The Heart of a Church Planter

By Matt Carter

If you ever consider planting a church, there are numerous questions you should ask yourself. Questions like: Is God really calling me to this? Does my wife support my calling? Am I biblically qualified to be a pastor? But there is one question I feel many church planters aren’t asking themselves, and it's crucial to the whole process: Do I have the heart of a church planter?

I think it’s important to clarify two things. First, when we say the heart of a church planter, we’re referring to their inner being. The heart is what makes a person who they are. Because of the physical, emotional, and spiritual rigors of church planting, a planter needs to have a certain makeup. They need to have a certain type of internal fortitude and character, or the task can quickly become overwhelming.

Second, in considering the type of things that make up a church planter’s heart, the list is extensive. But I want to focus on three specific qualities, in order of importance, that should makeup a church planter’s heart.

1. Church planters need a heart that is deeply moved by the gospel.

The question is not: have you received the gospel? If you’re planting a church, I’m assuming you’re already saved. The question is: are you still deeply moved by it?

I planted a church in 2002 called The Austin Stone. God used it (and still is) in ways I could have never imagined. When hiring senior level staff, one of the questions that I always asked them was this: “When was the last time the gospel made you weep?” In other words, when was the last time the reality sunk in that, when you didn’t deserve it and couldn’t have earned it, Jesus died a horrible death to pay the penalty for your sin, offering you eternal life in heaven and abundant life here on earth? If they couldn’t answer the question, or if it had been a really, really long time, I simply didn’t hire them. The same should be said for church planters. Only those who have a deep and profound understanding of the gospel will truly want to plant a church. Church planting is a response to the gospel.

2. Church planters need a heart that is deeply humbled by the gospel.

While a deep and profound sense of humility is essential for any pastor, I’m increasingly convinced that it’s especially important for church planters. Here’s two reasons why:

First, church planting is hard, and you just might fail. As a matter of fact, a huge percentage of church plants never make it. If your church is one of those that don’t make it, how will that impact your view of God? Will it crush you? Will it make you question His goodness? Planters must be humbled by the reality that, though God doesn’t owe you anything, He graciously gave you the greatest gift He could ever give—His Son.

Second, church planting is hard, and you just might succeed. In my opinion, success is even more dangerous than failure. I’ve seen so many successful young church planters turn into arrogant failures of a pastor. We all know the stories. So, what keeps you from becoming one of those stories? Humility. Humility means considering others more important than yourself. It means that, as a pastor you’re willing to serve more than to be served. It means that you strive not for the applause and approval of man but of Jesus. It means that no matter what, deep down you know that your success is only because of the grace of Christ in your life.

3. Church planters need a heart that is deeply rooted in the gospel.

The reality is that church planting is so difficult, it’s at times so gut-wrenching, that if your heart is not deeply rooted in the gospel, you simply won’t make it. And when I say, “you won’t make it,” I’m not talking about the success or failure of your church plant. I’m talking about the success or failure of your walk with Christ. I’ve seen far too many young church planters walk away not just from their churches but from Jesus altogether.

I believe there are two primary reasons for this occurrence, both of which remind us of the importance of establishing our hearts deeply in the gospel. First of all, we must remember that we have an enemy. And the enemy hates church planting. I’m convinced that if you rarely attend church and never make an impact for the Kingdom, the enemy doesn’t care much about you. But if you’re a church planter, someone reaching an unreached city and preaching the Word of God while lifting high the name of Jesus, you become a target of the enemy of God. Satan looks at his demons and asks: What’s his name? What’s his wife’s name? What’s his kid’s name? You need to be deeply rooted in the gospel of Christ to endure the spiritual battle ahead.

The second reason you need a heart deeply rooted in the gospel is because of the attack of everyday people. Recently, I was asked to help mentor a group of young megachurch pastors. Each of them began as church planters, but through the years they saw significant growth. These are men that if I shared their names you’d recognize them, men that can preach and lead with the best of them, and God has blessed their ministries powerfully. But as we talked and shared our stories, there was one thing that was common to all of them: betrayal. Every one of them, at some point in their church planting journey, had an extremely close friend betray their trust and friendship. Additionally, every one of their wives had a story of a close friend that deeply wounded them. When it comes to church planting, the question is not if betrayal will happen but when. And when it does, the pastor and his wife better be deeply rooted in the unchanging, unshakable love of their heavenly Father.

As I look back on my time as a church planter, two things are simultaneously true. It was one of the most rewarding and fruitful times in my life, and it was also one of the most difficult. These three characteristics of a planter’s heart are crucial to possess. If you have them, it will still be difficult, but there’s a much greater likelihood that you’ll still be married and walking with Jesus at the end of it.

MATT CARTER | Vice President of Mobilization, Send Network