We’ve all been there at one time or another, like a runner at the starting line waiting for the gun to sound, anticipating the start of a new adventure. Thoughts begin to race through our mind. Have I prepared enough for this new journey? Have I done my homework? What if I fail? Am I READY? In that moment, God often speaks to us through a friend…someone who has a kindred spirit, like passions, and energizes us with their words. We come away encouraged and with a clearer perspective, ready to face the new adventure. Just as iron sharpens iron, a man can encourage — sharpen another. We are reminded that we can advance the kingdom of God by leveraging our lives for the good of another — one conversation at a time. Imagine what we could do if we could tap into the experience and words of other church planters who once wondered, “Am I READY?” What would we hear? What could we learn? In this book, READY? Preparing for the Pressures of Church Planting, you will find real life conversations from church planters who have faced the pressures of ministry and have found God was READY to take them through the challenges of planting a church.
4200 North Point Parkway Alpharetta, GA 30022-4176
CHURCH PLANTING RESOURCE LIBRARY A Southern Baptist Convention entity supported by the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® For general information, call (770) 410-6000, or visit www.namb.net. To order materials, call Customer Service Center, toll-free 1 866 407-NAMB (6262), or visit www.namb.net/catalog. 22.CPREADY
0910008/12-09
Compiled and Edited by John M. Bailey, Steve Canter, and Randy Ferguson
Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version Bible. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible® Copyright© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. © 2009 North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Alpharetta, Georgia All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The North American Mission Board (NAMB) is the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) mission agency which, in cooperation with state conventions, assists SBC churches in reaching the United States, Canada, and their territories with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Board oversees the work of more than 5,000 missionaries who are supported through the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® for North American missions.
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IN APPRECIATION
IN APPRECIATION S
pecial thanks to the many authors who shared their wisdom, experience, and passion for the Lord’s glory by contributing to this project. To the church planters and former church planters who contributed to this project by taking our survey, participating in interviews, submitting documents, or providing content feedback. To the many North American Mission Board staff members who assisted with this project. To the state conventions and associations who continually support our church planters. To the Resource Development and Equipping Team who guided us through the process. Thank you for being such faithful servants. Special thanks to Deborah Reece, Deborah McCutchen, and Sherri Jachelski for their help in the process. To the Southern Baptist churches who make resources like this one available through the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter OfferingŽ.
Throughout this book you will find boxes similar to the one at the left
how to use
which contain questions designed to help you process a particular principle presented by the writer on their subject. These questions are designed to be used in the context of a small group or network of planters or members
the question
of a church planting team. We suggest discussing one chapter or section
in the box
therefore, it will be beneficial for the participants to read each chapter
at a time. The questions directly tie to the content in the chapters and before the meeting in which it is discussed.
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4
FORWARD
FORWARD “Surround yourself with wise counsel and plan on the church taking twice as long as anticipated to get on its feet, three times as much money as you thought, and being ten times harder than you imagined.”
Church Planter from Oklahoma
As I was sitting in a conference for church planters, enjoying the moment with
fellow travelers, it dawned on me how difficult it was going to be for these guys to make it in the church planting world. The conference organizers kept running different video clips that used the word “dude” over and over again. This triggered something from my past, or maybe it was from God, but I kept running this question over and over in my mind – Dude, what were you thinking? What were you thinking when you said, “yes” to the church planting call? Were you ready for the obstacles you faced? How many parents have asked their teenagers, “What were you thinking?” after a major gaffe in judgment? As a teenager, I recall that I wasn’t thinking! I was so captured in the moment that I simply failed to anticipate beyond the here and now. I wasn’t ready for the future. Church planting can be like that. It is easy to get caught up in the moment, captured by the pressing needs at hand you fail to prepare for the future that God is bringing. Someone should always be asking you, “What were you thinking?” Or better yet, “What are you thinking? Are you ready for this?” Some would say that the key to church planting is to get the mechanics of church planting right. Others would challenge you to maintain focus on your family, while others would encourage you to focus on building relationships with the unchurched. Which is the right approach? Are there other choices to consider? What are you thinking? Are you ready for this? Church planting is a difficult assignment. First, it’s difficult because we live in a mission field. There is much debate if we were ever a x or Christian nation. One thing is certain, the world as many of us know it no longer exists. Second, our world is becoming more urban, less rural. Our communities are multicultural and pluralistic. People from every tribe, nation, and tongue have moved into almost every community – bringing with them their own religious views and cultural norms. Technology is reshaping how we work, live, and connect with one another. How do we communicate the unchanging gospel in an ever-changing culture? What are the keys to connecting with a community, with people who do not know Christ?
5
FORWARD
What are you thinking? Are you ready for this? Whether it is in a coffee shop, a classroom, or on the net, potential church planters need to explore the idea of church planting - asking, “Where do I start? What am I thinking? Am I ready for this?” Some of your conversations will be new, some will rehash old thoughts. Some will seem dangerous to peers, others possibly lame. Some will be driven by context, others by brokenness. But they must occur. We were created by God to live in relationship with others and to ponder His majesty and the world in which we live with them.
A Biblical Response Our Lord gives us a clear commandment in Matthew 28:18-20 to go and make disciples of all nations. You most likely are reading this book because you believe that church planting is one of the most effective ways to advance the kingdom and fulfill Christ’s commandment to make disciples of all nations. The size of the task is enormous, but it is unmatched to the conviction that the Father is calling you to a specific place, among a specific audience. With the Great Commission at the heart of what you do, you must enlist churches and everyday Christ followers to join God in His mission to share the gospel with the lost – to see the disconnected become connected to Christ and His bride – the Church. How? What are your thoughts? Are you ready?
Clarity of Focus Recently, members of the North American Mission Board’s Church Planting Group began a series of conversations to identify the challenges faced by church planters and the processes they used to make decisions. Our desire was to aid potential and early stage planters to prepare for their journey. We connected with more than 800 individuals, with 300 of them completing a survey. Our study generated some interesting data. First, we discovered that church planters were not struggling as much with the mechanics of planting a church. Although things like gathering a core group or launch team, adding staff, finding a location for worship, or doing small groups will always be a challenge, they identified other areas of concern as more pressing. We call them Pressure Points. They said they felt the most pressure in the following areas:
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Personal Finances and Enlisting Partners
Spiritual Warfare
Feeling Overwhelmed
Dealing with Discouragement
Stewardship Development
Maintaining Balance with Home and Ministry
Engaging Their Community with the Gospel
Making Disciples
FORWARD
Our study also pointed out that few of the church planters we surveyed used a defined, systematic approach to making decisions. It appeared that many were not equipped, nor ready, to make the tough decisions when needed. The purpose of this book is to provide foundational principles for planting biblically faithful, culturally appropriate, reproducing communities of Christ followers by addressing the Pressure Points church planters experience. The following chapters come directly from your peers. Men and women involved in the planting of churches. The opening two chapters tell the story of Mike and Whitney – a fairly average church planting couple – as they prepare to plant their church in one of North America’s urban centers. Their stories present to the reader information gleamed from two separate research projects which dealt with the pressures experienced by a church planter and his wife. The individuals are fictitious but their stories reflect the lives of a typical church planting couple and summarized the struggles they faced. The next four chapters address what we believe to be foundational conversations that need to take place by those who feel called by God to plant a church. They deal with the need to plant churches based upon principles, the need to redefine success in our work, the need to work in partnership with others – to not take the journey alone and finally, the process for making wise decisions. The second section deals with how to handle the pressure points identified in our research project. One type, or model, of church cannot address the diverse spiritual needs of all those residing in North America. The number of people groups, the variety of those living within our borders, is astounding. Therefore, the contributions from our planters will be from their perspective. We are comfortable with that. There is no one way to engage your community with the gospel. Each individual’s struggle with discouragement is his own and therefore, the solution is personal and unique to that individual. The same is true for all of the pressure points we explore. Please seek to identify underlying principles from each writer. Find those things which will transfer into any context, your context. Journal your thoughts and reactions as you work through their stories. Process them with your peers. Connect with our writers not only on the pages of this book, but have conversations with them in person. None have claimed to have it all figured out. Like you, they are travelers on a journey, people willing to sit at the table and discuss their findings with you. What are you thinking? Are you READY?
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CHAPTER ONE
Table of Contents In Appreciation
3
Forward
5
Section One: Foundations 1 Meet Mike 2 Meet Whitney 3 Principles or Practices? 4 Redefining Success 5 Don’t Take the Journey Alone 6 Decision Making
13 21 31 41 53 63
Section Two: Pressure Points Enlisting Partners 7 Calling, Faith and Exceptions 8 Ready to Go, but There’s No Funding! 9 I Will Meet Your Needs and Make My Name Great 10 Vision Tours Merging Family and Church Life in a Healthy Manner
77 81 91 95
101 107 111
11 Navigating the Minefield 12 Marriage Bumps 13 Balance is Just a Knob on the Radio
Being Overwhelmed
14 Managing the Chaos 15 Before You Plant 16 When Life and Ministry Take Over
117 127 129
Dealing with Discouragement
17 Unrealistic Expectations and Discouragement 18 Discouragement … Unavoidable? 19 Seldom Is Heard a Discouraging Word
135 139 141
Stewardship Development
20 Developing Stewardship As a Strength 21 Stewardship and Changed Lives 22 Missions Giving
147 157 161
Spiritual Warfare
23 Spiritual Warfare and Church Planting 24 The Face of Spiritual Warfare 25 The Reality of Spiritual Warfare
167 173 177
Disciple Making
26 27 28 29
On Making Disciples Stages of Development for a Disciple Coaching and Discipleship It’s All About Intentionality
181 191 193 201
Engaging Your Community with the Gospel
30 31 32 33 34
Engaging Our Communities Dirty Soil Strategic Learning Zones A 52 God’s Plan for Sharing
207 211 217 223 225
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section one
foundations
CHAPTER ONE
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3
CHAPTER ONE
MEET MIKE
I would like to introduce myself. I am Mike. I feel called by God to plant a church in
an urban setting in North America. Some would say I am average. I am in my mid-thirties. I’ve been married to Whitney for 13 years. We have two children under the age of 11. I have been to seminary and have been pastoring a Southern Baptist church for six years. For the past few years, I have questioned the ability of the local church to transition into a church that can connect with the radically unchurched or de-churched people in its communities. Average. Some would say, however, that I am unusual. Different. I feel led to plant a church. I feel led by God to move my family from our suburban home to dwell in the heart of one of North America’s major urban centers. I want to plant a church in the city, a church that is biblically faithful yet culturally relevant. I struggle with giving up the security of an established church and a regular paycheck. Different. I, like many other planters, simply cannot resist the calling of God upon my life to reach the inhabitants of this new city with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I cannot get away from the fact that a new church is needed and that God is calling me to be the founding pastor. But I did resist. I had doubts and struggled for some time … a long time. When I finally shared with my wife, Whitney, what God was doing in my life, she was a little shocked. Okay, that’s putting it mildly. She questioned our ability to feed our family. She struggled with leaving friends and family. She resisted. She prayed. She knows me and knows that if this was what God was telling me, God would tell her as well—if she was willing to listen. So she prayed. And listened. And God spoke. Clearly. She began to dream with me about the new church and fall in love with the city. We made several trips to pray and walk the streets. The people and the place captured her heart. She saw opportunities and heard God’s calling. She was captured over a period of time, but captured nonetheless. 13
SECTION ONE
I am the dreamer. The relational guy. My wife, on the other hand, is into details. She wants answers to her questions. She has faith, but she also knows that counting the cost is critical. So together we asked the tough questions. Together we explored our options, and one day we came to a conclusion. In order to move forward, in order to be successful, we needed the counsel of families who had planted churches. We needed to hear their stories … for them to be honest—gut-level honest. We wanted to identify the struggles or the pressure points found in planting a church. We wanted to be ready, to have some idea of how our future would unfold. Looking back, we made one of the best decisions in our lives when we decided to connect with other church planting families. In the future, they would become our closest friends. Their insight proved invaluable to us, helping us set realistic expectations for our ministry. And yes, our world was shaken by what we heard from our new friends. In some cases, we were able to meet with the couples over a meal or a cup of coffee. Sometimes we talked over the Internet or by telephone. We took notes and asked a lot of questions. We were wise to not limit our questions to just issues relating to the mechanics of planting a church. We explored the impact it would have on Whitney as a mom and as a wife. We talked about their children and their families. We talked with planters from all kinds of places, from all walks of life. Some were old; some were young. Many were from different parts of the world. They talked and we listened. We discovered a few nuggets of wisdom, or guiding principles, as we prepared for our journey. We called them the “Big Four.” They mostly relate to the mechanics of planting a church, but some we felt would help us as a family as well. We also identified eight major pressure points that the majority of church planters experienced. Once the pressure points were identified, we began looking for planters who had found God’s favor or direction in dealing with each of the issues. We were amazed by the fact that in many cases, context dictates how individuals dealt with the issues. We discovered that knowing your context and knowing your audience are critical for the development of the church. We realized that we must spend more time getting to know our new community—its rhythms and nuances—before we start developing our strategy. We also learned the importance of discovering who we are as individuals as well as who we are as a couple. We had been brought up in church and raised as Southern Baptists. We have a love for God’s Word and see its relevance for directing our lives. We believe the Bible is truth without error, inspired by God Himself. We love Sunday school and want our children to experience what we did growing up. Many of our values are related to our roots in the South, to a culture where Christianity and church attendance are valued by many of our neighbors. We see Sunday as a special day, a day set aside for family and worship. We expected to find like-minded people in our new community—people with the same values. But we discovered that our values are not the same, that they are radically different in many cases. Knowing ourselves and our values proves to be vitally important as we seek to connect with people in our new community. We learned the importance of identifying the values and worldviews held by those we encounter in our new community and contrasting the two sets (ours and theirs) to discover points of agreement that can be used to start conversations. 14
MEET MIKE
The Big Four As we reviewed our conversations, we identified four foundational principles that emerged consistently from the church planting families we spoke to in our time of preparation:
• Think principles, not models.
• Learn how to make good decisions.
• Redefine success and the activities it takes to get there: learn to think like a missionary.
• Don’t take the journey alone.
Think principles, not models. The first principle surprised us. As we dreamed of planting a church, we examined several churches that seemed to have their act together. In the past, I knew that many pastors had traveled to California or Chicago to learn from the two major models of their day. My generation still traveled to California, but to a different church. There were some megachurches in the South that appealed to me. We loved their children’s ministries, which occurred at the same time as the morning worship service. The worship experience, utilizing high-tech lighting, video, and modern music, appealed to us. “Wouldn’t it be great to plant a church like that in our new community?” we asked each other. Our new friends encouraged us to ignore the urge to model our church after a specific church or churches in North America. They showed us the importance of extracting transferable principles from their ministries that would work anywhere. They showed us how the context—our new community—should shape our methodology. Although it would take longer to get started, we saw the value in the suggestion. Again, we were being told to move slowly, to exegete our new community. Learn how to make good decisions. The second principle was solid: learn to make good decisions. One planter cautioned us, “You’re just one decision away from blowing everything.” Ouch. That hurt. Neither Whitney nor I had ever thought about following a particular process for making decisions. Basically, we prayed and waited for some indication or inner impression from God. We looked for open doors and leaned heavily upon our having a sense of peace over our decision. What we heard from planters was that we also needed to seek wisdom from our heavenly Father when making decisions. They encouraged us to learn how to make wise decisions, to develop a process. “The search for wisdom begins with God but includes a study of Scripture,” they told us. They mentioned things like research, identifying numerous options, and listing the pros and cons for each option. They placed a heavy emphasis upon connecting with wise counselors, people with experience and spiritual maturity. They included things like waiting and prayer, encouraging us to establish a clear pattern for making decisions.
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SECTION ONE
One planter wrote, “Get counsel from Scripture and make time alone with God. Seek oneness of spirit with your wife if you are married. Get counsel from trusted friends and work associates and those who have gone before you: ‘Plans are established by counsel; by wise counsel wage war’ (Proverbs 20:18, NKJV). Finally, refuse to reconsider a decision that you have made, that you know is right in the sight of God.” Redefine success and the activities it takes to get there: learn to think like a missionary. The third principle intrigued us. Over and over again, the planters we spoke to kept reminding us that North America is a mission field. A planter in Montana shared with us how his new community was unlike anything he had experienced in his life. His values were not embraced by his new friends. Things that worked in his home state simply did not work in Montana. The planter had to rethink his strategy. Another planter in Pittsburgh urged us to read The Celtic Way of Evangelism by George Hunter and identify the missionary pattern followed by Patrick to reach Ireland. In this book we identified what appeared to be the missionary pattern the planter spoke of. First, we noticed that Patrick started with a team. Many of the planters had encouraged us to move to our new community with a team in place. Second, we observed that Patrick engaged the leadership of his new community to learn about the community and to build relationships—relationships that would bear fruit later. Next, we learned that Patrick began networking for evangelism, seeking a person well-connected to others—a person of peace. We saw that Patrick engaged people as a student—and that he came with questions, not answers. We sensed that Patrick was trying to understand the community and the hearts of the people he was trying to reach with the gospel. Patrick began forming small Bible study groups as a means to form a nucleus for the new church. They met in homes and had conversations about God and His written Word. They ministered together and broke bread together. I sensed in my spirit that it looked a lot like what I had read about the early church in Jerusalem. It also appeared that this process of gaining acceptance, as well as understanding and forming a small group, took time. I remembered a conversation with another planter who had told me to take my time before launching a public worship service. Now I understood why. Finally, we recognized that Patrick identified and developed local people to be the leaders of the new church. I made a note in my journal: Come as a student to gain an understanding of the context, network for evangelism, form small groups, and develop leaders. Later, as I restudied the book of Acts and the missionary patterns of the apostle Paul, I saw a similar pattern repeated.
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MEET MIKE
Don’t take the journey alone. The final principle challenged my understanding of how Southern Baptists supported church planters. Several of the planters we engaged repeatedly spoke about the importance of not taking the journey alone. They explained the need for being connected to a strong network of church planters, of the need to hear from experienced planters. They mentioned how they had benefited from having a mentor. Some spoke of hiring a coach, an individual who was trained to help them discern what the Holy Spirit was saying to them and to develop their strategy accordingly. It seemed that all of them placed a heavy emphasis upon communicating with their coach regularly and having prayer warriors to pray for them. There was one subject that seemed to really get the planters fired up: finances. Over and over again I heard of the sacrifices made in the struggle to provide for their families. Some encouraged me to be bivocational, but just as many suggested I work full-time as a minister. What was the right answer? we wondered. What I did not understand at first was why our denomination was not paying their salaries. After all, they had placed an emphasis on the need for church planters in urban centers outside the South. As a denomination, Southern Baptists were planting a lot of churches. What I did not know was that almost all of the planters raised a major portion of the support for their families and the funds needed to do ministry. At first I was a little discouraged, but as I listened to planters, I saw the value and the role of our denomination. They supported the planters by offering basic training for those just getting started. They had an assessment process that helped Whitney and I see our strengths and weaknesses. They helped us develop a personalized growth plan. Our local associational director of missions offered to be my mentor. Local planters had formed a network, and many of the support mechanisms were in place. In the area of finances, we discovered that the local association, our new state convention, and the North American Mission Board (in some cases) partnered together to provide a certain amount of financial support. But we discovered that it was not enough and that health insurance was not included. We drew the conclusion that there was another partner needed: the local church. It was here that we might find the additional support our family needed. We also discovered that many of the planters’ wives worked outside the home. One afternoon, we reread notes from planters that seemed to wrap up what we had learned so far. One church planter wrote, “Surround yourself with wise counsel and plan on the church taking twice as long as you anticipated getting on its feet, three times as much money as you thought, and 10 times harder than you thought.” We reread comments like, “It hasn’t always gone the way I would have hoped, but it is an amazing ride and God is changing lives all over,” and “I have never been more stretched in my faith or in my leadership. I really love what we are doing, though sometimes it seems God allows me to be stretched beyond what seems fair. In the end, I don’t think I’d trade this ministry opportunity for another one.”
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SECTION ONE
One planter wrote, “Church planting has been the most difficult and most rewarding experience of my life.” Another added, “I’m glad that I stepped out in faith and trusted God to start a church. Most people do not get to experience the kind of provision that we saw that was just miraculous. I am so glad that we trusted Him and, as always, He was faithful.” They were more determined than ever to follow God’s leading to plant a church. When you read about the struggles planters experience in their finances and the challenges they face as they seek to make disciples among all peoples, you may get the impression that planting a church is hard work. It is. But also remember this: Your church plant is unique and unlike other churches. What works for one may not work for you.
Pressure Points We knew that our church would be unique, but we also discovered that most church planters and their churches had something in common: they all experienced pressure or challenges in common areas. We called them the “pressure points.” As we interviewed church planting families, we kept a journal and noted the areas where they struggled. Next, we created a master list and tried to rank them by frequency and severity. By the time we were done, we had identified what we believed to be the top eight pressure points experienced by church planting families. Our list looked like this:
1. Finances
2. Spiritual Warfare
3. Balancing Church and Family
4. Feeling Overwhelmed from the Responsibilities
5. Stewardship Development
6. Discouragement
7. Making Disciples
8. Engaging Your Community
As we read and reread our list, we were reminded of Jesus’ warning, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33, NIV). Based upon our discussions with planting families, we determined that most church planting families were either experiencing a problem, coming out of a problem, or headed into one! Life for the church planter seemed to be a series of problems. We were also reminded that Jesus finished that verse with a promise, “But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
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MEET MIKE
We determined that we had two options: we could ignore the problems mentioned by these planting families, or we could use them to guide our preparation process. We chose to explore them, to gain an understanding of the issues involved in each pressure point, and to develop a strategy to deal with them before we experienced them firsthand. Going back to our discussions regarding the need for a decision-making process, we recalled one planter telling us that the first step was to identify the problem—that in some cases the issue is not what it appears to be. With that in mind, we looked at each pressure point and came up with a series of questions to guide our thinking. We wrote them in our journal, and then we began looking for church planters who had dealt with the challenges in healthy ways. We captured their stories and extracted principles that we felt could guide us in our church planting journey. I want Whitney to share her story with you about what she learned during our conversations with church planting families. You might want to take notes ‌ she’s sharp!
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CHAPTER TWO
MEET WHITNEY
Mike already told you that his calling to be a church planter took me by surprise.
Actually, I think he used the word shocked to describe my frame of mind. That’s still an understatement. Don’t get me wrong. From the beginning of Mike’s call into ministry, I embraced the idea of serving God. I never wanted to hold Mike back when he told me that God had put it in his heart to pastor; I wanted to be the first to join him in service to Jesus Christ. Our ministry started with a six-year pastorate that was a joy to me. It felt good—and comfortable. I truly loved our time at that church. So, when the idea of leaving that congregation to plant a new one in the city sprang up, I looked at it as suspiciously as I would a weed growing in my garden. I was a thirty-something mother of two little ones and my husband now wanted to reinvent our lives. Where did that come from? Could it truly be from God? Mike says I’m a detail person. Well, God left out one little detail when He called Mike to be a church planter—me. Or I should say that it sure seemed that way at first. When Mike initially told me that he felt God calling him to be a church planter, I just couldn’t fathom it. At first, I got really angry at the very idea. It seemed like Mike was working overtime to mess up our lives. But I calmed down. In fact, I got over my anger within a relatively short time. By then I was ready to pray about it. It was more of a concession than a true desire to hear what God was saying, but I’m proud of that submissive spirit. I found, however, that when I started praying that first feeble prayer I couldn’t stop. I prayed and I prayed and I prayed. Soon I was trying in a very honest way to hear what God was saying. Mike and I visited the city where he envisioned starting this new church. We walked the streets and I looked, not at the local businesses and amenities, but at the people’s faces. And I began to care about them. 21
SECTION ONE
Here’s something that’s still a little hard for me to believe. Eventually the idea of starting a church from scratch, a church that would be wired with DNA to reach the radically unchurched and multiply, began to grow on me. Grow on me. That’s a good way to say it, because soon I couldn’t shake the dream of it. Before long I knew I wanted to be a part of a new church plant. I started to picture myself as a church planter too, and tried out that label aloud: “I am a church planter.” It was an empowering moment. I remember the day I told Mike that I had come to the same conclusion he had—that God was indeed calling us to be church planters. If only you could have seen his face! He grinned, and a look of joy and relief crossed his face—just before I saw a hint of fear. I think my agreement confirmed for him that he really had listened to God’s still, small voice—and obeyed. As for me, Mike probably saw joy as well as a whole lot of fear on my face when I made that declaration. I smiled back at him—just before I burst into tears. God has the power to do that to me. He can bring me to laughter and tears all at the same time. As you work through your call to plant a church, be sure to include your wife in the discussions. Keep her informed and allow her time to process the decision. Mike and I quickly decided that it was in our own interests to meet other church planters and their wives. We’d go to coffee and talk. In our talks, they shared their own calls with us. It helped a lot, since there were days when I was laughing and crying all over again—and ready to do back flips to get back to the way things were. It was comforting to know that my response was not atypical but much like many other church planter wives. Talking with them, I discovered that for most of us it took some time to adjust to the idea that our families were being called to plant a church. Just like me, they felt they were struggling to catch up with their husbands, who were already several steps down a road we had just discovered existed. What a detour! But I also realized how vital it is that we wives really know that we must be called, too. Every husband should be aware of this. We can’t go into a life-changing decision like this on the strength of our spouse’s call alone. No matter how long it took for us to warm up to God’s plan, every wife I talked to said it was very important. I am so thankful that Mike was patient and not just persistent on this point. If I had felt he was coercing or forcing me into church planting, I may not be where I am today—surrendered to this call on our lives. How did I reach that point? I was especially touched by something in the book My Husband Wants to Be a Church Planter … So What Will That Make Me?1 One writer mentioned that if a husband is called to church planting, then his wife must be, too. She pointed to Genesis 2:18, 22, to remind us that wives are to be their husbands’ helpmates. Ooh! I couldn’t find an escape clause that read “except for church planters.” Being reminded of my responsibility as a Christian wife was a good thing.
My Husband Wants to Be a Church Planter … So What Will That Make Me? is available at no charge as a downloadable file or by requesting a hard copy. For more information, visit www.ChurchPlantingVillage.net/wives.
1
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MEET WHITNEY
Something else really resonated with me too: Church planting seems to be such risky business. This writer pointed out that God told Mary, the mother of Jesus, the plans He had for her before she became pregnant. In other words, she could have turned Him down—and would have passed on a really extraordinary ministry assignment. Understanding the freedom I have to participate in this church plant is important to me. I could have told Mike no. But I said yes. I’m proud of that decision, too. It makes me dream about what God might have in store. But I am still into the details (really, I can’t help myself). Simply making the decision that God was calling Mike—and I—to church planting didn’t put an end to my questions. Therefore, talking and mulling things over with other church planters (especially wives), really helped put me at ease. The details that I so desperately wanted to fill in the gaps started coming.
That Little Thing Called Money Let me say it right up front: one of my biggest concerns was finances. I’d heard about struggling church plants that kept the planters impoverished and dependent on funding from other congregations for the duration. To me, that didn’t seem like any way to live. So I’m not sure if I found it comforting that so many of the church planting families admitted what an ongoing struggle finances were for them. Most were brutally honest: years after their church was planted, finances remained a challenge for them. I was concerned about every aspect of our finances—living expenses, medical insurance, and retirement—even paying for the kids’ college! If Mike gave up his income as a pastor of a stable and established church, where exactly would the money come from? While I’d never considered myself as someone attached to material things, the idea of lowering our already modest standard of living seemed daunting. Because Mike was dreaming of a church plant in an urban area, I pictured us stuck in an apartment in the inner city, struggling to pay the rent. Now I’m not proud that I found myself worrying about stuff like that, but to be honest, I must tell you that I did. What bothered me most, though, was simply the unknown. Our church planter friends told us that we’d need to raise some of our support and then rely on God to keep supplying the rest. That was going to require some faith. But their frank financial warnings also intimidated me: “Don’t be surprised if you don’t get as much financial help—or even spiritual or emotional assistance—from those you expect help from or from those who have even promised to help,” one woman told me. I think she was suggesting that I lower my expectations right from the beginning so I wouldn’t get my hopes up too high and end up disillusioned. Hey, I like security. What woman doesn’t? I can adjust my expectations, but I do like to know what to expect. Is that so wrong? I have often asked Mike that question along the way. I have to say, it seems easier for him. He always trusts that it’s all going to work out. And whenever we pray together, asking God to meet our needs, I feel better too. Our joint prayers have been an important part of this journey. I’m thankful Mike has taken the time to pray with me regularly. Make sure you pray as a couple too!
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We also spent a lot of time trying to decide the best way to provide some financial stability for our family. Up until this point, Mike had been a full-time pastor, and I had been a stay-at-home mom. Should he get a job while we got the church off the ground? Should it be full-time or part-time? Should I go back to work? My university degree has been gathering dust ever since our oldest was born, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to reenter the work force. Even though both of our kids were in school, I liked being available to volunteer in their class and meet them at the door when they get off the bus. It’s frustrating to think that planting a church also might mean changing the entire structure of our family life. Those are issues we keep praying about, asking God to lead us. This is another area where I’d like that detailed plan right in front of me. I’ll tell you something that has helped ease my mind. I came across some useful materials from the personal moneymanagement expert Dave Ramsey. Dave makes a lot of sense—good common and biblical sense. For example, he puts a lot of emphasis on a budget. Now, I happen to like budgeting. Remember, I’m a detail person. But my husband isn’t. And I began to realize that our failure to jointly adopt a budget had been causing us unnecessary stress for a long time. No wonder I was balking at adding to our load! I especially appreciated this statement by Dave: “When you agree on money decisions, you’re agreeing on your value system, and you reach a level of unity in your marriage that you will get no other way.”2 Hey, with that approach I was able to convince Mike that it was high time we set about the task of creating a real budget and making it work. Our ability to work together on finances really removed a lot of the stress for me. Many decisions and plans were made about the church plant that I was not involved in, but it was so helpful that Mike and I established the family budget together. Money was tight, but agreeing to manage it together according to a plan we both approved relieved my mind. Our church planting friends have stressed some of the other important financial fundamentals: the importance of savings and getting out of and staying out of debt. Mike and I agreed to examine each of these topics together. Doing that has given me just what Dave Ramsey promised—peace. With our financial budget in place, an agreement on how to make budget decisions, and an understanding that debt was just not going to be on our radar screen, no matter what, planting a church still seemed a costly but manageable proposition.
Managing Time and Space I know I may come off appearing really selfish, but you know what bothered me most, aside from the financial issue? The lack of time. Church planting seems like such an overwhelming, all-consuming task! I was overwhelmed at the thought of it before I even tackled the first task.
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2
My Husband Wants to Be a Church Planter … So What Will That Make Me? (Alpharetta, Ga.: North American Mission Board, 2007), p. 96.
MEET WHITNEY
As a person who’s into details, I thrive on structure and schedules. But it wasn’t long before I discovered that planting churches isn’t work that fits tidily into my neat little calendar boxes or on carefully checked-off to-do lists, no matter how detailed. Moreover, my experience as a pastor’s wife for the past six years had already taught me a lot about where I serve best in a church. I’d spent a lot of time experimenting with service and discovering where I’m gifted. And guess what? It didn’t appear to me that I’d be able to readily use those gifts in a new church plant. I couldn’t sing in the choir because there would be no choir! I couldn’t lead in women’s ministry because there wasn’t going to be a women’s ministry—at least not for a while. Worse, I had this sinking feeling I’d be doing all the jobs—no one else would be there to do them. Whether I was good at them wouldn’t matter. These things simply had to be accomplished. But I know I’m simply not up to every task. I’d long ago discovered that when I take on too many roles, I serve outside of my areas of giftedness. No one benefits much, and I get frustrated. With this in mind, one of the things I did at the suggestion of another church planter wife and Mike’s encouragement was to visit the Web site www.placeministries.org where you can go online to do a PLACE personality assessment. It’s one of five resources that PLACE offers and it reveals the individual’s personality profile. Mike did it too. There are four broad personality types: C, for conscientious; I, inspiring; D, driven, and S, steady. Can you guess what kind of personality I have? C types are content to follow rules, are task-oriented, efficient, and like to keep things tidy. Need I say more? I highly recommend the PLACE Ministries’ five assessments (Personality Discovery, Learning Spiritual Gifts, Abilities Awareness, Connecting Passion with Ministry, and Experiences of Life). It’s quite a journey of self-discovery and it helped remind and reinforce some things I needed to know about myself, especially regarding how I work best on the church planting field. I predicted that the hardest thing for me—and Mike—would be to learn how to set boundaries. A new church is very needy, and everyone I talk to warns that couples must have healthy boundaries between church and home life established before planting. One church planter wife I chatted with online also cautioned that Mike should not allow the church to become the “other woman” in our marriage. “Yes, it is important to be there for the families in your church,” she said, “but don’t allow their problems and their sin to keep you away from your family.” A church planter wife gave me a copy of the book Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend. I underlined this quote: “Boundaries define what is me and what is not me. A boundary shows me where I end and someone else begins, leading me to a sense of ownership.”3 It’s a great read, and I highly recommend it.
Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend, Boundaries (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1992), p. 29.
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The reason I’m so interested in setting boundaries up front is because I want to take care of my marriage, my family, and my church. Someone encouraged me to feel guilt-free about it too, by pointing out that Jesus set boundaries. For example, sometimes He withdrew from the crowds because He needed space to spend time with the Father. We all need that. And when we don’t get it, the results can be disastrous. I know Mike and how absorbed he can get in ministry. I also know my own personality and my drive to get things done. I don’t want to end up like the church planting couple who got so consumed, working nonstop to establish their new church, that they completely neglected their marriage and family life. I’m sure you guessed what happened. Soon there was no marriage or family life to neglect. Mike and our children are too important to me; we have to set boundaries. I also must confess I’ve been really squeamish over the idea that the church is likely to meet in our home. How will we maintain the boundaries then? How will I know where church ends and home begins? To live at church seems a heavenly idea—until you contemplate it in your living room. We need to have boundaries in place regarding the use of our home if I am going to enjoy using our home for church instead of resenting it.
My Family and Me, Church Planters Are We Ironically, this part doesn’t make me quite so anxious, yet it’s so important that I don’t want to minimize it either, because I love my family and enjoy them so much. Part of the reason it is important to me to learn how to set boundaries—before we get too far into church planting—is because I want to protect my marriage and safeguard my family. I don’t want what Mike and I have as a couple to be stressed to the breaking point by pressures produced by planting a church. One church planter wife admitted how much the ministry had strained their family life: “In the beginning, it nearly destroyed our marriage. We spent time healing before delving into another plant. The second time was much better because we learned from our mistakes. Our marriage is the priority, not the church.” That’s something I never want to forget in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. If we don’t have our marriage, we won’t have a ministry anyway. I am resolved to go to great lengths to protect it. More importantly, Mike is committed to it as well. As for our children, I have been concerned about them from the outset. They’re young still, elementary school age, but old enough to feel the effects of making such a huge transition. Kids love stability—and here we are, pulling them out of their school, their home, their church, and moving away from all their friends. I wrestled with the question of whether we are doing right by them. Sue Ferguson wrote a poignant chapter on “Life as a CPK (Church Planter Kid)” in the book My Husband Wants to Be a Church Planter … So What Will That Make Me (which I have now fondly dubbed “my church planting manual”). Sue recounts their family’s transition from the pastor’s family of a large church to planters of a congregation that grew quickly at first but soon struggled. Along the way, her one remaining child at home experienced heartbreak over not only being forced to move but also the personal pain and tension that followed as their fledgling church experienced conflict. 26
MEET WHITNEY
Frankly, the thought of risking so much by leaving an established church to start a new one—only to end up in failure—terrifies me. If we step out in faith, God won’t let us fail, will He? And would our children survive such a disaster if we did? Whenever I face those fears, I reach for my Bible, and I try to accept the challenge in Sue’s calm words. “You have a choice when you encounter the blessings and hardships associated with church planting. Will you respond appropriately, seeing every aspect as an opportunity to see God work out His plan and train your children wisely?” Part of my concern stems from the fact that, as I was quickly seeing, when God calls a man and his wife to be church planters, He calls the family, too. The children in the other church planting families I have met partner with their parents in the mission in so many ways. They are helpers, often taking on small roles and lowly tasks like cleanup, but they also must be leaders, too, developing their own skills and assisting in worship and ministry. Part of me does not want to thrust our children into a situation that they will regret and resent all their lives. We are already taking them away from the church they love and their friends; should we also thrust on their tender shoulders the burden of church planting? I have certainly thought long and hard about the fairness of this. But I am coming to terms with it. God placed these children in our family, and He is giving them opportunities to know Him in ways that others may not have. This is not a bad thing; it’s a good thing. I keep telling myself that. When I do suffer a moment of fear for my children, I recall what Amanda, a former church planter kid, said: “Being a church planter kid was not easy. My journey was laden with difficulties and crossroads, but it is certainly rewarding as I look back on my childhood. I was forced to learn how to trust both God and my parents, and I did learn.”4 Put that way, I was greatly encouraged. What parent doesn’t want her child to learn firsthand that they can trust God? To rest in that confidence would surely be worth any hard-earned lessons. Plus, Mike has promised me that we will, from time to time, talk to our children and ask them how they’re feeling about being involved in a church plant. As Mike says, we will trust God that, just as He keeps our hearts in it, He will engage theirs, too. But it’s reassuring to me that Mike wants to be sensitive to the kids on this issue. I don’t know what we’ll do if they tell us they hate our lives, but I am so glad that Mike’s willing to talk about it.
Find Friends Where You’re Planted Everybody needs friends. I’ve known that for a long time. My friends are especially important to me. My husband is my best friend, but he’s not my only one. Once, when I was feeling lonely, he said, “Am I not enough for you?” My retort was swift and firm, “No, I need female friends too!” Women are able to provide encouragement and companionship in a unique way for each other. I’m a firm believer that every female needs other women in her life. I think I’ve finally made a believer out of Mike, too.
My Husband Wants to Be a Church Planter … So What Will That Make Me? (Alpharetta, Ga.: North American Mission Board, 2007), p. 86.
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But making friends is not always as easy for me as it is for Mike. He’s out there, you know? He’s rubbing shoulders with people and talking with them on a daily basis. Meanwhile, I’m at home talking with elementary-age children, day in and day out. Hey, I love our children, but I can’t discuss with them the adult things on my heart. One of the hardest parts of this new church plant is giving up my friends at our former church. Although early in ministry I was cautioned to be careful where I make friends, I discovered that church was a great place. Working side by side with another woman on a project that we both were passionate about helped us to bond quickly. I don’t like starting over with friends. I don’t like to even think about it. It’s so hard to reach a level of true intimacy in a friendship. I know I’m going to have big, gnawing holes in my life for quite a while as we leave our friends behind. And I’m already probing those empty places and aching over them. One church planter wife encouraged me to have a mentor—and to become a mentor. We learn from other women sharing their experiences, and we train other women as we share our own life’s journeys. I look forward, when I’m further down this church planting path, to helping other women on their church planting journeys. One of the first things I plan to do is give them a copy of My Husband Wants to Be a Church Planter. It’s been so beneficial to me. I have to say that Mike has tried hard to empathize. He’s already promised that I can go visit my old friends and former church often. I know that will help, but I’m also aware that I can’t live in the past. I will need the support of a new set of friends. I think that’s why Mike initiated contact with other church planting families. We connected so easily. Not only do they give us great counsel and encouragement, but I think we’ll also find ongoing friendships among them. Another great opportunity that Mike signed us up for came in the form of “Basic Training,” a three-to-four-day training course for church planters and their wives offered by our new state convention.5 From our conversations with other church planters and their wives, we found that those roundtable sessions really served to boost a lot of the wives’ spirits. More than one wife reported that it was an incredible relief to learn that other women felt the same way she did. Mike is also trying hard to set me up with new girlfriends. This gives me a chuckle, but it’s endearing, too. Every time he meets a church prospect, especially one he thinks I’ll have a ready connection with; he encourages the wife to meet me because we have a lot in common. Then he comes home and tells me the same thing. Then he tries to set it up. He’s trying so hard. In the meantime, I’m trying to be patient and wait on the Lord. Because He’s the Friend I need to connect with most of all.
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For more information about “Basic Training,” visit www.BTJourney.net
5
MEET WHITNEY
Underneath It All Mike and I have learned so much from all the church planters and their wives we’ve met. But when all is said and done, no counsel, friendship, strategy or warning can take the place of my relationship with the Lord. I saw research just the other day that revealed that 19 percent of church planter wives admitted to not having an intimate and vibrant prayer life. And 13 percent admitted they do not routinely spend time with God.6 I know that with such a weak commitment, troubles would surely crop up that I wouldn’t be able to handle. Besides, I want a much stronger relationship with my Savior than that. At the same time, I know I could very well be included in that stat if I spend too much time working the church field, staying busy with our family and trying to get everything done. (You see, it always goes back to my lists!) In fact, I must confess right here that I have struggled in this area before. Every time my family switches gears, I have to refocus on my relationship with Christ. Why is it that this relationship, the one I value most highly, also is the one I let go of so easily? It’s not as though I don’t understand the importance of spiritual disciplines—time spent in the Word, prayer, and worship. I do. But my compulsive busyness and orientation to detail can really trip me up. I get so busy with the kids or church activities, trying to get it all done, that sometimes when I shut my eyes at night I realize I have let the day go by without a single soulful prayer. At other times, daily life intrudes, and Bible study and Bible reading become erratic and uneven. I go back through a day and realize I’ve done some really good things—carpooled and cleaned house and led ministry—but I never really spent one-on-One time with God. That’s something I’ve learned. As our family and our church grow, I have to make adjustments. What worked last month may suddenly not work anymore. So I have to keep finding the time or carving it out. I know its importance cannot be minimized. Maybe if I put it on my to-do list that would help! Seriously, I know how easy it is for me to neglect my spiritual health. I don’t always say thanks, but I appreciate and need Mike to help me in this area. When he takes the lead and insists on praying with me or studying a passage of Scripture together, it really helps me keep my personal devotions in line. It’s funny how our family devotions feed my individual time with God. I want to know God and serve Him. After all, that’s what got me started in ministry, this desire to know Christ intimately. I have a feeling that I’m going to learn more about God than I ever imagined as we plant this church. There was a time when I could not have imagined ever saying this, but here it is: I cannot wait.
6
The Church Planter Wives Research Study 2007 is available for download at www.ChurchPlantingVillage.net/wives.
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CHAPTER THREE
PRINCIPLES OR PRACTICES ? By Jack Allen
Does a successful church plant depend more on a set of foundational principles or
upon contemporary practices? Is this argument even worth our time? Don’t we have better things to do than to read some highbrow theological argument written by some out-of-touch seminary professor? Principles, practices—who cares? Well, you do. You care, and I’ll tell you why. You care because you do not want to fail, and I care because I do not want you to fail. You dug through your calling on this church planting thing. You bought books and read them. You tried to explain why you cannot see yourself leading a legacy church, and your parents sort of understand what you’re talking about (for that, you may deserve a medal). You prayed so hard that your in-laws are even beginning to get it. Wow! You’re on a roll. You have three hundred people on your prayer list. You took a class online, and you wrote a pretty decent proposal for your new church. You know where to locate, and you have a few sponsors and an association director who all think they want . . . you. Even with all that, the odds say you will fail if you base your new church on the trendy practices of your favorite church instead of God’s principles. You don’t believe me? You will. In three, four, or maybe seven years from now, your model will grow old and be unable to adapt to the people you need to reach. You will look around and wonder what happened. Why is your church no longer reaching people? You will ask, “What do I need to do to be cool again?” You will feel more like a restaurateur than a man of God. You may get mad, you may quit, and you may remember the principles that should have been the foundational stones for your rocking new church. I will not bore you with sappy, bumper-sticker slogans on why principles count. I will simply remind you that Jesus taught timeless principles by using examples that made sense to His listeners. He talked about fishing, shepherding, farming, and nature—things people in His context encountered every day. He illustrated principles from the Father that transcend time and culture. Why did He teach that way? Because Jesus is the smartest Man in the world. We are wise to follow His words and His methods, don’t you agree? 31
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Principle-Based Church Growth I recently heard about a man who started a church several years ago. The church quickly grew large. The man hired staff members who agreed with his vision and ideas on how the church should function. He hired young men and women with energy and zeal for God’s work. Most of his staff were newlyweds and childless. The church played great music and he preached excellent sermons downloaded from the Internet. After a few years, the church began to have a hard time paying their bills. Staff members began to leave for betterpaying positions. When the worship pastor left, the church began to resemble a wagon without a wheel. When the discipleship pastor left, well, we all know how hard it is to move a four-wheeled wagon with two wheels missing. A friend told me that the church is just about dead today. How could that happen? I think they simply ignored principles. They attracted people to an excellent, free weekly concert. Fearing that they might offend the crowd, they rarely took an offering or challenged people to live for Christ. The messages, though solidly biblical, lacked heart. The staff members were zealous and fun, but terribly naïve about how hard it would be to survive on pennies and seventyhour work weeks once the babies came. As you read down the list of principles, think back to this brief story. We cannot ignore principles long without paying a heavy toll. Many books offer principles for how to organize God’s work. One of the best is Gene Mims’s classic Kingdom Principles for Church Growth. Mims believes that the key principle guiding the growth of Christ’s church is the advancement of the kingdom of God, which is also central to Christ’s preaching.7 Every other principle stems from the root of the kingdom. Another classic to consider is Donald McGavran’s Understanding Church Growth. McGavran, one of the fathers of the Church Growth Movement (to which many contemporary church planters owe their appreciation), states that working from within God’s will drives the engine of the church.8 Who in his right mind would argue with these two giants of modern Christianity? Not me, but what about church planting principles? Are there certain principles that apply only to church planting or do the same principles apply to all churches? I believe we will not find a set of principles that work in church plants and another set that works in legacy churches. Principles based on biblical truth work in any church, and any principle that grows a legacy church will grow a new church. I believe as I do because a principle is somewhat like a law—it is not subject to the whims of culture—but it is transcultural. A principle is timeless. Why then, if principles stand the test of time, do the majority of books on church planting focus on one or two popular models? I cannot say with any certainty, but speculatively, it’s because we like what’s hot. Principles lack the sizzle of trendy practices. We all know that success takes time, but we really want to get rich quick! We buy books written by guys who have made a big splash in a short amount of time. And book publishers like to publish books that sell—do you see the cycle? We find ourselves with stacks of books on models that worked for a season but could not stand up to the whims of society.
