1. Most importantly, God has promised that his kingdom will grow, that the gospel will grow.
If the results of our work in church planting were up to me- it would fail. We might be able to draw a crowd, get some emotional responses, and even see some financial or numerical success, but as far as seeing real kingdom growth, we couldn't do it. I have zero power in myself to make dead sinful hearts come to life so that that people repent of their sins and cling to Jesus, the only hope in this broken world. And that is why, I have zero confidence in myself to accomplish this work by myself.However… God has promised that he is at work to grow his kingdom and that He will work to regenerate hearts so that men, women and children from every tribe, tongue and nation will worship Jesus. This is the source of our boldness and our confidence. Jesus will build His church!
I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. -Jesus(Matthew 16:18 ESV)
2. The witness of history shows that the gospel really does grow.
The apostles moved forward with the gospel at the promise of Jesus. He said he would be with them and that was enough for them to move forward with boldness in proclaiming the gospel. Well, they also had the Holy Spirit living inside of them, and they had seen Jesus raised from the dead (both pretty good boldness boosters!). We have all of that and more. We also have the witness of history. The witness of the apostles and the work that God did through them and that he continued long after they were gone. We have 2,000 years of church history to look at in order to answer the question "Does the gospel really grow?" And the overwhelming answer is yes! There are seasons of slow growth, and even some of decline, refining and darkness throughout church history, but the overarching picture is one of amazing, unbelievable growth. The gospel really does transform hearts, lives, cultures, societies, people groups, and the whole of the world. The witness of history is so overwhelming to the power of the gospel and serves as evidence that Jesus' promise to build His church was true. Which also gives weight to who Jesus claimed to be and who the church has always confessed him to be: God in the flesh. If the consistent testimony of church history is that the gospel grows as it is faithfully proclaimed in the power of the Spirit, why should we think it would be any different today?3. Jesus has not yet returned.
This one may seem a bit odd. You may think, well, our confidence is that Jesus is returning, not that he has not yet returned. Well, I certainly have confidence that he is returning and that gives me great hope to persevere in faith. But, one of the driving forces for me to pursue church planting with confidence is that he has not yet returned, meaning, his work on earth through his church isn't complete yet.And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. -Jesus(Matthew 24:14 ESV)Jesus hasn't yet returned because the Father is not done drawing his people through the Spirit. So, we can be confident that God has people for himself that he will draw as the gospel of the kingdom, the message of the King and the salvation he offers, goes forth in all the world. This means we can walk forward boldly proclaiming the gospel and trusting in its power to seek and save the lost.
If you want to hear more about our heart for church planting listen to this sermon that I preached at New Life Presbyterian Church on May 25, 2014.
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