From Detroit to Dakar
One Community’s Journey into the Great Commission
What is the role that God asks each of us to play in reaching the world with the gospel? Can one person really make a difference? Can one church? These were the questions facing Rockpointe Community Church in Sterling Heights, Mich. over the past few years as they pondered the idea of sending a church-planting team to Dakar, Senegal, West Africa.
In a city with crushing economic issues, at a time when so many families were losing jobs and homes, could a church really ask its struggling congregation to commit resources to reaching a city halfway across the world with the gospel?
Emerging from the comfort zone
In 2007, Rick and Corrie C. and their three children were an average Detroit-area family. Rick was the executive pastor at Rockpointe Community Church, and Corrie had spent years cultivating a highly successful career as advertising writer and art director. They were heavily involved in ministry at Rockpointe and participated in local and international missions work. It seemed like they had their bases covered—but there was a growing feeling that Rick couldn’t shake. He had an inkling that his family was headed for a change of direction, but he didn’t have a clear sense of what that direction might be. “That year I took a missions trip to Uganda. I was drawn there because I wanted to help the victims of one of Africa’s longest-standing civil conflicts,” said Rick. “It was the trip that sent us on a journey to explore our family’s future—were we supposed to remain at Rockpointe or pursue something else that was coming along?”
Rick and Corrie asked God for direction in their next step. They began exploring a few options, but nothing caught. One of the ideas Rick and Corrie explored was spending some time in Italy with Rick’s extended family. Curious to see what missions agencies were active in the country of his ancestors, Rick searched online and came across the Avant Ministries website. A few hours later he was on a phone call with some members of the Avant leadership team, talking about Short-Cycle Church Planting. He liked Avant’s strong emphasis on team, but he still wasn’t convinced it was where God was taking his family.
A few days later, Rick’s friend and coworker Brenda D., the children’s ministry pastor at Rockpointe, came into his office and told Rick she and her husband Steve were feeling a tug toward international ministry. As she began to express her family’s heart for the lost, broken and hurting, they both sensed immediately that God was orchestrating something bigger than either of their families. “I called Avant back and said, ‘One team from one church,’” said Rick. “That conversation with Brenda defined the connection between where our heart was and Avant’s ministry philosophy. We realized that we wanted to plant churches internationally, with a team-based approach, and with all of the team members from one church.”
Rick was inadvertently describing Joint Venture, an Avant initiative where one church sends a team comprised of members from the congregation. The church takes an active role in field selection, financial support and the emotional and spiritual development of the team members. Avant provides the in-country infrastructure, ministry platform and training. Was God asking Rockpointe to send a Joint Venture team?
Bringing the community on board
These two families knew they had to be transparent about the journey they were on and ask for the blessing of Rockpointe’s leadership. It was now 2009, at the height of the economic crisis. For Rockpointe’s congregation, this meant layoffs, foreclosures, cutting back, tightening the belt. For a church in Detroit to commit to an international church planting team comprised of two of its long-standing staff members and their families, and possibly other committed church members—well, it wasn’t an obvious choice. But Randy Tomko, Rockpointe’s lead pastor, was immediately supportive. “Randy believed that God was calling our families to a team,” said Rick. “While the thought of losing two of his staff members was difficult, he also saw an opportunity for the church to grow and embrace missions in a way they had never done before.”
With Randy’s support, the next step was to bring the idea to the elder board. Jeff Brown, an elder at the time, is now Rockpointe’s family life pastor. He was in attendance the night the elders first heard about the idea. “When Rick spoke to the elders, the result was vigorous discussion,” said Jeff. “Someone said, ‘This is fiscally irresponsible.’ It sounded crazy. The church was as low on cash reserves as we’d ever been and general giving was down. People in the congregation were experiencing layoffs and losing their homes.”
“As a group the elders asked, is this Rick’s vision, or is this from God for all of us?” said Jeff. “Are we a body who will get behind these families and trust that God is involved so we’ll follow him no matter what, or do we put on our business hats and say, ‘Is this smart?’” The conversation ended in total agreement as the elders decided they wanted to be involved in the journey. “The vote was unanimous,” he said. “We went headlong into it without any dissention. We came to the conclusion that we’d take the next step and trust God to provide.”
Making the mission personal
The decision to make Team Senegal a churchwide effort was a risk for Rockpointe, but the elders felt like God was leading the entire church body, not just a few families, to participate. In January 2010 it was time to tell the Rockpointe community about this burden to bring the gospel to the lost and broken and ask how they wanted to be involved. One way to get involved was to go—to join the team on the ground in Dakar. The team opened an application process for people who were interested in having a hands-on role. Al and Michelle J. had sensed that change was on the horizon for their family, as well. While having coffee with Al one day, it occurred to Rick that God might be preparing Al and Michelle to be a part of the team. “As we left the coffee shop, I asked Al, ‘If I were to invite you to something that would change your life forever, would you consider it?’ And he told me that he wasn’t interested in an investment opportunity. He thought I was trying to sell him on a pyramid scheme,” said Rick.