Gene Mims, Kingdom Principles for Church Growth (Nashville: Convention Press, 1994), p. 11.
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Donald A. McGavran, Understanding Church Growth, 3d ed., revised and edited by C. Peter Wagner (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1999), p. 20.
8
PRINCIPLES OR PRACTICES
Are the church planting books of our day equivalent to the books on how to build a great Sunday school in our fathers’ day? Are they merely helpful and popular in their time but relics for the back shelf tomorrow? And what about tomorrow? Will something new come along that causes as much confusion as postmodernism has caused legacy churches? It would seem likely, would it not? The world is changing faster than ever. Just as postmodern thinkers of today do not listen to yesterday’s propositional arguments, something will come up tomorrow that makes today’s models less effective. A wise person can expect the next decade to offer some new cultural expression that will render many of today’s successful church models obsolete. Principles, on the other hand, offer us a way to see through the fog of changing times. Principles help us translate the gospel into the next language and the next after that, just as they have for two millennia. The same principles that started the churches that grew in Antioch will start the churches that grow two generations from now in your town. What are the principles? Where do we find them?
Answers in the Problems Perhaps a counterintuitive approach would help. What if the principles for church planting success are masked as answers to the problems that cause failure? I recently led a teaching session at a gathering of church planters in Louisiana. I asked the audience to list the primary causes of church plant failures, and I listed theirs and mine on a whiteboard. We used the list to spur conversations on how to solve those problems, and came up with some interesting principles. We concluded that two problems result in a supermajority of failures. For the purpose of this chapter, I will restate the problems as principles, just focusing on the first two. Then I will offer a longer list of several principles that you may want to consider. Sorry if my listing method sounds complicated—this subject lends itself to complexity. As first and second priorities, we have these principles: (1) the mission of the church plant is the Great Commission and (2) the strategy of a church plant must make sense in its context. The less critical but nonetheless important strategies are (3) God calls husbands and wives as a team, and (4) an effective coach must keep the planter focused on evangelism and discipleship. The mission of the church plant is the Great Commission . What is God’s mission? Is it not to fill the earth with news of His accessibility through the atoning death of His Son? Is God not on mission to bring people to Himself? By writing these kinds of thoughts, our little group told of things God is not doing. God is not in the business of bringing us prosperity, equality, clean air, or lower taxes. God is not bringing us victory over other religions, machines, capitalism, communism, fascism, militarism, liberalism, or emergent churches. He is not a trite god waiting on our opinions or a capricious god trying to kick us around. He is God Almighty, and He has a plan to make Himself known. He may accomplish a few of the things listed as nots, but they will be incidental accomplishments and evidence of His great power and love. His purpose is to glorify Himself by making Himself known to His creation—He is, in that sense, on mission. 33
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We, therefore, might want to shut up all our pointless programmatic wandering, hand wringing, and politicized scheming. Trust God, spread the gospel, and equip the saints to do the same; it’s about that simple. Go and make disciples who, in turn, make disciples. Period. Why then do we overcomplicate things with grand shows and programs that encourage religious consumerism and anxiety among church staff? In my group, one man asked if we do all the churchy stuff because we really think that we need to build God’s church, meaning that God will not build a good church without all the “Wal-Marting” of His bride. The brother wondered if we really trust God to build His own church. The guys in my group—about twenty of them —admitted that most of their time is spent in administrative tasks and in doing things they do not like to do, do not feel equipped to do, and that have very little to do with advancing the kingdom. Things they think (or hear) will build the church turn out not to do much building. Church planters are smart to delegate or ignore activities not directly connected to evangelism or to the equipping of saints to do ministry. This was the consensus of our group: If your mission is doing much of anything other than spreading the gospel and equipping the saints to do the same in the simplest way, you are fighting against God. Together, we worked on some ideas to put into practice: 1. Our calling is critical. We should be able to fill in the blanks: “God called me to ________ ________.” We should all be able to explain what God called us to do, and it should look like something that directly advances the kingdom of God. 2. God is interested in His agenda, and not so much in mine or yours. So we will be smart to get over ourselves and get back to finding Him at work and joining His work (thank you, Henry Blackaby). In that sense, what other mission could a church possibly have than the Great Co-mission? 3. We are under the judgment of God’s Word. It is not His Word that needs our judgment; it is our life that needs changing to be more like Jesus’. That means we are right when we love people and wrong when we do not. We are right when we are teachable and wrong when we are not. We are right to ponder and discuss God’s mission and wrong when we assume we have it all nailed down. I asked them to explain what God’s mission might look like when we encounter it in action. What they described sounds a lot like what we might call a movement of the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit wants to be in charge, and He wants to move through your town reclaiming souls as His kingdom advances. He wants us to teach about His kingdom. He wants us to pray and tell everyone who will listen that there is Good News today: God is accessible! Jesus paid the price of admission to God’s throne room. He can be found. So get with it. Go make disciples. The strategy of a church plant must make sense in its context. Imagine creating the perfect flavor of Kool-Aid. You love it. You cannot get enough. You drink so much that you nearly wet the bed. Your mother is hiding the sugar, threatening your father unless he gets your flavored sugar bones under control. You, being smarter than the average fifth grader, think you can make millions selling your new flavor. 34
PRINCIPLES OR PRACTICES
You steal sugar from your neighbor’s mom. You mix your concoction. You open your stand on a perfect day. People stop. People buy! People drink! People gag. People spit Kool-Aid on the sidewalk, in the grass, on the front of your stand. Kids are making fun of you. Parents are making fun of you. Your best friend’s grandmother spray-paints nasty graffiti on your Kool-Aid stand. Nobody is buying what you are selling. It is a disaster. This is the church planter who delivers the gospel in a language that people do not understand. He moves in, prays like crazy, works his head off, and nobody buys his product because it tastes so bad that they cannot keep it down. How can this be? I once watched a classmate try to tell a guy about Jesus. I was standing about thirty feet away, and my colleague kept talking louder and slower, but repeating the same words, “If you died today, would you go to heaven?” “IF. YOU. DIED. TODAY. WOULD. YOU. GO. TO. HEAVEN?” It didn’t take a genius to realize the man did not speak English. My colleague’s increased volume and decreased rate had no effect—neither he nor his victim received the gift of tongues. I knew just enough Spanish to help the poor guy understand what we were berating him about: “Jesus es tu amigo, si o no?” (Jesus is your friend, yes or no?) I know that seems a little weak, but give me a break, anything further and I might have accidentally cussed him out. He looked at me and nodded. Slowly. He pointed at my classmate and rattled off several words very fast. I caught two: “amigo” and “diablo.” I think he was telling me that the other guy was possessed by Satan. The man may have had a discerning spirit, but probably not. More likely, my classmate’s yelling scared him. Whatever the case, the anonymous man avoided our “Kool-Aid” because he did not understand what we were saying. If your church plant strategy (or for that matter, your church strategy) does not align with the language that your community speaks, they will at best ignore the message as unintelligible and, at worst, think you are harmful. It does not matter how much you like your Kool-Aid. What matters is how much your customer likes it. It doesn’t matter how much you like your program, canned presentation, event, sermon, or music. What matters is how much of your message your audience understands. Want a simple solution to the problem? Learn to listen. If the people you are talking to are at all interested in finding God, they will tell you how to present the gospel, if you will listen to them. Base your presentation on the language he or she speaks—most often, it is the language of pain. When you hear their pain story, you will know what Christ wants to heal. People always respond to the Master’s healing touch. God calls husbands and wives as a team. Everyone agrees that we Southern Baptists do little to assess, equip, or encourage the wives of church planting pastors. Women have spiritual gifts, too. We must help them find out where to serve, train them how, and release them to do whatever they need to do for the kingdom. In some cases, we may also have to provide training to help the couple work as a team. Wives need moral support. My wife is part of an excellent Internet group on Facebook. When you log on, search under “church planting wives,” if you are interested.9 Evidently there are several of these groups. Find the one my wife, Janet, recommends at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10971075821
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Every mission director I’ve met can tell a story about a church planter who left the field because his wife did not sense God calling her to plant the church. She grew homesick, never bought into the need for a new church, misunderstood her husband’s calling, or just did not want to sacrifice that much. He left too soon, and his church plant died as a result. Surely it would have turned out better had the planter’s wife been assessed more carefully and equipped more fully as a key part of the new church’s leadership team. An effective coach must keep the planter focused on evangelism and discipleship. This one seems as obvious as the previous one, but I have not seen much done to help guys on the field develop good habits. Few planters have coaches who meet with them more often than monthly—what would a sports team look like if the coach met with his players once a month? The thing planters complain about most often is not a lack of coaching but a lack of effective coaching. After a year on the field, many of them realize that their coach (the person responsible for helping them continue their training) knows little about the culture and less about strategy. Worse, planters find themselves communicating their needs through a monthly report which appears to be read by no one. Every planter needs someone—a missions director, field supervisor, sponsoring church pastor, CP coach, mentor —to meet with him face-to-face on a weekly basis to encourage, counsel, and hold him accountable. He needs someone to hear how he’s doing. An effective coach helps the planter by setting reasonable goals for the things that make a church grow: evangelism and discipleship. Not much else matters until a planter can network for evangelism, lead people to Christ, gather converts in discipleship groups, and teach them to reproduce.
Other Principles to Consider Let’s consider some other examples of principles for church planting. Some of these may come across to you as values or standards of Christian conduct. Some may seem so obvious that you assume we need not state them. Some will spark new thoughts in your mind, and others may cause you to bristle, but all of them have a biblical basis. The normality of church planting. In the New Testament, normal Christians tell lost people about Jesus and gather interested people in groups called churches. I do not know if church plants increase the number of new Christians or if evangelism of the lost creates new churches. Perhaps such details do not matter. In either case both activities are normal. Even a cursory reading of the book of Acts and Paul’s letters demonstrate evangelism and church planting. Anyone trying to say otherwise is foolish. Moreover, we know from experience that people in different cultures, whether postmodern elitists or blue-collar Bubbas, respond to new churches. Whenever we plant a new church that bases its style on principles, we see people come to Christ and get involved in His church—people who avoided other churches for years. A recent study of SBC churches reveals that 89 percent sit at a plateau or slide toward death.10 Trends suggest that the problem is getting worse quickly. Alvin Reid’s research found that the Southern Baptist decline coincides with
36
Bill Day, presentation at Leavell Center for Church Health and Evangelism, 2006.
10
PRINCIPLES OR PRACTICES
a leveling of our zeal to plant new churches.11 Jeff Farmer’s study provides evidence that all legacy churches that sponsor new churches grow financial and numerically, yet only 3-5 percent of SBC churches sponsor new work.12 It almost seems that we could say that old churches need new churches, but I am not ready to make that a principle just yet, despite the example of the new Asian church helping the old Jerusalem church during a famine. Prayer. God commands His children to listen to Him and to talk to Him. Prayer is a two-way conversation with the Father where He knows what we need and yet we share our needs. It’s where we spend time together. We may think that prayer is a good idea because when we pray we can get what we want from God. How shallow that is. Prayer is good because talking to God is good and because God is good. God wants us to know Him, and there’s no other way than through prayer—that alone ought to get us praying! God wants us to know Him. People who pray cannot imagine starting a church on any foundation other than prayer. Prayer opens our eyes to things we cannot otherwise see. Prayer defeats enemies whom we stand against, powerless alone. Prayer brings healing and opens doors to the gospel. Prayer allows God to inform our strategy, our delegation of tasks, and our selection of leaders. Evangelistic growth. The only reason for a church to exist is to advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth. Church growth that depends on transferring members from one church to another cannot please God. Of course, sometimes the churches in a town may be spreading false teaching or just be generally dysfunctional. The people get a breath of the Holy Spirit in a new church and they have to transfer—that’s not what I am talking about. Church growth that depends on transfer members does not please God—evangelism pleases God. Churches—real churches—worship Christ and work hard to fulfill the Great Commission by making disciples. Churches may grow by many means, but evangelism is clearly the best. Churches educate people in biblical doctrine. Churches love people. Churches help the sick, poor, orphans, prisoners, and widows. Churches point to Christ as the model of sacrifice and manhood. Churches encourage people to try something for God and to be led in ways that honor and glorify God. Small-group discipleship. Large groups are great for singing, but not for learning. People commit to a church where they find relationships and meaning. Church life can exist without members learning to walk with the Lord, but it goes much better if they do.13 Adults learn best when they can offer their opinions on important issues. No truths outweigh the Bible’s importance. Discipleship groups, therefore, make disciples best when they are small enough so that everyone feels comfortable to talk through their questions and problems, and the group is biblically informed. When groups grow larger than about twelve people, the introverts begin to hide, the extroverts begin to take over, and everyone’s spiritual growth is stunted. Love. Jesus gave us a new commandment, “Love one another” (John 13:34, HCSB). He also gave us a reason that sounds to me like a church growth principle: “By this all people will know that you are My disciples” (John 13:35, HCSB). It’s as though Jesus is telling His followers that the outsiders—lost people—are watching others to find
Alvin L. Reid, presentation to National State Conventions Summit, Nashville, TN, Dec. 5, 2007. 12 Jeff Farmer, dissertation defense, NOBTS, Nov. 8, 2007. 13 Harold Bullock, in a personal conversation, Fort Worth, TX, Nov. 6, 2004.
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out whose god is worth following. When we love each other, we show the world that our God is bigger than all our differences—that God offers peace in the chaos of life. That God is worth following. The god whose followers fuss and fight over nonessentials, commit adultery and divorce for pleasure, consume everything the world offers, demand their way at every turn—who needs that god? In fact, isn’t that the god to whom they already belong? Humble yet strong leadership. James 3 explains that anywhere we find selfish ambition we also find disorder and demonic practices. If a guy starts a church to fulfill his need to run the show, selfish ambition has him running. He will make poor decisions, cutting corners to make his show the coolest in town. He will say things that set up false competition between him and other church leaders. Eventually, he will invite God’s discipline. Humility does not make a leader a doormat. On the contrary, humble leaders demonstrate the kind of strength people want to follow. Moreover, God gives insight to humble leaders. They carry a supernatural boldness that gives them great confidence to stand for the right things and to help correct the wrong ones. Humble leaders are the only ones that stand a chance of directing a church forward in Christ’s power. The most important factor in church planting may be the character of the pastor and his wife. If they are genuinely spiritual, likeable, and make wise decisions, the church is likely to grow. Paul’s first letter to Timothy (chapter three) speaks of the character of church pastors and deacons, and 1 Timothy 3:11 talks about their wives. The second most important factor in leadership is the willingness of the pastor and his wife to work hard at the right things: prayer, evangelism, and discipleship of the flock. You get what you reward. Sometimes churches get star-crossed. Sometimes the best looking or wealthiest man is elected a chief servant in the church even though he is known as a cheat around town. Sometimes the best singer gets status even though she looks down on others. Because people are imperfect, we often reward the very things we do not want to reproduce. Instead, we need to reward traits like servanthood, humility, gentleness, and self-control. Many churches encourage visitors to become members because their children’s or youth program is “the best in the city” instead of letting God move the hearts of people through worship and service. Maybe you have been to a church that seemed to be selling soap at a special price (almost like Wal-Mart) rather than offering the good news of Jesus Christ that cannot be bought for any price. Friend, the church that rewards consumers will get droves of them. Then one day another church will get a hipper singer, a prettier face, a slicker salesman, and the people will leave for whatever’s on sale down the street. By no means do I advocate that we make church boring—to do so insults the Creator of creativity and delight. You will get whatever you reward, including boring people!
Common Church Principles Have I made my point? Do you see that church planting principles are the same as those for any church? Why would we expect something different? God has not made this hard for us—He gave us His Word and told us to work it out. Then He gave us His Spirit to help us work it out. At the end of the day, what grows First Baptist will grow Sojourn. 38
PRINCIPLES OR PRACTICES
We can easily think of several more ideas that might be principles: Attraction events help church people meet looking-for-church people. Some of the looking-for-church people will be believers and some will not, but all of them are demonstrating their interest in finding God. This seems to be what Rick Warren tells us in The Purpose Driven Church.14 People need something more than a small group to become a complete disciple. We need a broader community of mind (congregation) to expand vision. This may be a function of American culture, but house churches or small discipleship groups may not be enough unless they are extremely mission focused. People function out of their perspective and values. Whoever shapes people’s perspective and values is the one who guides their lives. Godless media shapes today’s Western values and makes it harder for the church to penetrate and engage the culture. It may be wise, therefore, to help teenagers learn to understand what drives their culture rather than to try to scare them away from it. The pastor’s preaching sets the direction as the lead teacher and expositor of the Scriptures. A solid preaching ministry can help shift perspectives as long as it does not come off as aloof, condescending, unrealistic, or too obvious. A pastor must maintain a sense of godliness and use the prophetic Word of God for his preaching to have an effect on people. A church is a spiritual organism wearing organizational clothes. It does not appear in public without clothes. For this reason, leaders need to understand how people work together in organizations.15 Churches move forward when leaders agree on the group’s purpose, mission, values, and strategy. Division at the point of direction stops a church in its tracks. Therefore, Christians cannot tolerate divisive people. The church carries the task of penetrating and transforming its culture. It may fall under a cultural spell, be confused over how to handle the culture, or it may try to create its own subculture, but its job is to transform a godless culture into a godly culture. H. Richard Niebuhr clearly describes the church that transforms its culture (and four other models) in Christ and Culture.16 The Holy Spirit and Satan are real. Even though God is fully capable of ending spiritual warfare at any moment— and He will end it when He chooses—it currently goes on all around us. For this reason, wise church planters ground themselves in the Bible, genuinely seek humility, and remain teachable, faithful, perseverant, and dependent on the Lord. The principle may be better stated: to give no opportunity to the devil (Ephesians 4:27). Ed Murphy’s Handbook for Spiritual Warfare and Francis Frangipane’s The Three Battlegrounds are two good books that explain spiritual warfare in depth. Relational evangelism produces the most consistent fruit. Many times, however, we also find fruit with a confrontational approach. How will you know the best approach if you only try one? The crucial factor in conversion, from the human side, is not the delivery of the gospel, but the unsaved person’s ability to understand the gospel and its implications for his life (Acts 8:30-31). George Hunter’s book Celtic Way of Evangelism is very helpful on this point.
Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1995). 15 Ibid. 16 H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (Torchbooks Harper & Row, 1956).
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The Benefits and Problem with Models I am not saying that models are useless—quite the contrary. Models help us sort out who we can best reach for Christ. If you cringe whenever you hear drums, it affects your ability to reach drummers or people groups for whom drumming is an essential cultural practice. Think about a few models that you see in the U.S. and decide one you like best. Visit churches that have adopted models you like and find out how well they make disciples in their communities. Ask, “Are there people in my community who would find this model appealing? Are they the people God is leading me to reach?” Think through what works and what does not. Test every practice against Scriptural principles. That brings us to a foundational principle: a church must be biblically faithful while seeking to be culturally appropriate. The first cannot be sacrificed for the latter. Love everyone who points people to Jesus as the only way to God. You will not like some models, and some other people will not like yours. Stay humble and realize that many times it’s just a matter of style. Every weekend-event church, cowboy church, house church, legacy church, neo-liturgical church, and a host of others have their place in the kingdom. Most of the time, the ones different from yours reach people your church cannot reach. We really do need lots of different churches for lots of different people, but all churches need a foundation built upon principles that are culturally wise and biblically informed.
Dr. Jack Allen ~ Jack and his wife, Janet, live in Austin, Texas, where he serves as the lead planter of Austin Hope Church, a network of Missional churches. Additionally, he serves as Adjunct Professor of Church Planting at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Rockbridge Seminary. 40
CHAPTER FOUR
REDEFINING SUCCESS By Jeff Christopherson
We live in an era where success is probably the most highly prized value in our
culture. Who doesn’t like success? Every well-dressed, well-balanced, well-articulated person loves it. Right? Why wouldn’t they? Success means you’re the winner. You’re the king of the heap. You’ve outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted everyone else. You win! And the prize? Success. It’s the prize in itself! What could be better than success? Like the old maxim quips, “Nothing succeeds like success.” Once you’ve been handed the prize, you don’t have to be as good, as cutting-edge, as risky, or as successful because success has a life and momentum all its own. Success is really, really good. If success is our culture’s highest value, could anything possibly devalue success? Perhaps one thing. What if the measurement of our success is deemed trivial? For instance, who really wants to be known for having the world’s greatest fingernail collection? How about owning the largest collection of back scratchers? Again, we have a winner. But who really cares? Success, for it to be meaningful, must fall in a category of significance. Here’s the rub for Christ-followers. What if the category that we evangelicals deem significant is actually only as significant as a fingernail collection to God? What if the category we strive to become successful in is actually repugnant to God? Is that even possible? Some think so. I would join them. I recall observing a study coming from a major European news source that had as its hypothesis that Christianity had no net positive contribution to society. To prove their assumption, the Europeans rolled their investigative team into a major urban city in the Southern United States17 and began to count things. They started counting churches. My Baptist tribe was well represented. Methodists, Assemblies of God, Catholics, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and of course those generic-sounding churches (like The Sanctuary, The Journey, The Mosaic) were in abundance.
I have intentionally chosen to mask the identity of the city in this study for the purpose of universal effect. The ratios are not dramatically different to many well-churched communities in North America. Conversely, new missiological studies show a dramatic impact of social reform where higher church ratios exist in many regions experiencing new and rapid expansion (i.e., Southeast Asia).
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They chose this particular city because it was thought to have the highest church-to-population ratio of any major urban center on the planet. Certainly, a city like this with such exposure to a gospel witness must have a transforming influence on its residents. But there were more things to count. They started counting problems—suicides, drug and alcohol addiction, teenage pregnancies, homelessness, sexual crimes, murders, child abuse—the kinds of problems that seem to have no easy answer. You know where this is going, don’t you. In every category of social verve, this heavily churched city bumped along the bottom as compared to similar-sized cities throughout the world. In a place known for its megachurches and global ministries, the church should have had a major effect on its community.
“How many are you running?” (or “How many have you benched?”) I am a goal-oriented guy. Give me a goal worth pursuing and I’ll focus all my energy toward it. Goals give me a buzz. I know that there is psychological help available for me, but for now I am going to enjoy being off-balanced. Goal lovers have something in common—we love the mantra, “Those who fear numbers usually have none to report.” Gotcha! How do you get out of that one? If that’s not enough, we go on and become all theological: “You don’t think God loves numbers? He loves them so much that He named the fourth book of the Bible after them!” Wham! What can you say to that stellar line of theological reasoning? Most pastors wouldn’t want to confess this, but sometimes we can be a pretty ungodly bunch. You gather a group of us in a room; hit the timing feature on your digital watch, and start counting the seconds until the first conversation goes the way of, “So, how many are you running these days?” Somewhere in our thinking there exists a belief that the quantity attending our worship services is in direct correlation to the impact we are having on the kingdom of God. Before we become too convinced of this, remember the truth-telling of our European critics. How, then, do numbers and impact correlate? Remember Jesus’ teaching on yeast: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Matthew 13:33, NIV). Numbers and influence correlate only to the extent of our participation in God’s kingdom agenda. When we ask, “How many are you running?” in many cases we are simultaneously asking, “How many are you sitting?” Sitting in a sacred building and extending the kingdom of God can be two very different activities. In fact, often they are polar opposites. If “running” involves listening to truth but not transforming our priorities, then we, too, may have found great success in a category of insignificance. We should heed James’ wise words: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22, NIV). What if your vision for a church plant saw the kingdom of God as its goal rather than the number of lives it gathered and organized into straight rows? How many have we effectively convinced that their spectator-like attendance and their tithe is all that God will ever hold them accountable for on the Day of Judgment? 42
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“How many are you giving?” The Sanctuary, the church that I serve, is located in a west suburb of Toronto and is a church with seven years of history at the time of this writing. From the beginning, we knew that God was leading us to be very “kingdomesque” in our approach. We really had to be; God was setting us up. We had no money or funding structures as this small team prepared to move from three different cities across North America, so God inspired us to vow to Him that every dollar that came our way would be for His kingdom, not ours. God set us up. We didn’t have a core group—we really only knew one family in the area we were moving to (who agreed to host our three families in their townhouse for an indeterminate period of time). So God inspired us to vow to Him that every life God would bring to be a part of this movement we would not see as ours for our kingdom, but as His for His kingdom. Again, God set us up. We looked around and saw that the largest church of any stripe across Canada was less than 5,000 people (which happened to be situated over 2,000 miles west of us), and here we sat in a densely populated metropolitan area of almost 6 million people. Was church growth with its inherent principle of addition going to make much of a difference? What if God blessed us and we were able to grow twice as large as any church in the history of this nation? What is that compared to the spiritual need? Once again, God set us up. God inspired us to begin with this picture in our hearts: a growing group of friends giving ourselves away to build the kingdom of God. We drafted a launch strategy that included planting our first daughter congregation at year three. What God meant by “giving ourselves away” was that we would begin planting four daughter congregations simultaneously in our first year of existence. Plenty of criticism came our way for jeopardizing our base by diverting funds and energy away from this new mother. What rang louder in our ears were Jesus’ words about how you live in His kingdom: “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35, NIV). For too many years I had insulated myself from the full impact of kingdom passages like this by using them as directions on how to get into the kingdom of heaven instead of Jesus’ intended guidelines of how to function when you are a part of His kingdom. If we were to be a small part of advancing the kingdom of God in our corner of the planet, we would have to relearn many of Jesus’ teachings.
Great Big Bookends What church planter doesn’t love the book of Acts? It is recreational reading for most of us—certainly not devotional reading. I have no idea how many times I have read through this account of the church’s origins. As a young man, I was encouraged by my pastor (who, coincidentally enough, was another church planter) to read a chapter of Acts each
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day for my personal worship, in addition to my typical daily Bible reading. Again, I have no idea how many messages I have preached from the book of Acts. But I know for certain on two separate occasions I systematically preached through the entire book. Shakespeare said that “familiarity breeds contempt,” but when it comes to the drama of the expansion of the early church—not a chance! On my most recent series of thirty-six messages through Acts called “Completely Irreligious, yet Radically Christian,” I got stuck on message number one. I was getting all revved up for the famous verse 8 of the first chapter when seemingly out of nowhere verse 3 appeared and almost lifted in 3-D off the page. My agenda for that particular Sunday was to talk about God’s plan for global evangelization—power from God’s Spirit and marching orders for the world—we’ve all heard the message. But try as I might, I couldn’t get to verse 8—verse 3 just wouldn’t get out of the way. Think about this. Jesus had just spent a little over three years in almost constant contact with His disciples. He taught them amazing things about how the universe works. Most of the time His friends just didn’t get it. Then came His horrific execution. His friends didn’t see that coming either. And then the really big surprise—Jesus became undead! Get out! And along came verse 3: “After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3, NIV). Now picture this: The undead Jesus bends over backward to convince His friends that He was indeed physically alive and well in the state of Judea. From there He had everyone’s attention. Better than that, they had His attention! For forty days Jesus and His friends hung out. Jesus taught. They believed. Who wouldn’t believe every word that comes from this Man’s lips? And what did Jesus single out as the most important subject in the universe for His friends to understand? Discipleship? Evangelism? Leadership? Missions? Church planting? How to be a better apostle? No. It was the kingdom of God. And so that is how the book of Acts starts out. How does it end? Three guesses.
For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed
all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom
of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 28:30-31, NIV).
Bookends. Great big bookends. The centrality of the message of the kingdom of God is the vehicle on which the early church rammed through spiritual barrier after barrier. The Acts of the Holy Spirit (as some prefer to name this book) are acts of kingdom expansion—darkness pushed back with great spiritual power, light emerging where it had never been seen. Static religious systems of various persuasions tried desperately to hold their ground, but they were no match for the kingdom of God in power. The kingdom of God was very good news. The church had something to say. Good news was proclaimed. And sometimes they even used words. 44
REDEFINING SUCCESS
If the resurrected Jesus spent forty days with the core team of a new church plant, I wonder what He would have to say about how success is to be measured.
The Parable of the Pretty Gurus As I write this chapter, we are in the middle of one of the greatest economic meltdowns of the century. The greed of a consumer-driven culture seems to have finally caught up with us. The politicians who are running for office are frantically blaming Wall Street and calling the rest of us victims. But we know that’s not entirely true. We’re just repeating the lesson that we failed to learn the decade before. The 1990s will be forever remembered by economists by the descriptor that U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan coined as the decade of “irrational exuberance.” Technology equities knew only one direction—straight up. Telecom stocks were always big winners. This was the age of the information revolution—there will never be enough bandwidth! Scoop ’em while you can! Companies like Enron and WorldCom were the darlings of the industry. Quarter after quarter, they continued to make their shareholders wealthier. Before the age of exuberance, there once lived a man of great influence. When he spoke, people stopped what they were doing and listened. His name became synonymous with skillful, shrewd, consistent investing. Warren Buffet became a very wealthy man by understanding the time-tested principles of the stock market and never, ever straying from them. He was an important man before the age of exuberance. With the new age came new gurus. Prettier ones. Hipper advisors who loved lattes and manicures and casual Fridays. Young men and women with new celebrity status appeared regularly on the ever-expanding array of business shows. They told us what to buy. We bought. Way in the background, in some dark-paneled office, sitting at his desk in a leather chair facing a telephone with a dial sat Mr. Buffet. A relic of the old regime. He certainly wasn’t pretty. He drank ordinary black coffee. And guess what he wore on Fridays. Yes, a suit and tie. He had some strange idea that share prices were not all that the stock market was about. There were certain fundamentals which determined the value of a company. The pretty latte-drinking gurus are, for the most part, gone. The dinosaurs are back. Casual Fridays now include a tie and jacket. Exuberance has lost its wind. What can we learn from the decade of irrational exuberance? Anything about success? What can we learn from our current calamity? When do we take responsibility? Certainly we can recognize spiritual climate in this scenario, can’t we? Our Warren Buffets are antiques like A. W. Tozer, Oswald Chambers, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. They spoke of strange things like “costly grace” and “intimacy with God” and the strangest of them all, “absolute surrender.” We weren’t sure what they were talking about, but we instinctively knew that it wasn’t easy. Probably not much fun, either. We couldn’t imagine a path to success with this talk. So we looked for new teachers. Prettier ones. 45
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We found them. Some even had conferences—big, successful ones. We went and bought the books and changed our churches and knew that successful things were just around the corner. But the more we changed, the less we changed. Surely, giving our worship style an extreme makeover should do the trick. Ah, we forgot ambiance. We forgot that at the conference they told us we need ambiance. So we brought in Starbucks and leather lounge chairs and plasma TV monitors. But the more we changed, the less we changed. What could we be missing? Of course, how could we be so naïve? We need relevance! So we hauled out the pew Bibles and installed a big screen and spoke on how to have a happy marriage and raise good kids. Maybe we’re not changing the right things. Maybe the change we need can’t be found while we are busy amusing ourselves to death one conference at a time. Maybe our definitions of success need to change. Maybe the change that is needed has something to do with us. Let’s go back to the dinosaurs. Before we learned about relevance and ambiance and methods to get boomers in our buildings, we used to talk about other things. Things like prayer. Things like mystery. We talked about the gospel. We used to talk about the poor, the sick and helpless. That was when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. They talked about input; we talk about outputs. They talked about prayer; we talk about parking lots. They talked about the crucified life; we talk about critical mass. They talked about knowing God; we talk about booking Christian celebrities. They talked about the kingdom of God; we talk about expanding our brand. We didn’t always see the difference, but I think we see it now. And it seems that the only way we know how to turn back the tide is to organize and use our political clout, concentrating on the output and ignoring the input yet again.
Little Foxes and the Big Bad Wolf Before I sound too smug, let me reveal another personal weakness. I see the big bad wolf a mile away, but I usually miss “the little foxes” (Song of Solomon 2:15, NIV). Remember when I mentioned how, as we began The Sanctuary, we clearly saw God setting us up? We had no doubt that God was up to something very cool. Garry and Anita Kolb, originally from Kansas, more recently from Winnipeg, Manitoba; Jim and Joy Danielson, a typical story of California boy meets Montreal girl by way of Germany; and Laura and myself, recent owners of a “dream home” and joyful pastor of a great church in Calgary, Alberta, all set out for an exploratory meeting in the Greater Toronto Area. We each had our story. We arrived on a long weekend in May and took different modes of transportation to the home of the one family we knew, Barry and LaWanda Bonney. They welcomed us with open arms and we settled in for some introductions. (Had they known we would be overstaying our welcome by three or four months, they might not have been so friendly!) After about fifteen minutes of getting to know one another, I sensed that we needed to pray. We were obviously glad to be together, but the elephant in the room was that we were all scared to death. We had families who were pretty important to us—and this all seemed way too impossible. We were moving to one of North America’s most expensive 46
cities, and our only economic strategy was to all quit our paying jobs. We really needed to pray.
REDEFINING SUCCESS
So we gathered our chairs into a circle and began to pray. I don’t remember one word that anyone uttered, but I will never forget those moments in prayer. They weren’t long moments, but they were powerful ones. Someone said, “Amen.” I don’t remember who it was, but I do remember the awesome sense that we were in the face of God’s presence. I have never had a moment like that before, and I never have since. The air was so thick with God’s presence that it felt like you could cut it with a knife. No one looked up. It seemed like no one dared to look at one another. We were in God’s presence. We were quiet and afraid and excited all at once. There was more. In my spirit, I sensed God’s Spirit speaking very specifically. It was like He had a message to impart and He was going to do it Himself. As a good Baptist boy, I thought this all seemed way too charismatic. But this is what we sensed God was saying to us:
1. Come to this city. I promise that I will take care of you and your children.
2. I am going to do something that will astound you.
3. Do not steal my glory.
Where do you go from a moment like that? One of us went to the Word. A sleepless night was spent thumbing through a well-worn Bible looking for comfort and instruction. In the morning while we were enjoying our coffee, Anita came bounding down the stairs, eyes sparkling with delight. She had something to say. She flopped open her Bible on the kitchen table to a little right of center and put her finger on a heavily underlined verse: “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor” (Isaiah 61:3, NIV). There we sat, coffees in hand, in the living room of the Bonney’s home situated squarely in the city of Oakville. “‘Oaks of righteousness,’ Oakville, I get it. That’s neat.” But there was more to it than that. Much more. This one verse grabbed hold of us and wouldn’t soon let go. Through His quiet voice, God spoke instructions to our hearts and we knew on that day what we were to be about:
1. His Dream: “Oaks of righteousness.” Lives, congregations with kingdom DNA.
2. His Methodology: “A planting of the Lord,” established by the King.
3. His Condition: A “display His splendor,” our single focus.
And so we believed Him. We went back to our homes, resigned our positions, sold our houses, and moved to the land of God’s promise, homeless and unemployed, and commissioned by the King. And then we went to town. A congregation appeared, seemingly out of thin air. With amazement, we would watch a stream of minivans and sedans pour into the parking lot of the high school we occupied. A cafeteria-turned-houseof-worship complete with hard Formica benches, was filled with the curious and the spiritually hungry. Lives became connected with their Maker. Fifty-two new Christ-followers were baptized in the next twelve months. It was as the King had promised, and it was unbelievable.
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We talked multiplication from Sunday one. “Twenty-five reproducing congregations in the Greater Toronto Area by 2020” was our mantra. We didn’t know how it was going to be done—we had no leaders or money. We just believed that the six million people we were surrounded by deserved a chance to hear the Good News. We knew instinctively that simple addition could not possibly get the job done. We needed exponential multiplication. We needed a movement. Others began to get it too. Phone calls came regularly from faraway places and from next door. God was leading family after family to make huge faith steps and incredible sacrifices in order to join this merry band. And we began to multiply. With a map of the Greater Toronto Area prominently positioned, with pushpins marking our outposts, we began to dream of kingdom conquest. We imagined ourselves as those early apostles, full of grit and gumption, boldly marching toward Rome. I was sure that the King was pleased. Actually, I wasn’t totally sure, though I wanted to be. I tried hard to be. But I had women problems. Not the usual sort that sidelines so many men of the cloth, but women problems of an entirely different kind. There was a band of sisters, one not knowing of the other, who, at the most inappropriate time (from my perspective, there are precious few appropriate times for such a discussion) would say, “What about the first three verses?” So I continued my exploits, trying hard to keep the substance of our vision firmly removed from its context. Yet try as I might, I couldn’t shake off the words that these women believed. They were hard to shake off. Why? These were the very words that our King used to inaugurate his own kingdom agenda: The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair (Isaiah 61:1-3, NIV). Those pesky little foxes. (I speak of Song of Solomon 2:15, not of my female advisors.) I had my eye on the big, bad wolf and I tripped over the sneaky fox. I thought we could advance the kingdom of God by avoiding the self-centered ambitions of the modern church. Instead, I found myself repeating a slightly more spiritually sophisticated version of the same aberration. Focusing on output and neglecting the input. This was a mistake our King was unwilling to make. The kingdom of God can never be expanded apart from the context that God’s kingdom agenda springs from. “Oaks of righteousness” are the byproduct of the kingdom activity of extending God’s grace. Whenever we focus on the goals over the integrity of the process, we will always be tempted to produce the fruit ourselves. God expands His kingdom. His subjects do what they see their King doing. What does “Christian” mean? “Little Christ.” Originally it was dished out as an insult. “Look at those people; they’re acting just like that radical Jesus guy who got what he had coming. Little Christs. Walking around like a bunch of liberal do-gooders. When will they ever learn?” 48
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No one really expected much to come from this Little Christ sect anyway. They did everything wrong. If they were going to create another religion, they should at least do it right! The first rule of religion building is consolidation. Gather your resources in a central system of control. Protect them and add to them when you can. But these Little Christs did exactly the opposite. They gave away stuff. Some gave away everything. (How sustainable is a model like that?) The law of religion building understands the principle of giving, but you have to get something for it. “We’ll give you the secret security code to the locked gates of heaven. You give us your attendance and a prescribed amount of cash.” That’s how decent religions are built. You take what you get and you stack it up. Consolidate. And voilà, you’ve got yourself a sustainable world-class religion. So really, the Little Christ movement was no great threat. They couldn’t be successful. Success was impossible. They lacked a base (everyone knows you need a base), and they seemed to stubbornly resist the notion of consolidation. It seemed strangely pagan to them. And so the Little Christ movement continued to give itself away. Expecting nothing in return, they brought Good News to the poor. They found those who had broken hearts and with care and love they mended each one. They found people who were addicted and they showed them the way of freedom. They found those who had no hope, who were mourning, and they gave them comfort by showing them the hope they had discovered. They found people who the world considered worthless, and by the sheer force of this love emanating from within them, these “worthless” people became strangely desirable. They found people in every class of society who were despairing because of their emptiness inside, and from the example of their selfless lives, those despairing people were transforming into praising people and, in turn, became Little Christs themselves. There was something very authentic about these people. Breaking all the rules of religion building, the Little Christs followed the lead of their King. One act of selfless sacrifice inspired another. One transformed life led to another. In three hundred years the most remarkable thing had happened—a peaceful revolution had taken place. The kingdom of darkness tried to stop it with marginalization, but it seemed like the Little Christs couldn’t care less. Statements like, “We have to obey God, rather than men” seemed to roll off their lips like a well-rehearsed creed. They didn’t seem to care that their neighbors thought them a bit odd. Actually, in time, their neighbors joined their number. Darkness had something else up its sleeve. It turned up the heat. Certainly persecution would end their influence. But with every Little Christ they put down with a sword, ten more stood up in his place. The more ruthless the means, the more resolute the movement became. The revolutionaries seemed unstoppable. As the Christians continued to give themselves away to one another and to the communities they inhabited; the kingdom of God expanded. For over three hundred years, the kingdom of darkness steadily lost territory. Marginalization and persecution seemed only to increase the influence of these Little Christs. Hell was very afraid and schemed, “How can we get to the very heart of this movement and kill it?”
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We can see their answer in the history books. Hell’s solution to the problem of the Christian revolution was consolidation. In AD 313, Christianity became a world-class religion. The movement was over in one edict of preservation. Some might have thought that this was the year that the Little Christs won. This was the year we became a success! We were finally legitimate. We had control and power. But in truth, this was the year that it began to surrender territory. Consolidation always does. On the outside, things never looked better. We had buildings and professional clergy and legitimacy and freedom. It was easy to be a Little Christ—no sacrifice required. No more insults either. The world loved us—we were popular. Our numbers swelled. Everybody wanted to be a Little Christ. Actually, nobody called us Little Christs anymore. That was a bit provincial. No longer were we a ragtag movement of revolutionaries—we were the ones with power! Well, again that wasn’t quite true either. Certainly we now had political power, but what had happened to that other power we used to wield? That power that changed things from the inside? Now it seemed that we could only change the exterior of things. Oh well, at least we were successful. How sad it was that the Little Christs forgot what their Leader had taught them about receiving illegitimate power. The kingdom of darkness tried to sideline Jesus with power in His own season of temptation. Jesus smelled the sulfur a mile off. He didn’t bite (see Matthew 4:8-11). The Little Christs forgot about what their Leader taught them about popularity. Being popular in the culture may mean that the kingdom of darkness doesn’t find us worthy of persecuting.
If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is,
you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you:
“No servant is greater than his master.” If they persecuted me,
they will persecute you also (John 15:19-20, NIV).
Our efforts of consolidation have reduced us from a counterculture movement of Little Christs to a successful religion preoccupied with how many we seat in our bleachers. We build auditoriums with comfy seats and theaterquality multimedia and try our best to disciple our constituency (except disciples are to follow, and we are not going anywhere). We are consolidating. We are no threat. We don’t do anything threatening. We can’t. And therein lies the great oxymoronic paradox. In our fascination of success, we have unintentionally stripped away the power for the church to be successful in its only task given to it by its King, the agent of kingdom expansion. One of those sneaky little foxes destroyed the vine. It hasn’t always been like this. And it’s certainly not like this everywhere. But for many of us, believing the myth of success is our greatest temptation. As our European friends taught us, Christian religious success apart from community transformation means the kingdom of God has functionally decreased. I believe we have successfully lost enough ground. 50
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Swapping Scorecards My intent in this chapter was not to give another how-to list that we could all reconstruct in our own ministries in order to achieve that elusive prize called “success.” My intent was simply to change the conversation, to paint a different picture of what the church could be. What it should be. To a culture that increasingly grows disinterested in our brand of self-talk, the definitions for success that many of us have operated under for a lifetime seem to be as trivial as collecting fingernails. So what now? We have found it to be very helpful in the urban context where we exist—to swap our scorecards. Our old scorecards used to measure how many we seat, how much they give, how grand our clubhouses, how creative our presentations, and how varied our amusements. If we could out-position our competitors, we were universally understood as successful by our constituents. But there seems to be two big problems with our old scorecard. First and probably most obvious, it’s ungodly. It seems to stand against almost everything that Jesus stood for. If Jesus used our scorecard for His life and ministry, He certainly would have ended His career quite differently. But second (maybe this is first for some of us who tend toward the pragmatic), our scorecard doesn’t work. It measures things that are both spiritually toothless and of zero interest to the culture that surrounds our clubhouses. Jesus promised Good News. What on our scorecard would measure something that our culture would perceive as good news? Our success, measured against ourselves, seems to avoid the question. I contend that our new scorecard needs to include things like community transformation, multiplication of disciples, the kingdom of God, sacrifice, sending capacity, costly grace, and intimacy with God. So, I’ll end with one question (that some might want to take as an assignment). To a world that so desperately needs to see, hear, feel, taste, and smell Good News, what would it look like to them? If our King walked into your community, what would His priorities be? Write the list. Draw up a new scorecard. Shred the old one. Roll up your sleeves and introduce your community to the power and majesty of King Jesus. Then watch what He can do. Much of this chapter is derived from Jeff Christopherson’s upcoming book, KingdomMatrix.
Jeff Christopherson ~ Jeff and his wife, Laura, live in Oakville, Ontario where he serves as The Sanctuary’s Network Pastor and National Church Starting Team Leader for the Canadian National Baptist Convention. 51
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CHAPTER FIVE
DON'T TAKE THE JOURNEY ALONE By Jeff Calloway
First, let me clarify that I am not an expert on church planting. I am, however, a
church planter and a people person who works hard at building relationships wherever I go for the purpose of building the kingdom. The number and quality of relationships held by a planter can go from one extreme to the other. Church planters will either not work at building new relationships (therefore have few), or they will spend an excessive amount of time on continually building relationships. Make no mistake, the number and quality of relationships you build during the church planting process can determine the vitality, health, and impact of your church plant in your community. A planter without the right relationships will plod along, being discouraged and not effective in the call that God has placed on his life. He will struggle with loneliness, failing to see that relationships are ingredients that lead to emotional and spiritual health. Many will get too caught up in the crafting of the mission and vision of the church— with the “business end” of planting—and neglect relationship building. In fact, you may be lonely and not know where to turn. This discouragement can be multiplied many times over if you do not have others alongside you who are investing in you and you in them. In the prelaunch stages of the Bridge Church at Perry, Ohio, we knew that one of the key ingredients to our success would be the development of relationships within every aspect of our new church. We also knew that these relationships must be driven by a love for people. I assume that the majority of church planters are people persons like I am. It is within my spiritual makeup to be around people. Some, however, like to be around people because it gives them a rush to be the center of attention or to have their name mentioned in high regard. What drives your quest for relationships? If our relationships are not driven by a genuine love for people, it is unlikely that God will use us to impact those in desperate need of the Savior.
