A Gospel Goodbye
Hi, my name is Paul Gray, and I am one of your new elders. I have the unique task of saying both hello and goodbye to you. My wife, Becca, and I have been attending the Village Church Fort Worth, now Redemption Story Church (RSC), since 2015, when we first moved to Fort Worth. I was approached about the elder process about a year and a half ago. COVID has certainly slowed the process considerably, but I have had the privilege of quietly participating with the elders for over a year. Around the same time that my elder process began, I was approached by one of our fellow members about a possible church plant. Nick Gray (no relation, though I would gladly claim him) and his wife Traci reached out to us about a call they felt to plant a church in the Fort Worth Fairmount area. I’ve known Nick for several years and have grown much from his discipleship. As the pandemic wore on, both the elder process and the church plant process progressed as well. As Becca and I considered and prayed, we felt that we should go with Nick and Traci to help plant Grace Church Fort Worth.
We approached the elders as to whether or not I should come on as an elder, knowing that we would shortly leave to help plant the new church. With Redemption Story Church’s blessing of Grace Church, the elders felt it was best for me to officially come on board, continue to serve here at RSC until Grace Church launches, and then be sent out as an elder to the new plant. This is in keeping with the biblical example we are given in Acts and the early church. At RSC, we have desired to be a multiplying church, which is in keeping with that conviction. We desire to see the gospel go forth bearing fruit in many places across our city, our nation, and our world.
But why plant a church? We live inside Fort Worth and have noticed that our neighbors have a strong sense of belonging within the neighborhood. Desiring to make the most of the other six days of the week for the sake of the gospel, we have seen the need to be involved in a local church. Our hope is that church planting would revive a zeal for evangelism, discipleship, and gospel community not only in the church plant but in the sending church as well.
Jesus calls us to go and make disciples. And he calls us to be fishers of men. I have been struck by how this puts the burden on us to go to the world, not simply call the world to us. There will always be an invitation for others to come and join us. But we want as few obstacles as possible in that invitation. Simple geographic proximity matters, especially in a culture that is as disconnected and as hungry for community as it is in our day. And local culture also matters. Even within our own city, there will be regional nuances about how the church can best live with gospel incarnation among the people. We want to be in the world, but not of it, living among the people with cultural context while faithfully pursuing gospel distinctiveness. This requires us to go. And church planting reminds us that we need to grow! For both the church plant and the sending church, we are reminded that a healthy church is growing. We don’t want to stagnate. And Jesus has called us, as the members of his body, to be the instruments through which he will send his gospel call. This requires not only evangelism but growth in sanctification of our members as we pursue discipleship inside nurturing and encouraging gospel community.
All of this is completely dependent on the Holy Spirit. It must be by his power and initiative. Our prayer is that through the pruning process of church planting, both the church plant and the sending church will be pushed deeper into dependence on the Holy Spirit to do what only he can do. Just as a biologic plant’s growth is stimulated by pruning, we pray the same for our churches in this process. For those who may be worried or concerned for the preservation of our church, I want to encourage you that Jesus’ concern for his church is infinitely greater than ours! He is sufficient for us. He has always sustained and always will. May he receive all credit and glory.
My heart feels a mixture of joyful anticipation and sadness with longing. Through the elder candidacy process, though I have sought to serve as best I can, I have increasingly longed to know you better and thus love you better. I have often joked that the best way to introduce myself at the church is as Becca’s husband, as her social skills far eclipse my own! But I long to grow in that area and thus love and serve better. So I am sad that my time is short. Yet, I am excited about the relationships that are being built with the families of Grace Church and the opportunity to grow as a shepherd who knows and loves the fold. The same God who has guided me all these years will continue to guide us all as we go forward. And though I may change locations, we are forever in the same family.
We love you all and are thankful for our remaining time with you.