by Pastor John Kim

The prayer of the original Lighthouse San Diego church plant team back in 1998 was based on Ephesians 3:20-21:

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

As we look back at that starting point, those of us who were there at the beginning would never have imagined that not only would Lighthouse San Diego survive against the “9 out 10 church plants fail within 2 years” odds but the vision of planting churches would become a reality and within fifteen years there would be Lighthouse churches inaugurated in the communities of San Diego (1999), San Jose (2011), Alameda (2012), Los Angeles (2014), and Orange County (2014).

This growing network of Lighthouse churches has created an opportunity to explore and develop what would define the relationship between the churches, and this has proven to be no small challenge.

If there is any reality that we have observed over the years, it is the very harsh reality of the spiritual battle that continues to wage war both within as well as from outside the church. If there is anything that I have come to notice more and more, it is the truth stated in Philippians chapter 1 regarding opponents and suffering:

Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me. (Philippians 1:27–30)

The growing intensity of trials and tribulations along the way has only confirmed to all of us over the years that not only are we granted to believe in Christ but we are privileged to suffer for His sake. But there have been a number of trials that have severely tested the resolve of the church individually as well as collectively.

But the tribulations have not deterred us from moving forward. As each church plant was established, the leaders of each church recognized that there was a growing need to communicate and define how we would work together while still maintaining a clear sense of autonomy for each church. In other words, we were not interested in starting a denomination where there would be a governing board that would exercise authority over all the churches. Neither was there going to be the equivalent of a “Lighthouse pope” which unfortunately was being propagated by some disgruntled folks who sought to undermine the unity of the churches with unfounded claims. But we also wanted to be more than a loose association with some minimal common ground.

Thus what was initially bantered about, at least unofficially as the Lighthouse Association, grew into an ongoing discussion centered on the concept of an alliance. We wanted to be more than an association in that the purpose for our cooperation was to be based on the unity found in what were the foundational principles upon which Lighthouse Bible Church was started, namely, the Mission, Vision, and Passion Statements, the Peacemaker Pledge, and the doctrinal statement and distinctives that were established in the beginning of this whole endeavor.

Our initial meeting of the five Lighthouse pastors took place in December 2014 in Alameda as Lighthouse East Bay hosted the first pastors fellowship so that the alliance could be defined and developed. It was at the first meeting that the reality of the challenge of how difficult it would be was realized and the goal of building a strong unified foundation was going to take longer than just a few meetings. It was decided that each of the Lighthouse churches would take turns hosting the pastors on a quarterly basis and so it was in February of this year that Lighthouse San Jose hosted the second pastors fellowship and we were able to hammer out a purpose statement that will hopefully provide more clarity and understanding as to what the Lighthouse Alliance entails.

The Lighthouse Alliance purpose statement is as follows:

The Lighthouse Alliance is a fellowship of like-minded churches partnering together in the service of the gospel by providing support for each local congregation and opportunities for cooperative ministry to the glory of God.

We exist to promote the MVP Statement, the Peacemaker Pledge, and doctrinal convictions of Lighthouse Bible Church.

This statement highlights both the cooperative nature as well as the autonomy of each Lighthouse church. It sets the groundwork for what we hope will be the cultivating and nurturing of a joint partnership that will pave the way, God-willing, for future ministry and missions opportunities, both locally and internationally, that would mutually benefit as well as bless all the Lighthouse churches individually and collectively as we seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness in the proclamation of the gospel.

Fellowship

We are first a fellowship of churches that share a participation in the gospel, are united by the head of the church, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and are committed to the purposes for which Christ has called His body to fulfill.

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. (Philippians 1:3–5)

The apostle Paul recognized, even from prison that what he shared with believers in other cities was a participation in the gospel. Though he would not be physically present in each church that he helped start, he cultivated a partnership that was shown in his practical goal of collecting financial support for the church in Jerusalem to care for the poor and needy believers. This participation was something that brought joy and continued to instill affection with the heart of Paul as he recalled their sharing.

This is an appropriate term that goes beyond even the scope of the individuals in the local church. It is an unfortunate reality that many churches choose to have nothing to do with other churches, especially if there is any kind of denominational distinction or even with the independent Bible church scene. But our hope as fellow Lighthouse churches is that we would pursue a genuine fellowship that is grounded in our Savior being head of the church and that this fellowship would be something that would truly bring glory to God in ways that we could not as individual churches.

Like-Minded

Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. (2 Corinthians 13:11)

We truly are like-minded in the sense that we think the same thing regarding God, God’s Word, and have a shared conviction regarding what a church should be and do for God’s glory. This like-mindedness is especially seen in our commitment to what we call the MVP Statements, the Peacemaker Pledge, and our doctrinal convictions.

