Reflections on Church Planting – Part 5
This series of seven reflections were shared by Josh Cockayne at the Plant Course 2022, hosted at St George’s Leeds.
“So [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.”
This is one of my favourite passages about church planting. Unlike earlier passages in Acts, in which thousands are added to their number, I quite like the modest addition that we are told join with Paul from Athens. It feels like a realistic insight into what church planting is like on the ground.
1. We can’t always judge leadership on immediate outcomes
The conclusion of Paul’s mission to Athens (v32):
(i) some scoffed
(ii) others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
(iii) some of them joined him
If you’re going to plant a Church, then I reckon these are three sensible options of what you can expect from people you engage with. Scoffing, intrigue and a few people joining in. But, in spite of what might be seen as a fairly underwhelming response, there is fruit that isn’t immediately apparent; traditionally, it’s said that Dionysius, the person who joins Paul here, goes on to be one of the first Greek Orthodox Bishops planting one of the biggest movements in the history of the Church.
A former bishop of mine used to say to the curates in the diocese regularly: “God in his great mercy, never allows us to see the extent of the good that we do.” There are many seeds that are planted which we will never hear the results of, and those that we are given the privilege to harvest are most probably the work of much investment and planting that we had nothing to do with.
“What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.”
Leadership cannot always be quantified by numbers and statistics; it’s not our job to build the Church, it’s our job to partner with God in building his Church.
2. Leaders are where people gather
After meeting with the local “devout” people of Athens, it tells us in v17 that Paul headed for the marketplace. Perhaps when we hear “marketplace” we think of Kirkstall market, and buckets full of cheap fruit and veg, fish on ice and stalls selling knock-off superhero merchandise. The marketplace in Ancient Athens (the ‘Agora’) is so much more than a place to buy your apples from. The Agora is literally the gathering place of the city, we might call it the “third space”; it isn’t work, it isn’t home, this is where you go to relax, to meet people, to hang out. People would gather at the agora to buy and sell commodities, do sports and arts but it was also a place of discussion, where people would engage with topics of philosophy, politics, current events, and the divine.
Importantly, the agora is also a place where street philosophers were as normal as buskers - so this is a social hub of a community but a place where there was permission to share and permission to think about big topics in life. In a certain sense, then, Paul has permission to present his ideas. He is not imposing himself on the Athenians, he is not interrupting their weekly shop to tell them about Jesus, he is speaking into a place where ideas are freely exchanged. In other words, Paul shows a real gift for discernment: He knows the city well enough to know where it is appropriate for him to preach and speak.
3. Leaders have their eyes open to what God is doing.
Paul spends time debating with the philosophers of his time and tries to show them how the resurrection of Jesus Christ challenges many of their preconceptions. There is clearly plenty that Paul disagrees with in this contact - but is also not afraid to see the ways in which these people value and uphold truth within their own culture. God is already at work in this culture. The Athenians have a sense of religiousness; they look beyond themselves to the worship of many Gods: their statues declare that the “unknown God” is to be worshipped, their poetry declares that we are children of the gods.
Paul doesn’t start with his points of disagreement—he starts with what they have in common. Tim Keller puts it like this:
“Contextualized gospel ministry should affirm the beliefs of the culture wherever it can be done with integrity”
I have been building relationships with many different businesses in the city and hearing how we can support their work - one thing that has struck me is how much God is already at work in the city. A businessman recently said to me: “When I’m having a hard day, sometimes I make myself a cup of tea and say the Lord’s prayer” … Another person told me about a family member who struggled to open up emotionally but confided in a member of the clergy because of who and what they represented. God is at work in our context way more than we often acknowledge.
The novelist David Foster Wallace wrote, “Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.” Our culture is full of worship to unknown gods, we are surrounded by people who are deeply spiritual even if they do not attend our services. Leadership is aware of where this ministry is already ongoing and goes to join in, and aims to make known the God of Jesus Christ in these places.
Joshua Cockayne
Joshua is the Team Leader at Holy Trinity Boar Lane: a Church with a midweek ministry to love and serve workers in the heart of the city. He is also an honorary lecturer in the School of Divinity at the University of St Andrews and a tutor at Westminster Theological College. He previously led the G2 Central church plant in York from 2016–2017.
