In the early days of our church planting adventure I spent some time seeking out other church planters, hoping for some wisdom and encouragement. Man, did I get a wake up call.
There seem to be two distinct schools of thought in the church planting community. The first is “This is hard. Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t look like you’ve got what it takes… I’m not so sure you should do this! Have you prayed about it?”
Gee… thanks.
The second school of thought starts off sounding much like the first, but then takes a dramatic turn: “This is hard. What do you need? How can I help you? Man, what an adventure! Let me pray for you.”
Do you hear the difference?
The sad truth is I heard a whole lot more of the first than I did of the second. To be honest, it was discouraging to hear such defeatist talk from those on the front lines of the revitalization and renewal of the church: church planters themselves.
*I KNOW I CAN DO IT... IT'S YOU I'M NOT SO SURE ABOUT*
Let’s just put it out there. You have to be a certain type of personality to jump ship from the institution, the known, the safe and head off into the uncharted waters of church planting. It’s not for everyone… and for the A-type personalities who often make up the ranks of those who have jumped, those who are sailing those uncharted waters, when we see others getting ready to do the same, a common first impulse may be to wonder who they think they are… don’t they know that this church planting thing is for the few, the proud, the best of the best? And since we’re doing this different, emergent-type thing… we really don’t need more competition, do we?
Better to weed out the weak.
Click here to continue reading "Why You Should Plant A Church..."
2 comments:
It's sad as Christian we spend to much time holding each other back instead of edifying one another and equipping each other. We need to realize that there is work enough for all who are willing to serve Him in this capacity. Sometimes we think that we are helping that person who is ready to make that jump by being so hard on them and expecting them to either toughen up or go back to what they were doing. We put ourselves in the position of God and say "I know what's best for this person even if they don't". We need to trust that God has spoken to this person and then go from that point. We need to then be a mentor and an equipper of the saints. Everyone of us has weaknesses and when you look at it from a worldy point of view you can find plenty of reasons to say they are not qualified for the work. OF COURSE THEY ARE NOT QUALIFIED! God uses the weak things of this world to accomplish His work. God is a jealous God. He wants the glory. How does He get the most glory? By using those who seemingly have no business being there. The church needs to start being the church and stop looking so much like the world. The petty infighting and jealousy only serve to hinder the Kingdom.
Angie I know this wasn't the train of thought you were after but this is what I saw. I haven't read the complete article yet and I guess I should do that and come back here to update my comments.
I was after anything. It's about what you see...
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