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The Most Vital Human Relationship There is no argument, no excuse, nothing you can say that will make me change my mind on this one—the most important relationship, outside of the one with God, is the one with your wife. Yes, your relationship with God must come first, but the relationship with your wife must be in a strong second place. When we say “I do” and receive the gift of our wife, we promise that we will do all of life with her. This precious lady is a gift from the Father. Her input will prove to be invaluable as you journey through the church planting process as a couple. Pray and dream together. Seek her counsel. Include her in your plans to do this kingdom work. A church planter wife gets lonely as much as the planter does. The reason may be that the planter does not fully include her in his planning. Huge mistake! Your wife is as much a part of the call to plant the church as you are. You need to get off your high horse if you don’t believe your wife’s input isn’t needed at this time in the process. Who knows your strengths and weaknesses as well as she does? Give her opportunities to express her feelings and to challenge you in sensitive areas. My wife, Julie, and I have been doing ministry together for over twenty years. When we were approached by Brad Graves (Church Planting Strategist for Cleveland Hope) regarding planting a church in Perry, Ohio, it was a decision that Julie and I would make together. It was a decision that we talked about, prayed about, and fasted over. If Julie had come to me and said, “I don’t believe this is what God wants us to do,” I would have listened to her and not followed the path I was on, because she is a woman of God and because she is my wife. I trust my wife and she trusts me. A church planter’s wife will often be your administrative assistant, work with children, help in setup and teardown, and do your daily or weekly communiqués, as well as be responsible for other tasks in the new church. She didn’t ask for these tasks, but she takes them on because she is as much a part of the vision and mission as you are. What a joy it is to sit and have a cup of coffee with your wife and share your dreams about this new church. You lie down at night and the conversation still lingers about this undertaking for the kingdom of God. Cherish those moments! It is at moments like these that the relationship between a husband and wife grows. Your hearts are bound together in love for God and for people who will be part of your launch team and for those who will one day be a part of your church community—people you may have never met. The day finally comes and the church is launched! All of the hard work, prayers, and relationship building in the community come to fruition as a new, local body of Christ is birthed. Those days of interdependence may not last. As new people come to your church, you will, no doubt, be gathering people together to share your vision for the church over breakfast or lunch. Your focus may shift from you and your wife planting the church to “us” planting the church. The “us” will be the new people that you seem to be spending more and more time with. Your wife may slowly start to resent the church plant if you are not intentionally guarding your time with her. Continue to include her in the strategy development of the church. Focus on strengthening this relationship before you build relationships with others, including those far from God. 54
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Denominational Partnerships Our relationship with our denomination has been a strong and healthy partnership in the planting of Bridge Church. First, Julie and I serve as commissioned missionaries through the North American Mission Board (NAMB). My commission is as a church planter/pastor, and Julie’s commission is in family ministries. Second, our state convention has provided us essential training as church planters through Basic Training for Church Planters. Not only have Julie and I benefited from this training, but so has Darin Avery, our worship and students pastor. The third way our denomination has partnered with us is through the provision of financial resources for Bridge Church that comes through the faithful giving of Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. We were part of the Strategic Focus City Initiative known as Cleveland Hope. Our denomination has also shared the story of Bridge Church with other churches, associations, and state conventions for the purpose of prayer, sending missionaries, and financial support. Seek to establish a strong relationship with your denomination and its agencies. You will receive multiple avenues of support and encouragement and will find friends who are passionate about reaching a lost world for Christ. They are committed to your success.
Partners Beyond Your Borders Church planting is not an endeavor that should be undertaken by just the planter and his launch team. It is wise for the planter to gather partners from his “Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria.” I am always looking for partnerships to help us carry out the mission and vision of our church. Let’s be honest, most church planters are looking for partnerships that carry dollars with them because finances are of great concern. But all partnerships do not have to be financial in nature! I believe that there are great opportunities to build relationships with partners in your community—many with those who are unbelievers. A spiritually healthy church planter will know he needs to build relationships with those in the business community, government, school system, and with other pastors in his community. If you are new to the community, the people connected with these entities will have a greater degree of trust and integrity in the community than you do. We have engaged the business community with an intentional strategy to serve and better the community. For the most part, business owners care about their communities. They depend on the residents of that community to buy their products and services. Typically, they live in their community and, therefore, want to make it a better place for their families and friends. A smart church planter builds relationships with business owners in his community to identify with and be engaged in what matters to this group of people. When we started Bridge Church, I stumbled upon this strategy in ignorance. I wanted to serve our community by buying down the cost of gasoline. In order to do so, I had to engage the owners of our local service stations. My first encounter was with a local convenience store owner who flat-out turned me down and kind of insulted me in the process.
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So I went across the street to a different station, hoping and praying for a better response. To my amazement, the owners were very open to the possibility of our serving their customers and, therefore, possibly increasing their business. Not only were they business owners, but the husband was a county commissioner and his wife served on the local school board. The great part about the whole scene … they were not believers! They have allowed us to do gasoline buy-downs, and on a couple of occasions they have refilled windshield-washer fluid in their customers’ cars for free. It took them over a year to finally visit our church, but they did come, and I have built a very good relationship with them. Pray for them. As I write this, they have not stepped across the line of faith in their lives. The church planter must, and I emphasize must, be building relationships with local government officials as well. These individuals who hold offices—mayors, council members, commissioners, and chiefs of police—can provide great information about their communities. That information you cannot get from demographic reports! They understand the makeup and the heartbeat of their communities and can identify ministry opportunities for your church plant as well. They are in the community day in and day out, talking to and dealing with residents, businesses, and other officials. One of the first persons I met when we were doing some preliminary work in Perry was the chief of police. He was helpful in sharing what he thought the needs of the community were and how a church could be involved. I still carry his business card in my wallet. I set up a face-to-face meeting with the mayor of our village to share who we were and explain that our mission in working with his office was to serve the people of Perry in a way that would honor God. As I ended our meeting, I asked him if I could pray for him as he led in governing Perry. He was speechless! He had never had a pastor ask if he could pray for him as the mayor. Since that time he has called on Bridge Church to paint all of the fire hydrants in the village. He has also allowed us to paint house numbers on street curbs to help the fire and police departments to correctly identify homes. The relationship we have with the local government would not be what it is today if I had not gone out of my way to get to know the mayor and his staff. One of the most challenging relationships we have developed is with our local school system. Finding a place to meet in Perry was basically limited to local school buildings. There were no empty retail stores, no community centers that would accommodate a church with childcare needs, or any office/commercial buildings that could be rented. Perry is home to one of the two nuclear power plants in Ohio. When First Energy built their plant in Perry, it enabled the community to build new school buildings for the elementary, middle, and senior high schools. All the schools sit on one campus and it looks like a large community college. I approached the school to inquire about Bridge Church renting their facilities for church services. Unfortunately, most of the feedback I got from the different officials I spoke to was not encouraging. They were, however, willing to talk. It became very clear that the use of the new school buildings was out of the question. They did not know me, as I live in the adjacent community and our children did not attend the Perry schools. I imagine they were wondering who I was and why I was starting a new church in their community. They already had several other churches, so why start a new one? It took some convincing, but as our relationship developed I was able to give the officials some level of comfort that we were not a cult coming in to find our next victims. 56
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They allowed us to use the former high school, which was being used during the week as an alternative school for troubled students. This building is in very good shape and the administration opened up a large common area for our worship along with two classrooms and a hallway for our children’s ministry. On November 30, 2007, an event occurred that shook our church and our community. Hank Patricy, who was part of our launch team, tragically lost his life in a car accident in St. Petersburg, Florida. Hank left behind his wife, Ginynne, and five children, the oldest at the time was only fifteen. Hank and I had been very good friends, and the Sunday before he entered eternity, he and his wife signed our charter membership covenant. Hank coached baseball and football in our community and was well known and loved by many. Two days after his death, the school opened the gymnasium at the building where we meet so Bridge could hold a memorial service for Hank. God began to move in our community through Hank’s death, and the school system was not exempt. What once seemed like a business relationship with the school has turned into a wonderful partnership-relationship. Before the 2008 school year started, the school called and asked us if we could provide volunteers to help stuff school-supply bags. During the summer of 2008, we held two basketball camps on school property at no charge. Deborah Avery, a US/C2 missionary on staff at Bridge has been asked to help in the school’s pregnancy-prevention program utilizing abstinence materials. We now partner with the middle school and high school Fellowship of Christian Athletes to hold fifth-quarter events at the high school after football and basketball games.
Samaritan Partnerships I am writing this part of the chapter while sitting in an airport, waiting to catch a flight to Jackson, Mississippi. Why Jackson? Because Southern Baptist churches from around the country partner with Bridge Church to encounter, engage, and encourage people to experience Jesus and to help equip our believers to change their world. I have forged some tremendous relationships with other pastors from Mississippi who pray for my family and Bridge Church on a regular basis. Some send individuals from various churches to help us in our missionary efforts. They send muchneeded financial support that allows us to take the gospel to the least evangelized county in our state. Why do the people in Mississippi partner with us in Ohio? I think it is a simple answer: they love lost people and they believe in following the biblical mandate found in Acts 1:8: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (NIV). They are not just participating in Ohio, but they are planting churches in their own state, where they should be planting! So I am traveling to Mississippi to meet with and encourage pastors and denominational leaders in that state to partner with Bridge in launching a new church in Ashtabula, Ohio. I grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, and it was there that I found Christ and my wonderful wife, Julie. There was a church in the Karns community of Knoxville where I attended high school called Grace Baptist. It wasn’t until years after I had graduated from high school that Grace Baptist called Dr. Ron Stewart from Ohio, of all places, to be their pastor. Since Ron’s arrival to Grace in 1988, Grace has grown to a community-impacting church of 3,500 worshipers.
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By what I believe was a divine appointment, I contacted Ron about partnering with us in the planting of Bridge Church. Amazingly, God had been working in Ron’s heart about church planting. Grace Baptist became Bridge Church’s flagship partnering church in 2007. The relationship that has been forged between Grace and Bridge has also become personal for me. Neal Arwood, missions pastor at Grace, and I have become good friends. Neal has become passionate about church planting and even more passionate about what God is doing at Bridge Church. Neal and I talk often, bouncing ideas off one another about church planting and other topics that we both are passionate about. Grace has promoted Bridge Church to its congregation, encouraging their people to come to Perry to hold sports camps, do servant evangelism, and to donate to what we are doing. Relationships with partners such as Grace are essential in all stages of a church plant! These partnerships are not just one-sided, taking without giving. We have been able to build the importance of church planting into each missionary that has come from Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Indiana. Don’t be a church planter who just has your hand out expecting to receive. Build relationships with your partners that will not only change your community, but theirs as well. I believe with all my heart that church planters have knowledge, wisdom, and enthusiasm that must be shared with their partners. This exchange between partners can enhance the capacity to plant healthy, reproducing churches in their respective communities as well as around the world.
Plugging into a Network In the Cleveland area where I am located, SBC church planters are fortunate to have a church planter network that meets on a monthly basis. This network, formed by our local denominational leaders, provides a great opportunity for our planters to get to know each another, learn from our peers, and to share resources. Although we have also had the opportunity to have some significant church planting leaders share with our group, the greatest value comes from the relationships we have built within our group. Church planting networks must be a place where personal relationships are highly valued and promoted. Again, this is another opportunity for the church planter to be around others who can lift him up in prayer and encourage him in his journey of planting a church. While church planting can be a lonely journey, it is only lonely if you choose it to be. You must take advantage of church planting networks in your geographical area. If there is not a network in your area, start one! Find a couple of other church planters and start meeting with them. They don’t even have to be part of your denomination. I even encourage you to network with some guys who are not part of your denomination. They will sharpen you, and you will sharpen them. I am a techie—a technology geek. At our home I am totally wireless when it comes to my computer and electronic communication life. I have a laptop, cell phone, touch iPod, wireless network, wireless hard-drive backup system, and I could go on. We live in a world where we are literally able to communicate with others across a dozen time zones in real-time. I can e-mail, instant message, or Twitter someone I have never met in an instant. All of this was impossible twenty years ago! For those of you who are geographically separated from other church planters, the Internet offers tremendous opportunities for networking with your peers. Free sites like Skype (Skype.com) and NAMB’s Missional 58
Network site (missionalnetwork.org) can provide great venues for connecting with other church planters.
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The Launch Team Second only to having a healthy relationship with God and your spouse is the relationship you build with your launch team. These are the people you will grow the closest to. They are also the people who will irritate you more than any other group of people! These are the ones who will hear the dream of the church plant in its embryonic state. They will be the ones who will bear the burden of your prelaunch activities and will be the workers when the church launches. When we started Bridge Church, the launch team literally consisted of my wife, Julie, our daughters, Sarah and Emily, and me. Shortly afterward, I hired a person to lead worship and our small groups. During the course of the transition from the church I was pastoring to planting Bridge Church, I had asked a close friend and his family to come join our launch team. Soon we had fifteen people on our launch team, and were meeting on Sunday mornings in our home for worship and to study the book of Acts. When we encountered a lady who told us that she and her family had been praying for two years for a church that would make a difference in their community, our hearts leapt for joy! That lady and her family became a part of our launch team, as well. Our number grew to twenty-three by the time we launched. As we began to worship and support each another as we served our community together, we began seeing a community-impacting church come to life before our eyes! It was an exciting time for all of us. It was obvious that God’s hand was upon what we were doing—not because of who we were, but because we were following His plan for this new church plant. To this day, there is a special place in my heart for the group that God assembled to make Bridge Church happen. This group is not special just because we were able to launch a church together, but because we were intimately involved in each other’s lives. We experienced biblical koinonia together. The best way I can describe it is that we functioned like a true extended family, something special for my family since our families lived in Tennessee and Alabama. There was a friendship unlike any I had ever experienced in my entire life. You have probably noticed that I am referring to these relationships in the past tense. That is not because the members of the launch team have left Bridge. To the contrary, not one member of our launch team left the Bridge. Our initial core group is still serving at Bridge, albeit in different capacities. Our launch team ceased to exist as a ministry team after the first year of the church. What used to be a group of twenty or so people, who had shared a unique experience together, has now become part of a larger group. Each of us joined or began to lead different ministries and, therefore, have formed new groups to minister and share life with. The launch team relationships have been a source of joy, strength, and invigoration, but those relationships can wear thin if we are not careful. I have debated many times in my mind whether it is possible for a core group to become so close that it can become a detriment to the future health of the church. Statistics generally show that 75 percent of your launch team will not be with you eighteen months after you launch your church. I don’t have the research in front of me, but I would believe that part of the reason for this statistic to loom so large is that relationships among the original core group become strained as your church grows. 59
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At Bridge, our launch team was doing setup and teardown for our nursery, preschool, and elementary areas, as well as the area where we worshiped. We were also leading and serving in all those areas. My wife, Julie, led and served in the elementary school area for twenty months straight. She was not able to build relationships with other ladies in the church, except for the women who helped in the elementary area and those in our small group. Other ladies on our launch team were doing the same thing in their respective ministries. As their workloads increased, as their assignments took them into new relationships, some friction developed between some of our launch team members. Your launch team is vulnerable to strained relationships and fatigue—ministry burnout. As the leader for the church plant, it will be your responsibility to ensure the health of that team. You need to be aware that some of them will move on and unfortunately, the fellowship in your church may suffer. I pray that it doesn’t, I really do. I pray that your launch team will remain solid and that they will be used to help birth other church plants. Just be prepared.
Everybody Needs a Mentor Love them or hate them, coaches have a purpose in sports. They work hard, stay up late, and are always coming up with new strategies to put the check mark in the “Won” column. They do whatever it takes to get the best out of their players. One week the fans love the coach, and the next week they are calling for his head on a platter. If you think being a church planter is hard, you should try coaching a church planter. I am the kind of person who sticks out his neck way too often, and I am going to do it here. Failing to have a relationship with someone who is serving as your mentor will most likely lead to discouragement, loneliness, and doom. Having a mentor is essential for your spiritual health and the health of the new church plant. What’s a mentor you ask? Mentoring is a lifelong relationship where one person—the mentor—helps another person reach his or her God-given potential. A mentor is someone you respect, someone you are willing, even anxious, to have invest in your life. They love, care for, and support you. A mentor asks, “How can I help you?” In most cases the relationship is informal. It is two people who enjoy being together. The planter removes his mask and confesses his needs. He is open and honest about his struggles. The mentor listens and helps you develop a plan of action or points you to the right resources. He invests his wisdom and experience, as the Father leads, into your life. In the process of planting Bridge Church, I actually had a team of mentors. I would classify them as a head coach (my mentor) and several assistants who were training me for the big game of launching a new church. I believe that your head coach has to be someone who has planted at least one church. Someone who acts as your head coach will not have all the answers, but he will have experience, something you will desperately need from time to time. I want someone who knows how to go about setting up systems for a new church. I want someone who knows what step to take and when to take it. Coaches are not there to make you feel good and to always be patting you on the back. They are there to motivate you when needed. The old adage “Been there, done that” is the experience you are looking for. 60
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My head coach (mentor) was Brad Graves. Brad had planted a church in New Hampshire, a place where Southern Baptists are considered a cult, and it seems at times that people won’t go out of their way to befriend you. Brad came to Cleveland from New Hampshire to be our church planter strategist. It was his job to coach several church planters. Throughout the launching process, he was there to encourage us, give us pointers, and share his church planting playbook with us. One thing I especially appreciated about him was that he intentionally made me figure out things on my own. He would give me enough information to get me started, but he would never make the decision for me. That is what you need—a coach who will coach you but not do the job for you. A coach is there to help you secure the win. He will be on your side, cheering you on along the way, and will be one of your worst critics. He will be tough because he cares, because he wants you to succeed. Take it in stride and understand he has your best interest at heart. I am looking forward to coaching new church planters as they come through Bridge Church and our new church plants. I look forward to watching young men have a kingdom goal of reaching North America and beyond for Christ through church planting. If you do not have a coach, you need to make it a top priority before you go any further. If you do not know where to look, start calling people. Contact your local, state, or national denomination if you are part of one. You probably have already met pastors in your area who can be great resources to get you plugged into church planting. There are coaching networks you can join that charge a fee for their services—not the best scenario—but there are some great men out there providing this service who have been very successful at church planting. The responsibility is on you! You have to be the one who pursues a coach. Keep looking until you find one. If you go forward without a coach, it may be one of the biggest mistakes you make in the church planting process.
Why Relationships? As a people person, I love to be around people, and I’m able to relate to and interact with people easily. Growing up in a family with four brothers and four sisters probably equipped me with an outgoing personality. There was never a dull moment in the Calloway household. We were brought up to love each other and to love and help our neighbors. It seemed like there were people around the house all the time, whether it was members from our extended family or somebody from the neighborhood. God is a people person too! When you think about it, though, He has every reason not to be one. Mankind, His greatest creation, shunned Him, scorned Him, secluded Him, secularized Him, and saddened Him. Yet God loves people more than anything. We see this recurring theme throughout the Bible. The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah records God as saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3, NIV). In the New Testament, Jesus’ follower and closest friend, John, records His words, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16, NIV). Don’t ask me to explain why God is a people person, He just is. Why should you build relationships? I am almost too embarrassed to answer this one because I believe it is so obvious. It is because one day God chose to build a relationship with me and He wants me to extend that same opportunity to people who are in Perry, who are in Ohio, who are in North America and around the world. Kind of sounds like Acts 1:8 to me!
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Church planting is about people. The biggest step for some of our church planters is to see people as God sees them. How does God see people? He sees them as valuable. No, actually He sees them as priceless. As followers of Christ, you and I must view people as priceless treasures of God. Doing things as simple as talking to them and then listening are productive first steps. But you will have to make a commitment to slow your life down if you want to invest in people. Building relationships with people takes work and time. Building relationships with people will be one of the most satisfying experiences in life. I believe God thinks so too.
Jeff Calloway ~ Jeff and his wife, Julie, live in Painesville Township, Ohio, where they are in the process of planting a daughter church of Bridge Church in Ahstabula.
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CHAPTER SIX
DECISION MAKING By John M. Bailey
At the end of the road—at the end of this life—where I am spiritually, financially,
emotionally, and even geographically will have been determined by the decisions I have made along the way. If you are like me, the decision-making process and, therefore, its impact upon my life began very early in life. At some point in time, probably sooner than my parents wished for, I began making decisions for myself. In all honesty, not all of my decisions were good ones. They reflected my inability to make good decisions and my immaturity. Many were made based on what I was feeling at the moment, on the desires of my flesh. They were about me and what was best for John. Fast-forward to the time I became a follower of Christ—things changed radically. I understood for the first time that life was not about me. I began to see that my decisions had consequences…eternal consequences. I learned that many of the decisions I made impacted others that I was either responsible for or, in many cases, people I had never met. My decisions determine who I have the privilege of impacting with the gospel of Christ. And yet, after more than twenty-five years of walking with Christ, not all the decisions I make today are good ones. Sound familiar? As an individual called by God to plant a new church, the lives of countless people, possibly for several generations, may be altered by the decisions you make. Your church plant will be a reflection of the decisions you made up to that point in time. Some of your decisions will be large. Some will be small. But understand this—all of them will have a significant impact on your ministry and, therefore, on the lives of people you may or may not impact with the gospel. With this in mind, it is my intent to provide you with guidance on how to make good decisions. To aid in that journey, let us begin by looking at some of the good decision-making patterns followed by followers of Christ.
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Typical Decision-Making Processes For many followers of Jesus Christ, their decision-making process is based on a quest to know God’s will for the situation at hand, and rightly so. As a believer, our utmost desire should be to glorify our Creator. One of the greatest ways to glorify God is to make good decisions, to stay in the center of His will. But how do we do that? Does Scripture offer a formula for discovering God’s will for every decision we make? Some contend that it does not. In many cases, I believe we have turned our quest to know God’s will and to make good decisions into some sort of mystical, magical journey based on a strange mix of hunches, feelings, and circumstances. Faced with a tough decision, have you ever begun searching the Scriptures for some insight? Like spinning a roulette wheel, you flip through the pages of Scripture looking for a word from God. But does it really work? What if you come upon the passage where Judas left after betraying Christ and killed himself (Matthew 27)? Would this be a sign from God? “No!” you cry. But what if you flip the pages and come upon the verse where Jesus states, “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37, NKJV)? Is this now truly a sign from God? Do you feel the pressure? Imagine the horror if you conclude your search with this verse: “Do whatever He tells you” (John 2:5, HCSB). Others on a quest to seek God’s will or make tough decisions might look for a sign from God they call an “open door.” A man asks a young lady for a date. When she says yes, immediately he reads it as a sign from God that she is his future wife. Fate or the hand of God has brought them together! Or perhaps you have been dreaming about a new plasma television but know that it’s not a good deal. Suddenly it goes on sale—with no payments or interest for a year. Based on circumstance, this surely is a sign from God to move forward with the purchase. Right? Some well-meaning individuals base their decisions on a feeling or sense of peace about the direction they have chosen to follow. For them, therefore, the absence of peace means this is not God’s will for their lives. Does the absence of peace, then mean you are out of God’s will, that you are making the wrong decision? Did Jesus have peace in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:41-44)? No. Jonah was at peace, asleep in the midst of a terrible storm, when he was completely out of the will of God. Does the presence of peace, his ability to take a nap, indicate he was in the center of God’s will? No. Which is it—peace or no peace? Many people base their decisions on impressions or feelings. How many times have you heard someone say, “God has told me…”? Or, “I felt impressed by the Lord to…”? The problem with impressions is that in many cases they lack clarity and objectivity. They can come from God, angels, Satan, human emotions, medication, or a hormonal imbalance. How do you truly know the source? Scripture teaches us that the Spirit of God indwells the life of the believer (John 16:13) and that the Spirit leads believers (Romans 8:14). Yet Scripture does not provide the believer with guidance on how to identify the source of the impression. I have drawn the conclusion that impressions are real, but they are not authoritative. Therefore, impressions alone cannot be the basis for making good decisions. 64
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Finally, many base their decision making on group consensus. Like you, I have spent countless hours in business meetings at the local church. On one particular occasion our church was fairly divided on an important issue. On each side stood godly men and women who really wanted what was best for our church. They desired to do God’s will in the matter at hand. In preparation for this moment we had studied the facts. We had sought information from outside sources and had spent time in prayer. And yet we were divided. How could godly people not come to a consensus? How could the Holy Spirit tell some members to vote yes and others to vote no?
Seeking the Will of God Although I became a believer in my mid-twenties, I discerned quickly through the prayers, teachings, and testimonies of believers that God has a plan or perfect will for my life. They shared with me Scripture passages like Jeremiah 29:11 and challenged me to discover God’s will for my life and then to align my life with His perfect will. They used Romans 8:14 and Proverbs 3:5-6 and similar verses to encourage me to allow the Holy Spirit to lead my life. To do so, they challenged me to guard my heart and mind, to stay in the Word, and to maintain an intimate relationship with the Father. That was excellent counsel. As a result of following these disciplines, they encouraged me that not only would I be in tune with the “voice” of the Holy Spirit but that I would know God’s will for my life. The challenge for me was trying to discern the difference between the voice of the Holy Spirit and my own personal desires, the cries of my flesh. I tried to balance my inward impressions with outward signs in an attempt to discern God’s will but found it to be a struggle. To make matters worse, I, too, concluded that the way to confirm that I had discovered God’s will would be to receive an inner sense of peace and some measure of success from the decision made. In many cases, the decisions I made did not bring a sense of peace or measurable success from the perspective of many. If anything, many of the decisions brought the complete opposite. Reality drove me back to Scripture and with a quest to better understand the will of God and to make good decisions. The intent of this chapter is to provide guidance on how to make good decisions, not to wrestle with the issue of whether God has a personal will or plan for your life. Let me; however, challenge you with a few questions: Can you find in Scripture a passage that provides a step-by-step process for discovering God’s will for an individual’s life? Do we find anyone in Scripture on a quest to identify God’s will for their lives? Do we rely too heavily upon inner impressions and a sense of peace? Does Scripture provide guidance on how to distinguish between the voice of God and our flesh? Does Scripture teach that God has an individual will for every believer?
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In the book of Acts there are 15-20 examples of direct, personal guidance from God. Most were given to the apostle Paul. Was this normal, or an exception to the norm? In the book of Acts (or anywhere else in Scripture) do we find examples of guidance from God in relation to the ordinary decisions of life? In those cases where God did provide direct revelation, what were the outcomes? Is there a common thread or outcome as a result of that revelation? I assure you that God provides direct, clear guidance for Christians in His Word. Second Timothy 3:16 teaches that Scripture is inspired by God. Not only is it inspired, but if it is understood and applied correctly, it gives us everything we need to live a life that honors and glorifies God. To live according to Scripture is to dwell in the will of God. I also believe that when it comes to moral decisions, God’s Word is authoritative and complete. His Word teaches us what to believe and how to behave. However, when Scripture appears to be silent on an issue, God provides us with the freedom and the wisdom to make a good decision. It is here I intend to focus.
Making Good Decisions As a church planter, you will be forced to make an enormous amount of decisions, many of which will not be addressed directly by Scripture. Issues like, “Should we meet in a school or a theater?” are not covered in Scripture but could have an impact upon your work. The question, therefore, should be, “How do I develop the skills and processes that aid me in making wise, God-honoring, decisions?” instead of “What’s God’s will for this matter?” As a matter of fact, moving from an emphasis on seeking God’s will for your individual life or church plant to seeking the skills needed to make God-honoring decisions may be the most important decision you will make as a church planter. And you may very well discover that the pursuit of wisdom—the process itself—may be one that has a favorable impact on your church, time and time again. The apostle Paul wrote, “Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is” (Ephesians 5:15-17, HCSB). I believe Paul is saying we must be wise so we can know what the will of God is. By seeking wisdom, by focusing on a process that leads to good decisions, we reframe the question and, thus, align ourselves with God’s Word, which tells us to acquire wisdom and apply it when we make decisions. J. I. Packer in his book Knowing God, defines wisdom as the “…power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.”18 In the pages that follow I will outline a simple process for making good decisions. It is a process based on the pursuit of wisdom, as directed in James 1:5-6, and contends that wisdom is gained progressively.
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18
J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, Il: Inter Varsity Press, 1973), p. 80.
DECISION MAKING
A Decision-Making Process Based on the Quest for Wisdom Practice the presence of God in our lives. The key to making good decisions always flows out of the presence and power of God in our lives. John 15:5 tells us that apart from an abiding relationship with the Father, we can do nothing. Our lives must, therefore, be grounded in prayer and intentional spiritual practices: reading and reflecting upon Scripture, silence, listening, worship and intercession, self-examination, and confession. As followers of Christ, our first priority must be to be in a right, ongoing, increasing relationship with the Father. Our attitudes must be that of trust, obedience, and dependence upon God. The greatest challenge before us may be determining if it is God speaking to our lives or is it our flesh? Therefore, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Crucify your flesh. Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of your flesh (see Galatians 5:16). These are not just words for sermons or Bible studies. They should reflect the lifestyle of every believer, especially a church planter’s. Examine yourself. Are these disciplines an ongoing part of your life? Are you spending time with God and in His Word for yourself and not just to feed others? Have you submitted yourself daily to the authority of God, determining to obey where God leads in advance of making your decisions? Soon you will be overwhelmed by the tasks associated with planting a church. Guard your private time with the Father. Pray. Seeking direct revelation or inspiration from God may prove to be the least effective way to make a wise decision, and yet we who embrace a Christian worldview must practice the discipline of prayer as Scripture instructs us: “Now, if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5, HCSB). And the apostle Paul reminds us to “pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise” (Ephesians 5:15, HCSB). As you begin the decision-making process, first pray for wisdom. A quick glance through Scripture reveals clearly that the pursuit of wisdom in decision making is vital in areas where there is no direct command found in Scripture. Second, pray for humility (see Colossians 3:12). You have particular interests, skills, spiritual gifts, and experiences which, when combined, form your particular viewpoints. These viewpoints can become a distraction in the decisionmaking process. Know and build upon your strengths, yet know your biases and limitations. Set aside a specific time for prayer each day. Listen more than you speak. Keep a journal. Fast. Frame the question properly. With the help of others, define the problem, issue, or challenge before you. Write down a few sentences that describe the problem. Get the question right. Ask, “What is the real issue in front of us?” Start with, “What makes us think there is a problem?” Determine the who, where, how, when and why. If the issue appears to be complex, determine if you can break it down into several problems. Ask yourself over and over, “Is this a decision that is ours (mine) to make?” Conclude with something like this: “What should we do about … ?” Avoid asking, “Who is causing the problem?” Too often we tend to go there first. Instead, ask yourself, “Does Scripture address this issue?” If so, your only option is to obey the authoritative Word of God. How you draft the question will determine where you go in the decision making process. It will determine the advice and information you will seek. 67
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As you properly craft the question, be certain you are not exploring secondary issues instead of the primary one. Check your emotions. Often they are connected to secondary issues. Dig deep to find the real question, knowing that your search is not for an easy question to answer but for the correct question. For instance, many churches struggle with the issue of adding a staff member when a better question might be centered on equipping and mobilizing church members for ministry. And many high school seniors struggle with selecting a college when the correct question may be whether or not the student should even go to college. Consider the possibilities. As a church planter, you will discover that there are multiple options to many of the decisions you must make. Therefore, once the question has been clarified, gather people around you and begin brainstorming. Together, seek to identify possible options. Based on your group, some may be out in left field. Others will stay conservative, safe. The key to success is to identify as many options as possible. Once you have a good list to choose from, try to narrow it down by either combining some items or simply removing the options that are obviously not acceptable. Consider each remaining option based upon its own merit. Take each option by itself and answer the following questions:
1. What are the pros and cons associated with this option?
2. Does Scripture speak about this option?
3. How does this option align with the stated vision and values of our church plant?
4. Does this option glorify God, or is it self-promoting (Colossians 3:23)?
5. How will this impact the lives of others (1 Corinthians 8:9)?
6. Would Jesus select this option?
7. Do we have the resources and/or faith to implement this option?
8. What are the uncertainties associated with this option?
9. What would this option cost in terms of money, people, relationships, time, energy, and so forth?
10. Is this the right time in the life of our church to implement this option?
Get the counsel of others. One of the dangers associated with leadership is surrounding yourself with people who will tell you what you want to hear or who will agree with everything you say. If we are going to have the wisdom we need to make God-honoring decisions, we must seek the counsel of others (Proverbs 11:14; 13:20; 15:22; 19:20) who are strong enough to disagree with us. Seek the input of godly men and women, people firmly grounded in God’s Word. Seek experienced veterans, people who have walked the road before you. In some cases, the best counsel may not be from Christians. Seek people with the experience you need, with the knowledge you lack. Explore your options with them. Moses was a righteous man but sought the counsel of his father-in-law, Jethro (Exodus 18). Jethro provided a solution to the problem at hand, and Moses followed it. David surrounded himself with proven soldiers when his son Absalom conspired against him. Before the battle, described in 2 Samuel 18, David announced that he was going into battle with his men. They pushed back, challenging David’s decision. And David replied, “I will do whatever you think is best” 68
(2 Samuel 18:4, HCSB). David knew the value of listening to his leaders and, therefore, submitted to their counsel.
DECISION MAKING
Some church planters and pastors have determined that they would avoid committees and business meetings. I was one of them. Scripture, however, teaches the importance of accountability and seeking the wisdom of others. Early in your church planting journey, seek counsel from people outside your church if you have to, but make the development of leaders a top priority. Do not make decisions in a vacuum. The more your church family participates in the decision-making process, which includes the weighing of various options, the stronger your fellowship will be and the fewer problems you will have when you implement your decision. God provided me with J. F. Ballard, one of the wisest men I have ever met, to guide me in my ministry while pastoring in Kentucky. One of the first things we did together was strengthen our leadership team. Surrounding myself with a plurality of godly leaders was the wisest thing I did as a pastor. Poke holes. As you journey through the process, narrowing down the number of options before you, a clear response may not emerge. In that case, become a cynic. If that goes against your nature, find someone who loves the role. They are out there! What are you not seeing? What are you afraid to admit? What would others say about the options? In conversations with church planters almost all of them point out the value of engaging their wives in the entire process. She knows you best. She knows your weaknesses and your strengths. She sees things you do not see. I am not saying that she is a cynic, but make sure she is involved! Decide. Based on what you have learned and discerned, draft your decision. In some cases you will be forced to choose between two good options. In either case, make a decision. To not choose is a decision to do nothing. Once you have made a decision, the odds of it coming back up again are high. Make sure you record the process. Write out the decision and the thinking behind it. For major decisions, record your thoughts, the options you explored, the pros and cons, and the names of those from whom you received counsel. If your process was guided by a genuine desire to glorify God and if you have sought wise counsel, proceed with confidence. Pause. Gut check time! Are you at peace about the process you followed to get you to this point? Have you honored God with the process itself? Are you passionate about this option? Are you willing to accept the consequences of your decision? Are you comfortable defending your decision? Do you see God at work in this decision? Wait. Wait. Wait. In some cases, God will give you a choice. In those instances, there may be no right or wrong decision but rather the freedom from God to make a choice based on your preferences. If both choices could lead to a stronger and more effective church, then act on one of the choices, knowing that God will work out His purposes through your decision (see Romans 8:28). Postpone or proceed. Discernment is not the endgame. The endgame is actually doing the will of God. Assume responsibility for the decision. In many cases there may be a lack of clarity. Relax. This has happened many times over. Understand that your group’s sense of community and unity is as important as the decision itself. Step out in faith and see what the Father will do. Make a decision and move forward. I think it is important to understand that when the Lord provides you with two or more equally good choices, it is better to make a weaker choice and act with passion and determination than to select the perfect solution and fail to act, for “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26, NKJV)!
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One more important fact to mention—do not assume that once a decision has been made it will stay made! In some cases, our decisions are based on projections or assumptions. What if they are proven to be wrong or something beyond your control brings a situational change? We live in a changing world. Be prepared to reexamine your decisions if necessary.
Good Counsel What counsel would experienced planters give a new church planter about making good decisions? In recent conversations with church planters from all across North America, we asked them to share some wisdom regarding the making of decisions. Here are just a few of their comments:
• Don’t do it alone.
• Don’t be swayed by the majority.
• Have 50 people supporting and praying.
• Be decisive.
• Be a leader.
• A man must have his house in order.
• Get many people involved in big decisions.
• Be careful who you listen to.
• Never make a decision alone.
• Don’t lose sight of your family.
• Your personal walk with God is most important.
• Simple decisions have huge consequences.
• You’re just one decision away from blowing everything!
• Avoid snap decisions.
• Be sure to choose based on what’s right—not who’s right.
• Make important decisions when you are relaxed and rested.
• Seeking consensus will help you make better decisions and build community and trust as well.
• Don’t trust your feelings!
At the heart of leadership is the ability to make good decisions. Today, a strong leader is one who can guide the decision making process within the context of community. Decision making does not take place in a vacuum. Nor does it happen by accident. It requires a process.
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Glorify God The endgame, the desired outcome, is not the process itself. It is to lead your church to glorify God in the midst of her activities. Stay in close relationship with the Father. Pray. Get the question correct. Consider all the possibilities. Seek counsel from outsiders. Do your research. Listen, and respond to the Spirit of God as He works within and among you. Examine Scripture and determine if the issue is something addressed by God in His Word. If that is the case, obey His commands. Pray. Poke holes in your decision. Pray. Wait. And then ‌ act!
John M. Bailey ~ John and his wife, Lori, live in Cumming, Georgia, where he serves in the Church Planting Group of the North American Mission Board.
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section two pressure points
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enlisting partners
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CHAPTER SEVEN
CALLING, FAITH & EXCEPTIONS By Jason Byers
Once upon a quintessential time, I found myself a bit younger and enjoying
my annual week-long extrusion from “real life” at church summer camp. The stifling hot Florida week had started innocently enough with games and friends, sound biblical teaching, and personal applications. Little did I know that what would last a mere minute or two would forever change the scope and direction of my life. God spoke to me. I mean, I heard Him. Well, as best I can tell I heard Him; oftentimes, experiences with the Holy Spirit can seem a bit surreal. Essentially, God asked, “What are you going to do with your life?” After telling Him the clever plan I’d set for myself, God followed His first question with, “Well what do you think I want you to do?” Rather humiliated in realizing that I hadn’t weighed Him very much into my decision, I balked at knowing the answer due to a fear of the changes that might come to “my” plan. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit reminded me that my deepest desires and true satisfaction could not—and would not—be realized anywhere apart from God’s will. Thankfully the Spirit gave me the strength to inquire, “I don’t know, Lord, what you want me to do? I’ll do anything.” At the time of this writing, God’s call on my life to specific ministry leadership was over 14 years ago. Following God’s call has helped define (or redefine) the university I attended, the jobs I took (i.e., less than minimum wage youth internships), and the woman I would marry. Time passed and in early 2006, my wife, Carrie, and I were at another potential turning point, praying about how God’s call on our lives could potentially affect our life direction. We felt like God might be leading us to overseas ministry in Malawi, Africa, but there were also churches in metro Atlanta (where we lived) that were looking for staff. Lo and behold, seemingly out of nowhere, we were introduced to a church in Ottawa, Ontario—Canada’s national capital. Though we hadn’t previously considered the needs in a place like Canada, the extremely young church plant needed someone who was passionate about evangelism and missions, and someone called to university ministry and church planting/pastoral leadership. As my wife and I prayed more about it, we felt like God had put these exact areas on our hearts for some time; and after more prayer and many meetings, interviews and trips back and forth, my wife and
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I answered God’s call to lead Celebration Church, a new church in Ottawa. There was a small hurdle, though, my visa only allowed me to get paid from the church, and the church could only afford $300 per month. We needed a way to fund our ministry. That’s when we were introduced to the Mission Service Corps (MSC) program and began the undulating journey of being support-based missionaries. To be perfectly honest, my family found ourselves in a position where we needed to trust God with some big things— not necessarily because we had big faith—but because there were no other options. Being primarily connected to the university students in the city, the church wanted us to move up before the start of the fall semester. Unfortunately, that left us with only a few months in which to raise the support base that we would need for years of ministry. So we picked a date on the calendar to pray for, and asked God to help us move by that day. Our strategy to raise the money started by my wife attending Ministry Partner Development (MPD) school with NAMB while I continued working as much as possible. Each night, we’d debrief our days and personalize the information that Carrie was learning. We began to form our plan of attack to do our part in God’s raising of our support for ministry. Raising support can be very frustrating. I’ve concluded that the frustration in raising support stems from
What should I expect when raising support?
the gap between expectation and reality. If you are considering becoming a support-based church planter, you need to define some realistic expectations. Here are some things that I discovered in my journey: I learned that raising support is hard work. The ox that the Bible says deserved his grain wasn’t standing in the stall—he was out working, trudging, getting things done. I often struggled with balancing a feeling of the need to “do things” to raise my support and a feeling of wanting to see God provide “supernaturally.” I knew there was a need to employ the process we’d learned in our classes, but I didn’t want our raising of support to be something that I accomplished on my own. The balance came as I prayed through this struggle. I asked God to show Himself as the faithful provider AND keep me motivated to do the work.
A month into the process I had to quit my job in Atlanta because Carrie and I discovered that support-raising, with the letters, phone calls, and personal meetings, needed our full-time attention. We labored and wonderfully saw God provide in ways beyond our imaginations. God is so faithful, and we saw Him provide for our family as we worked—just as I’d prayed. In a few short months, God had given us enough partners to move to Ottawa and begin our new ministry. Not only must you work hard to raise support, but the work doesn’t stop once you are on the field. Keeping track of the support that comes in, corresponding with supporters and partnering churches, and all the other nuances that come with being an MSC Missionary, each demand your time, attention, and resources. This takes time away from your ministry. You have to stay grounded in the reality that we, as humans, cannot do this on our own. We must continually surrender to the Lord and refuel in His Spirit in order to function for the kingdom in this world. I think the best tool for support-raising and for ministry in the field is to stay connected with the calling that you have received from the Lord. 78
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Another important expectation I learned is that some of your support will come from unexpected people and places. We discovered that by being faithful and following God’s leading, He directed us to partners we had not considered. Discovering these partners, though, took discernment and careful attention to where God was at work. Expect people to question your calling. There were those we encountered that didn’t understand the necessity of support-based missionaries to fulfill the Great Commission. They thought that the Cooperative Program was the only avenue for missionary support. Thanks to some of the preparation we received from the MPD school, we were able to give answers to skeptical people about how important—and biblical—it was for us to raise our support. We shared with them the great needs in Canada and around North America, and that while the Cooperative Program helped thousands of missionaries; there were needs beyond what the Cooperative Program could support. Finally, expect to see your faith and trust in God increase. Changes in the economy and unforeseen expenses, as well as the time and money to maintain supporter relationships; have been wonderful opportunities for Carrie and me to trust anew that our God will supply our needs according to His riches in glory. This fresh surrender to God’s provision and His methods does not always come easy, and is often born out of deep prayer with accompanying tears. But it also provides a wonderful perspective for life and ministry that keeps us connected with our Lord, our partners in the gospel, and our purpose here on the field. We serve a God who will not disappoint. My call started as a boy, turned decidedly one night in Florida, and continues today as I serve as an MSC missionary in Ottawa, Canada. Whether raising support or working beyond what we think ourselves capable or able to deal with, God’s call on our lives and His promise to complete the work that He’s begun are the ultimate expectation-setters. I still have ups and downs in ministry and support-raising, but I know that God will continue to meet my family’s needs. He’ll do it for you, as well.
Jason Byers ~ Jason, his wife, Carrie, and their son, Caleb, live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, where he is the pastor of Celebration Church.
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CHAPTER EIGHT
ready to go , but there’s no funding! By Mike Riggins
The steps of faith that you are prayerfully taking to help reach North America for
Christ by planting a church may be both exciting and a little bit frightening—especially in the area of finances. As a church planter who is most likely not fully-funded, you have the privilege of trusting God to develop your financial support through developing a team of ministry partners. What God will teach you through the support development process is absolutely essential for your success on the mission fields of North America. Ministry Partner Development (MPD) is a process used by Mission Service Corps missions from the North American Mission Board to involve other Christians in the fulfillment of the Great Commission. You are asking people to enter into a partnership where they commit their financial resources to God for you so you will be able to commit your time and skills fully to introducing people to the Savior. It’s as if you are climbing down into a cavern on a rope held by your ministry partners who are standing at the top. Ecclesiastes 4:12, NIV states, “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
Philosophy of Ministry Partner Development (MPD) In any field of endeavor, certain words evolve which take on special meaning. On the surface, it would seem that the aim of the MPD process is to help you learn how to raise money for your ministry. But that is not wholly accurate. The aim is broader. It is to help you become steeped in development philosophy and skilled in that field’s techniques. Development is a technical term applied widely to the profession and task of fundraising. Webster defines development: “to cause to grow gradually in some way; to cause to become gradually fuller, larger, better, etc.” Thus, development has become a popular synonym for fundraising because it implies much more than “getting the money and running.” For this conversation, development refers to the process of gradually growing relationships that will yield ongoing financial support. Its primary focus is on friend-raising, with fund-raising as the secondary result.
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Our biblical concept of support development training is committed to the infinite value of the individual. This is consistent with Jesus’ commitment to the infinite value of human life. He saw not only masses of humanity, but individuals. Thus, we call those who support our ministry financially “ministry partners.” Realizing that you are in partnership with those who support you is critical to your development success. Your philosophy (your way of looking at the fundraising process) will ultimately shape your actions. Therefore, a foundational principle underlying our training is that we must learn to love our partners and use their money, rather than loving their money and using them. Few tactics could be more strategic for Satan than to confuse your thinking and resultant actions in this vital area. If Satan could keep you and other church planters from being effective at MPD, he could literally halt the forward march of God’s army by choking off its supply line of financial resources. Consequently, no ministry challenge could be more strategic, and therefore, more taxing emotionally, intellectually, and physically than your ongoing battle for financial support. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.” (2 Cor. 10:3, NASB). This initial introduction to MPD will equip you with practical suggestions, which, if applied in the power of the Holy Spirit, will help you successfully win your friend-raising battle.
