What Are You Planting?

I read in a magazine on board an aircraft some years ago and I remember this article (vaguely) about how rubber seeds were first smuggled into our country from … hmm … don’t remember where. It was years ago! Anyway, from just a small amount of seeds, today rubber is one of the major exports of our country. Seeds are powerful stuff! And the thought for today … what are you planting of late? What kind of seeds are you sowing? You’ve got to understand this universal law; you reap what you sow. And may I also add, you EAT WHAT YOU REAP!

After 3 years in Bible College under the influence of missionary lecturers from the West, we were taught to “go out into the world and plant churches.” If there is a town big enough for a post office, it’s big enough for an Assemblies of God church. So by the time I graduated, I planted a church in Rawang and when I left Bible College, immediately I started Vineyard. After having identified a location, I secured the sponsorship of a mother church. Rented a bunglow in Taman Septueh. Furnished it with pulpit, chairs, Sunday school rooms, etc. Now the tough part. Getting people to fill the church. So I had to “advertise” the presence of the new church. Went house to house weekly distributing flyers and talking to whoever would accord me the time and interest. Problem is, non Christians are basically not interested in church. So I was hopeful that Christians in that locality might want to join this new church. Long story short, wasn’t very successful with the inhabitants in that location although a handful got saved to start with. They were students. But I did have a handful of “imports” from our mother church FGT. After 2 years, came the “exodus” and we started moving from hotel to hotel for our services. Finally we settled in Jalan Bukit Bintang for a short while, started Haggai Project. And in 1997 we bought our current premise! I think we had about 40 – 50 members then but oh … we were a bunch who love God and love the church!

While trying still to fill the empty chairs in church, I started planting churches again, this time in Cambodia. Looked in Myanmar, Thailand, East Malaysia, but didn’t commit. In Cambodia, we planted two and is now looking into our third. We worked with the locals, and like what has been the norm, I looked for a worker who wants to plant a church and work in partnership with him/her. We don’t take ownership. We just help initiate and support the work up till the church can function on its own. Then we reckon we have planted another church. Were we successful as a church? I guess you can say yes. But are we on the mark? Well, maybe. Like me, church planters in Cambodia too is looking to do the same thing. Get a location. Get a sponsor. Get a building. Furnished it. Put up a signage. Now we are ready for business. Let’s pray.

Of late, like that cruise ship that’s turned upside down due to a rogue wave, my life too has been turned upside down. Looking at things from the upside-down perspective, I see that what I did was not wrong but it’s not the way things are meant to be. I realize now that Jesus did not commission His disciples to go plant churches. Bible did not say, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten CHURCH that whosoever believes in her shall not perish but have everlasting life.” God said He gave His Son! And that whoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life. We are commissioned to plant JESUS, not CHURCHES! Jesus didn’t come to BUILD a physical kingdom. He came to plant the KINGDOM OF GOD in the hearts of men. While we go and tell people to come join our church, Jesus said we are to go plant His kingdom in the hearts of men! In other words, plant Jesus … not churches! As people get saved, collectively they become a church and that church can meet anywhere, anytime and without a banner. Church is a byproduct. It is a result of, not the reason to. To plant a church you’ll need a full time worker and plenty of resources. To plant Jesus, any Christian can do that. You don’t need a pulpit, a building, a group of believers. You just need to tell someone that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life! Our calling is not to plant churches but to plant Jesus! It can happen in your home, at your office, at Starbucks or Papa Rich or over an outing. There are no 4 walls limiting you. The world is your harvest field! 

I don’t know if you can grasp what I am saying here. We not only need to do the right thing, very importantly we need to do it right. What has been passed down to us is a culture. A western concept of church. We need to do the right thing the right way. The church of Jesus Christ is the most powerful force on the face of this earth. Today I want to bring us back into perspective. Let’s start sowing the seeds of the Kingdom of God. Let’s plant an entire orchard of “Jesus Plant”. There is salvation in the Name of Jesus!

N.B. This article I wrote some years back. Since it's Easter week, I thought I'd post this. Easter is about Jesus. Let's keep it this way. Blessed Easter.