Instead, Rick filled Al in on the journey he had been on for the past few years, and how it now involved Steve and Brenda's family, Rockpointe leadership and international church planting. A few months and many interviews later, the elders officially added Al and Michelle to Team Senegal. The team would eventually grow to include Marla L. as a short-term Missionary Kid Specialist to help care for and school the team’s eight children.
With the right people in place, Rockpointe offered a second way to get involved—by sending. Rockpointe launched an aggressive faith pledge campaign, with the goal of raising 50 percent of the team’s financial support. “General giving was already down because people had lost their jobs and their homes,” said Jeff. “We wondered, would the congregation support the team at the expense of general giving? But as pledges rolled in, we actually saw a rise in general giving that has continued up to today. There was no doubt that God was in this.”
For a church to send a Joint Venture team requires a financial commitment, but money isn’t enough. There’s a spiritual component that matters more. The congregation has to believe that the burden to spread the gospel belongs to everyone, from the elders to the adult Bible study groups, to the college, high school and junior high students, all the way to the children in Sunday school. The idea of ministry and calling ignited at Rockpointe as people looked for ways to participate in the journey. “The day we announced [Team Senegal] to the church I was scanning Facebook,” said Rick. “Members of the church were posting status updates like, ‘Am I being obedient to God’s will?’ and ‘If God were to call me, would I even hear His voice?’”
Finding Dakar
Everyone agreed this was a journey that had a discernible destination, one that included the three families getting on a plane and leaving the U.S. The call to go was from God, but to go where? From the beginning, the team was drawn to the developing world. Since Avant sends teams to places that are less than two percent evangelical Christian, the search was on to find a city that met both of these criteria—somewhere each member of the team could use their skill set in practical ministry.
Through a series of exploration trips, Dakar, Senegal emerged as the team’s destination. Dakar is the westernmost city on the continent of Africa. It is a crowded port city with 2.8 million residents, more than 60 percent of them under the age of 18. Dakar suffers from crippling economic and social issues—poverty, orphaned children, prostitution and human trafficking, widespread malaria and HIV/AIDS. Islam is the prevailing religion, with growing influence in social and political systems. Less than one percent of Dakar’s residents identify as followers of Jesus. In a city that is expected to double in size over the next few years and is facing serious social obstacles, few in the city are viewing those obstacles from a biblical perspective.
It’s a daunting task, but it caught the imagination of the team members. Their ministry could include elements of social justice and church planting, and they believe in the power of God to transform Dakar from a city in need to a city of peace. “The good news of Jesus has been the only major and lasting change that transforms communities throughout history,” said Rick. “Most other change is temporal and not transformational, but when the ways of the kingdom of God become the ways of people on earth, people, families, communities and governments are renewed.”
Casting a wider vision
Realistically, not everyone in the Rockpointe community can move to Africa. But the Rockpointe leadership wanted to make mission opportunities available to everyone, and they wanted to cultivate a sense of partnership among the entire congregation.
Through a connection with Avant, Rockpointe was introduced to 16:15 Ministries, a church missions coaching agency. They asked Matthew Ellison, president of 16:15, to coach the elders and staff through the process of defining a missions strategy that made room for everyone to participate in the Great Commission. “When 16:15 got involved, the idea of Dakar as the team’s destination was just rising to the surface,” said Matthew. “We discerned an emerging picture of ministry to Muslims. We started to consider, how can Rockpointe have a ministry to Muslims in Detroit, in the U.S., and in Dakar?”
One of the largest populations of Arabic Muslims in the U.S. is located in the Detroit area, and a sizeable community of Senegalese live in New York state. With their new mission strategy in place, individuals and teams from Rockpointe will have opportunities to share the gospel with Muslims in their own backyard while Team Senegal is doing the same overseas.
“We want the church to grasp the vision of reaching unreached people regardless of where those people live,” said Jeff. “We’re part of the same journey and the same mission. People can be involved without having to go to Senegal. Money and prayer are both needed, but so is participation in spreading the gospel here—in Detroit, in New York, in the U.S.”
Beginning a new journey
When God calls someone to follow Him, that person must decide: Will I ignore the call? Or, will I respond? For each member of Team Senegal, the answer was, “Yes, I will go.” God moved among the Rockpointe elders, and then among the congregation, with the same question, and they replied, “We will, too.”
In August, Team Senegal boarded a plane for France for six months of language learning. In the spring of 2012 they will finally land in Dakar, Senegal—the conclusion of one journey and the beginning of another. Every Sunday, someone from Rockpointe lights a candle at the front of the sanctuary, to remind the community of the team, their mission, and the mission of everyone in the congregation. It is the mission shared among all believers—the Great Commission’s call to reach those who have never heard.
To read more about Joint Venture and Church-Based Teams, click here.