What resources are available to help enlist partners, and thereby raise support?
From the perspective of the North American Mission Board, ministry partner development is a Spiritdriven, relational endeavor that should always focus on the network of relationships—family, friends, and related churches—that God has given an individual over his or her lifetime. It can also include an everexpanding network of personal referrals which those relationships open up and make available. MPD for externally-funded missionaries and church planters should never involve cold-call approaches (in person, by telephone, or by mail) to people or churches who are not known to the individual. Not only has this (cold calling) been proven to be ineffective in its results, it also compromises the integrity of Southern Baptists’ comprehensive cooperative mission plan and can lead to a detrimental impact on the joint channels of mission support in North America—the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions.
Success in MPD Success in Ministry Partner Development requires wisdom in three areas: faith, work, and communication. Faith refers to the biblical perspective on trusting God. Work refers to effort and leadership principles. Communication refers to truths about the process of exchanging ideas and feelings between people in order to create a response (i.e., how to write and speak effectively). It would be wrong to place our trust in “Madison Avenue” communication techniques instead of God, our ultimate provider. And it would be wrong to become obsessed with the worldly “workaholic” success formula that causes marriages and families to be sacrificed on the altar of career advancement. But it would be equally wrong to rationalize a poor support situation with an unbiblical view of faith. It is just as incorrect to say that a lifestyle of monastic self-denial demonstrates more faith, is less materialistic, and ultimately 82
more pleasing to God than having full support. This satanic view almost sounds right, as does any good counterfeit.
READY TO GO, BUT THERE’S NO FUNDING
John R. W. Stott clarifies the balance we need to have between trusting God, working hard, and communicating effectively with people. His comments specifically apply to communication: “Some say rather piously that the Holy Spirit is Himself the complete and satisfactory solution to the problem of communication, and indeed that when He is present and active, then communication ceases to be a problem. What on earth does such a statement mean? So we now have liberty to be as obscure, confused and irrelevant as we like, and the Holy Spirit will make all things plain? To use the Holy Spirit to rationalize our laziness is nearer blasphemy than piety. Of course, without the Holy Spirit all our explanations are futile. But this is not to say that with the Holy Spirit, they are also futile. For the Holy Spirit chooses to work through them. Trust in the Holy Spirit must not be used as a device to save us the labour of biblical and contemporary studies.”19 Trust in the Holy Spirit should neither be used as a justification for not aggressively raising money (as some justify not aggressively sharing their faith). If it’s hard for you to ask people for money, then God may have you right where He wants you. If ministry partner development is your area of greatest insecurity, perhaps God can use it more than any other life experience to make you grow in faith. Proper balance between faith, work, and communication in no way negates the fact that God is our ultimate provider. However, it does clarify one of our responsibilities as Christ’s ambassadors and stewards before God. Part of our job is to master principles in all three areas in order to raise money effectively. When we ask others to help fund the fulfillment of the Great Commission, we should do so with excellence. We should ask not only with grace, but also with godly competence because development success is such a critical step toward fulfilling the Great Commission.
God’s Plan The central role fundraising has often played in God’s plan through the centuries is illustrated in 1 Chronicles 29. David focused the wealth of the people on building a physical testimony to the Lord, a temple. Today we have the privilege of establishing a human testimony to the Lord—men and women won to Christ and nurtured in their faith. Like David, we are responsible to ask others to give of their material possessions to support our ministries. As the Israelites wandered between Egypt and the Promised Land, God chose to miraculously provide manna (bread) from heaven to sustain them. Then, upon entering the land, He expected them to plant and harvest in order to feed themselves. Had Israel continued to expect manna in Canaan, it would have been an affront to God, since His new means of provision was through the land He had given them. It is certainly possible that God could choose to miraculously meet your support needs through unusual circumstances. However, don’t expect money to fall from heaven like manna. Rather, expect God to provide your support as you observe the laws of sowing and reaping in the area of human relationships. God wants us to enlist others as ministry partners by asking for their financial support.
19
John R. W. Stott, Christian Mission in the Modern World (Downers Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity Press, 1975), p. 127.
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Just as the Israelites had to plant in order to reap a harvest, we must cultivate personal relationships and ask in order to raise support. This is simply part of our stewardship responsibility as Christian leaders. And as wise stewards, we must ask effectively.
Four Preliminary Questions Four preliminary questions need to be answered before we can get to the heart of attitude. First, “Exactly how are many MSC missionaries and church planters financed?” The answer: By taking the initiative to approach people and present what we are doing, why we are doing it, and what we need financially to begin or continue our activities. This usually leads to the second question, “Is this manner of generating funds consistent with biblical principles regarding financing full-time Christian workers?” The answer is an unequivocal “Yes!” Throughout history, God has freed up His full-time workers financially to be able to carry out His work. Both Numbers 18:21 and 35 (entire chapter) point out the Israelites’ responsibility to use their tithes to fund the work of the Levites (God’s full-time workers in the Old Testament). Leviticus 27:30 and Malachi 3:10 reiterate the Old Testament mandate of setting aside one-tenth of all Israel’s wealth for the Lord’s work.
Is the raising of support biblical?
The New Testament teachings are equally clear. Philippians 4 shows that the church at Philippi supported Paul financially and that this pleased God (see verses 10, 14-16 and 18). First Corinthians 9 teaches that those who do the Lord’s work should be provided for financially. In fact, almost all of 1 Corinthians 9 and 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 are a rebuke to the church at Corinth for not supporting God’s people. Read these three chapters to get a feel for Paul’s concern that the Corinthians support the Lord’s workers. Even Jesus and His friends displayed the truth of 1 Timothy 5:18, NIV (“The worker deserves his wages.”) by depending on the gifts of friends for their financial needs. Not only do we, as God’s workers, depend upon others for finances, but both the Old and New Testaments show that it is perfectly legitimate to take the initiative and ask for funds. In 2 Corinthians 8:6, Paul not only asks the Corinthians to support God’s workers, he actually sends a delegation to make sure they come through on their support pledge. Nehemiah, when returning from exile to rebuild Jerusalem, asked and got the necessary funds from a pagan king (see Nehemiah 2:1-8). This incident in Nehemiah also sets a biblical precedent for approaching non-believers for financial involvement in advancing the kingdom of God. The third question that arises is, “Why do we use this particular method?” There are several reasons, but we’ll touch here on only two major ones. First, our method allows the rapid growth that is absolutely essential if we are to accomplish our objectives of fulfilling the Great Commission in North America. Our denomination and all others simply do not have the funds to support the number of church plants that are needed to reach North America with the gospel. Second, this method provides a built-in control that helps maintain the high standards of excellence our work demands. In other words, it helps pare out those who are not truly called to serve as church planters, as well as those who are insincere in their commitment to seeing lives changed through Christ.
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A fourth question is “What are the benefits for me and my ministry partners?” Some benefits are:
• Your relationship with God will be enriched as you cling to Him and
trust Him as never before. Going out on a limb for God will drive you
to the Word and prayer.
• Your faith will greatly expand as you see God reach your support goal.
• This time often prepares you for close, and sometimes demanding,
interpersonal relationships that are a part of staff life, as God alters
various attitudes and actions.
• Raising support helps develop a prayer base for your ministry
as you form personal relationships with your ministry partners. • This is an opportunity to minister to people who may never be reached
for Christ in any other way.
Your ministry partners will also benefit from this method as they are allowed to invest in something that has eternal consequences. They can personalize their giving by investing in a specific staff member’s ministry. And, perhaps best of all, God promises to bless them for helping you (see Malachi 3:10, Philippians 4:17, Luke 6:38, and 2 Corinthians 9:6). Not only will He bless them financially, but also many of your ministry partners will be blessed by their involvement in your life, by becoming Christians, by understanding the Spirit-filled life, or perhaps by being called into full-time Christian service.
Proper Attitude Attitude is the biggest determining factor in successful ministry partner development. No matter our expertise with various support methods and materials, we can expect trials. Indeed, because raising money is so critical, and because Satan knows it is the Achilles heel to most Christian leaders, it’s an area of intense warfare. Only the proper biblical perspective and attitude will enable you to accomplish God’s will in your life through this process. Our experience has found wrong attitudes to be at the root of most ministry support problems. Second Corinthians 5:20 states, we are Christ’s ambassadors. First, it is important that we understand who we are: royalty, children of the King of the universe, those who will one day rule the angels (1 Corinthians 6:3); blessed with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3); holy and blameless before God (Ephesians 1:4); and those who have been given all authority to reach the world (Matthew 28:18-20). As we realize who we are, our attitude will reflect these facts, resulting not in brash confidence, but in the quiet, calm assurance and confidence of a representative of the King of kings. Second, in view of all this, we must constantly have the attitude that everything belongs to the Lord. In Psalms 50:12, NASB, God says, “…for the world is Mine, and all that is in it.” Therefore, we should not be afraid to ask for what is already the Lord’s. 85
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Third, our attitude should reflect the urgency of the time we live in. Even most secular experts agree civilization seems to be moving toward a climax. At the same time, people have never been so open to the gospel. But history shows that this type of openness won’t last forever. Never before has there been such a need for harvesters. Truly, people today are like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36-37). There is a desperate need for laborers to give these sheep help and guidance. Fourth, we can have no higher calling than serving God full-time. Our culture considers accumulating things like power and money the higher callings. In our present society, money is not that scarce. However, the rare and priceless commodity is committed, loyal, and trustworthy people—laborers for the harvest (Matthew 9:38). What more significant work could we have than affecting lives for eternity as we serve our King? Fifth, we need to have the attitude that investing in us is a privilege for our investors. Our emphasis on the lordship of Christ, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, aggressive evangelism, strategic planning, and intensive training are being used of God for unprecedented results. Nowhere could an investor get better mileage out of his dollar than by supporting God’s work through giving to church planting and missions. Our investors have a significant part in seeing people come to Christ; and, to top it off, our immutable God promises to give them multiplied blessings for helping us (Luke 6:38; Malachi 3:10; and Philippians 4:17, 19). We can’t repay our investors, but we know that God can and will. Sixth, our attitude must be one of quiet assurance and confidence in God’s character, promises, and call. We must convey to our prospective investors that God will definitely raise our support; we just want to find out if they want to have a part in our lives and work. The seventh attitude is that of expecting results. Remember, God is rich. He desires to abundantly provide for us (1 Corinthians 9:8). Finally, we need to have the attitude of trusting the Lord, rather than our plans and methods. Be flexible as the Lord leads (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Bad Attitudes As we get involved in ministry partner development, some bad attitudes and problems sometimes creep in. One is looking at dollars as the total goal. When this occurs, we begin to regard support money as an end in itself. This can lead to people vying for the same investor, or even detracting from a fellow missionary’s support. In these instances, we need to remind ourselves that we are seeking to involve people in a total ministry and to develop personal relationships with these people. Never forget that God will provide for His calling. We need to graciously go about finding those He has chosen to be on our team. A second bad attitude yields an apologetic image (i.e., “I hate to bother you. You don’t want to invest, do you?”). This is basically a problem of poor self-image or a lack of boldness. Remember who you are, Who has called you, what you’ve been called to, Who owns everything, as well as the privilege of the investor. To remedy timidity, follow the 86
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formula for boldness in Acts 4:5-31: be sure you are filled with the Spirit (v. 8); spend time with Jesus (v. 13); have the proper perspective concerning Who has commanded you to talk to this prospective investor (v. 19); and pray for boldness (vs. 29, 31). One of the most serious attitude problems is an erroneous view of our salary structure. This is the philosophy of getting by on as little as possible. Often accompanied by guilt at presenting our salary structure (especially to those who make less than us), a feeling persists that taking partial salary and no reimbursements is “spiritual.” The real root of this problem is usually an attitude of “God is on His last dime,” resulting in shoddy homes, poor dress and other things unbecoming to a royal ambassador of the King of kings. We must realize that godly, Spirit-filled men and women have spent long hours seeking the Lord’s will regarding our salary structure. It has been set at a level necessary to properly carry on a Great Commission ministry (i.e., housing that is suitable for a ministry profession and can be used as a platform for ministry, dress that reflects well upon the Father and His work, and so forth). Let’s not forget that too little money can make us just as materialistic as too much money. If we are constantly operating on a financial shoestring, our minds will always be dwelling on one subject, not to mention the valuable ministry time that will be wasted as we spend long hours on such things as do-it-yourself repairs on our dilapidated cars, driving all over the city for the best price on toothpaste, and so forth. This attitude also calls God a liar. He says that He is rich and that He doesn’t want us to just get by, but rather to have an abundance (2 Corinthians 9:8), so we can be generous with others. We might note in passing the
How much money should I raise?
extreme importance of our generosity in cheerfully giving to the Lord’s work. We, too, are subject to the law that we “get” in proportion to what we give (2 Corinthians 9:6). Many support problems can be traced to poor giving habits. Also, recall (especially when talking to those who make less than we do) that God has called each of His children to a different role in life. If we are in His will, we don’t have to feel guilty about making more than some of our investors. We need the salary we get to execute God’s will for our lives. Men with families should be aware of the fact that the Bible teaches that an inadequate provider is worse than an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8). Our goal before God should be that of financial integrity in all areas, along with developing good financial habits now that will stand us in good stead for the rest of our lives. This will be a great testimony to the Lord, as people marvel at how well we live on such limited salaries. We should be aware that portraying a loser’s image—one that hints, “You should feel sorry for me and help me because I live so meagerly”—hurts our ministry and support, since people are usually repelled by this negative frame of mind. Attitude problem number four is an inferiority complex. The enemy often accomplishes this by convincing you that you aren’t as good as the wealthy prospective investors to whom you talk. The antidote to this is, again, remembering who you are (i.e., royalty, a child of the King, and so forth) and recalling the privilege of the investor. Reaffirm to yourself
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that the prospective investor could not get better mileage from his dollars than from investing in you—yours is a high calling and your work will have eternal impact. A fifth problem that sometimes appears is the feeling that we are one more among many worthy causes. We begin to consider ourselves on the same level as hundreds of charities seeking funds, with the result that we feel we are bothering people and putting another drain on their budget. However, what God has called us to do as His servants and “just another worthy cause” shouldn’t be even mentioned together in the same sentence. Our ministry is in response to a mandate from the God of the universe. By the eternal nature of our solution, we will get lasting results that deal with the root of man’s problems. Unlike secular organizations, we have God’s promise that He will bless those who support our ministry. To refrain from approaching a person to become a ministry partner is to steal from them that opportunity for divine blessing. The last attitude problem we will touch on is the “comparison blues.” This results when you find out that another missionary has generated much more financial backing than you. So, you begin to think that God is unfair or that there is something wrong with you. Perhaps you even wonder if you are in God’s will. When this attitude
How do I maintain strong relationships with my ministry partners?
threatens, consider the fact that the clock does not rush God. He is working from and for eternity. His prime concern is your total needs, not just getting you to your assignment. He has tailor-made your support time perfectly for you, including how long it takes. Galatians 6:4 says that we should do the best we can in the power of the Holy Spirit, then we won’t have to compare ourselves with others. After all, Jesus Himself taught that it isn’t any of our business how He handles others (John 21:21-22). We should concentrate on how He is dealing with us and rejoice that He won’t allow anything to happen to us that is not in our best interest.
Enlisting Ministry Partners Earlier I mentioned that my aim was much broader than to help you learn how to raise money for your ministry. My desire was to lay a foundation, providing a healthy philosophy which results in individuals who
see that investing in you and your ministry is an opportunity for them to partner with others in the fulfillment of the Great Commission. At this point I am sure you are anxious to get started. Therefore, I would encourage you to go through the MPD process. The MPD process involves seven vital steps which are built upon two key perspectives. First, we want everything we do to be biblical both in its premise and in its application. This will give the missionary/church planter confidence for this significant faith journey. Second, you must make the personal attitude adjustments that enable you to see this as a spiritual enterprise (not a financial one) and to see that your role is to share your burden and cast a vision of lives being transformed through the power of Jesus Christ and not a fundraiser. It is imperative that the one doing MPD is not only convinced that this process is biblical, but that it is right for him or her and is how God has purposed to unfold His provision for the calling at this time in his/her ministry journey—and for as long as He chooses to continue to do it this way.
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READY TO GO, BUT THERE’S NO FUNDING
Seven Steps:
1. Namestorming Think of and write down as many names as possible to contact for support without second-guessing whether they are likely to give or not.
(You are not the Holy Spirit, and you cannot know someone’s ability or
willingness to give. Don’t say “no” for anyone.)
2. Calling
Begin the personal contact phase of the process by making phone calls
to set up personal appointments with potential ministry partners. The sole
purpose of the phone call is to make the appointment, not to solicit the
partner. There is a letter-telephone strategy to utilize for those who are
not able to be visited personally.
3. Presenting
• Connecting with the heart of the prospective partner. The MPD presentation
begins with connecting with the prospective partner’s heart and world. • Casting the vision. You will share your calling to this ministry, what you
do in the ministry, and the preferred future for which you are trusting God.
You role is not to ask people to give financially to you—it is to invite them
to give to God to help fulfill the Great Commission.
4. Asking
This is the step where you clearly invite the prospective partner to give
to God, out of the resources God has entrusted to them, for the fulfillment
of the Great Commission. It is posing a specific question regarding giving
financial support in order to bring a prospective partner to the point of decision.
5. Collecting
Ask for the first check on the appointment to ensure that giving begins.
This is an essential step and actually helps the new ministry partner get
started in his or her giving.
6. Building a Referral Network
In most cases, the first step of “namestorming” will not yield enough
names to provide enough ministry partners to get to 100% support levels.
Since NAMB’s MPD does not allow “cold calling” of individuals or churches
(this is both highly ineffective and very destructive to the MPD process),
there is a need to expand your relational network to provide more potential
ministry partners. You must build your list of names to call for appointments.
This is done by asking new and existing partners to introduce you to others
in their sphere of influence.
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7. Cultivation
Because they are Ministry Partners and not merely financial donors, you must see
them as part of your ministry and not just the financial means to it. Begin building a
personal relationship with your ministry partners. This starts during your initial meeting
when you express genuine interest in them, and it continues through letters, phone calls,
and visits after the first appointment.
This development process model is taught in-depth during a three and a half day training called Support Development School. During that time you will spend approximately 28 classroom hours learning principles that will enable you to raise your personal and/or ministry support for a lifetime of service. The philosophy we operate from is to equip you for long-term, sustainable ministry. The training is a mixture of lectures with hands-on practice and workshops. Support School also teaches clearly how the process of MPD fits within the framework of the Southern Baptist plan of mission support and is complementary to, rather than in competition with, regular tithes and offerings to the local church and giving through the SBC Cooperative Program and the special mission offerings.20
Mike Riggins ~ Mike and his wife, Teresa, live in Lawrenceville, Georgia, where he serves on the Missionary Mobilization Team of the North American Mission Board.
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For more information about Support Development School, please contact the North American Mission Board at (770) 410-6000.
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CHAPTER NINE
i will meet your needs and make my name great By Donald Spivey
My name is Donnie Spivey, and my family and I serve as Mission Service Corps
(MSC) church planting missionaries in Kamloops, British Columbia. Kamloops is the only desert-like climate in all of Canada, just three and one half hours northeast of Vancouver. The city has a population of nearly 90,000 people and is home to Thompson Rivers University, the largest University in the interior of British Columbia. We came to Kamloops from Florida, where my wife and I were born and raised. When I was on staff at First Baptist Church Leesburg, I led the missions’ ministry of the church. Our church had a partnership with Alberta, Canada, and they had asked us to help facilitate a Kid’s Club as part of the initial stages of a church plant in Kamloops. The idea of church planting intrigued me, and before leaving home to go on an exploration trip, I jokingly said to my wife, “What if I end up pastoring this church plant in Canada?” We both kind of chuckled at the statement. While on the exploration trip, it was like God ignited my heart. Never before had I been so burdened for a people and an area. I remember calling my wife, Sheri, from an overlook. With tears in my eyes I said, “This is the place!” I prayed and kept calling my wife all the way home. We talked over the phone with excitement. I was certain that our call to missions involved this little city, which neither of us had ever even heard of. I usually tell people that our call to Canada involved us bringing a team of volunteers from our church in Florida—the team went home and we stayed! As MSC missionaries, we are responsible for raising our own financial support. I am surprised to learn that many Southern Baptists are not aware of this option. For us who were planting in Canada, there was no other way. There is limited funding available with a huge need for ministry and church planting. As a foreign worker, I’m not eligible to work outside of the church, making bivocational ministry impossible. Thankfully, the North American Mission Board has the MSC category, which provided a way for me to raise financial support for my family and spread the gospel through church planting in Canada.
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The key to raising support as an MSC missionary is the Support Development School, offered by the North American Mission Board. Like most church planters, I can be stubborn. I was tempted to argue my way out of support school. I assumed that I could raise support without the training. Besides, it was going to cost us time and money to attend the training in Philadelphia. But I learned there was no bucking the system and, as an MSC missionary, I had to attend Support Development School. I quickly understood my need to attend support school. As part of the process, you are encouraged to raise your support to attend the Support Development School. I remember nervously standing on a soccer field, talking to another parent/ friend about our need to go to support school. With sweaty palms and a dry mouth, like when I asked a girl out on my first date, I began to ask him if he would pay for our plane tickets. I was anxious to say the least. But you know what? He did! In fact he paid for all of our expenses. This was our first attempt at raising funds. I was encouraged that it went well, but I also realized that I had much to learn. At support school, my wife and I were given tools that helped us communicate with potential partners. In fact, we began raising support before the training ended. After each class, we would make phone calls from our hotel room. Again, with sweaty palms and dry mouths, we would call friends and family and set up lunch appointments. Our nervousness over the task was outweighed by our driving passion to honor God’s calling and plant a church in Kamloops. There were times, even after support school, when I wondered if I would be able to provide for my family. As my wife and I would pray, I heard God’s reassurance, “If you move to Kamloops, I will meet your needs and I will make My name great in Kamloops.” How could we go wrong? We had a burdening call to plant a church amongst people in Kamloops, and we had been equipped with tools to develop partners and raise support. Every bit of this journey has been faith-based. One thing that became evident, however, was that as our experience in partnership enlistment activities increased, so did our faith. As my wife and I began meeting with people and sharing with them our call and vision for planting, God began meeting our needs. I was still on staff at First Baptist Church Leesburg while raising support to move to Canada. Nearly every day for a year, I would have a lunch appointment. Early on in my experience, I sat with a friend and told him about our plans. I walked him through everything that I had to show him. I was equipped with a flipchart notebook that told our story and passion for Canada. That was the easy part. The hard part is at the end of the presentation when I would have to ask for money. As I neared the end of my presentation, like so many other times, my palms began sweating and my mouth started drying out. Somehow I was able to ask, “Will you partner with us at $100, $50, $20, or some other amount a month?” You need to know my personality. This is not easy for me to do. We were trained that after we finished asking, we should stop talking. Let the silence hang there, allowing the person you are talking with to begin to think through all that he or she has heard. My friend, sensing how nervous I was, grinned and said, “We want to give you $10,000.” “What?” I replied. “Really?” was my follow-up response. I really didn’t know what to say. Finally I muttered out, “Thank you.” You may find this hard to believe, but this was our experience several times over. People often gave large financial 92
gifts up front. We have, by God’s grace, been able to consistently raise nearly $50,000 a year for the past three and a
I WILL MEET YOUR NEEDS AND MAKE MY NAME GREAT
half years. God provided in other ways as well. We needed to fly to Canada prior to moving to find an apartment. We didn’t have the money to go. When I started sharing with our partners the need, some donated their airline miles for our tickets. God provided a way to move our stuff to Canada, money for gas, a quick sell of our home, and temporary housing. He even took care of family situations that we were praying for. Our faith increased as we saw God work. If you are going to raise your own support, let me give you a few suggestions: Don’t shortcut the system. Church planters are notorious for wanting to do things different and/or “better.” However, there is a proven system embedded in Mission Service Corps that absolutely works. I suggest that you go to the training school and learn how to develop partnerships. I recommend that you have a biblical understanding of support development. Support Development School is worth the investment. After the training, do what you are told. Take the tools and use them, even if they don’t feel natural. Have a vision and learn to communicate it. If you are planting a church for any other reason than God has given you a vision, then stop! Save yourself and your family the time, money, and pain. In your support development, you should be able to communicate your vision and calling in a compelling way. Share your passion with potential partners. Tell stories of people you’ve met where you are called to plant the church. Help your partners see and feel what it is like to live without a church community. Develop a compelling question. The one I used was similar to this, “What has it been like for you and your family to be connected to a life-giving church?” As they share their joy, share the need for a similar experience to be had in the place to which you are called. If you don’t have a firm calling and a vision for a preferred future, then you need to spend time with God
What is a Mission Service Corp Missionary? What are the advantages?
before starting to raise support. Approach your calling with faith. Faith should be based on something. For me, that something was that I knew God had called me to Kamloops, British Columbia. I knew that God had promised to take care of my needs. Therefore, my faith was built upon a God who called me to a specific place and time. Don’t forget that! God has called you, and He will provide. Not because you are somebody, pioneering the way for God, but because He has placed a calling on your life. Never let your faith rest in the fact that you can sell. While it is a must that you do your part (work your partnership development strategy), allow your faith to only rest in Him who will provide. Don’t be afraid to ask. Don’t fall into the trap of just presenting the vision, plan, calling, need, and so forth and just leaving it there. It is okay to ask the person you are talking with to partner with you in this calling. They expect you to ask. When you don’t ask, it communicates that there is no urgency. However, don’t ask in a large gathering. If you appeal to a large audience, your attempts may not be as successful as appealing to one or two people at a time. There is an element in “group thinking” that says, “I’m not going to respond this time because I know someone else in the room will.” 93
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It is best to keep your appeals to personal conversations. Support development will train you to ask, “Will you partner with us at $100, $50, $20 or some other amount?” Hopefully you will get some of those larger, one time gifts! You should also ask if the person knows of anyone else who would find value in what you are doing. When you share your vision and calling with someone, you need to realize that they are connected to others. Ask them to help you identify other potential partners from their relationships. One of the scariest ideas that I learned early on, and am seeing it come to pass now, is that the people who will partner with you for the long haul will be people that you don’t know today. Remember that this is a partnership. You should be genuinely interested in the person you are asking help from. They need to know, and it needs to be true, that you are not just interested in their money. Take time to pray for your partners, and use every opportunity to remind them that they are playing a role in seeing people come to know Christ. Continue the work. If you want to succeed at developing partners, then you’ve got to follow up. I remember this statement from development school: “If you want to get paid every month, send out a monthly newsletter. If you want to be paid every other month, send out one every other month. If you want to be paid randomly and sporadically, send out a newsletter on a random and sporadic timetable.” Don’t stop working on support! Follow up with people. Keep them informed about what God is doing and how their partnership is contributing. Communicate with them on a regular basis, and let them know how their investment is aiding to transform lives. Let them know what is happening so that they can celebrate, pray, and cry with you. It is easy when you get on the field to forget about following up with people. Try not to allow your busyness to distract you from keeping in touch. Asking for support was a scary proposition. It took me outside of my comfort zone and caused me to rely on God and others like I never had to before. In fact, every month is a faith challenge for me as I rely on God’s provisions. My part is to do what I’ve been equipped to do and to bathe my efforts in prayer. If you decide to raise your support, allow your heart for the Father to permeate everything. Trust Him to meet your needs—and He will.
Donald Spivey ~ Donald and his wife, Sheri, live in Clermont, Florida where he serves as the Executive Pastor at The Church at South Lake (SBC). They previously spent four years in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, as NAMB church planters where they planted a church. 94
CHAPTER TEN
VISION TOURS By Steve Chamblee
Our church planting journey began more than 10 years ago when, after Bible
college, God put a desire in my heart to start a church out West. However, it wasn’t until after several years of student ministry and two years of pastoring a church in rural Alabama that we seriously began pursuing church planting. Our journey began at a pastor’s conference where I heard Vance Pitman speak. Vance’s family moved with two other families to plant Hope Baptist Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. In their first seven years, they have grown to an average attendance of about 1,800, and they have started several new churches. As I sat in the conference and listened to this incredible story, God began to rekindle in me this passion to plant a church in the West. After I returned home from the conference, I couldn’t shake what God was doing. My wife and I did all we knew to do—we prayed. Through our prayers, God directed us to plant a church in Vail, Arizona, a suburb of Tucson. Furthermore, He led me to ask a lay ministry partner, Jay Huffstutler, and his family to join us. After some time and coaxing from God, they agreed. When God called us to move to Tucson to plant a church, you couldn’t have picked two guys who knew less about church planting than the two of us. That is probably still true today, but we’re okay with that. I would rather be fueled by the Holy Spirit’s enablement than be a “professional” any day. No doubt, we were green, but we knew that church planting was no easy task. We knew that to support two families (Jay’s family of four and my family of six); we would have to have significant financial assistance. We also knew that if God’s heart is to see churches planted so that the nations may know Him, then He would provide for us. We continued to pray. We spent more than a year doing little more than praying. Before we recruited one financial partner, each of us recruited 100 prayer warriors to pray for us. During that time, I learned more about prayer than I ever had in my training in Bible college or seminary. I told my wife, Shari, just before we moved to Tucson, “If God shut this thing down tomorrow, all that we have walked through would be worth it for what we have learned about prayer and our relationship with God.” 95
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As we prayed seeking direction from God, our prayers seemed to fall into three areas of focus. First, we prayed for our own personal walks. We asked God to help keep us pure and close to Him. Second, we prayed for providential direction. We sought clarification of our call. We prayed that God would go before us and prepare hearts that would hear the gospel through our ministry. Third, we prayed for a partnership strategy. We knew that we would need significant partnerships—not just for financing, but for prayer support and accountability. Our partnership strategy, which we believe comes from a result of countless hours of prayer, includes hosting vision tours to help potential partners experience the lostness of our community and see firsthand the vision we have for planting churches in Vail. Early in our partnership development process, we were encouraged to develop an information packet that detailed our calling, our core beliefs, and information about our families. We then compiled a potential partnership contact list by listing friends we knew and churches where we had personal relationships and contacts. Through the Internet, we developed a list of every Southern Baptist church in Alabama, which numbered more than 2,000 churches! We knew that we would have to narrow it down to a workable list of churches to contact. So we literally prayed over this list of churches. We also reviewed the churches’ Web sites to get a sense of their mission
What is a vision tour, and how will it help me enlist partners?
involvement. We used indicators such as mission statements, staff members dedicated to missions, churches that had multiple worship services, as well as community involvement. We narrowed the list to 63 churches and prayed specifically for each one of them. Then we mailed each of the churches an information packet and we followed up with a phone call a month later. Jay and I took every possible opportunity to personally share the vision God had given us. We spoke in associational pastors’ conferences. These gatherings opened doors for us to share our story in local churches nearly every week. We contacted our state Baptist newspaper which interviewed us and featured our dreams in their publication. We even contacted Vance Pitman’s church and asked his staff to meet with us. Hope Baptist Church ended up being one of our sponsoring churches. (Looking back, it only seems fair since it was Vance’s presentation that got me into this!)
About two months before we moved to Arizona, we began organizing our vision tour in Vail. We wanted existing and potential partners to share our heart and vision in our context. It was one thing to seek a partnership by telling our story. It was an entirely different thing to tell our story and let others see firsthand what we see. Our desire was to bring potential partners to Vail so they could see, smell, taste, and feel what drew us to our new community. Jay and I planned for a three-day event—Wednesday through Friday. Our intent was to give our guests the Vail/ Tucson experience. We wanted them to see our city through our eyes—or better stated, through the eyes of Jesus. It was important that we planned carefully and paid attention to the details. Since our friends and partners would be paying their own travel and lodging expenses, we felt that we owed them that. One thing we did that really helped set the stage for this event was to have everyone stay at the same hotel. Logistically, it was much easier to have a common place to pick everyone up. But it also allowed the participants to meet each other, hang out, process their experiences, and discuss the potential of rallying around a good cause—namely, us. 96
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Carrying out a vision tour is a costly endeavor, even with the partners paying their own travel expenses. We sent out numerous letters and promotional materials, rented a meeting space for two days, provided meals at restaurants that were uniquely “Tucson,” and chartered a bus to transport everyone during the driving tour of Vail. How did we come up with the money? We prayed! And God provided through our Southern Baptist partners. The Arizona Baptist Convention and the Catalina Baptist Association provided us grants to help pay for expenses. The charter bus for our tour was provided by 22nd Street Baptist Church in Tucson. One of their members drives for a charter line, and he provided his services at no cost. Furthermore, the church paid the charter fee. This was really a cooperative effort. I’m convinced that all of the resources we need to do God’s work are available to us, but we have to be willing to network with our SBC family and communicate a godly vision. We invited 55 potential partners, most of them coming from our list of 63. Twenty-two partners attended. God really blessed our vision tour. As a result of the tour, we have secured two new partnerships, solidified partnerships that were already in place, and have several churches that are praying and discussing with their leadership how they can partner with us. We have already begun planning our second vision tour. If you are thinking about doing a vision tour, let me share with you some things that we learned: Don’t underestimate the power of prayer. From the very beginning, we’ve relied on prayer to direct us in our decisions. God has honored that effort by giving us a clear sense of calling, a vision to reach lost people, and is now providing the resources (financial and others) to see the vision become a reality. Honor your potential partners’ investment. Your guests are giving up their time and money to hear your vision. Be prepared! Make sure you have quality meeting spaces, transportation, lodging, meals, and so forth. While this isn’t a vacation for them, you want them to be comfortable so that they can focus on how God is at work in your city or town. Have a vision and be able to clearly communicate it. It is important that you are able to articulate why and how God has brought you to plant a church in the area you’ve chosen. Demographics and statistics are important, but potential partners want to know if you have a godly passion to carry out the task. You should also create quality supporting resources that paint a picture of your community and convey your vision. This could be a written piece, detailed Web site, and/or video presentation. This helps participants accurately share your story with their church. Involve others in the tour. Invite your associational and state convention leaders to participate. Potential partners are usually more willing to invest in something that has the backing of others, especially if they can see how your vision lines up with the associational and state’s vision. Also, having our state and associational leaders speak was invaluable for helping our potential partners understand the complex history of our location. Execute a great tour of your location. Make sure you have someone who knows the community to give the tour. When we arrived in Vail, we connected with the superintendent of the school district, Calvin, with whom we have become friends. Calvin actually gives tours every year for his new teachers, so who better to provide a great tour? Make sure your tour guide knows the area and can share it in an interesting way. 97
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Also, along the way, stop and exit the bus to interact with people in the park, business people walking in town, those shopping in outdoor mall areas, or homeless people living on the streets. Visit other non-profits with whom you are partnering, such as women’s shelters, soup kitchens, and so forth. As you get back on your bus, pray for the needs you’ve experienced. We had our potential partners explore the subdivisions by prayerwalking the streets. All of this helps potential partners see your community from God’s eyes as they encounter local people firsthand. Debrief and follow-up with the participants. At the end of your event, make sure you carve out time to answer the participants’ questions. Use this time to remind them why they are there, and don’t be afraid to ask them for their financial partnership. What we found helpful was to have a commitment card that allowed participants to state their intentions, even if their intention was to go home and pray about it. Your work is not over when everyone goes home. You should also make it a priority to follow-up with participants through a letter and phone call. You want to thank them for their time, offer to answer any questions they have, and either thank them for their financial commitment or once again ask if they will support your church financially. Vision tours are a lot of work and should not be taken lightly. There needs to be adequate support, a good plan, preparation and, most importantly, prayer. Everything that we have seen God do on our behalf is the direct result of prayer—our prayers and hundreds of others interceding on our behalf. I guess you could look at what we’ve done and say, “Yeah, but you had a pretty good marketing strategy, too.” Perhaps that is true. But Jay and I know that even our strategy for developing partners came about as a result of us asking God for one. There is no substitute for connecting with the Father to direct you in all of your church planting endeavors.
Steve Chamblee ~ Steve and his wife, Shari, live in Tucson, Arizona, where they are planting Grace Fellowship.
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merging family and church life in a healthy manner
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CHAPTER ELEVEN
NAVIGATING THE MINEFIELD By Dave Arden
Few pastors would admit that their wife is the “caboose” of their ministry. Yet
back in January 1997, I finished up seminary and moved to the field as an overzealous church planter five months ahead of my wife. Since she was finishing up her teaching contract, it seemed natural to start ahead of her. She had worked to support me through seminary. She would only be 90 miles away. We would still see each other on weekends. Little did I know at the time that I was sowing the seeds of relational distance that would one day come back to shatter me.
The Traps Church planting is a relational minefield for the planter, his wife, and his family. These are not just limited to the attacks that present themselves from outside of the new church community. There are unhealthy patterns and danger zones within his family, as well. What follows are the traps which await us as we journey through the church planting process. On some level, I fell into all of these traps when I first started. I needed a biblical minesweeper! The “I’m the Next Bill Hybels” Trap Back in late 1997, we were blessed to hear Bill Hybels tell the Willow Creek story in Little Rock, Arkansas, at a conference. Who doesn’t sit underneath him for a day and not get fired up about all that God can do? Who doesn’t want a car maintenance ministry? Who doesn’t leave believing that they are the next Bill Hybels? Unrealistic expectations can give most of us the false belief that if we don’t create a mega-ministry, that somehow we have failed God, failed family, and failed our town. Over-zealousness becomes a barrier, one that drives a wedge between the planter and his family as he tries to accomplish this dream of building the “super church.” Rather than placing false and unrealistic expectations upon ourselves and our plants, we need to remember it is God’s church to grow and to build to His plans. Only He determines the size: “and the Lord added daily to their number” (Acts 2:47).
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The High Octane Performance Trap By our own wiring and calling, planters use their gifts to carry out their mission with a high level of intensity. We are especially vulnerable then to fall into the trap of making it our goal to create the populous church over building a healthy church—a church where Christ-likeness and character are core. Another landmine goes off when we decide that the significance of who we are and the value of our ministry is based purely upon our ministry performance (baptisms, attendance, and so forth). After a textbook launch and a solid three years following, we began taking too much satisfaction in what we were doing instead of finding our joy in the Lord and what He was doing. The performance trap is particularly devastating to family health because time at home can become viewed as a hindrance to the effectiveness of the ministry. We need to be reminded that God’s love is not based upon achievement. Before Jesus had gone to the cross, or even done any great miracles, the Father looked down at His Son and said, “this is my Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17, NIV). The Father’s love is unconditional, and His value of us is based on our relationship with Him and not our work. The Positional Pinch The domino effect of the ego and performance traps help the planter build up enough steam to easily fall into this third major ensnarement—stretching himself, his family, and his organization too thin. Church planters nudge their plants out of healthy alignment by placing leaders in positions of leadership before they are ready, pressing people into service outside their gifting arena, or by adding a dual worship service before the organization gets its legs. Our church plant was hit especially hard by this back in 2001 when we took our congregation of 175 from one worship service to two—before we were ready. We would soon face the consequences of moving out ahead of the Lord. Healthy parents don’t say, “I’m going to have as many kids as I can have. If a few don’t make it, oh well!” Yet sometimes new ministries are started without the necessary equipping. The ministry languishes, and everything is squeezed by the stress. This, in turn, puts additional pressure on the planter’s family who is already juggling an extremely full plate. Can our dreams and ambitions get ahead of the Lord’s timing? The Capacity Collapse The sequence of these traps seems to create a perfect storm for the planter and his family. Once the leaders and members of the church are extended beyond what relational boundaries can handle, the top levels of the pillared wedding cake collapse downward and crumble underneath the weight of unmet expectations, stress, relational demands, ministry demands, and unfulfilled dreams. The top-heavy church crushes people under its flawed relational structure and ultimately spills backward into the life of the planter’s family, causing deep levels of pain, frustration, and anxiety. The planter’s wife feels uncertainty about her financial future and wonders how the family will pay the mortgage. She feels alone at times as her husband detaches emotionally. Fortunately for us, my wife, Becky, was working another teaching job and had some insulation from the stress. Nonetheless, the family experiences a deep emotional/spiritual deficit. By my own admission, I put Becky through the winepress and didn’t recognize the valuable ministry partner she was. The “Silo Milo” seeds I had 102
sown when I first moved to the Dallas area came back to harvest.
NAVIGATING THE MINEFIELD
After five years of service, the fall-out shattered my confidence, divided long-standing relationships, and rippled into the community. The loneliness of planter purgatory befell upon me. Years of heartache, disappointment, and loss gave us a deep longing for answers.
The Transition to Great Commandment Ministry Where had we gone wrong? We were asking the underlying question in 2002 when the Lord brought a church research analyst into our life. David Ware had already spent the three previous years surveying the relational health of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area churches. David and his wife, Jeannie, came to our church as a trainer-couple for Intimate Life Ministries, a ministry focusing on the health of married couples/families. They came to our church and helped us identify our relational misfires and encouraged us to take a hard look at the “Great Commandment” (Matt. 22:37-39). We needed to go back to school and learn what the Lord was really saying about creating authentic relationships within our family and the body of Christ. One of the greatest challenges we learned while planting our churches is that Great Commandment relationships aren’t formulaic. They are built upon knowing one another deeply, genuinely caring for one another, and meeting one another’s heartfelt needs. Jesus’ primary focus in his three years of ministry was upon helping 12 disciples mature—but really He became close to only three of them. I want to share some specific areas for growth we discovered in our relationships. First, a pivotal starting point for Great Commandment ministry is that the planter’s family life is the model for relationships for the rest of his church (1 Tim. 3:3). The planter that shows affection, attention, encouragement, and comfort to his family in a healthy manner sets a standard for the entire church family. The relational patterns of the first 10 families that join the new planter will say everything about the next 50 families that connect to the church.
Is family and ministry life one and the same, or are they separate?
The second lesson we learned was that it is hard to receive something relationally that we’ve never been given. Jesus put it this way, “freely you have received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8). Becky and I needed to learn what our relational needs were and how to meet them. The Intimate Life Ministry team showed us how to meet relational needs (including acceptance, affection, appreciation, approval, comfort, encouragement, and security). Our family had to learn how to do healthy mourning and comforting, as well as grow in our ability to share confessions and forgiveness. We needed to learn how to practice Romans 12:15 and share life daily in the midst of our highs and lows. Third, in the years that followed, I examined the book of 1 Thessalonians and identified an excellent three-dimensional “family ministry model” and applied it in our new plant. The apostle Paul calls this church a “model” to the other churches, the entire Macedonian region, and beyond because of their willingness to turn to the true God and live authentic lives (1 Thess.1: 5-7). Paul challenges church planters with his example, saying he wasn’t just there to share the gospel with the community, but his very life as well (2:8). He tells them how he cared for them like a nursing mother (2:7) and how, as a strong father figure, he encouraged them, comforted them, and urged them to live lives worthy of their calling (2:11-12). 103
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The pinnacle passage for church planters in 1 Thessalonians is:
For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—
but Satan stopped us. For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which
we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?
Indeed, you are our glory and joy (2:18-20, NIV).
What was Paul celebrating? That the plant had 57 in attendance? No, he is thanking God for their relationship with Him, for his relationship with them, and their character which will hold up until the Lord comes back. This is the high calling: to build healthy relationships that endure forever. Fourth, the Lord had to fill in some holes that I had uncovered in my own family of origin. The Lord needed to take me back and help me see how we had done relationships and fill in the missing gaps in biblically appropriate ways. Then, we needed to discover how to maintain this emotional health for the long run. Burnout is a real problem in planting, but preventable if the planter is truly self-aware of his needs and has the emotional vocabulary to receive what’s needed from the Lord and others.
How do I protect my marriage and family from the unique struggles associated with church planting?
Fifth, longevity is a challenge to building a relationally-healthy church. Jesus encouraged his disciples to “Go bear fruit … fruit that will last.” Lasting fruit comes through lasting relationships. There is simply no short cut to growing a deep and trusting relationship with core leaders and families. Jesus’ final exhortation as He ascended to glory was not, “I’ll be with you as long as you remember to write” or “I’m here for you as long as you behave,” but rather “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).
The Triumph (of building a healthy church family) The Lord in His grace gave me a second chance. After taking full responsibility for my drifting focus and
ways, I was given the opportunity to plant another church. We moved to Cottonwood, Arizona, in the spring of 2004 under the call of the Yavapai Baptist Association. With a church plant survival rate of only about 10 percent in the Cottonwood/Sedona area, we knew it was going to be a challenge. Upon arriving in Cottonwood, I sent out a letter to a couple of churches in the broader body of Christ. I discovered later that I was laughed at by fellow pastors for trying to start a new work in our community. Friendly town. In addition to launching our church in October of that year, we were trying to move into a “new” home that needed major updating. (Okay, maybe a house built in 1961 is not new.) This time, I was able to resist the temptation to get the church going first. Instead, we focused on getting our family into our home. With respect to my family, it was time to move Becky up from the caboose to the sleeper car so that she could encourage the locomotive. We remained close as a family and intentionally sought other leaders who lived out healthy relationships at home. Here are some key ideas and boundaries we sought to maintain: 104
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Capacity. Healthy parents give birth to new children when they know that with the Lord’s help, they can meet their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Our family creates new relationships with the understanding that we also have to maintain those relationships. New ministries in the church are started only when there are healthy leaders in place to get the ministry up and growing. Proximity. The planter is home on school nights more than he is engaged in ministry. We recommend to our planters to stay at home three school nights per week. But it’s not just about physical presence. We can be home physically and be emotionally missing. Keep the heart home, as well. Emotional Solvency. The pain of being overdrawn in the “emotional budget” reminds us of the necessity of self care: replenishing the heart and spirit regularly. The need to repeatedly back off work and spend time with your wife and restorative friends is critical. If the planter is emotionally exhausted inside, it’s the warning light to slow down and rest (see Proverbs 4:23). Authenticity. It’s important to practice authentic emotional connectivity every day as a family: “celebrate with those who celebrate, mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 15:12). Unity. Relationships are built person-to-person (one-on-one), and so is trust. I date my wife (once or twice a month) and my daughters, Hope and Brooke, at least once a month. In addition, I use the flexibility that comes with church planting to serve and minister to my kids. I take the kids to school, take them to the doctor, and stay home when they are sick. Security. One of the benefits of a relationally healthy church is security for the hurting. When leadership comes together, with a deep desire to protect one another and keep the love fresh and safe, the church becomes a safe harbor for the hurting and broken parts of the community.
