The words below were from from Matt Carter, an Acts 29 pastor of The Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, Texas. “[Your people are] capable, because the power that raised Jesus Christ is sitting in that single mom. The power that raised Jesus Christ is sitting in that young married couple. The power that raised Jesus Christ is sitting in that 60-year-old guy who’s wasted his life making money for himself. You need to find a way to release that…”
Matt remembers childhood observations of his parents’ practice of Christianity: attending church services, serving in the nursery or greeting occasionally, and doing a few bible studies. “And that was pretty much it,” he notes.
He says that young people today are not content with simply partaking in “the attractional church” wherein staff do the ministry, while the rest attend to passively learn and fund the ministry. Instead, today’s young people are restless to change the world like the church in the book of Acts – and if they aren’t given freedom to make a difference in the church, they leave.
Matt challenges church planters to equip, release and set the bar high to expect great things from the members of their church.
He argues that the people in church right now are capable of doing more than the church planter can think or imagine. He asks the church planter: “Do you believe that?”
Listen to this clip (above as well) from Matt Carter, and the amazing story of one of his members making a difference in Austin.