The MVP

• The Mission – to make disciples of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20) Our Lord made it very clear as He had been given all authority in heaven and on earth that His church was to be involved in the mission of making disciples. All the going, baptizing, and teaching to observe His commands center around this primary purpose. We are not called to make disciples of the leaders, of the Lighthouse “brand” or to create an exclusive club of Lighthouse clothed minions but we are called to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and continually point both unbelievers and believers to His Lordship over their lives.
• The Vision – to plant churches (Acts 1:8). The book of Acts presents the actual carrying-out of the Great Commission as we saw the church start in Jerusalem and then start to spread as the nameless believers who faithfully carried out the mission took the gospel to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth as they planted churches and continued to invest in the reproducing of churches through the ministry of evangelism and discipleship. We are simply those who have inherited the baton of passing on the greatness of God to future generations and that is why the vision of church planting has been at the heart and soul of Lighthouse in that we never would desire to settle for growing a church that was only focused inwardly but that there would be an enduring commitment to prayerfully send not only financial support but to send members of the church who would form a team that would work together to plant and grow the church plants to the point where they would be able to carry on the investment in future church plants.
• The Passion – to love God and people (Matthew 22:37–40). If there is one thing that we must never forget, everything that we do must be done out of a genuine and true love for God and people. There are many who are motivated for a project or to build a structure but it is another thing to view all things through the lens of relationships that are to be characterized by the love of God in Christ that has been poured out in our hearts (Romans 5:5). This compelling love (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) should always be at the heart and soul of what we do.

The MVP statements are simply biblical principles that any church should embrace but sad to say that many simply are not willing to commit themselves to these truths. This is not only tragic for those who attend such churches but it makes it impossible for churches to partner with other churches in any capacity as the common commitments are found to be not so common.

This is especially seen when we consider the issue of conflict resolution. If there is one thing that destroys most churches, it is the reality of conflicts that are left unresolved and lead to the fracturing of churches to the point where many churches split or even dissolve.

The Peacemaker Pledge

This is why the commitment to the Peacemaker Pledge is something we place as a priority at each local assembly. It is something that we would like to see be shared as a common pursuit so that we could even support and help each other when conflicts rise to the level where there is assistance needed in order for there to be a peaceful resolution.

The four G’s of the Peacemaker Pledge should be a constant reminder that we are called to be peacemakers as we are God’s children and should be distinguished by our commitment to pursue peace.

• GLORIFY GOD (1 Corinthians 10:31; Romans 11:36; Ephesians 3:20–21)
• GET THE LOG OUT OF YOUR OWN EYE (Matthew 7:3–5)
• GENTLY RESTORE (Galatians 6:1)
• GO AND BE RECONCILED (Matthew 5:23–24)

If there is one distinctive of the Lighthouse churches that truly stands out, it is this commitment to pursue peace to God’s glory. We will never avoid the reality of conflicts as they simply are a part of our lives. We have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places so that we might live to the glory of God, and conflicts actually provide an opportunity to show how much we desire God’s glory than anything else.

The partnership of the Lighthouse churches provides a resource where we can assist one another especially when there are conflicts at a leadership level which are difficult to deal with alone. We saw this come into play during situations where partner churches were quick to come alongside those who were in need and it was a blessing to see how our common bond, while tested, proved to be an incredible support and lead to the fellowship and community of churches being strengthened.

Doctrinal Distinctives

The doctrinal statement and distinctives found in the membership handbooks are the same as the investment of each church to plant the succeeding churches established a commitment to these doctrinal convictions from the very beginning as we wanted to be clear that we were going to be united by these convictions in moving forward with the vision of church planting.

The pastors have committed themselves in the next three months to actually study and write statements on each of the doctrinal distinctives so that there would be greater clarity as well as a sound understanding as to why we are committed to principles such as a literal, grammatical, historical hermeneutic, a pre-tribulational/premillennial eschatology, biblical counseling, complementarianism, and the other positions that while they may be found in the minority in the popular sense, are nonetheless commitments that we have made due to the authority of Scripture being given the place of primacy.

Conclusion

Please be in prayer for the development of the Lighthouse Alliance. The enemy has already sought to destroy the unity in a number of ways and while we trust the Lord’s good hand in watching over us, we are well aware that there are those who would like nothing else to see this partnership disintegrate. Please pray for the pastors and leaders of each Lighthouse church, that there would be a humble faithfulness to serving the churches and a diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace that would prevail in the midst of testing.

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1–6)