Do we know how to develop and manage healthy relationships with others?
The “Model T” (i.e., Thessalonians), or family model, takes time to develop. Developing “relational capital” (understanding, shared passion, depth, and trust) with people takes time. In spite of our outreach, we still had to wait on the Lord for a couple of years to provide a base of families who knew how to give and receive from one another in a healthy way. Once the base was established, however, we were able to bring others to the Lord and to the safety of loving relationships. The Lord has used them to change lives for the kingdom through our open hearts and counseling ministry to many in our community. To him who pursues the Great Commandment as a model for church planting, great joy and satisfaction awaits. Understanding the Lord’s heart for community is a great way to build a healthy church and has, apart from my own family, been the most fulfilling experience of my life. What is our hope, our joy, or our crown, when Christ returns? (See 1 Thess. 2:19.) Is it not in the relationships that are built with God’s help, in the life through Christ we share with them, and the development of Christ-like character in their lives? Why be satisfied with less?
Dave Arden ~ Dave and his wife, Becky, live in Cottonwood, Arizona, where they are planting River Community Fellowship.
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MARRIAGE BUMPS By Kevin and Amy Colón
Cool River was supposed to be a church plant in South Florida, but God had
something else in mind. After a year of preparation and fundraising, the plan was turned upside down. It’s funny, how God does that, isn’t it? All Amy and I knew was there was a lack of peace, so we opened up the search for a location again. Our search led us to Colorado. How do you go from Florida to Colorado? Good question … we’re not sure, either. But during a late night talk before bed, we suddenly asked ourselves “What about Colorado?” We then came to a decision … road trip! So we were off to Colorado, searching, praying, wondering, and praying some more. We ended up in a little town of 15,000 people—Superior, Colorado, located just a couple of miles southeast of Boulder. Nice town, very much the suburbs—a family place. Amy and I liked what we saw initially, and then we started looking for churches. And we found exactly—none! That’s right … no churches. And not just any Christian churches. In Superior there were no churches of any religion. All of a sudden, from out of nowhere, there came what’s come to be known as a “holy discontent”—a feeling that the situation in Superior was not right and something had to be done about it. Almost immediately, the peace that had left us in Florida came back. It was like God was tapping us on the shoulder and then pointing us to this town. Amy and I just looked at each other like, “Is this really happening?” It was. That was February of 2002. We moved to Colorado in June of 2002. We didn’t know a soul. We started grilling burgers for our neighbors at the pool of our apartment complex. We started loving and serving our city. We started making connections. We started developing friends. We engaged in meaningful conversations. We prayed a lot. And little by little a small group was birthed that birthed a church that has birthed the greatest adventure of our lives. God has been so faithful to us. He has helped us build a great reputation in our town. He has blessed us with awesome people that love Him and love people, and we’ve seen many of those come to know Him. The peace that He gave us the first day we were here is still with us. However, there have definitely been bumps along the way.
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• Moving was a bump. How would we fit in? Would we actually like it here?
• Money was a bump. How in the world would we make it in this town?
• Parents were a bump. They really didn’t want to see us go so far away.
• Evangelism was a bump. Would people in a place where 90+% are not Christian listen to us?
• Finding a meeting place was a bump. Where could we meet? Could we afford it?
• People can be a bump. Nice people are great. Mean people … well, you know.
You get the picture, right? In church planting it can get a little bumpy. It can get a lot bumpy. One area where there could be some major bumps is in your marriage and family. Let me allow my wife, Amy, to let you in on some of the specifics about one of the greatest challenges when you’re starting a church—keeping your family a family. Take it away, Amy! You know, Kevin is right. We have experienced our share of bumps and bruises. God never promised us ease. And it hasn’t been easy. Luckily, though, every bump has brought us closer to the Father. When Kevin and I moved our family to Colorado, I was a young mom. My oldest, Emma, was two. Claire was six months and only months later we discovered Olivia, our third little ball of fire, was on the way. Though I was completely on board and “called” just as Kevin was to church planting, I found myself fully in “mommy” mode. So for me, the early years of Cool River are quite a blur. I was constantly moving, going, and multitasking. Yet somehow in the middle of all the movement, God quickly began impressing on my heart this deep desire to make sure that no matter what else happened our family must remain healthy and intact in the middle of it all. That was going to be my main responsibility to the church and to our family. So from the very start, Kevin and I began setting really strong boundaries and priorities for our family. We somehow sensed that we must be bold and intentional from the starting gates. And I am so grateful we have maintained the boundaries for all of these years. Of course, life has changed since those early days of core group and diapers. Cool River has grown. Our kids have grown. Kevin and I have grown. Tensions are different, but priorities have remained. That’s what I want to share with you in the next few pages . . . the tensions we have felt as a church planting family and what we have personally done to combat them as they attacked. Have we always handled family life with grace and style? Will all of our techniques work for you and your family situation? No way! But it is my hope that our story will at least prompt you to think about the church planting family in a new light. Maybe it will give you the “license” you need to make bold decisions that will protect your family and keep it strong as you begin your own church planting journey.
Marriage Time Both Kevin and I are huge advocates for the regular date night. Those two regularly scheduled hours on Tuesday nights have saved our marriage more times than I would like to admit. If you were to strip away all of our other little tips and techniques, I fully believe that our marriage and family would still be healthy as long as date night was in place. That is why I am starting here. 108
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Even as newlyweds, Kevin and I somehow knew the importance of spending quality time together. Back then there was plenty of quantity time. We were without kids, far away from family, doing school and church together. And along the way God just happened to place some great couples in our paths who modeled spending quality time together. These were couples farther down the road than us. They had kids and big jobs, and they were involved in ministries and spent their Saturdays at soccer games. But in conversations we would always hear them talk about date night and what they did or planned to do next week. It was all so intriguing. My parents never did this. But something about the idea stuck. When faced with a more rigorous schedule of kids and church planting, Kevin and I immediately knew this had to become our number one priority. Six years into it, date night has become one of the very best decisions we have ever made for our family. There really has never been a single week that we could afford to pay a babysitter and go out on the town. But I can confidently say that there has also never been a week that we could afford NOT to do it either. For Kevin and I, date night has become a non-negotiable part of how we do life. The benefits so outweigh the amount of money we have had to fork out to make it happen. Briefly, here are a few tips that have worked for us on date night.
• Focus on building marriage, family talk, and dreaming about the future.
• Vary your date night activities … it may be a fancy dinner, a cup of coffee
or a long walk.
• Turn off the phone and get rid of other unwanted distractions.
• Be intentional with questions that help identify spiritual, physical,
and emotional issues.
• Deal with any unresolved issues as soon as possible.
• Use date night to model to children and others the importance
What resources and support are available for my wife?
of your marriage as a priority in your lives.
So that’s it! Number one on the top of the church planting family priorities . . . date night! Try it! Create your own twist on the idea. If you don’t have a babysitter that you can count on, try planning one night a week that you put the kids to bed early and sit together uninterrupted on the sofa for an hour. But make sure you put it on the calendar, and don’t let anything get in the way.
Family Time There is a fine line to walk when planting a church and managing a family. For us, the two worlds often seem to collide and merge together. Sometimes it is hard to find the separation between the two. A church planting family is who we are, and that involves being a part of the lives of other people and having those people in our home and lives all of the time. We embrace jumping into that world and we bring our kids along for the ride. But sometimes it seems as if there is no black and white distinction between the Colón family and Cool River Church. That’s okay. We love what we do and where God has placed us. But some days the grayness of it all needs to be broken through. The home office needs to be closed down and we just need to escape for a while.
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As the mom and the watchman of all things family, Kevin considers me the barometer of how we are doing as a family. He expects me to keep things in check, making sure that I am always measuring how healthy we and our kids are. When we are “out of balance” he allows me to let him know. Now this doesn’t give me the license to be picky and nagging all of the time. I have to find my own balance in the expectations I have, as well. But this does give me the freedom to break into the church life schedule and plan for family time when we are feeling dry and overextended. Here are a few things that our family does to ensure we remain healthy and together in the middle of church planting.
How do I engage my family in churchrelated ministry activities?
• Protect our family time by scheduling family fun nights.
• Plan at least two family getaways a year.
• Turn off the phone and television during dinner.
• Spend quality time with our children every day and individually regularly.
• Rotate who puts the kids to bed each night.
• Attend children’s extra-curricular events (soccer, dance, piano recitals, and so forth).
Here’s the bottom line: we believe that there is no reason for the family to suffer in the middle of starting a church. Sure, there are things that you have to compromise on. There are plenty of days when other people need to be loved on and taken care of. Tensions break all the time. Church planting is fantastic and it is messy. It has the potential to become all consuming if you let it. The pace is often exhausting, and sometimes we all just wish “Calgon” would “take us away” for a day. But we believe the key to balancing family and church planting is summed up in two words: intentionality and scheduling. On some days this seems a bit too rigid. We know. It takes a fair amount of effort on everyone’s part. But it is doable—and it is so worth it. In the middle of living a healthy family balance, you will be amazed at the volumes it speaks to the very ones you are in this ministry for. Just as date night and balance were modeled for us early on in our journey, we are continually amazed at the people all around us imitating our actions. People left and right come up to us and tell of their new date night routines and how much fun they are having. People in the community see us spending time together and setting priorities, and they see its value. So we encourage you, as your journey begins, to take time now to make some of the best decisions for your family that you could ever make. Figure out what works for you in your own personal situation. Put some marriage and family on the calendar, and don’t let anything else get in the way of those appointments. We wish you and your family a tremendous journey!
Kevin and Amy Colón ~ Kevin and Amy live in Superior, Colorado, where they are planting Cool River Church.
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
BALANCE IS JUST A KNOB ON THE RADIO By Kim and Chris Edmondson
In today’s culture, we talk a lot about living a life of balance. Balancing work and
free time. Balancing social calendars, checkbooks, and spreadsheets. Balancing family and friends. Even balancing calories and diet. (This one can be a real challenge!) Since you picked up this book on church planting, perhaps you are expecting to read about how to balance planting a church with family, ministry, and relationships. The balanced life sounds so great because there is something that attracts all of us to a life of balance. There is just one problem with living a balanced life: it’s not found in the Bible. If you’re looking for easy answers about how to divide your life up into a neat pie chart, you’re going to be disappointed. In fact, you might want to skip to the next chapter. But if you want some honest confessions of a church planter and his wife, then keep on reading. My name is Kim. My husband, Chris, and I have walked through life together for the past 15 years. We have been blessed with three amazing sons who keep us laughing, praying, and worn out! For Chris and I, the word balance has always been a word that is more of an ideal than a lifestyle. As two creative and outgoing people who embrace life with gusto, there aren’t many times when balance is a thought that enters our minds. When we think of doing something, we think of the ultimate ending and then scale back to reality. With us, it’s all or nothing. So where does balance fit in? Think about it—Jesus didn’t call us to live a balanced life. Jesus called us to follow Him. What comes to mind when you read these words: radical, zealous, sold-out? Do you think of balance? You would be hard-pressed to find a person of the Bible who was noted for his or her balanced life. Paul, who was the quintessential church planter, was out of balance. In the book of Acts, Paul saw visions; was betrayed by both Jews and Christians; served prison time; and endured beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, and starvation. He became so unbalanced and fanatical about Jesus that it eventually got him killed. Paul chose to go all out for Jesus. He definitely needed a pie chart!
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You can only balance something if there are many pieces. We tend to compartmentalize our lives—family over here, starting a church over here, and doing ministry over there. In reality, all of these aren’t three separate things, but one. Craig Groeschel, church planter and pastor of LifeChurch.tv, says this: “While following Jesus, our life will often be out-of-balance. He may lead us on long stretches of ministry followed by a substantial season of rest. Ministry will rarely be predictable.” Sometimes ministry is going to wake you up at three in the morning because of a tragedy. Other times, you’ll be home by three in the afternoon to hug your kids when they get off the bus. Which is ministry? Both are. They can’t be separated. So how do you plant a successful church without crashing and burning in every other area? 1. Listen to your spouse. When it comes to your marriage and family, your spouse is more perceptive than you. Spend time with her. Listen to her. Value her opinion. If she needs more of you, give it.
How do I keep the relationship between me and my wife healthy?
From the beginning of our marriage, we decided that family comes first. We have learned that ministry comes from the overflow of the home. If home life is not going well, then a bumpy ministry is soon to follow. Ministry and family go hand in hand. We want our sons to love the church as much as we do. It is our goal to disciple three godly young men who know their parents love one another and each of them beyond explanation. When the day comes for our sons to leave home, we long to hear them say, “I can’t wait to serve the Lord just like my mom and dad.” Being a better pastor will not make you a better husband or father. When you honor God with your marriage—when you’re being a dad who is engaged in his children’s lives—it will make you a better leader for your church. You will be a lousy church planter when you’re being a lousy father and husband. 2. Take the pauses when they come. To be a successful church planter, you have to be driven and self-motivated. Those of us with this mindset can feel guilty when God gives us a slow ministry season. We feel like we need to be busy. As pastors and church planters, we shouldn’t be shooting for God’s “Employee of the Month Club” all the time. When God gives you a pause in ministry, take it. For ministry, the holiday season can be unhurried. Summers move at a slower pace. Take advantage of these times and spend them with your family. Spring and fall are busy ministry times, so work hard. Sometimes work and ministry will require more energy. At other times, family will require more attention. There is a rhythm in ministry. And like music, the notes sound sweeter after the rests. 3. Plan some “ministry” down time. I admit that this one is the hardest for me (Chris). When I go on vacation, I take 15 books with me about church planting, church leadership, and church growth. When I go on vacation, I think of what
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church plants I can visit while I am away. But that isn’t down time. Your brain is still on the clock. When you get away,
BALANCE IS JUST A KNOB ON THE RADIO
truly get away. I know it’s hard to turn off your church planting brain, but try. See the sunsets. Feel the sand between your toes. Wrestle with the kids. Spend time with your wife. Remember, the church already has a husband—and you’re not Him! Be a husband to your wife and a father to your kids. Another way I am able to plan some ministry down time is by scheduling times NOT to preach. In the first few months of our launch, I scheduled myself to be out of the pulpit one-fifth of the time. Why did I do this—to spend time with my family? Absolutely. But another reason was to build the church around Jesus Christ and not around myself. If we’re not careful, we will build the church around our personality. We will tend to see ourselves as central to starting and launching the church. But Psalm 127:1 says that “Unless the LORD builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain” (Psalm 127:1, HCSB). This verse should haunt you as a church planter. Jesus is the cornerstone of the church, not us (Ephesians 2:20). Jesus is the Senior Pastor, not us (Colossians 1:18). Jesus is the groom for His bride (the church), not us (Ephesians 5:25). This isn’t about you. This is about Jesus. If we make living a life of balance our goal, we will end up frustrated every time. Your marriage will struggle. The church you are planting will crash before the launch, and you will be spiritually and emotionally exhausted. Jesus never once made balance the goal of the Christian life; Jesus made obedience the goal. When we are obedient to His calling and His purpose, we rarely can be described as balanced. As church planters, our goal isn’t to plant a church. No, as church planters, our goal is to become closer to Him in our private lives, our family lives, and then in our public lives. Why? Because Jesus wants it all. Jesus wants the whole pie chart. It is all ministry to Him. It is all sacred. The secret is to follow God with abandon and let Him direct you.
How do I disconnect from ministry burdens to focus on my family?
Kim Edmondson ~ Kim and her husband, Chris, had the privilege of returning to their hometown of Clarksville, Tennessee, to plant oneChurch in September of 2007.
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being overwhelmed
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MANAGING THE CHAOS By Sean Benesh
It is an understatement to say that not too many experiences really prepare you for
planting a church. I experienced that first hand when we moved from California to Tucson, Arizona, to plant our first church. Up until that point, I had been a youth pastor, but I felt it was time to make the big leap into the extreme sport of church planting. I had taken classes on church planting, read books on the nuts and bolts of it, and had talked with numerous specialists on how to go about starting one. However, once I got into church planting, I realized it was much more difficult than I had anticipated. As far as the prep work for church planting goes, we’ve nailed it down pretty well. We teach planters how to craft vision and mission statements, as well as their core values. We’re good at disseminating information on the nuts and bolts—strategies, core group development, styles, music, media, contextualization issues, immersing yourself in your community, exegeting your city, and so forth. An interesting observation is that those are not the issues that trip up most church planters. A mediocre mission statement doesn’t cause too many collateral issues, a subpar Web site may affect some, and a bad exegesis of your community is something you can overcome. What about the “in between the lines” kind of issues? I’m talking about the “squishy stuff” that keeps you up at night because your soul is in such turmoil that you feel sick to your stomach. It’s 3:00 a.m. and you’ve been tossing and turning as a present crisis causes your heart to race. The only way to distract yourself is to trod out onto the couch to watch Sports Center highlight reruns. The responsibilities of planting churches can be overwhelming, and yet we’re only wired and equipped by God to do a few things well. Some church planters are passionate speakers, yet horrible administrators; others are gregarious and outgoing but struggle with putting together a worship band. Others are introverted but incredibly strategic thinkers; however, their biggest obstacle is engaging new people in conversations. The tasks or responsibilities of church planting can be daunting. Dealing with the “knowns” is tough enough, but again, it is the “unknowns” that cause the most anxiety. 117
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Nothing adequately prepared me for church planting. That is not the fault of the training systems out there, but until you’re immersed in it, you simply can’t fathom what it takes. Prior to planting a church, I was a youth pastor; and while I could work with adult volunteers, plan ski trips, put together talks, and disciple students, it was a far cry from being “the man” in charge of a new “baby” church. My desire for this chapter is to unveil the underbelly of the adventure known as “church planting,” and to tell you how to handle all of the pressures associated with it. In all honesty, these past six years of involvement in church planting have been rich and exhilarating. But I want to be up front to say it has not all been a bed of roses. It has been tough. However, we’ll take a look at the real stories of church planters in an attempt to be open and honest but still elevate the process of church planting. While the task at hand is hard, it is an incredible adventure. At the end of this chapter, I’ll offer some ideas as to how to handle the pressures that come with planting a church. This past week, I rented one of the latest movies based on a comic book. These happen to be some of my favorite kinds of movies. While I was daydreaming about what it’d be like to have superpowers, I began searching for a common theme among all superheroes. My conclusion? Superheroes were all created through great pain and adversity. Spiderman was born through the bite of a hybrid spider, the X-Men were born with “genetic defects” and were societal outcasts, the Hulk comes alive when greatly angered or in intense pain or danger, the idea for Iron Man was conceived in the depths of a cave while being held hostage in Afghanistan, and Batman’s passion for justice was burned into his conscience because of losing his parents to a violent crime and living in a decadent city. We could go on and on. I believe the same applies for church planters in that they’re created, refined, and forged on the anvil of creating new spiritual communities ex nihilo (out of nothing). While the pain at times can be unbearable, it is the very thing needed to mold us into the ministers who God wants us to be. When I survey the landscape of church planters that I work with, I’ve seen and experienced this over and over again. Most of us who’ve planted a church or who are in the process of planting one now, in the back of our minds (secretly) we have high expectations of what this new “baby” church will become. In all sincerity, our motives are godly as we desperately want to see people become followers of Jesus. But sometimes, as we drift off to sleep at night, we wonder if we’re going to be the next Rick Warren, Andy Stanley, Bill Hybels, or whoever our pastor hero is. Maybe we’ll become famous (for God), speak at conferences (for God), and have people hang on every word we speak (for God). What do we do if our present reality does not match up with our expectations? According to the North American Mission Board’s Center for Missional Research, the average church plant runs about 44 people after their first year.21 That’s normal. Average. Yet in church planting circles, we only hear of the abnormal church plants that explode with growth. We immediately invite their pastors to speak at conferences and hold them up as examples of how to plant churches. We then go back to our own setting and apply the same 1-2-3 steps and nothing happens. What next? Locally here in Arizona, we’ve had several churches launch in the same area of the city. One started a year and a half before the second. The bar was set high because “Church A”, led by Joe22 in a new growing suburb, saw immediate growth. After a year and a half, this church was running 240 people on Sundays. Not too far away in another new growing suburb, Steve23 moved here with his family to plant “Church B.” Joe and Steve became great
Ed Stetzer and Phillip Connor. “Church Plant Survivability and Health Study,” Center for Missional Research, North American Mission Board: www.missionalresearch.info. (May 2007). 22 Name changed. 23 Name changed.
21
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friends, and Church A became a supporter and partner church for Church B. Steve spent the entire first year doing the “leg work” required prior to launching a new church. Whether that was hanging door hangers, attending community events, connecting at the schools, holding preview services, conducting work projects, servant evangelism projects, or surveys … Steve worked hard. On launch Sunday, they had 70 people show up; and now, after two months into their journey, they’re down in the 30s on a typical Sunday. In similar situations, one church grew faster than the other. Steve is a humble and godly man who didn’t have inflated expectations. But how does a church planter deal with that? How do you go to bed at night and not put yourself down, while still clinging to God and His call to plant churches? Expectations. We all deal with them, whether they’re self-induced or placed on us by others. So how do you deal with your expectations? How do you stay grounded when your strategy and plans don’t progress as fast as you’d like? Do you put yourself down? What if your strategy moves swiftly like a fast-moving current and you’re swept into the rush of a growing new church? Do you let your ego go unchecked? At the same time you’re crafting a vision and strategy for your new church, it would also be helpful to have some kind of game plan for dealing with expectations. At the end of this chapter you will find a few ways to handle issues pertaining to expectations. Along with dealing with unrealistic expectations, there are other related topics such as how to gather a crowd. You may come into the process with high hopes of a rapidly growing church planting church and a clear strategy for gathering a crowd then discover your strategy isn’t working. Recently, one of our church planters decided to put into play an ambitious and aggressive strategy to gather a crowd. As a new church, they had already immersed themselves in their community with servant evangelism projects, ranging from free coffee giveaways in front of Walmart to planting trees. They logged hundreds of hours in serving the city in very creative ways and being salt and light while demonstrating Jesus’ love. They then decided to try something new. They rented a large high school auditorium that seated more than
How do I define my role as pastor/planter in the life of the church?
1,000 people and mailed out 35,000 postcards inviting people to their new message series. They placed ads in two local papers with a circulation of 350,000. The local media picked up the buzz, and the church planter was interviewed on two different television stations. Then, a regional mainstream newspaper did a cover article on the church—even AOL picked up the story. His Web site registered thousands of hits, and it looked like there’d be more than a crowd at their launch. The big day arrived, and to the core team’s dismay, no visitors showed up. It was a devastating, painful blow. On the surface, there was nothing wrong with their strategy but it still did not produce the results they hoped for. Gathering your initial 50 people may be the most difficult part of the entire church planting process. Obviously, if you’re doing a simple or organic house church, then this may not apply. One of the issues to keep in mind is that no two church planters are alike, and no two contexts are alike. What is successful in one setting may not work in the other—and vice versa. We need to build our strategies upon principles that can be adapted and contextualized, regardless of the setting. Here are a few suggestions:
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Exegete your community. Seminary students have been trained to exegete Scripture, but do they know how to exegete their community? If we want to gather a crowd, we need to know our community in detail. Demographic studies are good for a broad perspective, but this goes so much deeper. The goal in exegeting a community is to pull your data apart so you can put it back together as you craft your church planting strategy. Take a walking tour of your community. What do you see? What are the people like? What is their common story? How is God asking you to weave His kingdom (via your church) into the community story? 1. Immerse yourself in your community. Most often in church settings when we use the term “community,” we usually refer to the “church community.” But what I’m suggesting is that you immerse yourself in the community you’re trying to reach—to spend the bulk of your time among the least, the last, and the lost. Find out what your community’s greatest needs are. Whether you’re talking to a barista at a local coffee shop or meeting with a city urban planning official, they’re more than happy to teach you about their community and give you ideas for ways your church can see the kingdom of God become a reality in their setting. Talk to neighbors, homeowners’ association (HOA) board members, school teachers and principals, the people you see at the store, and so forth. We
How can I meet the demands of ministry with limited or no staff?
desire to see communities transformed and when this happens, it will have social implications. If people know you’re there to strengthen their community, they’re happy to help. 2. Hang out in the “Third Places.” By immersing yourself in your community, you will find out where the “Third Places” are. “Third Places” are the “anchors of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction.”24 The “First Place” would be your home. The “Second Place” is the workplace. The “Third Place” is the gathering point outside of the first two where community can be experienced and found. This could easily be your local Starbucks, the corner market, the school, and so forth. This is where you, as a church planter, intentionally intersect your life with your community. As you look at gathering a core, this is your “fishing pool.” We gained church planting momentum in our region when a worship leader named Austin moved here specifically for the purpose of helping our church plants develop worship teams. He felt called to be part of church planting, but not as a planter. Instead, he came to provide a support system and thus, a Worship Catalyst was born. Austin has worked with nearly all of our new church plants, helping them not only put together a worship team, but also helping to create a local farm system which will produce an entire army of musicians. Let’s say you’re moving to a new state and a new city to plant a church, and there isn’t an “Austin” in your community developing worship leaders. Where do you start? How do you gather together not only a crowd, but put together a worship band? Our church planters have been a creative group, posting ads on Craigslist and MySpace to recruit
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“The Third Place” Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Place (accessed October 15, 2008).
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musicians. Two of our new plants built their bands that way! Others placed ads on bulletin boards at music stores, while others connected with campus ministries or college groups. (There seems to be an abundance of musicians in that age group.) When we started our church, we got our worship leader from the college service at a large area church. There are many creative ways to build your worship band, and in the process, this will help you build your core team as well. The decision to make the transition to church planting is a scary one when it comes to finances. For the past few years, many church planters have been on staff at a church receiving a stable income when they received the call to plant a church. Therefore, the thought of church planting could bring about a certain level of anxiety in the area of finances. It is nearly unanimous in my conversations with planters that even greater than the fear of their church plant failing is the fear of not being able to provide for their family. Let me be up front and say that it is okay to talk with your church family about money. Jesus talked more about it than prayer. Feeling uncomfortable about finances is normal for a church planter. We must walk the fine line between living by faith and using the gray matter in our heads. The dream for most church planters is to raise enough funds to get started, then to have the church grow rapidly so they can dedicate full time to this new start-up venture. What happens when expectations and reality don’t align? I realized I was horrible at fundraising when I planted my first church. As a result, I ended up working 30 hours a week in a secular job while trying to plant my church. It was tough having a young family and a young church while also trying to go to school. I’ve seen the same scenario played out over and over with the church planters I’ve worked with. Jeff25 is a good example. Having spent three years serving the International Mission Board in Portugal, he felt drawn to church planting here in the United States. Through a series of events and conversations, God led him to come and plant with us in Arizona. It was exciting to have him come to plant a church here since he had such a rich experience thinking and living missionally overseas. He could now translate that type of thinking here. As we began working on funding partnerships, we found out quickly that while he had been doing great work overseas, he had lost contact with a number of churches here in the States. His partnerships weren’t as strong as we would have liked. By faith, they transitioned here to plant. However, there was a computer glitch with processing his application for funding, and as a result, he had to quickly find a job. It was a big transition for him to go from being a full-time missionary overseas to working full-time here in the States and trying to plant a church at the same time. Jeff and his team launched their new church several months ago. He’s pushing to be able to go full-time within four to five months. This highlights the complexity, and even the ebb and flow, of the funding process. There are numerous ways that church planting can overwhelm us beyond the issue of finances. Let’s start putting some of these pieces together. We’ve talked about expectations, gathering a crowd, piecing together worship bands, and finances, so you’re well on your way to planting … right? Well, sort of. How is your church going to engage your immediate context with the good news of the kingdom of God? Where do you even start? What is your plan?
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Sometimes I feel like a proud “papa” when I look at all of our church planters here in Tucson. The collective creativity and passion for the lost is inspiring. Here are some examples of what church plants are doing:
What should I say no to?
• Adopt the school where they meet, and partner together to make their community a better place. • Meet in a movie theater at a mall, and regularly go to every store to hand out gifts to the employees to show them God’s love. • Before even launching, adopted a refugee family from Iraq. The most beautiful part of the story was that they met this family at the airport with flowers and toys to welcome them to America on 9/11. • Created a third place/coffee shop to be able to meet and serve people in the community. • The ladies from one plant go into gentlemen’s clubs, taking gift baskets for the dancers to let them know they are loved by the church and by God.
• Serve the teachers who work at the school they meet in. • Help sponsor a neighborhood block party with their HOA and are talking
about a neighborhood watch program.
• Give away coffee in front of grocery stores.
• Created a neighborhood Web site for newcomers that had information
of local services and area attractions for families.
The ideas are as endless as there are people. Let your outreach ideas flow out of your love for your community. With all of the energy housed in church planters, the potential for global impact is evident. I sometimes look at a planter, knowing that the Holy Spirit is within him, and realize that with God’s help we could see a church planting movement erupt and spread like a wildfire through his ministry. It’s almost like there’s this raw energy source that needs to be regulated and contained so that it can be released in a highly potent concentration for maximum impact. Like the example of the burning bush in the story of Moses, church planters need to be able to live a balanced life where they can burn and not be consumed. Many struggle with maintaining a healthy balance between ministry and family life. They struggle with time management. They’re passionate about planting their church—sometimes to a fault, ignoring their personal health or family life. Many fail to rest and rejuvenate their bodies. Just yesterday, I was talking with a good friend who’s a church planter here in this city. I was asking him about his day off from church planting. Here’s what he told me: “I got up and went to Starbucks at 5:30 a.m. to work on my message until 10:30 a.m. Later on that day, we had some people over to our house from our church, and we hung out and talked for hours. Then when everyone went to bed, I went back to Starbucks to finish up my work for Sunday morning, staying there until 11:00 p.m.” Does anyone else see a problem with this “typical” day off in the life of a church planter? Time management is the Achilles heel of most church planters. It’s not as much temperament issues or personality types but the fact that the task is overwhelming. The workload is tremendous. If tasks are not delegated, the planter’s
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personal stress level will increase and the potential of the church will be inhibited.
MANAGING THE CHAOS
The pressures associated with church planting are too numerous to mention in this chapter. The truth about church planting is that everyone will go through some difficult days probably sooner than later. The specific issues aren’t really important in comparison to how they’re handled. When stressors hit us hard, it is like we become a pressure cooker inside, and internal tension mounts. What is needed are healthy ways to de-stress and to deal with these issues. Failure to do so can lead to addictions, pornography, inappropriate relationships, angry outbursts at home, a numbed spirituality, callousness, or a number of other things. All of these will get us off track in our relationship with God and derail our church plant. Listed below are some ideas of how to handle the pressures that come with the responsibility of church planting: Networking. Church planting should not be done in isolation. You really have the option not to go at this venture alone. Network with other church planters in your area. This doesn’t necessarily have to be an official network or cluster, but look for other planters to connect with. Mike and Dave26 are planters here but are on polar opposite sides of the city. However, they’ve connected and stay in touch throughout the week via texting, phone calls, or Twitter. They’ve even participated in joint activities with their church plants, and they pray for and encourage one another. Oftentimes, they’re an incredible support system for one another as they have a deep understanding of what the other is going through. Networking is a valuable way to deal with the pressures of church planting and to learn from one another. Coaching/Mentoring. Statistically, the success rate of church planters climbs when they have regular coaching and/or mentoring. This can come in a number of different shapes or forms. Some may utilize the conventional coaching model where you would meet in person or talk on the phone 3-4 times a month for 45 minutes each session. Oftentimes, these are beneficial to help you work through ministry-related issues and to help get an outside perspective. In addition, there are group coaching sessions where you’re connected
What ministry tasks are appropriate for delegating to church members? When is a good time to do so?
in a conference call with others across the country as you interact with the coach/specialist. The purpose of coaching is not to tell you what to do, but to help you discern where the Holy Spirit is leading you through a series of probing questions. Mentoring is a little different in that it is meeting with someone older and wiser who may be a local pastor. These mentors invest in your life (in more of a Paul and Timothy kind of relationship) as they help you navigate not only ministry issues, but personal and family issues as well. “On-the-fly” training. Training is great to go through as you anticipate planting a church. Maybe you studied church planting in school or received training before you embarked on the adventure. However, once you began the process of planting your church, you quickly realized where you were deficient or where you needed specialized training. This is called training on the fly. Training on the front end is helpful to get a good start, but you’re going to need to be constantly learning and being exposed to new ideas. The old adage that leaders are learners is especially true for planters. Share the ministry. Guess what? You’re not gifted by God to handle every aspect of the church’s new life, and neither is your wife. Much of your frustration will come from doing things that you’re not equipped or wired by God to do well. You’ll end up finishing the bulletins and printing the response cards 30 minutes before the service.
Name changed.
25
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Your wife will be teaching the children’s programs for the third straight month. From the beginning, have a process for identifying peoples’ gifts and passions. Help them find a place to express those in service to the church community. Then, coach them to develop new leaders. It frees up time, allowing you to concentrate on what you do well and to spend more time with your family. Live a balanced life. Here’s a reality that you probably already know … you can never do enough. There’s always one more e-mail to respond to, one more phone call, one more person to text, one more page to read, one more meeting at a coffee shop, 20 more minutes on your message, one more crisis to intervene in, and the list goes on. Church planting specifically, and ministry generally, can be a black hole of your time and energy if you don’t pay attention. You may wake up one morning to realize you haven’t been on a date with your wife in three months, your children have learned to stop bugging you for attention, and you’re 20 pounds heavier than when you started planting. The clincher with living a balanced life is that it is 100% up to you to make sure it happens. Our spouses can bring this to our attention, our coaches can strongly suggest it, our friends can hold us accountable, but it all comes down to the discipline to making sure it happens. It is the lack of balance that leads many down the path of self-destruction or unhealthy habits.
In what practical ways can I find relief from the stresses of being a church planter?
In the beginning of a new church plant, the brunt of the work falls on the planter who may feel pressure to push the limits. But are you taking the time to nurture your soul? Are you strengthening the relationships with your spouse and children? Do you have friends you can hang out with and not talk “shop?” Are you exercising? Sleeping enough? Are you taking at least one day off a week? It is vital for long-term sustainability to live a balanced life. Find your release valve. Lastly, you need to identify your release valve. When the pressures of the responsibility of church planting mount up like a volcano soon to explode, how do you diffuse? What is your release valve to take the edge off this pressure? The solutions to this are as varied as there are
church planters. Do you have a hobby? What are your interests outside of ministry? I met a ministry leader who used to mountain bike regularly and absolutely loved it. The last time I talked with him, he was working 70-80 hours a week without a day off and hadn’t biked in 18 months. He was pretty proud of this fact too. I walked away thinking how sad this was. What will happen if you fail to have a healthy release valve? You will diffuse the pressure in some way. You will choose whether it will be healthy or not. I know of friends who chose pornography as a way to deal with the struggles of ministry. Is that what we want? Again, the pressure is there and it will come out somehow. We can choose whether it will be something unhealthy like yelling at our kids, or a healthy alternative like a long hike out in the wilderness soaking in the beauty of God’s creation, allowing Him to nourish your soul. Maybe it is grabbing a non-ministry related book and sitting in a big leather chair at a coffee shop reading about auto-mechanics, architecture, hunting, or whatever is fun for you. Release valves are essential for health and long-term sustainability.
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There is no denying that the pressures brought on through the responsibilities of church planting can be overwhelming at times. Self-care is vital for every church planter. You have the power within you to deal with these pressures in healthy or unhealthy ways. As mentioned earlier, it is not the “nuts and bolts” issues that trip up church planters. It is all the “squishy stuff” in between the lines that are the most difficult to deal with. The goal is long term sustainability and maintaining the energy and passion to see people become followers of Jesus. You want to burn brightly, but not be consumed. Make that your passion.
Sean Benesh ~ Sean and his wife, Katie, are transitioning to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada where they will be planting the church, Ion Community.
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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
BEFORE YOU PLANT By Andrew Lucas
The stress of planting a church is not seen by all. However, the stress can be
quickly felt by those closest to you. For me, that would be Sera, my wife, and Josiah, our son. On many occasions they have sacrificed much and missed out on family time for the sake of planting a church. A successful ministry is fulfilling the roles God has given you in the order He has given them to you. First, you are to be a man of God; second, a husband who loves his wife; third, a father who loves his child(ren); and fourth, a pastor/ church planter who loves the lost and the body of Christ. What an awesome opportunity it is to see God work in the lives of those involved in your church. However, there is not much that can compare to the joy felt when those closest to you (your family) grow deeper in their relationship with Jesus. So if you want to plant a church, know that you and your family at times will get very lonely. When you do not have the support system (a functioning church) in place and become overactive in what God is doing, it causes much hardship on the pastor’s first three responsibilities. “Whose fault is it?” one may ask. Those who say they want to plant a church but do nothing but give lip service to their relationship with the Father and their families bring it on themselves. Planting a church is much like raising a child. You have a baby and it needs more care than just one person can give at times. It may take more than a couple of years for your church to become healthy. Stay focused on the cross. In the beginning, connect your family with an established church. If possible, join a planter’s network, or build strong relationships with your core group to have the needs of your family met. If you want to experience success, you must stay in the Word of God and view all things with the cross as the backdrop. It sounds simple, yet this proves to be extremely hard. One may ask, “What is success?” Is it members, baptisms, big buildings, budgets, or money given to the Cooperative Program? Success is being faithful to Christ while doing what He has called you to do. As a church planter, I am to be found faithful!
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Faithfulness starts with your relationship with the Lord, your commitment to Him as Lord and Savior. Here is a tough question for all who desire to plant a church or be involved in a plant: Are you in the center of God’s will? Search deep and ask God to reveal to you where you truly are in your relationship with Him. He must be in His rightful place. As a planter, you won’t need, nor will you have, all the answers. You will fall short many times along the way, but don’t dwell on that. The grace of God is sufficient (see 2 Corinthians 12:9). Get up and press on with Christ. Stay faithful! May God move in you as you grow deeper in His Word and plant His church. Be faithful. Take care of yourself and your family, all for the glory of God.
How do I effectively prioritize my responsibilities to maximize my day?
Andrew Lucas with his wife, Sera and their son Josiah, live in Fenton, Michigan where Andrew serves as Pastor/Planter of Parkway Community Church.
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CHAPTER SIXTEEN
WHEN LIFE AND MINISTRY TAKE OVER Dr. Twyla K. Hernández
There is a passage in the Bible that strikes me every time I read it: “Yet the news
about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:15-16, NIV, italics mine). This passage paints a picture of Jesus removing Himself from the hustle and bustle of ministry to replenish His strength in prayer. The news about Him was spreading. The people came to hear Him teach, but they were also looking to receive something from Him—physical healing. These were busy times. This really was not a time when He could “afford” to take a spiritual retreat. It was not a good moment to leave the ministry to get some “alone time.” Yet it was in the midst of ministry, in the heat of the battle, that Jesus “often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” I wish I could do that! It seems that my life is living me, instead of the other way around. Enjoying the ministry is a thing of the past, a thing of a fantasy-filled life. I feel overwhelmed and wonder how I got to this place.
Our Family My husband, Clemente, and I have a busy life, just like most other church planting families. Clemente is a bivocational Hispanic church planter. Besides his secular job of remodeling homes, he also pastors two Hispanic congregations. One of his congregations is in the town where we live; the other congregation is about a 120-mile round-trip. I am also bivocational. In my secular job, I translate for the local health department and teach first-time Hispanic mothers how to help their babies develop. In addition, I direct the Hispanic Baptist Bible Institute (Instituto Bíblico Bautista Hispano). A ministry dedicated to reaching across the nation to train Hispanic pastors and leaders. While we do not have children of our own, we have a six-year-old friend who visits us each weekend. His home life is not what it should be. At some point, Clemente and I also try to support each other. 129
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While it seems like we are involved in many things, there is not one thing that we would change. It all goes back to our calling from God. Clemente is called to be a pastor/church planter. He simply has to start and lead Hispanic congregations. He really has no choice if he is to be obedient to his calling. God brought Clemente all the way from Mexico to the rural areas of Kentucky to minister to the immigrants residing just outside our back door. I also am called. God has taken me on a long journey from a small town in rural Tennessee, to being a missionary in Argentina, to completing my doctorate, to working in a Baptist seminary, to directing a Hispanic Bible Institute. It has been a long journey, but all of my experiences serve to cement my calling to provide theological education and training for Hispanic pastors and leaders. I am living out my calling from God, and I would not change a thing. Since both Clemente and I have been called to the Hispanic ministry, we know that we must also work secular jobs to be able to pay the bills. Hispanic ministry is the most fulfilling thing that I have ever done, but money is always tight. We know that we are where God wants us to be for this moment in our lives. But balancing the demands of ministry and a secular job without sacrificing our home life is an overwhelming challenge. Twenty-four hours never seems to be enough time in a day to get everything done.
How do I meet the demands of ministry and working a secular job without sacrificing family time?
That Ever-Elusive Balance So, with all we do, how do we manage to maintain a balance between home life and ministry? Well, not very well sometimes. In fact, when I was asked to write this article, I laughed. I suggested they find somebody else for this task. Clemente and I are far from being good examples in this area. It turns out, though, that many of those who minister are in the same boat. In some ways, we try to be biblical—or at least a dysfunctional version of biblical teaching: We try to be all things to all people so that by all means some will be saved (1 Cor. 9:22).
I do not think, however, that our 21st century way of living is what Paul meant. He did not mean that we should work ourselves to such a state of exhaustion that our physical health is affected. He did not intend for us to answer every phone call and e-mail that we receive with the same sense of urgency. Paul did recommend, though, that we should pour ourselves out for God just like Jesus did when He became a human to save us from our sins (Phil. 2:7). Jesus literally “emptied Himself” to provide salvation for us. If we are supposed to empty ourselves, though, we must also allow God to fill us up. If not, we become simple, empty vessels that Satan will fill with complaints, discouragement, and hopelessness. That is why the picture of Jesus withdrawing from the crowds to pray, especially when He was overwhelmed with the masses, is so striking to me. When I reflect upon this picture, it reminds me of Jesus’ baptism. Jesus did not need to be baptized, but He did it to leave us an example, a symbol of living a new life with Him. In the same way, Jesus did not have to withdraw from the crowds to pray. In fact, He and the Father are One, so He did not even really have to pray in the same manner that we do. But He did so to leave us another example of how to face the overwhelming demands of life and ministry, especially when the crowds are pressing against us. 130
WHEN LIFE AND MINISTRY TAKE OVER
Jesus taught us that we do not have to handle every situation on our own. If we are to accomplish what God has called us to do, we must follow Jesus’ example and withdraw to the “lonely places” and pray. Through time alone with God, we experience peace and are better prepared to face the demands of ministry, work, and home life. It is only when we draw near to God that He quiets and calms our hearts. In the end, withdrawing from the crowds and drawing close to God is the only way to maintain the balance that we need in life and ministry. It is the only way to handle the ever-increasing demands of ministry. A friend and I used to e-mail each other about what was going on in our lives and in our ministries. We almost always closed our e-mails with some sort of lament that sounded something like, “Well, when life calms down, maybe we’ll be able to …” Have you ever felt that way? Now that I am a little bit older, I have come to realize that life never calms down. There will always be more than enough to fill our days. Experience tells me that many church planters tend to be workaholics. They continually burn the candle at both ends, putting in 12–15 hour days without rest. Many feel that they cannot withdraw for a Sabbath or take extended periods of rest with their vacations. Driven by an unhealthy desire to succeed or unrealistic expectations, we tend to carry much more than we can handle. I encourage you—no, I implore you— withdraw from the crowds and the demands of ministry. They will be there when you return. Replenish your soul, draw near to the Father. He alone shall give you rest. Follow the example of Jesus—withdraw so you can draw nearer to God.
Understanding that we can only do so much as a young church, where do we begin?
Twyla K. Hernandez ~ Twyla and her husband, Clemente, live in Georgetown, Kentucky. She serves as the Director of the Hispanic Baptist Bible Institute.
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
dealing with discouragement
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS AND DISCOURAGEMENT By Tony Watkins “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law” (Galatians 4:4, NIV).
God’s timing is always perfect. God’s way is always best. The Christmas story
is a rich and enlightening example. No other portion of biblical history seems to better highlight the majesty and perfection of God’s timing. Jesus was born in “fullness of the time,” Paul declares (Gal. 4:4, RSV). The convergence of human events was perfectly orchestrated for His entrance. However, too often we expect God to join us on our timetable, to bless our plans. The Jews had long expected God to send the Messiah. They expected the Messiah to come in the form of a great king, another King David. They were wrong. It didn’t happen that way. Today, we often make plans and ask God to join us and help make our plans succeed—and now, please! In short, we set expectations for ourselves or our churches without giving God room to work in and through us, in His timing, and in His way. In March of 1986, I was in a hotel room in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when God called me to ministry. More than 10 years later, in May of 1996, I entered vocational ministry—serving in a small, rural town in Kentucky. From 1986 to 1996, I dreamed of, and even anticipated, a ministry fully devoted to study, preaching, and pastoral work. Those first six years of ministry were difficult—attending seminary, raising a family, working odd jobs to make a few bucks, and fulfilling my ministry assignment. Finally, after six years of working to earn a Bachelor’s degree and then a Master’s degree, I felt I was finally free to focus on my ministry. During those years, I served first as youth minister, then as associate pastor, believing that I had a handle on this whole “ministry” thing. I had the privilege of serving with a leader of leaders as God grew a small, rural family church of about 40 members to a church of more than 200 members. People were committed to do whatever it took to reach our community for Christ. We were doing things in fresh, relevant ways that were impacting lives for the kingdom. John, the senior pastor, made it all look so easy. I learned a great deal serving with him during those years. Then, the senior pastor moved on to denominational work, and the church called me to serve as their new senior pastor. I soon discovered that the life I thought would be fully devoted to studying, preaching, and pastoral work was also crowded with administrative activities (which always scored at the bottom of every spiritual gifts’ inventory I had taken).
