Jacob's Well | Middlesex County, NJ

• Reid Monaghan
• Apr 7, 2010
• Series: Church Profiles
• Categories: Church Planting Articles

Briefly describe your story of your call to plant a church 

From 1996-2004 my wife Kasey and I served on the staff of Athletes in Action sharing the gospel with college athletes. After eight years with AIA God called us on to the staff at a local church to begin a young adult ministry which was called Inversion Fellowship. During the fall of 2005 we took a bus load of young adults down to Biloxi, MS to help with relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina.

Being an ex wrestler I wanted to be the strong guy and throw around cases of bottled water for 12 hours...I just ended up throwing out my back. The next day I was laid up and read the book Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll while laying flat on a red carpet pew of a church in Mississippi.

I loved what I read as I saw in Mars Hill Church a group of people trying to engage in thoughtful, theologically driven ministry with lost people with the passion of missionaries. Some of my buddies from Athletes in Action were involved with Mars Hill from the beginning so I called them up and began to ask a bunch of questions.

Through my wife, God called us to patience and we continued to sow things we were learning about gospel driven, contextualized ministry into our friends at the Inversion Fellowship. In 2007 it was clear that God was leading our family to plant, we were just still wrestling with "where." We knew of an area in New Jersey which I had visited a few times as a a regional director with Athletes in Action close to both Rutgers and Princeton University. We desired to work in a large metro area, that was culturally diverse, had lots of college students and where there was a deep need for gospel centered churches.

In the Spring of 2007, through the counsel of our elders, friends, mentors and a sense of calling, we knew we were to move from the Nashville metro area to plant in New Jersey. We spent the next year or so transitioning leadership at Inversion and raising funds in order to jump into New Jersey with some friends to begin work there in the fall of 2008.

What were the biggest challenges you faced in planting your church (and/or currently facing)? 

We were not from the area in which we are planting so we have tried to listen and learn well from our New Jersey friends. We also had a strong desire to plant a multi-ethnic church and this both its joys and challenges. Overall, the area in which we live is fast paced, has some fun attitude and is very expensive to live and operate. These are challenges but also the joys of serving in the place to which God called our family. Oh yeah, we started as a non denominational church meeting in our living room - this didn't make a whole lot of sense to many of our neighbors.

What advice do you have for men who are wrestling with the decision to plant? 

Realize that Jesus cares about you and your family as you plant. He is going to do more in you than you could imagine and some of it will be a painful struggle. Planting new churches is hard work and keeping Christ and his mission as your north star will keep you from forgetting the main thing.

On a practical side of things we would encourage others to care about those outside of the church, spend time with people who have questions and doubts about God and extend hope through the gospel to all. I would also encourage others to train some Christians to share the work together as a family. A hospital without doctors is a bit of a problem...as is a church plant without some mature leaders who can share the work. Empower your team, love them and walk with them and call them to Jesus who calls us to mission.

How did you become involved with Acts 29? What have been the biggest benefits of being in the network? 

I got involved with Acts 29 through reading a book, then listening to as many A29 boot camp mp3s as I could. I also contacted some friends who were involved with the network to get their impressions of the group and ask if they thought I would be a good fit. I then applied to the network and was assessed as a church planter. 

The absolute biggest benefit for me has been the men of Acts 29. I have enjoyed their friendship and being in the battle together. Camaraderie with passionate men can be a tough thing to find as we can tend to come off strong to people. I am thankful for the men of A29 because they seem to "get each other," call one another out on their junk and care deeply that we grow in Jesus. We also care about young men, being servant husbands and fathers to children. I love this about the men of Acts 29.

How do you pastor your family? 

Complex question that I care deeply about. First, I try to follow Jesus and repent of my sins. I want to BE a man that my wife and kids want to follow. I want my kids to read passages like Titus 1:5-9 and think "that is my dad." Second, I try to love and teach my family in the rhythms of every day life. Morning time, meals and bed time have been a big deal for our family to think deeply together, laugh together, ask questions, read Scripture, learn logic make up silly songs and engage with God. I have written a bit on how we do this in our family but I can tend to be long winded so we'll keep it at that.

Outside of the Bible, what is the most helpful book you have read for church planting?

Radical Reformission - Reaching Out without Selling Out and Confessions of Ref Rev by Driscoll - They helped me believe in the missionality of the church and helped my "want to"

How can we pray for you?

