Church Now

by Mark Hoeffner

Early this morning as Janell and I sat in bed sipping coffee and reading our devotional, our daughter, Mary Ellen, stumbled sleepily into our room and snuggled between us. As we enjoyed those quiet moments together, I was struck by my daughter’s many features that resemble ours. She has my hair and eye color, chin and nose. She has Janell’s hips, shoulders, crooked toe and, according to Janell, her brilliance.

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 Mary Ellen were a clone of one of us. She is fearfully, wonderfully and uniquely made by the hand of Almighty God. It is a marvel that God would use Janell and me to create this next-generation child.

Watching her laying there in her PJs, I was thankful for the physical, emotional, relational and spiritual health God has given to our 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 that it reproduces 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. Can you see what are the features of a healthy “Church Now”? Disciplemaking, 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.