Church Now

By Dave Cetti, Director of Church Now

Some time ago, a friend described to me an early, quiet morning he had with his family.

As he and his wife sat in bed sipping coffee and reading their devotional, their daughter stumbled sleepily into the room and snuggled between them. As they enjoyed the quiet moment together, he was struck by his daughter’s many features that resemble theirs. She has his hair and eye color, chin and nose. She has her mother’s hips, shoulders, crooked toe and, according to his wife, her brilliance.

He declared, “My beautiful little girl has so many of her parents’ characteristics. Yet she is neither of us. The attributes we passed to her simply made her a unique individual, not another one of us.”

When you stop and think about it, it would be a tragedy if his daughter were a clone of only one of them. She is fearfully, wonderfully and uniquely made by the hand of Almighty God. It is a marvel that God would create this next-generation child.

As he observed her, he was thankful for the physical, emotional, relational and spiritual health God has given to his marriage that has become the foundation for this little ten-year-old to build her life upon.

This is what God wants to see in His Church as well: a mother church reaching a level of physical, emotional, relational and spiritual health then reproducing a next generation church that stands on the foundation of the parent and grows from there.

I believe God wants mother churches to say, “That’s our daughter church. She has many of our same features, yet will bring glory to God in her own unique way! Can you see what the features of a healthy ‘Church Now’ are? Disciple-making, prayer, worship and an insatiable desire to reproduce the next generation.”

It is my privilege to serve the “Church Now” side of CB Northwest. I’m reminded of this every time we help a “Church Now” achieve a high level of health, enabling them to reproduce a “Church Next” with a strong foundation to build their ministry upon.