Pray that we would have good work/rest rhythms and that we would walk close to Jesus and love people well. We are also praying for all that God is doing and may do in the Northeastern United States.

Church Profile: Jacob's Well
Launch Date: September, 2010 
Location: Middlesex County, NJ

Mission, Vision, Values of Church 

Mission - Jacob's Well is a Christian community which exists for the glory of God and the good of the city by extending hope through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We hope to be a church for those who have grown weary with religion yet still find themselves thirsty for God...

Vision - Build a multi-ethnic church in Central New Jersey to serve as a base for gospel ministry and leadership training. We will begin the focus of our work with college students, young professionals and young families in the Brunswicks and surrounding townships. The church will reach out through missional living of its members, open missional community groups, mercy ministry, public worship and networking evangelism. We will then engage in intentional leadership development and a specific young men’s training program to facilitate church planting (Well Diggers). Our giving will be focused on mercy ministry, church planting through A29 Northeast and global church planting movements in strategic partnership countries.

Identities:

• Gospel Centered – Jesus, not religion

• Thoughtfully Engaged – Connecting with people in culture

• Life in Community – Living as a family

• Seeking Mercy and Justice – Compassion for others

• Joy and Generosity in Mission – Living with open hands

What is your biblical perspective on authentic community, and evangelism? How is this practically seen in your church? 

Evangelism is not a drive by shooting job. Evangelism is not a program of the church…something we sign up to do then feel good about ourselves but never do it again. What we really want is for God’s people to sense a real heartfelt burden for people who are lost, see their plight without God and then have his love compel them to share the gospel of grace. 

In the life of the apostle Paul, one of the early leaders of the Christian movement, we see a man who was sent by God to others. He saw their lives without hope and without God in the world and he felt deeply troubled in his soul about the idolatry of their lives. Then he did something about it. He walked with God into the mess of the world and took action. Furthermore, Jesus himself exhibits the purest burden for others and walked into their lives and met them where they were to bring them to God. Jesus in his interaction with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well in John 4 and Paul’s journey to Athens in Acts 17 are great examples of engaging with people where they are in life.

Too often evangelism is seen by Christians in a few narrow ways. It is either the job of a professional religious worker or it is simply a one to one activity that takes place on special “witnessing” occasions. We to take a holistic approach of seeing the church as central to evangelism; not simply by inviting people to church, though that is important, but rather our witness are a community and our witness as individuals meshes together in an effective “body witness” where people can both hear and see the gospel lived out.

In our church we are trying to live to together in community and also intersect others as we follow God in our mission. Our mission is to live for the glory of God, the good of the city by extending hope through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do this by sharing five core identities – being gospel centered, thoughtfully engaged, life in community, seeking mercy and justice and joy and generosity in mission – these are the things we pursue together. At Jacob’s Well we walk in this mission, through our identities in various spheres of life.

In the home we show hospitality to non Christians, receive spiritual formation, have our place of belonging and show compassion for our neighbors. Additionally, the church gathers together for the public proclamation of the gospel through biblical preaching (1 Timothy 4:13; 2 Timothy 4:1-3). We also observe the sacraments which Jesus ordained as a visible display of the gospel, to remember Jesus work on our behalf and to receive spiritual nourishment from him. The church as a gospel community also allows non Christians to “see” God’s work among us as we learn to love one another, repent of sin and trust Jesus for our lives (John 13:34,35; 1 Peter 4:7-11). Finally, we live our lives together with others in the community. We live alongside the lost and hurting and embrace solving our problems together. Furthermore we engage people in culture with the gospel calling others to repentance and faith in Jesus.

We live in these spheres with our lives hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:1-3). He is with us through his Spirit, empowers us to service and gives us compassion for the lost and perishing around us. Our family connects and intersects with our church family. Our church connects and intersects with our community and culture. We keep our lives hinged to Scripture and close to Jesus but we live as his people, called and sent into the world with the gospel. There will be many entry ways into Jacob’s Well as we live the gospel in our context.

What are some examples of God's grace that you have seen in your life and/or the life of your church? 

The kindness and love of my wife and children, the friendship and passion the people of Jacob's Well and the new life being formed in us. We have not benefited from the blessing of living super close to our families; this has been God's call and sometimes a source of longing. Yet God's people at each stage of our journey have been family to us...and we love visiting our families when we can get away.