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It has been six years since I accepted the call to serve as the pastor of the church I serve. God has blessed my ministry in so many ways, and for that I am truly thankful. The people I pastor have loved me and my family through some very difficult times. They accept me for who I am and have never made me feel like I need to be someone I am not. They have supported me in serving my community outside the walls of our church. I could not ask for a more supportive congregation. Yet, I have experienced discouragement. This sounds crazy, I know. I can’t tell you how many friends would love to have a congregation like the one I pastor. So just where did my discouragement come from? The same place it comes from for most pastors and planters: internally. Discouragement comes when I set unrealistic expectations for myself or someone else. Let me repeat that: Discouragement comes when I set unrealistic expectations for myself or someone else. God expects us to do everything we can to accomplish that to which He calls us. Beyond that, beyond our own abilities, we have to trust the Holy Spirit to take over. Too often, I have become discouraged because I had expectations for a project that truly were beyond my abilities and, it appeared, that God chose not to bless. Therefore, in reality, I may have become discouraged because my plans, and the anticipated results, were not brought to fruition by God. For the church planter, the number one cause of discouragement is unrealistic expectations. The church planter feels called by God to start a new work, to reach a group that is not being reached with the love
What are
of Jesus Christ. As he begins his work, the planter’s life is consumed with prayer, personality surveys,
some common
sometimes even with the nice old man sitting next to you in the mall as you share your heart about the
sources of discouragement?
interviews with church planting “experts,” conversations with his wife, his family, his friends, and yes, work God is calling you to do. The church planter does his homework. He may pull out a map and begin to pray over the region in which God would have him begin a new work. He may struggle with moving to another city, or even state. He may decide to start a new church in his own community. Either way, there is much work to be completed as he puts his church plant plan together. The energy expelled by the church planter before the first worship service is extraordinary. His mind runs wild, filled with anticipation.
Once he has developed a core group and has done his foundational work, he mails out several thousand mailers announcing his first Sunday morning worship service. He is anticipating a tremendous turnout. After all, he has clarified his calling. He has been approved by his denomination. His wife is on board. He has done his homework and crafted his strategy. On the chosen Sunday, only eighty first-time visitors show up in spite of a snowstorm. The planter becomes discouraged. Realistic? Another planter in another community known for being a tough place to plant a church struggles during his first few years of ministry. After four years, he still has not broken the 100-mark in attendance. He becomes discouraged. Realistic? The reality is that after four years, the average church plant is running around 85 in worship. For the church planter, having realistic expectations will help avoid discouragement. Research shows that if the expectations of the church plant meet the reality of the church planting experience, the chance of survivability increases by over 400 percent. Of those who said their expectations were realized, 87 percent of their churches survived, compared to only 61 percent of church plants surviving among those that did not have their expectations met.27
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Church Plant Survivability Study 2007, Center for Missional Research, North American Mission Board.
27
UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS AND DISCOURAGEMENT
Here are just a few ministry areas or situations that may become seedbeds for discouragement in the life of a church planter:
• Expecting a certain level of financial support.
• Expecting similar growth patterns of another church.
• Expecting everyone who joins to stay.
• Expecting everyone to enthusiastically embrace the vision.
• Expecting to be in a permanent location sooner than later.
• Expecting others to step up and take responsibility.
• Expecting your duties to transition from planter to pastor.
• Expecting complex systems to work flawlessly.
• Expecting the budget to sustain multiple staff early.
These issues only scratch the surface of the potential unrealistic expectations that, when embraced, can lead to discouragement in the life of a planter. As a pastor and therapist, I have had the privilege of counseling many people, including some pastors, as they grapple with the hurt and disappointment with which they are burdened. I have offered advice to people who have become so discouraged they have considered suicide a better alternative to coping with the discouragement. We all will have our share of discouragement in our lives. How we handle discouragement should distinguish the believer from the non-believer. Perhaps one of the best ways to handle discouragement is to be prepared for it. The church planter should not be “blindsided” by feelings of dissatisfaction, despair, or even depression. It is best to realize that discouragement is a natural part of ministry. Notice what John MacArthur relates concerning this universal problem:
What are some realistic expectations for me and my church?
The call to the ministry is an invitation to unequalled privilege—none of us would argue that. It is an invitation to unsurpassed blessing, but that is not all. The call to the ministry is also an invitation to discouragement. What pastor, while understanding the privilege and the blessing of his calling, has not also had his heart broken? We all have. And there are those times when we are disheartened and downcast—maybe when we feel like giving up.28 Billy Graham has preached live before more people than anyone in history, not counting the millions who have heard or seen him preach on the radio or television. Yet Billy Graham has said, “The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, ‘O God, forgive me,’ or ‘Help me.’” Graham writes in his autobiography: “Altoona was an industrial town built on coal, and I left it discouraged and with painful cinders in my eyes. In fact, I pondered whether God had really called me to evangelism after all. Maybe Altoona was sending me a signal that I had better give full time to my job as president of Northwestern Schools. At a minimum, it called into question our desire to expand from youth-oriented rallies into
John MacArthur. “Triumphing Over Discouragement in the Ministry.” Grace to You. http://www.gty.org/Resources/transcripts/, pp. 80-138
28
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citywide campaigns.”29 Graham’s discouragement can be seen to relate directly to the expectations he had for that particular time and place. Just like Graham, the apostle Paul experienced discouragement in his ministry. That’s right: Paul knew disheartening disappointment over the Corinthian church. The body of the Corinthian church was known for its shallowness, its sin, and its rebellion. Paul loved that body of believers with great sacrifice, and in return, he experienced disappointment and discouragement. This Corinthian church perhaps had more potential than any other European church. The city had been restored by Julius Caesar after being in ruins for 100 years. It was a magnificent place, albeit a place of greed, lust, and debauchery with the goddess Aphrodite, goddess of the body, underlying the corruption of the city (1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 6:9-11). Corinth was more open to the gospel than other cities, and Paul had great success in founding the church there. For nearly 20 months, he labored in that evil city, developing deep affection for the believers there.
How do I deal with the temptation to compare results with other church plants?
The church was flourishing and apparently strong. Upon his leaving, one sin after another took up residence in that communion of believers. The pressure of caring for that church was more difficult than all the other physical pain Paul had suffered through during his multiple persecutions. The concern for the church hurt him more than anything that was done to him physically. Even Paul was not immune to unrealistic expectations. In the pages that follow, others will give some practical and useful tips in dealing directly with discouragement. Let me close by giving a few basic conclusions relating to the best ways to handle unrealistic expectations:
1. Know and accept that faithfulness is your part—fruitfulness (the results) is God’s part.
2. Be willing to adjust expectations regularly (don’t hesitate to move the target so you
can hit the “bull’s eye” once in a while).
3. Depend on God as your source of joy (don’t look to others).
4. Understand that sometimes God accomplishes more in us through the hard times
than through the easy ones.
Tony Watkins ~ Tony and his wife, Joy, live in Owenton, Kentucky, where he serves as the pastor of Monterey Baptist Church and Regional Coordinator for NorthKey Community Care.
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29
Billy Graham, Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham (New York: HarperOne, 1997), p. 127.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
DISCOURAGEMENT . . . UNAVOIDABLE ? By Joe Beckler
In five-plus years of serving as a church planter, I can say that it is crucial
to learn how to handle the specter of discouragement. Discouragement will come, attack, and even paralyze your capacity to lead well in your church planting context. Growing up in the South, I lived in situations where it seemed relatively easy to gather a large crowd for church. Our new location is different. You can’t set up “church” and expect people to come. In fact, be assured that they will not come! Competing forces in our community drag people away from the thought of connecting with a church. People simply don’t see the need.
How do I deal with feelings of self-doubt and insecurity?
Week after week, we have felt the sting of people not showing up. It is hard. I’m not one to base my success on numbers. Nevertheless, when people don’t show up, you get down. In our context, it gets even crazier. One week you might have a “maxed out” gathering. The next week, you might have a small crowd. What happened? I think the first way to deal with discouragement is to honestly evaluate your understanding of success. Many times, church leaders (including myself) measure effectiveness based on how many show up, the size of the budget, having a permanent location, how fast the church is growing, and so forth. These measurables might give you a sense of validation in some settings, but not everywhere. Don’t get me wrong. In our church planting experience, we’ve seen God create an amazing church that is reaching a unique group of people. I love the experience and the opportunity of constantly seeing God at work! Yet I’ve also had to adjust my outlook, realizing that my expectations are way short of God’s plans. Our church looks extremely different than what I envisioned. Ultimately, I am grateful God didn’t give us what we wanted!
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A second key to dealing with discouragement is to learn how to handle the pain of people leaving your community of faith. We reach a lot of college students and resort/leisure enthusiasts. Mountain towns are hard communities to make a living in, especially when you aspire to be a ski bum or a river guide. The cost of living is simply too high. College students are here for a brief period of time. With that said, we typically go through 50-60% turnover in a year’s time! It’s part of our context. The emotional drain that comes with saying goodbye to people whom you have connected relationally is really tough. It takes a lot out of you. Personally, I feel hurt because people who move on to another church usually disconnect with me and my wife. It hurts because we miss them. It also hurts because sometimes these individuals were instrumental in helping us make decisions. After a while, if you are not careful, you will find yourself closing up and trying to protect your heart. When someone leaves because they have found another church, I muster up God’s strength and bless them. I don’t have a real solution for this. I guess I simply look to God for strength so that I can bless those who move on. Third, in the midst of discouragement, develop a candid ability to communicate with your spouse. My wife and I must communicate clearly about the things we are feeling. The church planting endeavor is emotional
When is it appropriate to share my discouragement with church members and family?
and taxing on both husband and wife. Talking together is crucial and will help minimize the isolation one or both spouses feel. Discouragement can take its toll on the marriage. Be sensitive to this. Talk honestly and openly about the pain you both feel. If one spouse is feeling more discouraged than the other, make sure not to minimize the feelings of whoever is feeling the most down. Listen, both carefully and respectfully. A marriage that is divided because of discouragement can lead to deeper problems. I wish I could take away the feelings of discouragement that come with church planting. They are often very painful. Yet I have met God in the midst of my discouraging moments. He often reminds me to “get my head screwed on right and get back in the game.” As well, God brings to mind people in our church who have become devoted followers of Jesus. This specifically motivates me to keep fighting for the cause of the gospel.
Church planting is costly. It is kingdom work that is both emotional and taxing. If we count the cost and persevere, God is honored! Discouragement is an unavoidable part of the church planting experience. We must learn to live with it and push beyond the disappointments. Ultimately, our hope is found in Jesus’ very own promise to His disciples: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39, NIV).
Joe Beckler ~ Joe and Cheri Beckler, along with their three boys, live in Denver, Colorado, where Joe serves as an Urban Church Planting Missionary.
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CHAPTER NINETEEN
SELDOM IS HEARD A DISCOURAGING WORD By Rich Ratts
Discouragement. No one is immune from it. It is virtually impossible
to completely avoid it. It can sneak up on you when you are least expecting it. It may be lurking around the corner right now, and you don’t even know it. Some believe it is Satan’s greatest weapon against a child of
How do I
God. It will, if left unchecked, eventually cause you to give up or quit.
handle
What is discouragement?
criticism
Do you remember when it was popular for someone to be “dissed?” According to Webster, dis is slang for
from others?
“treating someone with disrespect or contempt, to insult, to find fault, or to criticize.” Isn’t that what it feels 30
like when you’re discouraged? It feels like someone, or something, has insulted, criticized, or treated you with contempt. It causes you to consider throwing in the towel. Some even do. Another way of looking at discouragement is to understand that the prefix dis virtually means the opposite of what follows. For instance, to disengage means to not engage. To disrespect means to not respect. So, discouragement would be the opposite of being full of courage. A person who is discouraged lacks courage; and, therefore, they lack confidence. Your enthusiasm, ambition, drive, or courage is gone. Your confidence is shot. The signs of discouragement are sleeplessness, restlessness, complacency, or the presence of negative thoughts. It happens in all areas of life; and if left unchecked, it can lead to depression. If you are a church planter, or if you are praying about becoming one, know that church planting is tough. You are entering a battle zone where frequent discouragement is a distinct possibility. It is the goal of the enemy to entrap people and discourage them—to get them focused on the negative.
30
Merriam-Webster.com as referenced on the following link: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dis
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Where does discouragement come from? The obvious answer to this question is: Satan. Ultimately, that is true. Satan is the source of discouragement. He tempted Job, wrecking havoc on his family and all aspects of life, in an effort to get him to reject God. The enemy does not want the kingdom to advance. Church plants are generally very effective at evangelism. This goes right after the adversary’s territory. The church planter is, in many ways, on the frontlines of spiritual warfare. Satan will do everything he can to thwart the efforts of any church planter or church planting team. There are, of course, other identifiable sources of discouragement—some self-inflicted. For the planter, fatigue is a source of discouragement. Physical and emotional exhaustion can lead to discouragement. Frustration—not having things go as you planned or dreamed can be a real source of discouragement. Sometimes failure can be a cause. You plan an event, you work hard to invite people—and no one shows up. Talk about a confidence destroyer! And yes, past success can be a factor. Sometimes things that worked in the past don’t work the second time. The success of others can lead to discouragement, as well. Being a church planter in the northwest United States, I’m particularly interested in Brewster Higley’s unofficial anthem of the American West.31 I live where the deer and the buffalo roam. I live where the sky is big and beautiful. However, the range that I call home is sometimes home to a discouraging word! That’s right—a discouraging word—heard while at home on the range! I’m not suggesting that my family intends to be a source of discouragement. Remember, church planting is hard on wives and children, too. Time pressures, financial pressures, fears and uncertainties, along with a host of other factors can cause a spouse or child to utter a discouraging word directed squarely at you. It seems to me discouragement from the home front is some of the deadliest discouragement of all. You don’t have to be at home on the range to hear a discouraging word. People in all kinds of places and from all walks of life will offer their own version of discouraging words. Just mention to some people that you are going to plant a church and they’ll launch into their own top 10 list of why it is a bad idea. Some people just have the gift of discouragement! Whether it is someone in your family, your town, your denomination, or a church member, be on guard! Discouraging words can come your way from just about any direction and from just about anyone. Another source of discouragement is that which comes from unrealized dreams and unmet expectations. Sometimes the church planter’s timeline isn’t the same as God’s timeline. Sometimes the planter’s dreams do not align with reality. The result? Deferred hope. Proverbs 13:12 tells us “hope deferred makes the heart sick…” (NIV). Unrealized dreams and unmet expectations can quickly rob you of courage and bring with it a reduction in your confidence. Hope deferred is one thing. But how about misplaced hope? It is easy for the church planter to put his hope in his sponsors and partners or to put his hope in the planting team that God has provided. Hope can also be put in one’s
31
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The poem, “Home On the Range,” written by Brewster Higley has become the state song of Kansas. It is widely recognized as the unofficial anthem of the American West.
SELDOM IS HEARD A DISCOURAGING WORD
own skills, gifts, and abilities. The problem is this: putting hope in anything other than God will eventually bring discouragement. Eventually, everything and everyone, other than God will let us down. And when that happens, discouragement is sure to come. Perhaps that is what the Psalmist had in mind when he penned these words: “Why am I so depressed? Why this turmoil within me? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:5, HCSB).
What are some practical things a church planter can do to fight off discouragement? Discouragement. Demoralized. Despondent. Disheartened. Dismayed. Dispirited. Whatever you call it—the end result is the same. All of us need to know how to better fight off discouragement. Cloudy, rain-filled days are going to be part of our experience. For those church planters who are accustomed to looking at timelines, mileposts, and checklists, here is a list of practical things that will assist you along your way: Pray. If a real estate agent’s mantra is location, location, location, then the church planter’s mantra should be pray, pray, pray! Sure, all of us as Christ-followers should pray every day and without ceasing. I’m just suggesting you pray specifically related to courage and confidence. God knows our needs but reminds us in James 4:2 that “you do not have because you do not ask” (HCSB). When I ask, I show my dependence on God as the sole provider of all that I need and the One who will protect me from discouragement. Memorize God’s Word. The treasure of Scripture I have hidden in my heart over the years has been such a source of comfort and encouragement to me as a church planter. Scripture memorization is, as God’s Word says, a great way to avoid sin (see Psalm 119:11). Hiding God’s Word in our hearts will give us greater courage and confidence. I’d like to strongly encourage you to memorize the following verses: Joshua 1:6-9;
Where can my wife and I find a support system for encouragement?
Psalm 31:24; Psalm 121:1-8; Romans 8:31; Galatians 6:9; and Hebrews 6:9-10. It is difficult to imagine what the scene was like when Moses died. Here was one of history’s greatest leaders—gone. When the news conference proclaiming Moses’ death was barely finished, God turns to Joshua. Notice how this passage (Joshua 1:6-9) is focused on Scripture—and God’s presence—as the source of courage and confidence: “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (NIV). 143
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Passages like this one remind the church planter that God is able to make us courageous. The church planter can act with confidence because God is with him. The battle belongs to the Lord. You and I are not courageous on our own. We are not confident on our own. We are courageous and confident because God is with us! That is encouraging, my friend. Seek the presence of God regularly. Pay attention to Him at all times. Carve out times to meet with Him during your weekly schedule. This will help you act confidently and courageously. By faith, act on what you know to be true (the facts of who God is and what He has said He will do), not on your feelings, knowing that discouragement is a choice. Resist. Seek the Father’s presence. Stand upon His Word and His promises. Connect regularly with a mentor, a friend, and a network. Church planting can bring with it isolation and loneliness. Find a mentor to hold you accountable, someone willing to invest his life into yours. Have a close friend you can confide in. Ideally, this person would be in your city or area so that you can meet regularly. If not, make appointments and make sure you place the phone call. Join a church planter network or form one. Get plenty of rest. Although Scripture commands us to set aside a day for rest, many church planters fail to make time for this. Turn off the telephone. Shut off the computer and relax. Take up a hobby. Exercise. Do everything possible to disengage your mind. Hang out with your family, and do not talk shop! Try doing things in a different way. I mentioned earlier that failure can be a source of discouragement. In some cases, it is not that you are doing the wrong things—you may simply be doing them in the wrong way. Try achieving the same objective in a different way. One of the benefits of church planting is knowing that you are a new church! You have permission to experiment, to try something new—and yes, even to fail. I began this chapter by stating that discouragement will, if left unchecked, eventually cause you to give up or quit. It can lead to depression. Much of what I have written in these few pages has been out of a passion to see you succeed. I want to see you take the next step in your church planting journey. I want to see you persevere. I want you to one day hear Him say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” I do not want you to give up or quit. I believe if you will take to heart the suggestions given to you in this chapter, they will help you to persevere—even in the midst of discouragement. I leave you with the encouragement given to the believers in Galatia by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 6:9: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (NIV).
Rich Ratts ~ Rich and his wife, Nancy, live in Missoula, Montana, where they serve as North American Mission Board missionaries.
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CHAPTER TWENTY
stewardship development
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CHAPTER TWENTY
developing stewardship as a strength By Todd McMichen
Unfortunately, church stewardship failure is a common cause for church plant
stress and failure. However, often times it is not recognized until it is almost too late and the solution requires extreme measures. It may look something like this: a church plant begins with a tremendous amount of faith, vision, and passion mixed with limited resources. It is assumed that the resource crunch will end soon because the doors will open and people will come. The doors do open and some people do come, but fewer stay and even less give generously. A few outside donors begin to fall off the map, staff expected to raise their support have not done so, and denominational support begins, but declines regularly. These behind the scenes facts are then mixed with a culture of not talking about funds and not having a wise stewardship plan. The pressure continues to mount on the planter, spending begins to change dramatically, outreach dwindles, before long a survival mode is reached, and the passion for reaching the community for Christ is far outweighed by the financial pressure of the moment. Soon, this pressure begins to leak from the planter onto the new leaders, appeals for money become frequent, and a poor stewardship culture is now firmly sealed in place. This may be a dire story—one you hope will never be yours. Do you know that the choices that will be made under your leadership today will have a direct impact on your long-term stewardship health and success? The Bible is accurate when it teaches that you reap what you sow. The choices made concerning your stewardship strategy, money, and leadership resources will reap certain and unavoidable results. To avoid stewardship failure, the planter needs to be clearly aware of his resources (and those far beyond the money), his stewardship plan, and his expected results.
A Biblical Perspective on Managing Resources Did you know that God’s people have historically begun their movement from a portable position? This sounds like an early church planter doesn’t it? Give it some thought. What biblical examples could you provide? I think of the story of Abraham in Genesis 12 where God called forth a righteous man to pack his family, his business, and his people to
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go on a journey of faith. God told Abram to leave his country and family for a promised land, Canaan, where he would be blessed and made the leader of a new nation of God’s chosen people. His journey would be filled with promise, challenge, uncertainty, and eternal benefits for generations to come. When you dissect this experience, there are several interesting stewardship points. First, Abraham was in a position of resource strength. He was a very successful businessman who knew how to produce a product that people needed at a price they could afford. Abraham was obviously an influential leader who had a large following of both employees and customers. He was also a man of tremendous faith, obedience, and righteousness before God. Without detailing the rest of the story, you will remember that these resources would be important to set the stage for others being willing to follow, to be dispersed to fulfill the mission, and to provide for needs when the challenges were present. It is also important to note that all the resources that were needed to fulfill this great mission came from God. There were the resources of faith and righteousness that were required prior to the call. God had confidence in Abraham’s walk. One of the key resources for church planters who have been or are being called is a righteous life that has gained the discipline, experiences, and rewards of a life of faith. So what about the presence of God Himself? I do not want you to be offended that I am speaking of God as a resource to be used for human good; however, I have experienced times in my life and ministry where I had far less of God than I thought. Of course, this was my fault, not God’s. What about church? Have you ever been a part of a church that did not have a regular, powerful movement of God present? I have. He will see that His mission is accomplished. How many times have you been a part of or heard about a church decision that was driven by money? Why is the lack of money such a prominent reason given for God not working or His people not fulfilling His mission? At this point in the story of Abraham, we have learned about four resources that are far more important than money: faith, righteousness, obedience, and the presence of God. Let’s skip to another story. Exodus 32 is one most people remember. It is the story of the day God’s people (Israel) were facilitated by God’s assistant leader (Aaron), to take their personal resources (gold jewelry) to create a much needed god (golden calf). To get behind the scene and understand all the resource ramifications of this story, we need to travel back further in Exodus. In Exodus 31, God calls his craftsman, men with the skills (personal resources,) to construct his tabernacle (Tent of Meeting), so that God’s people could have a place to meet with God. The Tent of Meeting was the first tabernacle—a portable place where God’s leadership could discern His direction and God’s people could connect with Him. Later in chapter 31, God clearly directs His people on the priority of being able to worship Him both corporately and personally. This is incredibly important to God’s mission. We have to remember that Israel has just been delivered from years of painful slavery. They have not been free to worship God and fully reveal Him to the world. So the first thing God asks His people to do after deliverance is to prioritize worship on His day, in His place, through His leaders. Now if you travel back to Exodus 25-30, you will discover a detailed description of all the elements these unemployed people were supposed to gather to construct and fill their “church-planting trailer.” These are people who are underresourced, who were just running for their lives, and have little clue as to what is next. Sound familiar? However, 148
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God has provided them with all the resources they need. They have miraculous provision, a mission, spiritual leaders, skilled craftsmen, and a detailed plan to fulfill His mission. Now all they need to do is obey the Father’s commands. However, they take the few resources that they have and make a spiritual decision—a wrong decision. They create an idol, a different god than the one they have been called to follow. God’s people have always been lured to do the wrong things with their financial resources. This surely has an immediate effect on the people and their mission! This sin brought tremendous judgment, distraction, and physical death. It called for both personal and corporate repentance. The mission of God was at least delayed and nearly abandoned by His people. Then, by God’s grace and the humble response of God’s people, things were back on track. The covenant was restored in Exodus 34, the leaders were re-engaged in Exodus 35, and the resources flowed beyond their need in Exodus 36. God provided more than enough resources, including skilled workers, gold, silk, and acacia wood to complete the mission to construct the tabernacle. Wow, what a resource case study! At the outset, it is important to agree with the Bible on several stewardship thoughts. First, God and His calling are the most important resource we have. Second, personal obedience, faith, and righteousness are indispensable. Third, people have regularly sinned with God’s resources. Fourth, sin affects the mission more than the perception of limited resources. Fifth, God has more than enough resources stored in His people to fulfill His mission.
Financial Facts: The Avoidable and Unavoidable Now that a spiritual foundation is clearly beneath you, let’s look at some facts about money. Many planters and churches have found themselves in a good bit of financial trouble because they avoided the facts and operated solely on “faith.” The church planters prelaunch strategy and philosophy on how to plant a church are the two most critical
How do I develop a culture of faith and responsible stewardship in my congregation?
elements in getting your resource plan moving in the right direction. There are many ways to plant and resource churches. However, different church planting environments call for different resource strategies. Each will also produce different results, therefore affecting how your church is resourced in the future. For instance, if the church planter is attempting to start a church that is going to be staff-heavy and production-driven from the outset, this requires a tremendous amount of financial resources prior to launch. It will typically demand several institutions providing support, as well as many private donors over a number of months or years. This strategy must have multiple staff leaders who can contribute a good bit of time to doing multiple tasks and who are typically full-time employees months prior to the launch. In this scenario, it is not uncommon to reach a group of people who are not quick to volunteer, lead, or donate to the plant. This has an obvious impact on all the resources we have discussed in the previous section. Another example is the difference between planting a church in a community where the lead planter has lived for several years versus a planter who is dropping into a new community. Obviously, one’s resource of relationships to draw upon for core families, business partners, space needs, and so forth is greatly affected. The same can also be said for a would-be planter who has a large base of connections with churches, institutions, and individuals over a number of years. These planters typically have a much greater opportunity in raising significant, up-front funds than those who do not.
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Step one for a planter is to determine who you are, who you are called to be, how God has gifted you, where you will plant, and when you will plant. Then, you must determine if all of these facts line up with your expectations. These facts will determine in large part the resources you will need and be able to achieve. Many church planters make the mistake of reading a church plant success story and quickly adopting its model as their own. They engage in a plan that God has not called them to or resourced them for, leading to an unexpected result of pain, discouragement, and perceived failure. The second step is to decide how you will communicate money issues. It is very typical for church planters to not talk about money publicly or with lay leadership. This is due to heeding the thought that money is a negative subject and that discussing money will hurt your church plant. Money is only a negative subject if you are doing something wrong with it. It is completely okay to talk about money in the church. (We will discuss later healthy ways to talk about it.) Prior to launch, money should be a common conversation on many levels. You should have strong spending, accounting, and benevolent policies in place prior to launch. Generosity and integrity need to be the fabric of your organization from day one. God has equipped the church with business leaders who understand money and people with the gift of generosity—use them. When money talk is kept quiet and lay leadership is low, this regularly produces stewardship problems.
How do I model good stewardship OF both time and money, to my congregation?
The third step is to consider your church planting context. While step one and two were things you could control, such as church style and financial policies, this step consists of items you cannot control but must factor in to your plan. The average age, earning capacity, spiritual background, cost to fund the plan, and cost of living will definitely impact giving and should impact spending. Typically, the younger the audience the less donor strength you will have. This means that if you are attempting a larger, production-oriented approach, you will need a good bit of outside funding. Or if you plant in a smaller community or expect the result to be a community church, staff may need to consider bivocational work. Up to this point, we have discussed two incredibly important prelaunch resource agendas. First, we discussed the variety of resources and spiritual dynamics involved in resourcing. Then, we looked at how the approach, leadership culture, and results will affect both income and spending. Both of these items provide enough information that 75% of your stewardship direction can be put in place prior to launch. The remaining portion of this chapter will be dedicated to post-launch activity.
Leading from Stewardship Strength The most important detail I have found in churches that are stewardship-strong rather than stewardship-weak is the commitment of the leadership. If the senior leaders are committed to stewardship strength, the church will most definitely experience it. So how does a person become a stewardship-savvy leader? It must become a personal priority to research Scripture, books, and engage financial professionals in the pursuit of knowledge. What does the Bible say about money? What does it actually say about how I am supposed to earn it, save it, spend it, give it, invest it, teach about it, and manage it? The pastor must be one who practices biblical stewardship, leading his family, staff, leaders, and church to do the same. 150
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The next step is learning how to talk about money in a spiritually-healthy way. Unfortunately, because of past mistakes of the church and the media’s coverage of them, money has been viewed as an adverse topic in church. A culture that understands that money is created by God to earn, spend, share, and enjoy needs to be restored. You can actually obey God and bring glory to him with 100% of your personal and church funds. Think for a moment about how money is a life issue. It is one of the leading causes of divorce. It produces stress daily for some while others spent it on a vacation or first home! Money has been at the center of family division over a will. Yet it has caused a child great joy on his birthday. It has opened the door to college and closed the door on a much desired pair of Super Bowl tickets. Learn to talk about money on a regular basis, treating it as a life issue. Apply the biblical principles of money management to your personal life, train others to do the same, and then share their stories. What happens if the church is afraid to talk about money when a need arises? Will it have to talk about money in a “911-crisis-kind-ofway”? Doesn’t this just cement the preconceived poor stewardship thoughts into your church culture? It definitely does not win leadership points. Finally, regularly teach and talk about giving to God’s church with your people. The more frequent the discussion concerning the church’s finances, the more generous you are seen as a church, the more stories of investment and life impact, the more legitimate needs are mentioned and fulfilled, the more trusting and open your church will become about money. Scripture is extremely clear that God’s people are to give of their first fruits to the church, to be dispersed by the leadership for eternal impact. It is also very clear that 10% is only the beginning, not the end of our gift limit. The New Testament church in Acts regularly gave everything to both the institution of God and its leaders and to the specific needs of the church as they were revealed by the leaders.
Spending from Stewardship Strength
How much time should I expect for a new believer to develop an understanding of good stewardship?
Scripture teaches that the tithe is holy to the Lord. This means it is both holy when it is given and holy when it is spent. Oftentimes, I find that staffs view church money differently than their personal funds. Most people carefully weigh personal expenses because they know they will have to live with the results. However, when spending church money, the swipe of the card is not as painful. I have also noticed that professional staff tend to spend more on specific projects than lay people and that lay people tend to be more hesitant about turning in receipts for reimbursement. These spending habits are all extremely important stewardship thoughts. Having lay people involved in money management will lead to more ownership, creative problem solving, better communication, and unexpected generosity. However, this can make some pastors nervous because they fear losing control or experiencing unreasonable spending freezes. While these are real experiences for some, the proper mix of lay leaders involved in the finances of the church can produce tremendous results, results few pastors could produce on their own. Every church budget has expenses that are elective and non-elective, in both big and small amounts. In an established church, I normally see about 50% of the income spent for staff, 25% on facilities, and 25% on ministry/missions programming. In a new church, the staff expense can often be much higher and the facilities lower. With less money
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to go around and a fragile new organization environment, how money is spent becomes an incredibly important issue. Once it is spent, it usually cannot be retrieved. However, certain expenses do produce a return on the investment. Important resource lessons to consider when developing your ongoing budget are to identify your fixed expenses. The major fixed expenses are staff and facility. It should be assumed at this point that your stewardship strategy has been determined and matches your timeframe, expected results, and community. With that in place, the type of staffing needed should be determined. Will they be full-time or part-time? Will they be required to raise their own support, and how will they be held accountable for it? When engaging staff, there are typically two types and a few different reasons why they should be hired. There are those who help develop an organization. They typically are initiators, resourceful, driven, and capable of handling multiple tasks. These usually pay for themselves, multiply the organization, and are definitely needed in church plants. The other type of staff is a manager. They typically like to help others succeed, need overall direction, and provide for good internal development. These staff members typically can reduce the stress on the developers and carry out others’ ideas to strong success. When staffing a church plant, it is extremely important to have developers initially, then as the church grows, to add managers. A manager should usually be added when it reduces the stress on the developer, can take a program to the next level, or can free the developer to move on to a new venture. Remember once you hire staff, it can be very painful to reduce staff. This is true of any organization, but especially true of a young, fragile church plant. Next you need to consider the return on investment for your spending. When a church is young, the major focus needs to be on growth. Will this facility help us grow? Do we need it today, or can we start in a less expensive venue? Other major expenses can include audio/visual equipment, marketing, and programming. Make sure your ability, need, resources, and results align. There are more stories of how a mass direct mail card did not produce the desired results than there are stories of success. Several church plants have overspent on technology, then could not operate it or sustain the strength to load/unload weekly over a long period of time. Also, trying to start with a full slate of programs can be detrimental to your staff, volunteers, energy, and finances. There are many developmental steps involved in growing a strong church. Just as young couples should not expect to live the life of their well-established parents; neither should most church plants expect to live like a well-established church from day one. You will need to learn to say “yes” to fewer things and “no” to more things, knowing that the right “yes” will allow for more green lights in the future. A final piece of spending wisdom is to make it a habit from the outset to have disciplined church savings. It is a normal part of life to have unexpected financial challenges. This is true in the church, as well. It could be a downturn in the local economy, an unexpected rising of rent, or a staff member who successfully divides the church. Whatever the cause, good or bad, the organization must be prepared to withstand these challenges. At the end of each year it is a good practice to seek to have spent less money than the church has received. It is also a good practice to grow a cash reserve account of two to four months for operating expenses. This should be the ongoing practice from prelaunch through the life of the church. A common mistake that many church plants make is to not plan for the day when 152
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As your church grows, outside donations will become inconsistent, so it is a good practice to use them for nonbudgeted, special ministry expenses when possible. By doing this, your operating budget will not be impacted by declining outside donations.
Giving from Stewardship Strength I want to address the issue of church generosity. By now the leader should clearly understand that it is okay to talk about, teach about, dream about, ask for, and manage God’s resources for His glory and to further His mission. This should be the case both personally and corporately. Just as it was mentioned previously about setting up a designated cash reserve account, the church should also be committed to giving its resources away. Once again, if the church is to be about God’s mission, the mission must be bigger than one institution. Therefore, the church must give funds, leaders, and volunteers away from the very beginning. Make it a part of your monthly spending plan to be generous. Give it away, celebrate giving it away, and share the results. People are far less concerned today with preserving an institution than making a difference. Stewardship teachings will ring hollow if your church is not sharing with the poor, going overseas, or investing in church planting from the beginning. You cannot wait until you are large enough, any more than a person can wait until they earn enough before they tithe. Be generous! Most churches give less than 10% of their resources away. It is okay to break the norm, filled with faith and obedience to the greater mission of God. I hope you have been stretched to think about all the resources at hand and how they should be engaged in the cause. Your faith, obedience, giftedness, and calling are critical. Your community dynamics and style will definitely impact your resource need and capacity. Be confident that money is a life-issue that the Bible addresses with practical teachings that produce definite results. Be courageous when tackling your expenses. Learn to be wise and savvy with God’s resources. Include your church members in managing your funds. Finally, don’t be afraid to give generously. If you believe what you know to be true, and practice what you believe, you and your church will be blessed.
Some Practical Steps I would like to provide a few practical steps to guide a church planter through his first year of public ministry. Prior to launch: Make sure your prelaunch spending plan has been put in place. This should include all expenses related to prelaunch activities, such as staff salaries, audio/visual equipment, ministry supplies, facility, marketing, and insurance. The most recent church plant I initiated began with $10,000. We were able to accomplish this because we required all of our staff to be employed in the community, our outreach strategy was word of mouth instead of mass marketing, and we rented audio/visual equipment on a weekly basis, complete with a tech person. This is not everyone’s story. Many will seek to start with the pastor’s salary covered for one year with an additional $100,000 raised from outside support or any number of other ways. 153
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Launch (Months 1-6): It is important for your church plant to establish an initial spending plan to carry it through its first six months of ministry. This period of ministry can be very expensive with little giving and unsure attendance numbers. After the first six months, if spending and giving have been accurately detailed, projecting future needs and possessing realistic dreams should be accomplished. This brings up an important issue of detailed recordkeeping. From day one, our church plant has engaged an outside accounting firm to review our books (monthly then quarterly) to make sure we are doing things right and learning how to prepare for the future. They were extremely helpful in providing us with spending policies and procedures, as well as professional guidance on benevolence, tax, and employee issues. Because of the relationship with an outside accounting firm, our finance team has created a system of accountability and integrity that fosters trust and confidence from our church body. As a result, we have been able to make some difficult decisions at times, like returning donor checks that were improperly designated or taking back church debit cards when they were used improperly. This culture has kept wise spending in line and has allowed us to be very generous. Also, we have always had a cash reserve account and never needed to plead for funds. Launch Into Year #2: After the first six months, it is critically important to strategically educate the new church on finances and giving. It often takes 6-12 months of visiting before an individual will start to give on a regular basis. If you do not take the time to speak openly and honestly about the issue of money, people will make their own conclusions about church and money. Unfortunately, the voice people most regularly hear is the national media or the voice of a person who has negative opinions about money. It is your responsibility to teach the church about money from a biblical perspective. Typically, I have found that there are three times a year when a pastor can more easily address the issue of finances. The first of the year is both a good time to talk about how money affects us personally and how the church will be launching vision initiatives that will need to be supported financially throughout the year. A second time to talk about money is around April 15. Everyone is thinking about money during this time. So, it’s a great opportunity to do a sermon series that helps people personally, while potentially raising receipts for your church. It can also help you gain reserves for the lean summer months. A third time is in the late fall. Every year we do a vision series celebrating God’s faithfulness during the past year and His vision for the upcoming year. We call this our annual “Vision Initiative,” and it seeks to holistically address all the elements we have discussed in this chapter. We begin planning for our Vision Initiative in the summer by evaluating the past six months. This helps us to make any mid-course adjustments, anticipate the future, and begin to lay a framework for decisions that will need to be made for the next year. Typically, this will be followed by our elders dreaming about the future, our finance team projecting our expenses/ receipts into a future budget forecast, our navigation team looking into our calendar and team enlistment needs, and our teaching/worship teams laying out a spiritual journey for our people to experience in November and December. Each Sunday during this period will have a different theme celebrating the work of God and His calling for us in the future. We always incorporate three areas of action. First, we ask our people to prayerfully commit their family anew to the vision of our church. Second, we ask them to raise the bar as a volunteer and leader. This is our annual leadership enlistment emphasis for all leadership needs which typically matches our future vision. The third “ask” is financial. We share the projected ministry expenses for the following year, plus share specific needs we have about expenses. This above-and-beyond offering has been critical to our stewardship strength. 154
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When a church has a healthy culture of celebrating how God is using resources to change lives with a healthy dialogue regarding money, generosity will increase. For years, churches have learned that people are willing to engage in three-year giving programs designated to construct church facilities. Whether your church is involved in these type projects or not, it does confirm that people are more than willing to be generous to a visionary cause they believe in. In the early days, we raised extra funds above our budget for large items, like purchasing equipment or replacing our worn out signs. At other times, we have used the funds to make a major commitment to missions and benevolence that freed up budget money for more programming-type expenses. One year, we raised funds with the idea of when God called us to do something unexpected we wanted to be able to say “yes,” not “no,” because we did not have the money. This type of year-end resource development approach to ministry, vision, leadership, and finances brings together the many aspects of stewardship this article has addressed. In conclusion, the church planter should be aware of all the resources that come together to create a strong stewardship plan, considering the short-term and the long-term. The bottom line is that money is an incredible resource that God gives us to impact His world, so it is critical to understand and create a culture for how money is used, accounted for, and communicated.
How can we celebrate what God is doing through our ministries on a consistent basis?
Todd McMichen ~ Todd and his wife, Theresa, live in Birmingham, Alabama, where he is the CEO of the McMichen Development Group, a church leadership coaching service for stewardship and development strategies. He also serves as the founding leader of The People’s Church at Oak Mountain, a church plant in Birmingham, Alabama. 155
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stewardship and changed lives By Steve Swisher
Like most churches, our church plant, Essential Church, has been “up
and down” financially. We meet in an elementary school in Virginia Beach, Virginia, a city that has a higher concentration of military personnel than any other city in the United States. Since military personnel are normally transferred every two to three years, our church constantly experiences turnover, which directly influences our finances. In the past three years, we have had a $15,000 budget surplus, a break-even budget, and most recently, a deficit. I’ve learned that good stewardship planning is critical for surviving the unknown and unexpected changes that affect every church. I have always been amazed by how God has blessed our church over the years. The philosophy behind what
How do I connect financial giving with changed lives?
we do is based on “bringing the whole tithe into the storehouse” in a “consistent proportioned way.” We teach that faithful, proportioned giving by every member can accomplish all that God wants to do through His church. Also, I have observed that people don’t get excited about giving to pay operating expenses, but they will passionately give if you connect “giving” to “changed lives.” When the church can see that lives are being changed and souls are being saved, they get excited and they give. The bottom line is that missions is exciting! When I served as the executive director of Sav-A-Life (SAL), a crisis pregnancy center, I spoke at churches that supported SAL. I would connect their giving to ministry results by saying, “This year the money that was collected as a part of your regular giving was used to save (#) lives and bring (#) to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.” I wouldn’t put the emphasis on what SAL did, but rather on what that church did through their giving. As a member of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), our church gives financially to the Cooperative Program (CP). Our gifts are used by Southern Baptist entities, such as the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board, to send and support missionaries, train pastors and other ministry leaders. Gifts given to the Cooperative Program provide physical, emotional, and spiritual help to disaster victims and are used to address social, moral, and ethical concerns relating to our faith and families. Through the CP, our gifts are used to impact the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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As a church planter, I explained to my church that, “Through the Cooperative Program, more than 60,000 meals were served (to those affected by Hurricane Ike) each day in southeast Texas by our disaster relief teams. Your decision to set aside a portion of your income is making a difference in our world for Christ through the Cooperative Program. As a church, we have partnered with other CP churches from our area, and across our state, to buy several food distribution trucks for emergencies like this. If someone asks you if you are giving to help the people on the Gulf Coast, tell them you have been giving for the past five years. You were giving money to help them before the hurricane even came ashore!” What I am doing is teaching our people about the power of cooperative giving as a church, which is dependent upon the faithful, regular giving of our church members. As you develop your stewardship plan, consider some of the activities we have implemented at Essential: 1. Every 14-18 months, I preach a 4-6 week series on finances. Usually only one week of that series deals directly with giving. In the other sermons, we explore what God’s Word says about topics such as debt, investing, contentment, generosity, or budgeting.
How can we talk about money in a way that is built upon God’s teachings?
2. Every other year we include a ten-week study on finances as part of our small group curriculum. 3. Once a year, we provide a missions’ investment report. The entire service is centered on celebrating the “return on the investment” that comes from our missions giving. The four parts of Acts 1:8—Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth—are emphasized. I have often asked a missionary, representing one of these four missional emphases, to share what they have accomplished over the past year as a result of CP giving. I also utilize charts and graphs to illustrate how the weekly offerings are distributed. I refer to the Cooperative Program as our “missions mutual fund.” Just like a financial mutual fund that diversifies investments to give the greatest opportunity for a return, a missions mutual fund does the same. I share with our congregation some of the various mission projects that are a part of our missions’ portfolio. The focus of this service is not to compel people to give a one-time offering, but rather to celebrate what we have done through our faithful weekly giving. Our focus is to continually show our congregation that by setting aside a portion of our income on a regular basis, we are getting a great return on our investment. 4. Throughout the year, as unexpected needs arise, we connect our weekly offerings to those needs. For instance, when Hurricane Ike made landfall in Houston, we prayed for the disaster relief vehicles and personnel from our state that were traveling to that region. When the offering was received that morning, I reminded our members that because of our continued, faithful giving throughout the year to our missions mutual fund, we were supporting relief efforts to a national crisis. Those disaster relief trucks are a part of our missions mutual fund, and this particular week we were seeing a return on our investment. 5. We send out quarterly giving statements and letters. I write a letter that includes one or more of the following: devotional thoughts or stories, biblical teaching, and a report on our investment in the kingdom. I also share needs, opportunities, blessings, and accomplishments that are before us, and then I thank them for their consistent
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Because every church will be faced with unexpected events and circumstances that affect giving (for us, it is military family transfers), good, consistent stewardship planning is critical for surviving the highs and lows. It is vital to teach people what God says about stewardship and how our giving can make a difference in the lives of others in our community, country, and world. It is also important to continually celebrate what God is doing, and thank people for giving faithfully to the regular offering. As you seek to plant your church, seek to create a culture that connects giving with results. Celebrating those results will transform your church into a place where passionate people give generously to the work of the kingdom.
How can the church insulate itself from the effects of changes in cash flow due to economic troubles or unexpected expenses?
Steve Swisher ~ Steve and his wife, Melissa, live in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he serves as the pastor of Essential Church.
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MISSIONS GIVING The Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering
No doubt as a potential church planter you have begun thinking
about how to do missions in the new church. How do you equip a young church to be on mission in your community, across the country and around the world? Besides sending people out as missionaries, how will the church financially support church planting, missionaries and missionary endeavors “to the ends of the earth?” These are important questions that require time and prayer to be devoted to them. This article will focus on how Southern Baptists traditionally help fund missions through the Cooperative Program. Since it started in 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has sought to fulfill the mandate of the Great Commission and spread the gospel throughout the world. But the question was, “How?”
What resources are available for developing a biblical stewardship plan?
For the first few decades, the SBC engaged in fund-raising efforts aimed at individual churches. However, that approach led to competition, shortfalls, and inefficiency. There had to be a better way to use the resources needed to impact the world. In 1925, the SBC brought everything together under one banner—The Cooperative Program. The various entities involved in the Convention came to see that together is better. Since that time, the Cooperative Program has grown to be one of the most effective and efficient ways of propelling the gospel and supporting those across the world carrying the message. From years of doing missions and ministries independently, Southern Baptists finally learned that “we” is greater than “me.”
