bob roberts

I enjoyed lunch today with Bob Roberts, pastor of Northwood Church in North Richland Hills Texas, and author of the books "Transformation" and "Glocalization". Bob's church has planted over 100 churches around the world and actively plants dozens of churches a year. His ministry and global vision is a refreshing and invigorating model for the future of missional churches. He was in Oklahoma City to help cast a vision for "Vision 360", which is a growing movement of like-minded pastors and businessmen around the country who are joining together for the purpose of planting churches worldwide. Bob is a fellow Southern Baptist who sees beyond the "Baptist Bubble" into global Kingdom work and understands the importance of not just planting churches, but planting Kingdom minded churches. There are few people in the world who know more about church planting than Bob Roberts. Bob and I agreed that we need to get together more often. I will look forward to our continued friendship. Here are a few things that stood out for me in our conversation:

1. There is no such thing as a "church planting movement". There is a Jesus movement that results in church planting.

2. If your church plants just 3 churches a year, it is one of the top church planting churches in the U.S.

3. The Chinese church has much to teach the American church about church planting and the spread of the gospel. There is no church growth movement in America. It is happening in China.

4. It is essential that a church become a "Kingdom" church- that is to say a church that plants churches in other cultures.

5. It is more important for a church to operate out of a model where all cultures and ethnic groups build something together around the same vision and values than it is to have a "multi-cultural" church. We should not be defined by our differences.

6. To try to "redefine" the church is a waste of time. The identity of the ethos of the church is secondary to the gospel. Regardless of what "kind" of church it is, the crucial issue is how disciples are made and what kind of vision you have for the Kingdom. Just stick to the basics of disciple-making and Kingdom growth and don't obsess over style.

7. One of the keys to reaching the Muslim world for Christ will be Palestinian Christians. When you actually go to the Middle East and you meet Arab believers and Muslims, you can see that Christianity will one day spring out of that land as it did 2000 years ago- but in a much different way.

8. When individual churches target particular people groups around the world, there is much more buy in and long term effect.

9. The message of the gospel has such power, it will overcome whatever stumbling blogs God's people tend to put in front of it.

10. Salvation belongs to the Lord. It does not come about by our manipulation or tactics. It comes about by His grace as a result of our faithfulness and obedience.

To all of this I can only say, "Amen!"