It was in 2020, during the peak of the quarantine, that my wife and I began to tell people about our decision to plant a church. Our goal was to gather with a few committed families in our living room for about six months before officially launching The Garden Church in early 2021. The majority of people were excited to hear our big announcement – whether it was genuine or obligatory excitement. Some had sincere questions about the way in which we were planting. And a few were very frank in their confusion as to why we were even planting at all.
“There are so many churches in New Braunfels already. Why do we need another one?” It’s a fair question. Compared to the rest of the country, and even the rest of Texas, New Braunfels is a fairly affluent, educated, religious city with low crime, high community involvement, and socially conservative convictions. New Braunfels could be the poster child for “The Bible Belt!”
The obvious answer could have been, “We need another church because New Braunfels is growing so fast!” This old German town with its storied history and rich traditions has become one of the fastest growing cities in the entire country. It is estimated that we will break through the 100,000 population threshold this year. Just 20 years ago, this was a quaint town of 36,000 residents. In 2010, there were 58,000 of us that lived here. The projections from the US Census Bureau show 155,000 in 2030 and 208,000 in 2040. Needless to say, there will be plenty of new churches planted in New Braunfels in the coming years, based on population increase alone.
The reason that we started The Garden Church is not because we need another church in New Braunfels, but rather because we need another biblically solid church in New Braunfels. There are several churches here that are completely submitted to the Word of God, but the sad truth is that there are many more churches that could be better classified as houses of motivation or houses of entertainment, rather than houses of worship.
A recent trend within western Christianity is to create enough excitement, inspiration, and encouragement during a 90-minute timeslot on Sunday morning, that the average attendee has a good enough experience to come back the following week. This creates services that are aimed at the emotion, rather than the intellect. Ultimately, this manifests itself in man-centered sermons and man-centered songs.
The messages that many church-goers hear each week are, “You are awesome, you are more than a conqueror, God has a wonderful plan for your life, and He wants to pour out so much blessing on you that you won’t be able to contain it.” The result is a large population of church-attendees who have asked Jesus to be their Savior, but who haven’t submitted to them as their Lord. The Bible is clear that there are many (Matthew 7:22) people who call themselves Christians who will end up spending an eternity in hell.
That’s heartbreaking! How can this be? I believe the main reason is because there are so many progressive churches that pick and choose which parts of the Bible they want to teach. They steer clear of the tough passages. And, in so doing, their gospel message is incomplete. Sin is omitted. Many pastors don’t want to talk about sin because they don’t want people to be uncomfortable. The problem, however, is that the good news of Jesus doesn’t make any sense if we don’t understand our sin nature, and the just punishment for our sin. “Why do I need Jesus? To save me? From what?”
We need more men to open their Bibles and unashamedly preach from the full counsel of God (Acts 20:27) with courage and conviction. We need more men who are committed to preaching truth, regardless if it is uncomfortable. Or offensive. Or politically incorrect. The Apostle Paul warns us that there will come a time when people will no longer put up with sound teaching, but will instead raise up for themselves charismatic “pastors” who will coddle them with cliché platitudes and adulterated promises for their future (2 Timothy 4:3). I believe we are living in the age of which Paul prophesied.
The Garden Church was started because we need another biblically solid church in New Braunfels. We need several of them! At the Garden, we are completely submitted to the Word of God, because we believe it is true! It is true, it is inerrant, it is sufficient, it is relevant, it is authoritative, and it transforms lives because it is living and active. We are not editors of God’s Word. We are messengers.