The Ins and Outs of Cooperation Where do you start to change the world? After all, what can one person really accomplish? One person working alone can do a lot less than many people working together. The Cooperative Program is all about giving that one person a chance to be part of the “many.” Here’s how it works: 161
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One person chooses to fully give himself to God. Out of love for Him and obedience to His Word, he decides to give through his local church (see Mal.3:10), believing he can impact the world. And then another person gives of his resources…and another…and another. The entire congregation then decides how much of these gifts will be committed to reaching people through the Cooperative Program. At every annual state convention meeting, the gifts from churches are allocated in order to achieve maximum impact for the gospel in their state. When the SBC meets each year, representatives (messengers) from churches decide how to divide the balance of the churches’ gifts to impact people at home and around the world. The bottom line – people around the world hear the gospel and receive Christ.
Cooperative Program — What It Does Churches in your state work together through your state convention to support a wide array of ministries and missions including: evangelism efforts, children’s homes, volunteer missions, mission education, new
What times of the year are strategic for addressing stewardship issues within the church?
churches, colleges and universities, collegiate ministries, camps, and much more. For additional information concerning your state convention, log on to www.sbc.net and click on state conventions. Through the International Mission Board (www.imb.org), Southern Baptists support approximately 5,300 missionaries who are engaging more than 1,100 different people groups around the world.* Southern Baptists are planting, on average, 1,500* new churches each year. Through church planting efforts of the North American Mission Board and state convention partnerships, the gospel is being shared with a variety of people groups and in a myriad of settings. In addition to Cooperative Program giving, an annual offering is received to benefit missions in North America. Named in honor of Annie Armstrong, a passionate advocate of missions who lived from 1850 to 1938, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® is the primary funding channel for Southern Baptist mission work in the United States, Canada, and their territories. A special offering which churches historically collect during the spring (though it can be collected at any time during the year), all funds (100%) go to the support of North American missionaries and their work, primarily as salaries and ministry resources. Each penny given represents the trust that Southern Baptists place in our missionary force, and our missionaries are excellent stewards of these funds. To learn more, visit www.anniearmstrong.com. Working together near and far, locally and globally, Southern Baptists saw 955,909* new believers baptized in 2006!
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To help the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering reach its potential, would you please lead your congregation to:
• Pray. Pray regularly for your Southern Baptist missionaries in your state
and around the globe. “Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers”
(Matthew 9:38, HCSB).
• Go. Be involved in some sort of missions endeavor. Talk with your church about
the available opportunities. You are God’s missionary right where you live.
“Go...and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19, HCSB).
• Give. Out of love for the Lord, give regularly to Him through your church.
If you are not tithing, begin to do so and also discover the blessings of giving
beyond the tithe. Encourage your church to increase its participation in
the Cooperative Program.
Thank you for your love for the Lord, your love for people, and your participation in the Cooperative Program.
* Statistics found in the 2008 SBC Book of Reports More information about the Cooperative Program can be found at www.sbc.net/cp. Please see the “We>Me” brochure in the resource section
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SPIRITUAL WARFARE AND CHURCH PLANTING By Chuck Lawless
Consider these scenarios from the world of church planting:
Scenario #1—God has called you to plant a church, and you have tried to be obedient in every way. The sacrifice has been heavy, but God has been good to you. Believers around the country are praying for you. On the outside, everything looks good. But on the inside, temptations are tearing you up. The secret battle is so great that you wonder if you will ever find victory. You are always on the verge of messing up so badly that your very ministry is at stake. Scenario #2—Greg, a non-believer, seems to be completely closed to the gospel. No matter how much you share with him, he has no interest in following Christ. The Bible means little to him. The arguments about Christ carry no weight for him. You have given your best efforts, but nothing changes. At the same time, you have members in your church, like Kathy, who once were “on fire for God,” but that fire has been extinguished. They were valuable team members who were willing to give or do anything to help the church plant, but their excitement is now gone. In fact, they are now creating disunity in the church. In addition, your own family is facing unexpected health issues. It seems like you never get a break. With nonbelievers unresponsive, believers now uncommitted, and your family struggling, you are close to giving up. Scenario #3—Unlike others you know, your work has been effective. God has blessed the church plant, and you look forward every week to meeting with your team. In fact, other church planters are coming to you for advice. “Maybe I’ll even write a book someday,” you think to yourself. You do not realize it yet, but you are now dangerously close to getting “puffed up.” What might seem to be decidedly different scenarios are actually quite similar in that each reflects a common attack of the enemy on church planters. Satan wants church planters (and all church leaders) to mess up, give up, or get puffed up.
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Satan Opposes Followers of Christ While demons cannot possess genuine believers, Scripture affirms that Satan continues to attack those who follow Christ. For example, Jesus warned Peter that Satan demanded permission to “sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:31). Peter himself later warned believers, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert Your adversary, the
What does the Bible say about spiritual warfare?
devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8, NASB). The missionary/ church planter Paul, who himself experienced “a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan” (2 Cor. 12:7, NASB), admonished believers to “put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Eph. 6:11, NASB). James, too, called believers to resist the devil, presupposing that the enemy would attack (Jas. 4:7). If Satan does not attack believers, such recurrent warnings would seem irrelevant and unnecessary. Needless to say, Satan particularly aims his arrows at those who seek to do the work of the Great Commission. A primary task for all believers is to evangelize unbelievers who are under Satan’s dominion (Acts 26:18) in the “domain of darkness” (Col. 1:13). The non-believers we are trying to reach are “blinded by the god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:3-4), also called the “prince of this world” (John 16:11) and the “ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Eph. 2:2). The unbeliever is by no means guiltless, but the darkness is deepened by the enemy’s efforts to maintain control. Hence, church planters who seek to reach nonbelievers, bring them to maturity, and lead them to be part of a healthy congregation are invading Satan’s kingdom. We should not be surprised when he counterattacks. Though the enemy’s schemes against believers are many, some are obvious. Satan entices believers with temptation, seeking to lure us into patterns of our former walk (Eph 4:17-32). Bondage results and “messing up” becomes a lifestyle, even though it may be hidden from others. Church planters—whose very position sometimes places them in ministry isolation—may be especially vulnerable here. After influencing believers to sin, the enemy then heaps accusations on us; the tempter quickly becomes
How do I address spiritual warfare issues that originate from within the church body?
the accuser (Rev. 12:10). We sin, and guilt is compounded by the enemy’s accusations. We then believe his accusations, and we lose our will to fight the next temptation. His strategy to “beat up on sinners,” often leads to a cycle of defeat and discouragement. Messing up soon becomes giving up. Moreover, Satan endeavors to cultivate strife among believers, thereby weakening the church’s united witness (John 17:20-21). The challenge of the Great Commission is so immense that Christians must work together to accomplish our task. The enemy, however, will do all he can to sow seeds of discord among believers. The church planter who has given his all to the work—only to see that work sometimes diminished by fellow believers who strive for power and fight for position—finds himself defeated and discouraged.
Arrogance is perhaps the most subtle of Satan’s attacks on church leaders. Few leaders readily admit arrogance; indeed, some whose pride is most glaring to others seem to be the most oblivious to their sin. New converts who too soon are given leadership positions are particularly susceptible to this sin (1 Tim. 3:6). Some church planters likewise 168
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reveal this same wrong thinking with attitudes such as “no traditional church does it right,” “large churches are usually shallow churches,” or “only my model of a healthy church is the right one.” Here, then, is the challenge for church planters—to be faithful even when spiritual attacks are imminent. One option, of course, is to lead in such a way that the church plant is not a threat to Satan. Do not get concerned if the new congregation is not reaching non-believers and disciples are not being made. Allow ministry work to divert away from a focus on seeing new believers baptized. Be complacent about a strategic plan for making disciples. Read the Word only when necessary, and pray even less. In the end, Satan will not be alarmed. The demons will say of this ministry, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know. But who are you?” (Acts 19:15, NKJV). The other option is the more difficult one: threaten the enemy by your undying commitment to the Great Commission. Walk with God humbly, knowing that Satan’s traps that lure toward arrogance are subtle indeed. Share the gospel, and make disciples with such consistency that the demons themselves come roaring back. Recognize that spiritual warfare is strongest against those whose Great Commission passion puts a bull’s eye on their back for the enemy. In that sense, church planters who face attack may be assured that their ministry alarms the enemy enough to elicit his assault. That simple truth should bring excitement more than alarm.
A Proposal Victory in spiritual warfare is never as easy as simply verbally rebuking the devil and watching him flee. That proposed response lacks biblical support and is overly simplistic. Church planters who seek daily victory in Christ might instead consider the following guidelines:
How do I cope with spiritual attacks?
Recognize spiritual warfare, but focus on God. Church planters must recognize spiritual warfare while also marching into battle with their eyes on God instead of the enemy. God is the divine warrior who led His people across the Red Sea (Ex. 15:3). David fought the Philistine giant not with a sword and a javelin, but in the name of the Lord whose battle it was (1 Sam. 17:45-47). Jehaziel likewise assured Jehoshaphat of God’s presence in the midst of battle with these words: “Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s” (2 Chron. 20:15, NASB). God is our shield (Gen. 15:1, Ps. 28:7), and it is He who chose to wear the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation (Isa. 59:17). We face a real enemy in spiritual battles, but we are armed in the armor of a God who is “greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4, NKJV). Hence, the church planters who are most equipped for spiritual warfare are those who have learned foremost to keep their eyes on Him. Of great importance is this truth: the same God who first calls the church planter to this task is still God when life gets difficult. Concerns such as health issues, family worries, congregational conflict, and financial hardship can be consuming if we forget that God is bigger than anything we face. The enemy wants us to focus on our troubles, but victory comes by keeping our attention on God.
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Consistently study the Word. One would wish that this expectation would be a given for a church planter, but such is not always the case. The challenges of enlisting a ministry team, raising financial support, securing a place to meet, and beginning a fresh ministry sometimes consume time previously committed to studying the Word. The enemy is delighted when the good work of ministry distracts from the imperative work of Bible study. This basic instruction serves as a reminder that the Word of God is alive and powerful (Heb. 4:12), converting the soul (Ps. 19:7), and protecting us from sin (Ps. 119:11). The simple phrase, “It is written” was enough to cause Satan ultimately to back down from the battle when he attacked Jesus (Matt. 4:1-11), and the “sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17) remains today a vital weapon against the enemy. Do not accept the enemy’s lies that personal Bible study really does not matter. No church planter can experience genuine spiritual victory without a consistent, personal time with God. Seek prayer support.
When and how should I enlist an army of prayer warriors?
Paul concluded the book of Ephesians with a request for believers to pray for one another and for his evangelistic endeavors (Eph. 6:18-20). Though Paul likely did not intend prayer to be a piece of the armor of God, the sense of urgency noted in verses 18-20 ties his request to the battle indicated in 6:11-12. The believers were to “be on the alert,” praying with all prayer at all times with all perseverance and petition for all the saints (v. 18). Seek prayer for an open door to share the gospel (Col. 4:2-3). In his letter to the Colossians, Paul requested the believers to pray, “God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ” (Col. 4:3, NIV). Because he was in prison at the time (Col. 4:18), it is possible that Paul desired a release from prison in order to preach the gospel. More likely, though, Paul was simply requesting God to provide an opportunity for sharing the gospel within his present circumstances. Seek prayer support for your witness (Col. 4:3-4; Eph. 6:19-20). Not only did Paul request prayer for an open door, but he also sought prayer for himself as the messenger. Specifically, he asked for prayer that he might proclaim the gospel clearly and boldly (Col. 4:4, Eph. 6:19-20). The open door would not be enough if there were no messenger willing to proclaim the Word, and Paul understood that he had no ability to speak that Word apart from God’s power. If Paul needed that level of prayer support, surely contemporary church planters do as well. Seek prayer warriors who pray proactively for you every day rather than waiting to pray for you only after the enemy attacks. Seek holiness and accountability. Spiritual attacks (particularly those related to temptation) are often most potent when we are alone, tired, and discouraged—descriptors that are appropriate for too many church planters. Serving without a support team, some planters find themselves isolated and lonely. Church planting tasks are so numerous and difficult that fatigue is
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common. As noted earlier in this chapter, discouragement at some point is almost assumed. Temptation strikes and the weakened church planter succumbs. One means to battle temptation is to seek accountability. It may be difficult to find in the Bible specific examples of one-to-one accountability as we understand it today, but several verses suggest accountability among believers. For example, Jesus sent out His messengers, expected a report from them, and corrected them when they missed the point of their ministry (Luke 10:1-20). He also taught church discipline that assumed accountability (Matt. 18:15-20). Paul demanded that the Corinthian church deal with sin in their midst rather than overlook it in arrogance (1 Cor. 5:1-5). The Thessalonians were to “admonish as a brother” those that did not obey Paul’s instructions (2 Thess. 3:14-15). James instructed believers to confess their sins to one another (James 5:16). The early church understood themselves as the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-27), committed to God and to
Who can I trust to share and pray with regarding my struggles?
each other. They provoked one another to love and good works (Heb. 10:24), believing they were responsible for helping fellow Christians grow in their faith. Each of us, especially those on the frontlines of growing healthy churches, bears that same responsibility to push one another toward holiness. If you desire to live a righteous life that defeats the enemy, seek an accountability partner who gives you that push and consider joining or starting a church planter network. Teach and model healthy relationships. The enemy’s attacks on relationships are noted early in Scripture. His presence in the Garden of Eden quickly led to Adam’s placing the blame for his sin on the wife that God had graciously given to him (Gen. 3:9-12). Some time thereafter, a brother killed his own brother as sin disrupted relationship after relationship (Gen. 4:1-8). That pattern has not changed—the enemy still aims his arrows at relationships. Satan knows that destroyed relationships most often result in ended ministries. In that light, perhaps the words of this church planter’s wife hit close to home: “The stress and pressure of starting a church is so overwhelming. There are thousands of things to do before your launch date. Unfortunately, unless we’re careful, our marriages will get pushed to the side. As church planting couples, we’re busy and stressed out. The trouble usually starts with little arguments, where we bicker over stupid things. Then the bickering grows and festers and soon it’s like World War III has begun. Resentment builds, and we feel like we’re dying inside. We feel alone and sad.”32 If these words sound familiar, take heart in the conclusion from this same spouse: “I’m happy to tell you that it doesn’t have to be like this. We can have healthy marriages and relationships with our families while going through a church plant.”33 However, such godly marriages do not happen naturally or easily. Unless church
How do I prepare my family for spiritual warfare?
planters work diligently at prioritizing their families, praying with their spouses, and setting aside time with their children, the enemy will all too often create conflict and division in the home. Take time now to ask God to create in your family the unity for which He prayed for the church (John 17:21). Then, teach relationship principles and skills to your congregation so that they, too, can stand against the enemy.
Church Planting Wives blog, accessed at http://www.planterwives.com/2008/04/session-on-marriage-part-2.html.
32
33
Ibid.
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Wear the full armor of God. The enemy aims his arrows at young believers who have not been discipled. He strikes them with doubt and discouragement. Sometimes he hits them with loneliness, as they move away from their non-Christian friends and try to fit into a church that is unfamiliar to them. At other times, he lures them with the same temptations they faced as non-believers. Whatever his strategy may be, he wants to strike at new believers before they get solidly planted in the church. Our response to Satan’s strategy is simple: intentionally disciple new believers by teaching them to wear the full armor of God (Eph. 6:10-17). Unless believers are taught to walk in truth, righteousness, and faith, we will always remain susceptible to the enemy’s arrows. In the spiritual battles that all believers face, discipleship may mean the difference between victory and defeat. Regrettably, some church leaders—including church planters—have themselves not truly been discipled. Such leaders operate in their own strength, depending more on ability, skill, and experience than on the power of God. Seldom do we admit this reality though for fear that we will lose our credibility as a leader.
Do I have an accurate understanding of Ephesians 6?
If this description fits you, choose now not to live under the enemy’s deception. Be honest with someone, and seek a mentor who will begin helping you to wear the full armor of God. Consider joining or starting a network of leaders to focus on personal growth and development. Conclusion I doubt I have presented anything revolutionary here, and that is the point. If you want to plant and grow a church that overcomes the enemy, evaluate your own life first. Make certain that you are wearing the armor of God. Look for a mentor to help you walk in Christ. Love the Word, live it, and preach it. Seek consistent prayer support. Evangelize non-believers, and disciple new believers. In the midst of busyness, always guard your relationship with your family. Be ever alert to the enemy’s strategies to lead you to mess up, give up, or get puffed up. In essence, be a New Testament believer as you plant a New Testament church, and you will experience victory in spiritual battles.
Chuck Lawless ~ Chuck and his wife, Pam, live in Crestwood, Kentucky, where he serves as Dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism and Vice President for Academic Programming at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
*Sections of this chapter have been previously published in Chuck Lawless, Putting on the Armor (Nashville: Lifeway, 2007); Lawless, “Spiritual Warfare and Missions,” The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology (Winter 2005): pp. 34-48; Lawless, “Spiritual Warfare,”
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The Complete Evangelism Guidebook (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), pp. 104-107.
C H A P T E R T W E N T Y- F O U R
THE FACE OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE By Glenn Johnson
With the first ring of the phone that night on May 1, 2003, at around 3:30 a.m.,
there was a sense that it was going to be a long night. Rob’s34 voice on the other end of the phone was anxious and quite unnerving. “Glenn ... you ... have to … come ... get me. Now. They’re all around me.” His voice was subdued, measured, and sounded exhausted. He spoke in a low, monotone cadence that wasn’t quite his own. He had been attending one of our house churches for a few months at the time, and I knew him as a college student who occasionally rode my bus (I drove a transit bus for the university at the time). For the next 10 minutes, I had to try and determine from where he was calling, and attempt to calm a very frightened young man who said that demons were swarming around him. His sentences were jumbled and often incomprehensible; and his tone was vaguely threatening, a trait I hadn’t detected in him prior to that night. All the while, he was insistent on coming over to my house because he had “something to tell me.” Apparently, he was not going to be dissuaded, so I had to prayerfully make a decision—out of concern for not only Rob, but for my own family. I never imagined having to make these types of decisions when I started the journey of planting Veritas Church. I called Mark (pastor of the house church Rob had been attending) and the two of us sat down with Rob in Mark’s living room. We asked him to tell us what was going on. Over the next two hours, through prayer and conversation, we uncovered a world inside of Rob that would impact our church in some bizarre ways for the next three months. Rob spoke of voices inciting feelings and ideations within him that weren’t fully his own. He went between insisting on going to my house (still) and being hounded by demons. Our goal for that night was to simply try and get a grip on what we were dealing with and to try and minister to him. Our plan was fairly simple and concocted on-the-fly: we were going to have a four-way conversation between Mark, me, Rob and God. With what was being presented to us, we weren’t going to rely on our own wisdom.
Name changed.
34
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At one point in our prayer time with Rob, he grew increasingly agitated because we were being told things that we would defer to God and simply ask Him to reveal to us what He wanted us to know. Rob’s countenance darkened and he told Mark he would kill him if he kept “this” up. Mark and I looked at each other matter-of-factly and then Mark informed Rob that he would do nothing outside of what God allowed. Suddenly, Rob bolted and stormed out the front door. I could only figure he was headed toward my house because he was still insisting on going there. Right then, we again asserted our biblical authority in Christ and asked God to calm him and stop him in whatever he was set upon doing. After quickly praying, Mark and I ran to his front door, noses pressed up against the window like kids on Christmas night. There at the end of the driveway was Rob—standing still, almost as if at “attention.” Mark and I looked at each other again, both reaffirmed in the reliability and reality of God’s faithfulness to His Word in a moment that could have had potentially serious consequences. We walked down to stand beside Rob at the end of the driveway and he agreed to come back inside. Although this journey was just beginning, we ended that night in more prayer and saw the peace of God settle in to the point where Rob was able to sleep there at Mark’s house. Rob’s ability to distinguish between his own inner voice, the voice of the Holy Spirit (he claimed to be a
What do attacks from the enemy look or feel like?
follower of Christ), and that of the enemy propelled him downward into the chaos of hopelessness and despair. Many people in our church would become entwined in Rob’s story as we sought to minister to him and his family. We collaborated with Rob’s family to come up with a response that included surrounding him as a church, supporting him, and providing as solid a ground as we could. However, Rob became increasingly suspicious of my position as pastor of Veritas and would often challenge my authority with his own (and an authority he received from “god”). I would remind him during inopportune phone calls that Jesus was the head of our church, not me.
This tendency drew him away from us and his family to the point where none of us could ultimately intervene on his behalf. He was eventually arrested at the home of the girl he believed was his spiritual wife, who had sought restraint from Rob. It was at this point that Rob began to be treated for his psychological/emotional disorders. We would continue to walk with him as his spiritual community over the next year. Even in light of the symptoms of what was classically a mental illness, there was an obvious collusion of the spiritual realm in Rob’s case.
On the Front Lines I was pastoring a small, rural church in central Kentucky when my wife and I began to sense God calling us to plant a church. We would eventually be led to Oxford, Ohio, to begin a church amongst the young adults at Miami University and the surrounding area. We were appointed by the North American Mission Board as Nehemiah Church Planters for two years beginning in July of 2000. In the process of preparing to make the move, we were offered what I now 174
consider to be some of the worst advice I’ve received as a church planter. We were warned to be wary to the point
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of avoiding the kinds of people who would try to “hijack” the vision/direction of the church. These were the people who had quite a bit of “baggage” or issues—the difficult people. These were the people on the fringes of society, sometimes embedded and well-hidden in the mix of things. If we kept them at bay, the church would be safe and stay on track. From the outset, however, these were the types of people God was bringing to us. They were people for whom churches had either wittingly discarded or simply let them move on because they were not able or chose not to address their issues in a consistent way. (And, in fairness, some people choose not to stay in relationships because of the depth of their emotional issues … and in turn they, not the church, abandon the relationship when it gets too close for their liking). There were often sordid histories and life experiences being harbored within these people. These emotionally wounded were basically in bondage and “bled” all over us. If this was the kind of community that God was forming around us, and since we knew that we had been equipped in Him to address these needs, we had to revise our communal format as a church to meet them. That was about the time that we transitioned into a simpler, more organic structure whereby communities would meet in homes or wherever it was most conducive to share the kind of life to which we were being called. It was a move born out of necessity, as opposed to simply dispensing with a certain model out of weariness for a better or more novel one. This transition has, in a rather intense way, provided us with deeper opportunities and victories in making disciples. In these types of communities, we’ve found that we are almost always “crashing” into one another as brothers and sisters in Christ (and even with those who journey with us and are not yet followers). We have discovered that many of us are rather fragmented individuals who really don’t know how to persist in
Can I prevent spiritual warfare from occurring?
transformative relationships where Christ is central. We have discovered both the joys and darkness in one another. Some have been sexually and/or ritually abused; often traumatically so, surpassing comprehension in this level of victimization. Some have been dabblers in the occult and self-proclaimed Wiccan priests and priestesses. Some have not had a past as heavy as these, but nonetheless still struggle with negative, condemnatory thinking and wrestle with living victoriously on a day-to-day basis. We find that when bad things have been done to people or good things withheld, lies and misinterpretations can result and can impact lives across the years. It is precisely at the point of the lie in which the enemy rears himself up. Every field to which the Father beckons his workers has its spiritual history and fabric. Some of these can be dark and ridden with forces diametrically opposed to all we represent. That’s simple enough to discern from the biblical witness but a much harder thing altogether to live within firsthand. We aren’t trying to seek out the devil, or to uncover hidden things to prove our suspicions. Sometimes doing so only deepens the unbeliever’s suspicion of us. We find that if we take God at His Word, follow where He leads, and proclaim His release to the captives, we cannot help but stir up the enemy from his strongholds. God has a way of exposing the forces of darkness in order that His light is magnified; and people find healing in His truth. Proclaim the kingdom, and the darkness dispels as we go in His authority. 175
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I have often wondered about the response of Jesus to Peter’s declaration in Matthew 16:18 where, upon the rock of Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Christ, He would build His church. I relish that Jesus said even the gates of Hades (hell) would not prevail against it. Could this possibly be a positional or spatial statement as well—that for whatever gate to prevail against the other presupposes them to be right next to one another (if you can grant that image)? The implications are that the kingdom ought to progress into enemy territory—and why not? We have His name and the keys to victory and the message of life. Church planting unequivocally places the planter on the proverbial front lines. This is where adversarial powers are aligned against the progression of the kingdom of God as it is being birthed and realized in people’s individual hearts, their families, and their communities. It is not a battle in the way that our enemy is on par with the power and knowledge of God—for we live in the dual reality that ours is a victory that is and is yet to come. It is that it mainly feels like a battle and a struggle. We only are engaging in skirmishes as the enemy retreats. In fact, we know that Satan is not outside of the parameters of God’s sovereignty, and God even uses the enemy in spite of himself and his efforts to thwart the things of God. When the adversary sees his powerlessness in the face of God’s intentions for the good, he focuses on the leader to mangle his sense of his identity in Christ and whispers lies. He conjures up wispy skeletons of unresolved emotional places in the heart of the leader that God allows to be exposed so that the leader can experience the transformation and wholeness of God there. The purifying potential of church planting is large in this way. I’ll go so far as to say that church planting is not only a story of what WE can do for God, but it’s also a story of how God is exposing us and inviting us into ways He wants us to be changed and transformed. While Satan would have us function and lead out of our woundedness, God will have none of it. He’ll have the hearts of His leaders or not at all. I know for sure the struggles I feel are often the resistance I have toward God’s overtures to bring me into His greater freedom and light. He doesn’t seem to mind to let me suffer a bit, too. I have learned that in taking His hand through the sometimes Satanically-inspired chaos, He is faithful to weave a tapestry of something truly beautiful and something so radically magnificent that no one could take the glory but God.
Glenn Johnson ~ Glenn and his wife, Cathy, live in Oxford, Ohio, where he serves as the pastor of Veritas.
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THE reality OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE By Tyler and Kristy Ford
Early in the planting of our church, I was caught up in the day-to-day activities
of ministry, going full speed ahead and assuming that whatever I could do and whomever I could serve, must be an opportunity from God. I thought it was necessary for the growth of the church that I help every desperate person around me and give my attention to every event that popped up out of nowhere. I was confident that I was doing the right thing. But I was “killing myself� in the process. I firmly believe that Satan has a plan to destroy every church before it even takes root. He knew that if he could run me ragged with the little things, then it would leave me no time or energy for the vision God had put into my heart. The great enemy of God knew, and still knows, my weaknesses. He knows that I am addicted to pleasing people. He knows that I take responsibility for everything that goes wrong, such as when someone leaves or becomes angry about the way things are going. He knows that I blame myself for everything bad that happens, thinking that it must be my fault because I am the pastor. Satan began targeting my weaknesses to ruin me and destroy our church. His specific plan for me was to send people my way to distract me from the primary plan, the vision that God had given me for the church. When we first started, I had a textbook understanding of spiritual warfare and, therefore, was unaware of the warfare that would play out around me. Satan and the principalities of darkness have manifested themselves over the past four years in a variety of ways. Many have occurred outside of the building, in the midst of doing life and ministry. There have been occurrences inside the church building, as well. There have been incidences when people have strolled in on Sunday mornings only to begin shouting out random things during the sermons. There have been fights in the parking lot, and there have been those with alternative lifestyles hanging on every word being taught, only to judge and criticize us later. Often, Satan uses the hearts of God’s own people. We fight against gossip, rumors, accusations, and lies everyday within our membership.
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I was so caught up in the onslaught and whirlwind of these events that I almost forgot about the enemy’s desire to destroy my family, the new church, and me. I started taking my frustrations out on God. My relationship with Christ began to suffer. Love left my heart, and I became jaded and cynical. I was mad at everyone I was ministering to. It became difficult to even show up on Sunday mornings without harboring some sort of anger in my heart. It took some time, but I began to understand what was happening. As I began to realize that I was in the middle of spiritual warfare, I began to fight against it. I began to recognize that I was fighting a very real and evil presence. I recognized that I was under attack. Now that I have recognized spiritual warfare in its more practical daily manifestations and how it can manifest itself in a multitude of ways, I am better equipped to lead our staff to combat the issue in practical ways. First, we educate the church on the reality of spiritual warfare. When conflict arises we make sure we recognize that Satan has taken a foothold. For me, the most critical piece to understanding spiritual warfare is to first recognize it. In the past, it has been an unseen, unrecognized enemy that was wreaking havoc upon its opponent. When the enemy is uncovered and exposed, he loses a majority of his power.
How do I equip the church family to be prepared for spiritual warfare?
Second, we are teaching the church to put on their defensive armor and pray each situation through with humility. The armor described beginning in Ephesians 6:12 turns out to be surprisingly effective if it is simply used. Prayer is our most valuable weapon and has become the foundation of our ministry. We pray against Satan and his attacks, we pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray for specific events that arise, and we ask for God’s wisdom and direction. Maybe some church plants can survive on the strength of their leadership or by the will of good people who make up their core group. I can say with assurance that our church plant would not have survived if it were not for the power of prayer, the absolute will of God that the gates of hell will not prevail over His church, and the presence of His Spirit guiding us on a daily basis toward wisdom and truth.
Tyler and Kristy Ford ~ Tyler and Kristy live in Marianna, Florida, where Tyler serves as the lead pastor of Southern Community Fellowship.
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disciple making
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ON MAKING DISCIPLES By Randy Ferguson
One of the most important decisions you will make as a church planter is your
decision on how to attempt to fulfill the Great Commission. This decision has everything to do with how you will choose to “make disciples,” a choice that will affect everything from evangelism to leadership development. It is a crucial decision. The closer you can come to duplicating the disciple-making model of Jesus Christ, the more effective you will be in every aspect of church planting and church development. To use any other method than His—and expect the same results—is foolish. And yet, temptations abound in today’s spiritual climate to depend on programs or processes that actually undercut His original design. Remember it? Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20, NIV). The biggest struggle today is not “Will you make disciples?” but rather “How will you make disciples?” Will it be in relationships or in an organizational structure? Will it be for everyone or for a chosen few? Will it be an antiseptic program or filled with the real, messiness of life? The choices you make will determine the results.
Why Make Disciples in Church Planting? It’s OBEDIENCE. Doing it is not an option, it is obedience. Jesus left us the command (the commission). Jesus left us the model. Jesus did it in obedience to His Father. We do it in obedience to Him. If He had failed to be obedient, Christianity would have failed, individually and corporately. 181
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It’s not a propositional situation in which we ask, as a believer, “Are you going to be making disciples?” “Are you going to be multiplying yourself?” “Are you going to be helping others become strong in their faith until they are making disciples themselves?” No—it’s not propositional. It’s imperative. You must. You will make disciples. You will help others become strong until they are making disciples, too. The only freedom in the question we have is “Who will we make into disciples?” This is not a difficult command to measure. Just like you can trace my lineage from Hiram J. Ferguson to Elmer Douglas Ferguson to Edwin Gene Ferguson to Randy Bryant Ferguson and now to a son of mine, Nathan Daniel Ferguson, you can trace your own spiritual lineage and determine if you have been or are being a disciple-maker. The generations tell the story. It’s EFFECTIVE. God had any and all methods at his disposal when Jesus came incarnationally to usher in the kingdom of God. He chose making disciples. That’s because it is the most effective method—and not just by God, but by all of His followers. And not just in the first century—but in any century. Estimates of the number of Christians in AD 100 equal approximately 25,000. Just 200 years later, in AD 310, estimates abound that put the number at somewhere near 20,000,000. How? How did Christianity explode with such power? It exploded through making disciples who make disciples. It was not until after
Who will
Constantinian Christianity that the growth of Christianity slowed—at the onset of institutionalization—
disciple me?
verifies that when the institutional church assumes responsibility for discipleship (a program), it is
and the focus from individual propagation to corporate propagation of the faith took place. History overwhelmingly less effective than when an individual follows the methodology left by Jesus; easy to understand, relational, and reproducible. In fact, a cursory study of church planting movements, in the first century or the twenty-first (in Antioch or in Asia), shows us that every major church planting movement was propagated by individual believers passing on the faith—person to person—and that faith spreading without restraint regardless of the restraints (cultural, religious, or political). It’s CHURCH PLANTING. That is because when you teach new believers to obey everything that Jesus taught—a natural and normal part of that is koinonia (fellowship) and diakonia (service) and it almost always manifests itself in the regular and powerful gathering of His followers together for worship and mission. If we were to judge making disciples with the same standards we judge church planting, we would see that the same questions apply. Are they gathering in small groups? Are people being evangelized? Are leaders being developed? Are all the believers being deployed in the world on mission? Are they reproducing themselves? Most, if not all, of the activities that we associate as “church planting” are innately contained in the Jesus model of making disciples. The problem is that in many of our attempts at planting churches, most of the elements of Jesus’ disciple-making are missing. Churches that begin with a solid foundation of disciples being made are generally stronger churches. That’s because individual believers, who make up the whole body, tend to be healthier in reference to each other, the mission, and the ministries of the entire group. Unity and harmony are often more prevalent.
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It’s IMMORTALITY. Not many of us wake up each morning asking the question, “Am I immortalizing myself today?” But there is a God-given drive in each of us to leave a legacy of eternal results. We all have “immortality symbols” that we invest in on a regular basis. Our careers can serve as that. Our children, as we urge them to be that super athlete, scholar, or pageant winner that we never were, can be that. We lay up for ourselves all manner of treasures, hoping that they will outlast us. Jesus showed us exactly how to do that and to do it with power and effectiveness! He showed us how to make disciples.
What Gets in the Way of Making Disciples? Most of us are out of position for making disciples. Even if we wanted to, or thought it was a great idea to commit our lives to making disciples, there are too many things in the way for us to actually do it. Some of the obstacles are logistical. Some of them are attitudinal. All of them are personal because they keep us from totally following the example left for us by Jesus. Here are just a few of the things that get in the way of making disciples. Comfort. We are both blessed and cursed with the “American Dream.” We are blessed because we have an easy life, full and abundant in most possessions and resources. But we are cursed because while living in this perpetual dream state we have developed an attitude of: “I want what I want when I want it.” This entitlement mentality robs us of the sacrificial spirit and the desire to serve that Jesus required of Himself when He came to establish the kingdom for His Father. The result is an inwardness and selfishness that crowds out the needy in our lives—even those who need Christ and need to be nurtured by us toward Him. Complexity. One of the resulting anomalies from a life of abundance and leisure is complexity. I love my home entertainment system, but it requires a Ph.D. (or a 14-year-old technology genius) to make sense of the miles and miles of cords and cables that grow dust balls behind the armoire. Our epidemic of over-
How do I create a culture that values disciples making disciples?
commitment and busyness leads us to wallow in the self-accusation, “How can I do all I have to do?” Again we find the potential disciple ignored so that we can simply “maintain” the craziness of our self-imposed schedule and commitments. The result in our life is a loss of focus. When we are looking at too many things at once, our vision becomes blurred, and we see nothing clearly. Jesus was fiercely focused on doing the will of His Father. He knew that will was to adequately prepare those men who had been entrusted to Him. That’s what He got busy doing. Corporate model. In the same way that Constantine had a negative effect on the development of Christianity in the first century, the “Church Growth Movement” made remarkable alterations to Christianity in the latter part of the twentieth century. With its emphases on “bottom lines” and “organizational structure,” the movement conditioned Christian leaders to adopt and apply a corporate mentality. While there might be valuable principles and practices that can be studied in a “business as usual” approach, the tendency is to allow these principles to replace the very intentional model of Jesus. What results is a form of godliness without much of the lasting power. The sad fact is that if we are not careful, we will do more marketing than making disciples. We will be more concerned about the growth of buildings and budgets than believers. 183
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Competition. I grew up with it and perhaps you did, too. It was an attitude of, “I want to win and I want to win BIG!” When I was a boy, a simple task such as getting into the car became an instant “contest” for my two brothers and me. The old nature of “self” is easily nurtured, and even pursuits as noble as advancing the kingdom can fall victim to “one-up-man-ship.” In a desire to build our own “empire,” God’s kingdom is often slighted. Jesus knew the temptation. Even though He resisted, this was one of the “big three” that Satan used to try and sidetrack Him. He resisted because He knew exactly what it meant to win. Jesus could have established a traditional kingdom on earth, but He constantly worked on establishing the kingdom of heaven—by making disciples (a few who would remain faithful). The result of adopting a competitive strategy is that winners always imply losers. If I “give all” to have a better church than the one down the block, I am comparing myself to too small a standard (2 Corinthians 10:12). Criticism. One of the things that may sneak up on us and keep us from embracing the method of Jesus in making disciples is a fear of criticism. We may be on constant guard with a mantra such as, “What will others think?” Since making disciples (the way Jesus did) is so counter-culture as it touches modern Christianity, we may begin to believe that no one does it like this and that we will be the “odd-man-out.” Criticisms of favoritism (working with a select few) or small thinking (depending on the mustard seed principle) are true targets in a pure disciple-making pursuit. When we are more concerned about what others think than what God thinks, then many of our decisions are adversely affected. We will tend to impose limits and build boundaries that prevent us from making disciples. Confusion. It has been said, “There is more than one way to catch a mouse.” That’s what leads to the pursuit of the perfect mousetrap. Very few would argue with a similar statement: “There is more than one way to plant a church.” And that may be part of our problem. We have found it inviting, even expected, to try the “next new thing” in church planting. From “team start” to large launch to multi-site … what will be next? Confusion—confusion that comes from so many choices. “With all these options, what should I be doing?” This kind of thinking leads to under-commitment because if what we are doing now doesn’t work, there will be a new approach next year. There may be more than one way to make disciples, but there is only one way that Jesus did it. The first century rabbinical practices may be difficult to reproduce, but the principles He employed are as fresh and applicable today as they were in the olive garden. Limit your choices and you make your impact unlimited. Allow yourself to select from unlimited options for training leaders and building the kingdom, and you will see a direct relationship to the limited results. Choose to follow the example of Jesus, and you will make disciples who will make disciples. Critical attitude. The last few years there have been a rash of books about non-Christians not liking Christians. The attitude toward Christians continues to deteriorate in the public consciousness. No matter who deserves the blame— the believers or those outside the family of faith—the result is the same. Christians, in a large part, live separate from those who are far from Christ. In an atmosphere of contentiousness, it would be easy to adopt an attitude such as, “Those people don’t want God, so why should I waste my time trying?” That has the net effect of removing us from the very people who need to be made into disciples. A simple test is to ask, “How many non-Christian friends do you have?” For the making of disciples to take center stage, a correction will need to be made in our core understanding of and love for those who need a relationship with the God we enjoy.
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Who Should I Choose in Making Disciples? The majority of the activity we call “discipleship” in our churches today is not the biblical pattern for “making disciples.” In a biblical sense, the average church member has not been discipled (most pastors have not, either). We try to pick new believers up somewhere early in their faith and plug them into programs aimed at “spiritual growth,” i.e., development of their knowledge of the Bible and thinking about God and participation in His mission. We do this sometimes well, sometimes, not so well. We are not, with a few exceptions, tending to see “disciple-making” as the selection and maturing of one individual by another individual. Most of the time it is couched in a more formal, organizational model. And, we must admit, the gospel is not advancing as it should on our watch. When Jesus said, “go and make disciples,” He was not saying this in a vacuum. He had purposefully and perfectly demonstrated how to do it. The first part of His practice was choosing. He had to find those who would be His disciples. He did not ignore larger groups of people, but He definitely spent the lion’s share of His time and effort on those He was making into His disciples. We can learn a lot from those He chose. Who should be chosen? What criteria should be used in the choosing? Some argue that Jesus had a supernatural ability to see who to choose to ensure success. I think He just knew His Father well enough to know what was expected of Him. And He knew men well enough (because He had created them and loved them) to have the requisite wisdom to pick the right ones. Here’s an interesting twist I have learned about disciple-making. Anyone can do it and anyone can have it
How do I identify and develop leaders?
done to him or her. Not all will, but all can. What would make your list of worthy disciple candidates? Here’s a list I think comes from Jesus’ demonstration:
1. The UNLIKELY. You don’t have to choose the most likely to succeed.
Don’t look at the outside (or the inside). The truth is, it’s not really who they
are that matters. It’s Jesus who makes the difference.
2. The UNPREDICTABLE. The selection of those to mentor cannot be based
on a hygienic, antiseptic approach. Making disciples is messy! It is unpredictable.
Jesus let the messy part of life be the curriculum for what He had to teach.
3. The UNLIMITED. Everyone is unlimited when you add in the God factor.
This means that no one is automatically excluded. Our dreams are almost always
smaller than God’s. Our vision of what might come from someone is always limited
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4. The UNCOMFORTABLE. Making disciples should keep you in an
uncomfortable state. Risk is an inherent part of the package. Don’t ever
make a choice of a disciple hoping to limit your risk and exposure.
You can’t control it.
5. The UNSAVED. Evangelism is a part of the disciple-making process!
Re-engage the lost in the world. This is not a strategy, it is a lifestyle.
A person’s relationship with Christ should not necessarily be a qualifier
of whether or not we will disciple them.
6. The UNKNOWN. Don’t necessarily choose people you know well. Getting to know one another in the relationship of making a disciple often gives superior results.
How Do I Make Disciples?
How do I develop a strategy and process for making disciples?
Once you have one or two, what do you do with them? This is not the time to break out the systematic theology book, the Seven Steps, or the apologetic encyclopedia. It’s about real life. Jesus made it pretty simple: “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” In the “come,” they were called. In the “follow me,” He was asking them to be conformed to Him (to live the way He lived). In the call to be “fishers of men,” He was revealing what they would be committed to. This is the general goal. While there may be specific practices that work, it’s best to look at principles that guide the process of making a disciple. Here are the most important ones: 1. Call people to follow you. It’s a teacher and student relationship. Disciple doesn’t mean “Christian”— it means “learner.” What makes this acceptable by most of the New Testament models and many since then, is that we are leading them to Christ. (“Imitate me as I imitate Him!”) There is no substitute for asking people to follow you. Pastors do it all the time. By the position we hold and the amount of public time we have to preach and teach, we are counting ourselves worthy to be followed. There is no difference for the one who would rise to the position of “making disciples.” Even though this practice may appear as favoritism or even “cultish,” so what? It’s what Jesus did. Follow it. We are not calling people to a cause, an organization, or a program. We don’t start with a statement of faith or a well-defined creed. We simple say, Come, follow me—I’ll show you the way to Jesus. The simplicity of this approach is astounding. The application is usually hard because we are so used to churches and classrooms as the primary place to mature believers. 2. Begin with a few. Why? Because making disciples is a lot more difficult than teaching a Sunday school class, leading a prayer meeting, or running someone through training. It requires constant, personal attention that is, therefore, best suited to a few. Don’t be caught by the argument that it doesn’t seem like enough. It doesn’t matter how few you work with. If it is successful it will multiply exponentially.
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The most forceful reason to begin with a few is that we are not trying to impress the crowd, we are trying to usher in the kingdom of God. This is the way to do it. Most efforts that begin with the masses or multitudes, in the long run, are incapable of preserving the fruit. Jesus wanted fruit, but only if it had staying power. Many of the approaches to help believers go deeper are to be applauded—they are good to a degree. But there is almost always a large attrition factor with “group-oriented, program-driven learning style.” 3. Do real life together. Here’s the curriculum: REAL LIFE DONE TOGETHER. Credibility is established by “being like everyone else.” Jesus gained credibility through the incarnation. He didn’t win people by appearances but by his heart and love. He was the real deal. The question was: “Up there? “ or “Down here?” For a church planting pastor, that is one of the most crucial questions you will ever ask and answer. Am I going to stay up there, on the pedestal, in the pulpit, “above” the others? Or am I going to move down here where everyone else is (in the course of everyday life)? To make a disciple means to make yourself known: real, available, and vulnerable. With this kind of approach, class is always in session. You don’t get a chance to cram on Saturday night. You’ve either got it or you don’t. A true disciplemaker will be demonstrating life ten times more than he is explaining or teaching about life. Whatever the issues and events of the disciple’s life, that’s the opportunity to teach. With that said, be looking for life occasions in which you can interject spiritual truth, assign tasks, and set expectations. This was the way Jesus did it with the Twelve. 4. Be focused on the person. It is about relationship. How do you know where they are? Your guide to growth will be how well you know them and how easily you relate to them. Begin the process by having the disciple write out a life history listing all the important events of life. Ask for as much detail as they are willing to give. The practice gives the discipler a reference from which to begin. You can tell almost as much from what is not said as from what is said. Read, study, and pray over the story. Look for God’s work in their lives. You may need to hone your friendship skills in order to move the relationship along in the right direction at the right speed. Avoid at all cost this becoming a program or a project. It’s all about the person. 5. Evaluate the relationship continually. Let the disciple know how you think they are doing. Are there things that are getting in the way of you moving along toward maturity? Is it working? Why or why not? Verbalize goals and directions. Revisit them regularly. There should be life change taking place. Evaluate actual transformation. Direction, speed, and destination are all good things to discuss and upon which to make new plans. 6. Stick with them. Don’t expect a lot. Don’t even desire it. It’s going to get hard. They are going to blow it. Schedules are going to change. Situations may change radically—stick with them. There are very few (if any) reasons to bail on a disciple. Every failure, conflict, question, or challenge is an opportunity to help them grow and mature. They will not be strong in the future without this testing in the present. You could ruin them forever if you give up on them when they blow it. If you can stick with them, it reveals your character.
