought. When we struggle with our faith to accomplish a task, a dream, a vision or an annual project, it usually reveals that we have little faith. True, great faith should come easy. Our Fellowship family will need to exercise great faith in the years ahead to accomplish the great commission task.

Join with me in believing that our efforts to multiply churches in Canada and beyond will bring great glory to God. 

 


I am presently forming my “President’s Prayer Partner Team.” If you would like to join, you will receive a quarterly report with prayer requests. My only request is that you commit to pray for my family and me on a daily basis. Contact me at sjones@fellowship.ca in the next month if you would like to join this strategic team.