so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Ephesians 3:10-11
Things have been busy at St. Charles Campus these days to say the least. Church planting is not for the faint of heart and there seems to be an endless list of things to get done and accomplish so that our church plant is healthy and thriving. As exciting as church planting is, it’s equally exhausting and demanding. So why do it?
There are probably thousands of answers we could give for why church planting is worth it but for the sake of brevity I want to draw our attention to one. When Paul writes to the church at Ephesus he tells them that one of the primary purposes of the church is to display the wisdom of God through a new and redeemed humanity. The original language of this text informs us that the “manifold wisdom” of God is a “many colored” wisdom that conjures the picture of a beautiful bouquet of flowers. A bouquet of followers of Jesus that are Jewish, Gentile, rich, poor, young, old, urban, rural, introverted, extroverted, and yes, even Cubs fans.
Every square inch of the world demands different churches made up of different peoples to reach different varieties of lostness. As St. Charles Campus becomes New City Church we are asking ourselves the question, “How do we display the manifold wisdom of God in Frenchtown, St. Charles City, eastern parts of our county, and the St. Louis Metro?” Displaying the wisdom of God is a radical pursuit, it denies the wisdom of the world in favor of the suffering servant Jesus who died a criminal’s death on a Roman cross. This wisdom loves our enemies, forgives those who trespass against us, pursues those who others have written off, and doesn’t rest until gospel doctrine has given birth to gospel culture.
Please pray for New City Church, that we would have the courage and grit to not rest until we are the bouquet God desires us to be.