I recently had the opportunity to ask Brandon Shields a few questions about his new church plant to the great city of Indianapolis.  I had the great opportunity to learn under Brandon for a year-or-so back when I was an intern at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, KY almost 4 years ago.  Since then, God has used Brandon mightily in my life.  He has been truly an evidence of God’s grace in my sanctification, as well as in my growth as a pastor, husband, and father.  Please pray for Brandon and his team as they are in the beginning stages of planting Soma Church.  I have no doubt that they will make a huge gospel-centered impact in this city!

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GREG:  Why Indy and why Soma?

BRANDON:  Indianapolis is a strategic city in the Midwest. With more than 1.7 million people in the metro area, Indy ranks as the 12^th largest city in the country. According to the 2010 census, Indy is also the fastest growing city in the Midwest,

Evangelical work in Indianapolis has lagged behind the city’s numerical, economic, and cultural growth. Just a century ago, Indy was dubbed “the city of churches,” with the evangelical population growing faster than the city’s overall population. Today, however is a different story – only 15% of people residing in Indianapolis consider themselves an evangelical Christian, and a recent denominational study found that the city ranked last in church planting efforts among major U.S. cities. In many ways, “Naptown” has been overlooked and underevangelized for decades. Indianapolis desperately needs a movement of the gospel.

The New Testament is filled with rich metaphors describing the countercultural community of people who have been transformed by the gospel of grace. One of the most frequent designations for this community is the Greek word Soma, which simply means “body.”

Soma Church seeks to embody the person of Jesus Christ to Indianapolis, displaying the riches of God’s grace to our great city in both word and deed. We are a young, growing church with two big ideas: 1) the gospel changes everything and 2) Indianapolis is a great city that we love and serve.

GREG:  Do you have one primary partner for your plant or are you seeking out several partners, and if so, who are they?

BRANDON:  We have a combination of individual, church, and denominational partners. Our primary partners include the North American Mission Board, Longhollow Church, Highview Baptist Church, Summit Church, and First Baptist Church of West Palm Beach.

GREG:  What are your next 3-6 months going to look like as you dive into the beginning stages of Soma?

BRANDON:  Honestly, we are spending the next several months learning. Right now, we are a small group of about 10-15 people who gather in my living room each week. We are working through our “gospel DNA” and discussing what it looks like to be disciples who love and serve our city. We plan to get out in the community regularly to listen, learn, pray, discuss, and serve our neighborhoods and networks of relationships. Our prayer is that the Holy Spirit would simply show us where he is already working to bring the Kingdom, and then just be a faithful presence in that area.

GREG:  What are some challenges you are foresee planting a church in a city like Indy? 

BRANDON:  The biggest challenge for us at this point is that I’m totally new to the city. I didn’t grow up in Indianapolis, so we kind of “parachuted” in to plant this new gospel work. Practically, that means that we have little relational, social, or spiritual capital and credibility with people in the area. It also means that it will take us longer to “incarnate” Soma’s mission in a way that is fruitful in our context. Consequently, we are devoting most of our efforts at this point to praying and listening to “people of peace” that God brings our way.

GREG:  If you could describe the mission of your church and/or your philosophy of church planting in one sentence, then what would it be?

BRANDON:  The gospel changes everything!

GREG:  How can we pray for you, your family, and your church plant?

BRANDON:  Pray for my family – I have a wife and four children, and you realize quickly that it’s not just you planting a church. Your whole family is involved in everything! Pray that we develop a deep love for our neighbors and the city. Pray that God would show us “people of peace” that can give us access into new cracks where the gospel is currently not being expressed. Pray for our launch team as we seek to disciple one another into missionaries who love and serve Jesus, one another, and our city. Pray for conversions and gospel renewal that begins with us and spills into our communities and networks.

There has been so much debate over the recent years about the local church’s use of multi-site campuses.  In fact, The Courier-Journal of Louisville, KY just posted an article on multi-site churches in Louisville, albeit my desire to post an article on TVN preceded the writing and publication of this article.  They cite guys like Daniel Montgomery and Ed Stetzer who are both proponents of multi-site.  Southern Seminary recently had a panel discussion during one of their chapel services on the multi-site debate where they invited Greg Gilbert, an opponent of multi-site from Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC, to engage in the conversation.  I am currently reading through Scott McConnell’s book “Multi-Site Churches: Guidance for the Movement’s Next Generation.”  There has been so much discussed already!  Lots of churches are taking this route.  We must ask:  Why?  What does the Bible say concerning the church setting/worship service and how it should be done?  Does the Bible allow multi-site or does it regulate worship services?  I hold to a modified-regulative principal (& attend a multi-site church), which I think is the best position to hold to in thinking through and implementing current missiological trends… one of which is the Multi-Site debate.  Allow me to defend myself.

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A news report came out today from http://guardian.co.uk that projects over 70% of the world’s population living in cities by 2050.  What is startling about this article is the concept of the ‘Mega-City.’  John Vidal, the author of this article states,

“The world’s mega-cities are merging to form vast “mega-regions” which may stretch hundreds of kilometres across countries and be home to more than 100 million people, according to a major new UN report.

The phenomenon of the so-called “endless city” could be one of the most significant developments – and problems – in the way people live and economies grow in the next 50 years, says UN-Habitat, the agency for human settlements, which identifies the trend of developing mega-regions in its biannual State of World Cities report.

The largest of these, says the report – launched today at the World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro – is the Hong Kong-Shenhzen-Guangzhou region in China, home to about 120 million people. Other mega-regions have formed in Japan and Brazil and are developing in India, west Africa and elsewhere.”

How does this effect the future of the church?  

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