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7. Help them interpret their life and ministry experience. Jesus was a master of this. He took time to help them interpret the meaning of a significant event, episode, or moment in their lives. He saw them as able to translate the tests of life into a part of the journey to where He wanted them to end up. In His case, He was leaving a few followers upon whom the whole of faith would rest. He knew their staying power in the future was being forged in the present as they understood: (1) why they failed, (2) how they could trust God, and (3) what was a realistic expectation in this circumstance. A fishing trip, a preaching meeting, a walk through a vineyard, a day on the water, could all be used as windows to their lives. Don’t miss the teachable moments by telling them what they should have done. Allow them to come to the right conclusions as you ask them questions such as: “Why they acted a certain way? What were they feeling as they did? How could they have lived the opportunity differently?” Help them to judge the experience through their thoughts and feelings, but bring in spiritual truths and examples from your own life. An excellent way to use the Bible is in the context of real life with a disciple. 8. Build in reproduction. Our work is never finished. From the outset, tell of those who “helped” you. Speak regularly and with excited anticipation of the day in the future when you see your disciple helping someone else. Talk about all the spheres where disciple-making can take place. Give solid examples of others who are involved at this time. Introduce him to others whom you have trained. Let him try as early as he is ready. Stay with him through these first attempts. Use it as a means to teach deeper principles of disciple-making. 9. Give it time. Don’t be in a hurry. Be determined. There is no timetable. Don’t get disappointed. Allow everything to be used for the good. It will appear that nothing is happening, but God is at work and life is being invested by God—it will burst forth at the right time. This is God’s mustard seed principle at work. He will take what seems like a little and make something huge out of it. We often give up before God has even started! Every disciple has his own pace (just as no two of my children are the same). Celebrate the diversity by honoring God for His creativity in the creation of these people. 10. Give increasingly more time near the end. Here’s a principle that will seem backwards to you: give more time, not less as you go along. Keep them near you, more and more, as you are about to release them. Take them deeper—more rapidly toward the close. Half of all recorded information about Jesus and His disciples occurred during the last month of His life with them. Jesus had a deliberate strategy to be sure they were ready for Him to move on. Be sure that your disciples are ready when it’s time for you to move on and for them to move on.
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How Do I Know I Am Succeeding in Making Disciples? The best way to measure success is to ask, “Am I getting the same results that Jesus did?” It’s ridiculous to expect the results Jesus had using any other method (even a discipleship program). You can’t measure the total effect your life will have on the kingdom until you bow at the feet of Jesus, but you can measure whether or not you have made a quality disciple this year. Success this year for you could be one disciple. There is no way to measure the eternal impact of one person maturing in Christ and serving Him selflessly. Don’t be overly concerned with measurements. All the usual standards could be compromised, and if you are making disciples, nothing could defeat your purpose. Your church could fail. Your family could get sick and die. Your finances could crumble. Your leaders could desert you. Your support and partners can be severed. And still your part in the kingdom could be called success based on what goes on at the throne when you arrive there! Here are some less objective standards to watch for: Are lives being changed? The kingdom of God is about transformation—one life at a time. Are they self-aware about sin, needs, desire to change? Are those closest to them aware that they are changing? Are they desirous to see others change (mission dei)? Jesus said, “… teaching them to obey all I have commanded you.” He demonstrated it, they changed. You demonstrate it, they change. Is there longevity? Does the fruit remain? Is the disciple relationship sustaining? Do you connect and reconnect months, years, even decades later? Are the dynamics of the relationship still in place? Do you maintain correspondence? Contact?
How do I evaluate the success of our church in making disciples?
Am I leaving a legacy? When some follow you to Christ, do others follow them to Him, too? Can you draw a family tree of discipleship? You may not know all of it—you may not see it all—but is it evident at several levels? Is it multi-generational? Is God pleased? This one may seem too subjective, but that’s why I like it. I can tell you today, if I am honest, whether I think God is pleased with me or not. But the greater joy is to feel His pleasure and to know it when you present to Him the fruits of His labor among the few that God allowed you to pour your life into. A constant and intentional study of the life of Jesus as He made disciples will be the greatest asset to your attempts at planting a church. The presence of the Holy Spirit to guide you and affirm your decisions and directions will be brought to greater bear when you are following the example of Jesus. Make disciples!
Randy Ferguson ~ Randy and his wife, Sue, live in Cumming, Georgia, where he serves in the Church Planting Group of the North American Mission Board.
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stageS of development for a disciple By Randy Ferguson
STAGE
DISCIPLE’S CONFESSION
EMPOWERS
EXHORT
ENCOURAGE
ENGAGE
“I don’t know who Christ is but I think I would like to know more.”
“I am beginning to know who Christ is, and He’s helping me get on the right track.”
DISCIPLE’S ATTITUDE • Curiosity • Caution • Anger toward Christians or Church • SELF-ABSORBED
DISCIPLE’S SPIRITUAL FOOTING
DISCIPLER’S RESPONSE (Disciple’s Needs)
• Friendship
“I want to have a
Slippery
relationship
Slope
with you.”
• Patience • Acceptance • Intense interest • Understanding
CONVERSATIONAL CONTENT • Common interests • Everyday activities • Life experiences • Current events • Family & friends
“I want to
• Connection with
• Dogmatic
help you
• Excited
Struggling
other believers
move in
• Spiritual appetite
to Stand
the right
• SELF-CENTERED
direction.”
• Connecting
• Focus on “I know Christ, disciplines and He is affecting me to a • Transforming degree that my • Embracing truth family and friends • Sharing stories notice the change.” • SELF-EXAMINING “I know Christ intimately, and He is helping me help others to come to know Him.”
DISCIPLER’S COMMITMENT
• Focus on others • Attempting ministry • Compelled to make disciples • SELF-SACRIFICING
“I want to help you as you commit to Christ and change.”
“I want to help you as you help others in following Christ.”
• Balance in life
• Personal stories • Attitudes • Opinions • Spiritual questions • Struggles & victories
• Gentle confrontation • Instruction in how to study the Word • Challenge • Modeling of service • Experimentation in ministry
• Scripture stories • Disciplines of the faith • Transformation • Sharing faith with others • Right thinking (orthodoxy)
• Trust
• Life purpose • Mission and ministry • Impact of life • Other people • Deep doctrines
• Support if falls • Journey stories
Some Stumble
Steady Steps
• Freedom • Consultation • Direction • Celebration
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COACHING AND discipleSHIP By Dino Senesi
New churches often seize the attention of an unconventional audience. A friend’s
invitation to a storefront, elementary school, or the local YMCA for “church” seems, for some people, less threatening. The curious and the desperate give “it” a try. So who are these people? Some are from the addicted, harassed, and helpless crowd with lives that are falling apart. Consumer-driven participants with worldviews from all across the map attend. Include people from the churchdamaged pool, and you have the picture of one happy, highly-dysfunctional family. The result: although yet to be featured on the Discovery Channel’s show “Dirty Jobs,” disciple-making could be the dirtiest job in a new church. Making disciples out of the harvest becomes one of the greatest and, most often, neglected challenges a church planter must face. Perhaps this is why so few are doing a good job at it.
Obstacles on the Path to Disciple-Making The body of evidence is compelling. We don’t do well at making disciples. George Barna’s research in his book, Revolution, reminds us of this fact:
• The typical churched believer will die without leading one person to Christ.
• Nine percent of born-again adults have a biblical worldview.
• Churched Christians give away an average of 3% of their income.
• One out of every six churched believers has an accountability relationship with another believer.
• A churched married couple is as likely to get a divorce as an unchurched married couple.35
One reason is clear: making disciples is a dirty, time-consuming job. Robert Coleman, author of the classic work on disciplemaking, The Master Plan of Evangelism, said “Discipleship is more of a long-term commitment, it is like raising kids.”36 35 George Barna, Revolution (Ventura, Calif.: BarnaBooks, 2005), pp. 32-35. South Carolina Baptist Convention Staff Development Conference, October 30, 2008.
36
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Challenges in Church Plants to Disciple-Making Sunday Morning. Lights—camera—action! It’s show time! New churches are often led by creative, culturally-savvy, technologically-advanced leadership teams. “Cool” sermon series, custom video clips, and elaborate set designs are all a part of their Sunday environments. Every week includes a rush of adrenaline that accompanies a sincere desire to create the right connecting point for those who are “far from God.” Although it may look and feel great, it comes with the price of high stress, large financial investment, and incredible energy drain. Beyond the drain caused by a creative, energetic Sunday morning focus is the negative effect it has upon participants. Attendees can leave the Sunday morning experience unchallenged to do any more than cherish the experience. New churches must include clear next steps for the development of a deeper relationship with Christ in every worship event. Clear pathways to small groups and deeper, more challenging discussions on spiritual development are needed. Consistent biblical teaching on resources and the potential for a new life in Christ should be offered. Chris Ruppe of The Cypress Project and North Rock Hill Church said, “You need an effective Sunday morning. But if you do nothing to move people forward in their journey, then you create a lot of hype with little, true transformation.”37 Program-Driven. The ineffectiveness of program-driven strategies is often overstated. If biblical purposes
How can programs and events contribute to disciple making?
drive programs, biblical results occur. Most of us, who have been in church for some time, experienced a high percentage of our formal discipleship through programs. Therefore, in spite of our desire to plant a new church “outside of the box,” program-driven ministry is what most of us know. What we know is what we default to, particularly in light of the intense pressure church planters face to become successful in a hurry. The problem is that new churches face incredible obstacles to conducting a program-driven strategy that existing churches do not. Programs always require focus and energy. New churches will most likely lack the space, volunteers, and money that make program-driven strategies work. No Target. What does a disciple look like, anyway? Vince Lombardi began the Green Bay Packers training camp each summer with a football in his hand. His opening words to the team were, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” Although he stated the obvious, he was clear to his team about the most critical part of the game. I have participated and facilitated church planter networks and pre-deployment workshops for the past ten years. Leading planters through a process of developing a clear definition of a disciple has been critical. Before process or systems design, mission statements, or ministry strategies, there must be a clear understanding of our God-given target (Matt. 28:19-20). From the commitment of the first core family to launch day, a church planter must hold up a clear picture of the most critical part of the game. “This is a disciple.” He must say it and help people experience it, over and over again. Low Target. Similar to no target, a low target settles only for the elements that make a new church thrive. Maturity is measured by the critical ingredients which help the new church, and not necessarily items from the life of Christ. Do they attend? Do they cooperate with the church planter? Do they give money? Do they volunteer? Although these are fair expectations on any disciple’s scorecard, the scorecard must go deeper. What about the ownership of a Christian worldview, evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in their lives, and the reproduction of disciples? Fostering a low target may also cause you to design your church in a way that is only attractive to Christians. As your church becomes more attractive to sheep from another flock, it usually becomes less attractive to lost sheep.
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E-mail correspondence, October 31, 2008.
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Good Intentions. Planters often have clear, scripted answers to how their new church is supposed to work. Books, Web sites, coaching, training, and networks abound. So here’s a quick question, “Church planter, how do you make disciples?” The most common response is “small groups.” Next question, “How is that working for you?” Disciplemaking seldom “just happens.” Good intentions or even clear definitions do not produce disciples. Neither do small groups automatically transform people. Replicable environments and informal but intentional relationships are critical elements for God to grow people. Poor Preparation. Rob Blackaby, church planter of Southwinds Church in Calgary (and nephew of Henry Blackaby), addressed a group of church planters. He said, “If you think you are ready to plant, don’t start yet.”38 Many things drive church planters to go fast. All of those things are not evil or stupid. However, over my last 20 years of assisting church planters, the most common mistake is that they go too fast. The more decisions you make “on the fly,” the more is left to chance and short-term thinking. Core groups are not prepared to make disciples, and in some cases, may not be made up of mature disciples. People show up to a decent show on launch day, but no real disciples are on display in the environment. No clear discipleship definitions or systems are in place. Remember, making mature, reproducing disciples will never, “just happen.” Spiritual Warfare. The entire body of Christ is guilty. We preach and talk about the devil like he is real. We pray and live like he is a cartoon character in a Saturday morning Bible episode. Satan is not against you starting a church. Let me say that again. Satan is not against you starting a church. He is against your church being on mission in your community. He opposes your church becoming an instrument of God focused on the transformation of the lives of friends, communities, and nations through the power of Jesus Christ. He is against you planting a movement instead of a church. Satan is for keeping lost people lost.
Values and Practices of Disciple-Making Churches Transformational Culture. Missional leaders agree that the most attractive aspect of a local church is people who have experienced changed lives through the power of Christ. William Barclay described the early church as attractive. He said “Real Christianity is a lovely thing … It has a winsome attractiveness about it”39 Bob Roberts said: “When explaining the impact Christianity should have on us, I prefer the word transformation. Unless we are altogether transformed into the image of Christ in how we live and behave, we are no different from any other religion in the world promising enlightenment and self-improvement.”40 Disciple-making churches nurture a culture that leads to life transformation. You can identify what they value by what they practice. They tell, and celebrate, the stories of lives changed through various media within their church. Biblical
South Carolina Church Planter Commissioning Service, March 9, 2008.
38
William Barclay, ed., The Acts of the Apostles: The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), p. 31.
39
Bob Roberts, Jr., Transformation: How Glocal Churches Transform Lives and the World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), p. 65.
40
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stories are used to explain God’s will for life change in small groups, informal conversations, and large gatherings. Clear pathways for personal growth and maturity are on display. A transformational culture is so distinct that even a first time guest, far from God, can determine what is really important in the church. Coaching. Bill Hybels was brutally honest as he assessed the success of Willow Creek in response to a 2004 congregational survey. Hybels learned, in spite of the good things happening, “nearly one out of every four people at Willow Creek were stalled in their spiritual growth or dissatisfied with the church, and many of them were considering leaving.” He commented that the research findings caused him to “rethink how we coach Christ-followers”41 Spiritual coaching as a discipleship process has proven to be a critical component for those who are getting it done. The purpose of a coaching relationship is to help the coachee identify where they are in their maturation journey, help them identify a pathway towards growth, and then hold them accountable. The entire process, therefore, is dependent upon the ability to listen and craft questions and not give direction. John Lawlor of Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho (15,000 people attending in eight years, 3,000 recorded baptisms, 800 small groups) embodies the coaching approach to discipleship. “I do not use the teach you—tell you what you should do—approach to helping people. Instead I choose to listen. When I listen to you speak, hear where you are in life, your thoughts and responses reveal to me your level of maturity. Then, I begin to share with you a more mature perspective by asking questions.”42 Assessment. Real Life Church in Post Falls, Idaho, has clearly identified four stages of maturity in people: Share (infant), Connect (child), Ministry (warrior), Discipler (parent). Willow Creek’s study identified the segments of maturity: exploring Christianity, growing in Christ, close to Christ, and Christ-centered. Utilizing spiritual coaching for making disciples compliments your love for people. Diversity of backgrounds, motivations, and learning styles vary dramatically from person to person. Coaching does not assume that “one size fits all” when it comes to growth and life change. The critical question for the spiritual coach is, “Where are you in the process?” Assessment of where people are spiritually is critical if you want to see them advance. For Chris Ruppe, pastor of North Rock Hill Church, his small group leaders are taught to assess and give a customized plan of growth for their small group participants. Clear definitions and phases make ongoing assessment possible. Process. Neal McGlohon, coach and coordinator of The Cypress Project in Rock Hill, South Carolina, emphasized the need for a process that has the “key content essential to growth delivered through replicable environments and relationships.”43 The process does not focus on “doing” alone, but “being” in Christ as well. A systematic approach that begins with pre-Christian and moves someone to becoming a reproducing disciple is another example of how a discipleship process should work. What does the pre-Christian need (environments, relationships, resources, and so forth) that will keep them moving towards maturity? Process design ensures that along the journey, everything needed for growth and development is made available and is clearly valued. The rest is up to God and a person open to His work.
Greg L. Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, Reveal: Where are You? (Barrington, Ill.: Willow Creek Association, 2007), p. 4.
41
Conversation, October 30, 2008.
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A significant part of the process design is determining your definition of a disciple. Similar to mission and vision statements, most elements are the same for every definition. Yet there are differences. A planter in urban Chicago does not have the same context in which to live out the following of Christ as does a planter in Hilton Head. What does a mature disciple look like in your context? What attitudes are observable in a Christ-follower? What choices do you see a disciple make? What behaviors are evident? Work on something that is clear and concise, something based upon the life and teachings of Christ. The process, and therefore, the environment you create are dependent upon your definition of a disciple and your context. Movement. Rick Warren introduced us to the importance of movement through his famous baseball diamond diagram back in 1995. His book, The Purpose Driven Church, has been translated into 21 languages and has sold over one million copies. No more vivid metaphor can be used that illustrates the importance of movement. While attending a church in Cincinnati, I trained base coaches with the assignment of assessing where people were and trained them to keep them moving. Having all the right elements in place does not necessarily make life change happen. No one can produce life change on paper. Real people will populate the process and real people (mentors, disciplers, coaches, trainers) invest relationally in the process in order to make sure people are growing. Collaboration. Unhealthy relationships, addictions, and sinful habits pose a significant obstacle to personal transformation. Planters must realize that they need help in addressing these issues. Overwhelmed by the continual challenge of those who need extra attention, new planters can lose focus. Neal McGlohon advised, “Keep yourself in the harvest and focused on transformation by letting others help with the ‘messed up’ parts of people’s lives.” Partner with your community agencies and other churches to address addictions. Join with a network or other planters to engage a solid, local counselor. Participate in events designed to address the needs of people who live in your community. Volunteer to assist with the ongoing efforts of organizations that are already investing in the health of the community. God already has people in your community who are doing great ministries. Build relationships with them and work together. Relationships. All of the above is tied together by the thread of relationships in the Christian community. No matter the style of your churches in the past, the vast majority of your growth came through informal conversations and people you watched live out the life of Christ. In Philippians 4:9, Paul said, “The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (NASB). John Lawlor said that the best training program we have is modeling. His advice to church planters who desire to make disciples was to: “Be real, focus on people, not on tasks, the tasks are only vehicles God uses for you to get to know people. If you follow Jesus’ model, we reach 12, and release those 12.”
What is your next step? One of my favorite coaching questions is simple. “As you face the future challenges of planting a church, remember that the details can overwhelm you. What challenge will be the most important to you? What purpose will enlist passion within you and therefore, drive your church?” Embrace the Great Commission challenge of making disciples. 197
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This is our most effective strategy for changing the world. Here are some suggestions to get you started:
1. Pray and engage others in prayer. Spiritual growth is the work of the Holy Spirit.
2. Read, research, and ask questions. Learn from those who have an effective
disciple-making process. 3. Join a church planter network committed to reaching your community for Christ. God has called others to reach your community as well. Labor together.
4. Involve your core team in developing your process.
5. Define what a disciple is. Identify clear phases for growth and development.
Design a clear and simple process that leads to life transformation. 6. Tell your stories. God gets the glory and others are inspired when stories are told.
Robert Coleman carefully chronicled the life of Christ in evangelism, multiplication, and disciple-making in his book, The Master Plan of Evangelism. He has spent the last 50 years of his ministry making disciples. As a practitioner he states, “Here is where we must begin just like Jesus. It will be slow, tedious, painful, and probably unnoticed by people at first. But the end result will be glorious, even if we don’t live to see it. Seen this way, though, it becomes a big decision in your ministry. We must decide where we want our ministry to count …” How about you? The job will be dirty but the rewards can change the world. Roll up your sleeves and get ready for an adventure!
Further Resources Core Group Development Material Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman (1993 edition includes a valuable group study guide.) Identity: Who You Are in Christ, Eric Geiger Transformation: How Glocal Churches Transform Lives and the World, Bob Roberts The Divine Mentor: Growing Your Faith as You Sit at the Feet of the Savior, Wayne Cordeiro
Systems and Growth Stage Design Church is a Team Sport, Jim Putman Reveal: Where are You? Greg L. Hawkins and Cally Parkinson Revolutionary Leadership, Tri Robinson
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Web Sites www.ericgeiger.com (Eric has a process design survey used to evaluate your process.) www.reallifeministries.com (The Immersion Conference held eight times a year helps you experience their unique small group and discipleship process at work.) www.nciglobal.org (Glen Smith provides resources, coaching, and training to support systems design and support.)
Dino Senesi ~ Dino and his wife, Yvette, live in West Columbia, South Carolina, where he writes, coaches, and serves as Lead Team Coach Coordinator for the Cypress Project.
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It’s all about intentionality By Michael Bailey
Within Midtown Fellowship, developing disciples can be summed up in one
word: intentional. Everything we do is done with the purpose of helping our body mature into a Christ-centered family on mission with Him. In light of Scripture, we believe that the goal of the church is not only to proclaim the gospel to the world but also to help believers mature in their relationship with Christ. Jesus’ own words make this objective unarguably clear. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20, HCSB). Thus, we intentionally attempt to create environments that provide the opportunity for our people to become more like Christ. Our efforts are distinguished in three primary ways: corporate teaching and worship, missional living opportunities, and intentional relationships focused on growth and development. We believe that a combination of these three, with a specific emphasis on intentional relationships, best contributes to the growth of the disciple. Rarely will there be a story from our family of a believer becoming more like Christ without, in some way, interacting with all three.
Corporate Teaching and Worship Hebrews 4:12 declares that the Word of God is living and effective … able to penetrate the heart and the soul; therefore, Midtown Fellowship seeks to make the most of every opportunity to place God’s Word into the lives of our church body. Jesus’ teachings to the crowds and the apostles’ proclamation of God’s Word serve as examples of the Holy Spirit using public teaching to incite hearts to repent and pursue God. Similarly, the Midtown family pursues corporate (or public) teaching for this same purpose in a variety of ways, such as weekly worship services called “the Gathering,” member meetings, and educational classes designed to strengthen us in the area of doctrine or ministry. People in our Southern Bible-belt culture are already accustomed to these types of gatherings, so we choose to intentionally leverage those ideas for the gospel. 201
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There is a college student in our family named Sean. Sean will tell you the first time he came to one of our gatherings he was undisputedly hung over. Sean had been living a life full of drunkenness and debauchery. He felt like he “needed a little church” in his life and knew some friends that attended Midtown. Sean came time after time and heard Scripture preached over and over again. He says he can remember thinking several times while listening to our pastor, Dustin, preach from the Bible, “Man, this guy is talking right to me!” In the midst of his discouragement, Sean came to one of our “creative worship services.” In these services, we help our family to worship God through a variety of different creative avenues such as art, writing, and so forth. Dustin briefly spoke on Philippians 4:4-7, challenging us to come to God with our anxieties. Once again, Sean got that feeling that the message was directed toward him. “Okay,” he said, “that’s what I’ll do.” He spent the rest of the night face down in prayer. The Holy Spirit convinced him that this whole “Jesus thing” was the real deal and that he needed Christ to be his Savior. Crying and trembling with excitement, he sat down with others to talk it through and surrendered his life to God. As Sean continued to come back to our gatherings, he continued to hear more and more about God’s desires for his life. The Holy Spirit continued to show him his sin and how he needed to make changes in the way he lived life. In addition, he began to develop meaningful relationships within the church family, got connected with a small group, took classes offered to help train in theology and ministry, and began serving in any way he possibly could. To this day, you’ll find Sean unloading equipment, ushering, greeting, and working the information table on any given Sunday. Stemming from initial encounters with public teaching and worship, the Holy Spirit has turned Sean from a lost, reckless youth to a rapidly maturing follower of Christ.
Missional Living Opportunities The second type of environment we provide to help our people grow as disciples are opportunities to live missionally in our city. We call it “community missions.” In John 20:21, Jesus says that we, as disciples, are sent to our world with the very same purpose that the Father sent Him to earth—to seek and save the lost. We believe deeply in the priesthood of all believers, that we are all mediators between God and wayward humanity, sent to proclaim the good news of God’s grace and reconciliation. This means that we are commanded to go and be the church in our city and beyond. Living missionally in our city is for the good of our city as it brings the hope of the gospel to the hopeless. However, as we go, love, and serve others, we are changed as well. In fact, doing so is an integral part of developing a gospel-centered life for every believer because it practically teaches us the heart of humility, selflessness, and service necessary to follow Jesus more intimately. This is a significant avenue of discipleship in our family. We accomplish this by providing opportunities for our members to go out and take the hope of Jesus to our city in tangible ways—to the hungry, the homeless, the widows, the orphans, the single moms, and the oppressed. Our goal through all of these opportunities is to help our family embrace a lifestyle of selfless service and see this as a natural response to the gospel.
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Luis is a middle-aged Hispanic man in our family who literally used to live in a dumpster a half-mile from where we have “the Gathering.” A group of college students from our church were hanging out in the park and they met Luis, who at the time was lying in a ditch drinking rubbing alcohol. They hung out with him for a while, invited him to church, and he came the next week. As he continued to come and get connected, he started volunteering and serving in different ways. Luis is now a Christian, was baptized several months ago, continues to serve all the time, is no longer homeless, and is completely self-supporting. When we helped Luis move in to his apartment, one of the first things he said, with tears in his eyes, was “When can we do this for someone else, because I want to help?” A culture of missional living has not only helped bring Luis into our family, his participation in a culture focused on service was also used by the Holy Spirit to help him understand the truth of the gospel and become a new creation. So while we find joy in the fact that living missionally will introduce Christ to the people we seek to serve, we also know and celebrate the fact that it will definitely change those serving in the process.
Intentional Relationships Last, disciples are made through relationships designed to intentionally push us closer to Jesus and His mission. While corporate teaching and missional living greatly contribute to our growth, they are supplemental in comparison to investing in personal relationships. It is our relationships in the Christian community that consistently challenge us to know Christ more intimately and live more like Him. Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (HCSB). As a family, we seek to put ourselves in relationships where the Holy Spirit can use us to spur one another toward becoming more like Christ. Our primary vehicle for cultivating these types of relationships is through a network of small groups, which we call “LifeGroups.” LifeGroups are much more than a once-a-week Bible study or hang-out. Rather, they are groups of individuals committed to pursuing Christ and carrying out His mission together. LifeGroups are marked by five habits that were revealed in the New Testament church described in Acts 2:42-47. The groups actively engage in (1) studying Scripture together, (2) eating together, (3) praying together, (4) sharing life together, and (5) serving their community together. Groups will commit to holding each other accountable for what God is teaching them individually and communally. They bear each other’s burdens, pray, encourage, and rebuke one another as necessary. Jeremy is a LifeGroup leader at Midtown Fellowship. He spends most of his time intentionally investing in a group of about eight college freshman guys. His story begins a year before he even came to college. Our church had barely begun, but there was a small group of young men who started one of our first LifeGroups, understanding that pursuing Jesus together was biblical and important to their spiritual wellbeing. They spent their days hanging out, having dinner, watching television together, studying the Bible, praying for one another, challenging each other, and serving within the church together. 203
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After a year, God revealed to the guys in the group that they needed to take what they had experienced and repeat the process by starting new groups. As a freshman in college, Jeremy became a member of one of these new groups. At the time, he was merely going through the motions of his faith and was rather lackadaisical when it came to pursuing a relationship with Christ. Over the course of the next year, two young men fervently invested their lives in Jeremy. They made it a priority to spend as much time as possible with “their guys” and, therefore, had an open door policy at their house. Anytime one of the guys wanted or needed to come over, they were completely welcome to do so. As a group, they began studying through books of the Bible together. They would discuss that week’s sermons together and figure out ways to hold each other accountable in their pursuit of Christ. Whenever his leaders had a concern with Jeremy’s walk with Christ, they would sit down with him and say the hard stuff. Through their influence in his life, Jeremy changed from being a lazy Christian to one that actually cared about his and others’ relationship with Christ. Jeremy is taking what he experienced and is investing himself into the next wave of guys.
God’s Work Our passion for making disciples is expressed as we seek to create environments that open the door for the Holy Spirit to transform the hearts of His children. First Corinthians 3:7 explains, “So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God gives the growth” (HCSB). Ultimately, at Midtown we know that we do not actually cause disciples to be made, but God is the one solely responsible for their growth. However, we have a role in facilitating the process. Our teaching of God’s Word in corporate worship, in the provision of missional opportunities, and the building of intentional relationships are approached with a sense of purpose. We know that the goal is to develop a body of mature Christ-following, Christ-proclaiming believers, who seek to glorify God by repeating the process over and over again. We do everything that we do for this reason.
Michael Bailey ~ Michael currently lives in Columbia, South Carolina, where he serves as the Director of LifeGroups for Midtown Fellowship.
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engaging your community with the gospel
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ENGAGING OUR COMMUNITIES By Steve Canter
“Dad, why are we doing this?” Katie Beth (my oldest of three daughters)
asked. I responded, “Well honey, we want people to know that Graceland (the name of our church plant) loves them and so does Jesus.” She accepted the answer, and we continued hanging a bag on the front door of a home in our community. I took my two oldest daughters, Katie Beth and Madison, with me that day to help promote our new church plant. My wife and I had decided from the beginning that church planting would be a family adventure, and the role of the kids would be important to our success. (Plus, it kept me from having to walk up all those driveways!) We ended up distributing 350 bags with a trinket from our church plant and an invitation to a sermon series on that 90-degree day. We were exhausted! That week, several people from our young church would do the same thing as we attempted to do an all-out blitz of the community. Heeding the advice of other church planters and a book that I read, I told my people the best time to do this was in the afternoon when everyone was at work. You could avoid conversation and get a lot more done in a shorter amount of time. That is strategic thinking! Driving home from our tiresome odyssey, my girls sat quietly in the back of the mini-van. I knew my wife would be proud of me for wearing out our little girls. They would be in bed and asleep before 7:30 p.m., and my wife and I would have some much needed time together. All of the sudden, Katie Beth shouted, “Daddy! Daddy! I got it! I know what we can do!” Shocked to hear life coming from the back of the van I quickly asked, “What’s that, honey?” “We can go to every house in Hamilton (our community in Ohio) and give them a tea party.” She was referring to her new princess tea set we recently bought. I responded with, “Okay, but why do you want to do that?” 207
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Then my “prophet” daughter spoke words from God that I will never forget, “Dad (in a “Don’t you get it” voice that sounded more like DaaaaaD!), so people know Jesus loves them.” It was my “Nathan” confronting “King David” moment (2 Samuel 12). Through the voice of a five-year-old, Christ brought recognition of sin and a brokenness that moves me today as I write. The strategy (the most bags distributed with the fewest real conversations possible) that I put into practice in no way connected our church with the community and did less good connecting our community with God! It was merely a numbers game. The more 50-cent trinkets and fancy invitations we could pass out, the more statistically would respond and come to our worship service. It was an attempt to bypass engaging the community that God had trusted us to be a part of. I vowed on my way home that I would lead the church to be in the community, connecting relationally with people and using every opportunity, whether through events or simply greeting people on the streets, to start conversations. I made a new decree. From that point forward, we would do all we could to engage people in everything we did. As a reader of this book, I assume you have begun or will soon begin the precarious church planting pilgrimage. I’m not going to tell you how to promulgate your weekly gatherings and dole out church
How can I discern what is essential biblically as I develop a contextualized ministry model?
information. I want to share with you some principles for engaging your community that can be applied in any context—whether it is a community of faith meeting in some bohemian coffee shop or a large launch intended to attract people to your campus. To engage our communities we must be culturally relevant. The Bible gives us a mandate that we make the message understandable. Paul said, “I have become all things to all people.” Why? Because the message has to be appropriate to the culture. The “why” is constant, it never changes: “for the sake of the gospel.” However, the “how” will differ and should be determined by the “who, when, and where” of our community. Being culturally relevant does not mean copying the ministries of other churches that are having great
success. Instead, you should become a student of your community—learning the patterns and nuances of the community. Too often, we try to do ministry in a context that is not ours, but a knockoff of something read in a book or heard at a conference. Books, conferences, and other forms of information-sharing are great. Use the experiences of others as a creative spark, but think of ways to connect with your community. One danger of being culturally relevant is that some may compromise the message for the sake of connecting. As we engage our community, above anything else, we must be biblically faithful. The reason we engage the community is not so that we can be hip, cool, cutting-edge, or trendy, but so that people can hear the message. It seems so many churches are leaning toward what is culturally sensitive (a good thing), but in doing so exhibit weak biblical truths. Jesus told His disciples to “be as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16, HCSB). We are to be shrewd in bridge-building with the community but harmless in our integrity as we communicate biblical truth. Can we be culturally relevant and biblically faithful at the same time? I think we can. The apostle Paul uses this approach in Acts 17. As Paul engaged the Greeks in Athens with conversation, he could have confronted the culture 208
and condemned it. Instead, Paul chose to find common ground so he could engage people with the known God.
ENGAGING OUR COMMUNITIES
Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:22-23, HCSB). Paul displayed a love for the community by taking the time to walk and talk with its inhabitants. By being a student of that culture, he was able to quote from it and then confront people with the truth of the gospel in a manner that connected with the audience. I believe Paul gave us a biblical model we can use. As we seek to engage our community in biblically faithful and culturally relevant ways, we should connect unbelievers with people, not a church program. Quality music, programs, and events are important things for the church planter. A lot of attention and focus should be invested in providing these things for our community. But my experience in ministry has taught me that if there is no relational connection with the visitor within three visits to a church (weekend gathering, event, or other), then we will not see them again. Unbelievers connect best with people, not programs and events. Planning events and programs create environments and opportunities for people to develop friendships with others. Don’t think that every community event needs to immediately result in more people attending your worship gatherings. It is important that your events connect people in the community with you and others in the church plant. Developing friendships with people takes more time and effort but usually results in a greater and longer-lasting impact. Christ calls us to love and serve when engaging our community. We cannot claim to love our
What are some practical ways to engage my community?
community and be a church for the community without demonstrating love. We are not dealing just with beliefs. We are engaging people; people who feel emotions, struggle with life issues, and people who are created in the imago dei, the very image of God. I suspect that is what Jesus was thinking when He looked over the city of Jerusalem and was moved to tears. Jesus had compassion for the people. He saw a broken city with messed up relationships, corrupted religion, and people who were lost but who were created in the Father’s image. As you look out over your Jerusalem to discern what is broken, don’t neglect to find places where others are already at work and involved in community transformation. Your new church may be more effective engaging the community by walking beside non-profit organizations, the school system, government agencies, or those working towards social justices. Instead of always looking to create a new way to meet the needs, look for ways to bring kingdom influence to established groups by reflecting God’s truth and goodness in service. Redeeming what is broken in our communities through love and service helps answer the questions, “What does the gospel say to my broken relationships? How does the gospel bring life to a ritualistic religion that appears to have no power? How does the gospel impact my spending, my time, and the way I interact with my neighbor?” When we start to answer these questions, not as a mental exercise but as we do real life with others, we will begin seeing Christ redeem what is broken and lost. 209
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In the remainder of this section, you will read others’ stories on connecting with their community in appropriate ways. The methods are different, but they reflect the context of the culture they are in and the best of who the church plant is. Understand that no two communities are the same. You will need to base your plan around the place and people God has called you to reach. To engage your community is to see it from a different perspective—God’s perspective. After my commitment to become involved in my community, I began praying a simple, daily prayer. “Father, give me Your heart for this place.” At least once a week, I would walk the streets of my neighborhoods repeating that simple prayer. “Father, give me Your heart for this place.” I did this for about three months, not sure what to expect, but it was getting me into the community and a chance to connect with people. I heard their stories of excitement, stories of pain, but most of the times just pleasantries were exchanged. However, I continued to pray every day, “Father, give me Your heart for this place.” One night, I woke up out of a deep sleep with serious chest pains. I really thought I was having a heart attack and getting ready to meet my Maker. Not wanting my wife to wake up next to a dead husband, I struggled to go downstairs and die on the couch. I’m serious! I thought this was it! On the couch I said a little prayer as I prepared for the inevitable. I met my Maker that night, but not in a way that I expected. God impressed on me something that night that could only come from Him. God began giving me His heart for His people in my community. It was as if I was feeling His pain when I thought of the dad who told me how months earlier he held his dead toddler in his arms waiting for an ambulance. I felt a lump in my throat and couldn’t swallow as I thought of a family I met who was getting a divorce. I physically hurt over the children living in poverty; I hurt over the alcoholics. All of these people were without a relationship with Jesus. I cried and I prayed. It was more than I could bear. It was as if my heart was breaking. When we engage our communities in biblically faithful ways, we begin to experience a small part of God’s heart for the people of that community. We notice things about the condition of people that have always been there, but we were too spiritually blind to see. We receive an agony to see Christ’s kingdom seep into every crack of the community so that there may be healing and hope where it does not exist. If you are going to lead your church to engage the community, let me warn you: it does not come easy, and it does not come without your own pain. As a church planter, you are not called to start a worship service. You are called to engage and help bring the kingdom of God to the community so lives can be transformed and God can be glorified. May Christ’s grace and peace be upon you as you live out His calling!
Steve Canter ~ Steve and his wife, Jennifer, live in Canton, Georgia, where he serves in the Church Planting Group of the North American Mission Board.
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DIRTY SOIL By Andrew Jenkins
It has been a long (and often slow) ride in downtown Birmingham. I was always
told that if you wanted to plant a church, you should go where there is “good soil.” That most often meant a welldeveloped suburb with a great school system and plenty of chain restaurants. What I am learning is that often the best soil is in the “worst” places—locations with the largest number of hurting people. The downtown hub of Birmingham—where our church building is located—is one such area. A few years ago, we signed a lease on a warehouse, one that had been a former auto repair shop. We moved in, did a little painting, and set-up some chairs (nothing more) and began holding services. Sure, there was still much to clean up, including the filthy concrete floor, but the place was far cheaper than what we were paying to rent the conference area in a nearby hotel. After a few years of growth and some major renovations, we had settled in. And I do mean settled. A year ago, we stopped and evaluated what we were doing. Were we actually making a difference in our community? Or had we become so comfortable that we were simply coasting? We began our assessment by asking the question, “If we shut the church down, what would be different in our community? Would it even matter?” Turns out, it wouldn’t have mattered at all. If we cancelled our Sunday morning services, Birmingham would simply have one less church service. It struck me as odd. The answer was sobering. If “the church is the hope of the world,” as I have heard Bill Hybels say, then shouldn’t there remain a large, gaping hole in the community if a church closes its doors? We were familiar with Matthew 5:14, “You are a city on a hill ...” The prophet Jeremiah even contended that the “church” was a “city within a city.” That is, we have the city of man (political bounds) and the City of God (spiritual, no bounds) that exists inside of that city—to love and benefit that city (Jeremiah 29:4). Were we actually blessing the city in any way? We had come into the heart of the city to change the city, but that wasn’t happening. We were simply providing a Sunday morning worship service with great music and sound biblical teaching. Our renovated warehouse provided us a great physical environment for this to happen.
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You must understand our downtown area to grasp our thinking. In our downtown area:
• Almost 4,000 prisoners are being released annually from the state’s prison system.45
• On any given night of the year, there are over 2,400 homeless people.46
• There is an average income level of $10,000 for the two miles immediately
surrounding our building.47 • There is a housing community less than one half mile away from our building,
with a loft apartment/condo district one half mile away in another direction,
with a mixed-use/mixed-income development about one half mile in another direction.
Each niche is 94% unchurched.
• A population in which 40% of the children do not have a man (either a father or a step-father) in their home.
For a long, long season, we were oblivious to the data. We would see people struggling with the issues mentioned above and simply move past them, rationalizing why they found themselves in such predicaments. We tried for years to get those people inside our building—on Sunday morning, of course. We were basing our success as a church upon the number of people who were sitting in rows facing the stage at the specific hour on Sunday mornings. Don’t get me wrong. We still celebrate the number of people in attendance. But now our motivations are different. In the past, we would minister to the people around our church from the standpoint of compassion and charity—not from the point of seeking justice and redemption and wholeness. Christians routinely feed homeless people under the bridges, take food to people around the holidays (as if that’s the only time people need anything), and even buy gifts that will not last much longer than the food. We often minister, in other words, from charity, from a sentiment of love that beckons that we do something. However, when we minister in these ways (as our church often did) we miss the point: the Bible does not command us to minister out of compassion and charity—to simply address the symptoms of a need. Rather, we are called to minister justice, to get to the root issues and address destructive structures. We don’t want to only feed homeless people; we want to address the structures and systems that have aided the issue of homelessness. We don’t want to simply give money to poor people; we want to determine ways to help them rise above the poverty level by helping them get to a point of self-sufficiency. In November of 2007, I received a phone call from the special projects coordinators at the governor’s office. Their job is to work on whatever projects the governor wants to implement across Alabama. One of the projects he was seeking to implement was the development of a network of churches and faith-based ministries that would help tackle the prison re-entry issue. The stats are dismal. Currently 76% of released inmates will return to prison within the first year after their release, but 95% of those who “make it” through their first year, never return.48 Everything
Alabama Department of Corrections, http://www.doc.state.al.us/. 46 The Birmingham News, March 18, 2008. Alabama State Board of Missions census data, September 2008. 48 Alabama Department of Corrections, http://www.doc.state.al.us/. 45
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in the world, however, seems to be stacked against the men coming out of “the system” and staying out. They have no identification card like a driver’s license when released from prison other than a laminated card (that looks like a Blockbuster Video card) that reads: “DOC ID” (for Department of Corrections). Most do not have a birth certificate or social security card. Without an ID, they cannot get a job or open a bank account (of course, they don’t need a bank account, because they have no money). They have no money, because they do not have a job, and they cannot get a job because they do not have a permanent address. But they cannot get an address because they can’t afford to live somewhere because they don’t have a job, which they cannot get without an ID, which they cannot get without ... Do you see the vicious cycle that leads many to crack houses, old neighborhoods, the bottom side of bridges, and into the revolving door of moving from one shelter to the next? Many of the homeless people you meet on the street have been incarcerated and cannot work themselves out of the rut they are in because of this cycle. The special projects coordinators wanted to know if we would help implement a program that would help these individuals integrate into society and, therefore, possibly break the cycle of recidivism. There was no money to finance this project. It was simply a “we want you to try this” sort of thing. We agreed to do it. We had access to a few homes in a desirable area that we had used for ministry before. At one time, a group of four to five women from our church occupied one of the homes during the period of time leading up to their weddings. Their home had become a hub of Bible studies, country line dancing classes, and a place of refuge for those needing to talk. Another home had housed a couple with a child in the nearby neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) for a brief season, had housed a mother and her three kids while the father was deployed on military duty, and had provided shelter for various other families who were between living situations. We had considered using these homes for some sort of re-entry ministry before—like helping the homeless—but felt that we did not (in our minds) have access to the people in need. We simply did not know how to go about implementing such a ministry. Now we had an open door and someone asking us to do it! Within two weeks, we were sitting at a big wooden conference table in the department of corrections with their second-in-command, the lady over prison re-entry, and a few others who would be helpful in the process, presenting our plan. They agreed to enthusiastically support our plan by sending men from the prison system to us. In fact, we would receive them up to a year before their actual release date. They would be “plain clothes” prisoners! Our desire was to break the cycle of recidivism by assisting these men with obtaining their identification cards, finding a job, locating a permanent place to live, and so forth. We were receiving letters from men in prison requesting to come into our program by the end of the week. In ten months, we have been able to help over 125 men. The offices of this ministry, called “The Village,” are housed in the warehouse (the former auto repair shop). The men even stay there at the church the first two months they are in the program. The goal is that the men, after completing the 9-12 month-program, will have saved enough money to pay off fines, restitution, and child support. Furthermore, the goal is that they have enough money to move into their own place, keep a bank account, and maintain the job they have found with the assistance of our staff. 213
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As well as our re-entry program, The Village (which was set up as a separate 501c3/non-profit organization from the church itself) has become a food bank, a clothes closet, and a job development group. We now have someone from our staff on-site at the warehouse 24/7. This means that we can clothe, feed, shelter, or even begin the process of rehabilitation with anyone at any time. Just as someone can purchase heroine at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, so can someone connect with a disciple of Christ who will help them during their time of need. Over the past year, we’ve hosted a screening of a Hollywood documentary, a conference on homeschooling and parenting, music concerts, and other community events in the warehouse. We could do much more, except for one thing: after every community event, we would have to turn the warehouse back into a church facility for the Sunday morning “church service.” Could we do more if the warehouse was used exclusively for community events? We began to consider what it would be like to have the “church” (meaning the building) open 24 hours a day and not just on Sunday mornings. From our building you can walk a few blocks to one of the largest state-owned liquor stores, the largest gay clubs, and one of the most posh “gentlemen’s” clubs in the South. These places are open virtually all night. In fact, even the gas station down the street, a few blocks from The Waffle House, is open all night. The truth is that people may “need” a beer, a cigarette, a dance, or just a pancake any time day or night. Should we presume that they might need Jesus at any of those times, as well? Would that be a safe guess? The answer was obvious, so we moved our church out of the warehouse and into the community. Usually churches do the opposite. They begin portable and then move towards a permanent building. The warehouse became the place where we used to hold our Sunday morning services. We are moving out into the neighborhoods, while using our warehouse facility as a base of operations. Our plans are to host worship services in the Southtown Housing Community (typically thought of as “the projects”) and begin small groups in the homes there. The people who live there are excited that we are coming to their neighborhood. Didn’t Jesus say the church should “go” (Matthew 28:18-20)? The Lord tells us to pray for laborers to go into the harvest, instead of waiting for the harvest to trickle to us (Luke 10:2). We would become the answer to our own prayers! The worship service in Southtown will have a much different feel than what we have done before. We will contextualize our services to the community by adopting a gospel choir musical style for our worship services. This is very different from the musical style we used at the warehouse where we preferred the David Crowder Band or Hillsongs United. We are also planning to begin worship services at Park Place, a mixed-use/mixed income complex that was recently built by the City of Birmingham. Both Southtown and Park Place have about 3,000 residents. Each group is extremely different. Our musical style at Park Place will be quieter, more acoustic-driven, and have a more “earthy” feel. Home churches will launch there concurrently, if not before. We will also evaluate other sectors in the downtown area— both on campus at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) and in the business district.
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It is our dream to create thriving worship services—all of which look, feel, and sound like the environment in which they are located—in all four areas, all within one mile of our warehouse. It is our dream to have 1,000 people involved in house churches during that same season, all networked together to bring the gospel to the city. This allows our warehouse to be open around the clock, helping hurting people from the streets, providing ministry events like the weekly 12-step addiction recovery program, hosting a weekly college worship gathering, training leaders, and hosting community-based events. It seems like it has been a long, long run. It also seems like so much good has been done. I cannot help but think that we are finally noticing the people that God wants us to see and reaching them. Moving the church out of the four walls, out of that which is usual and accepted and commonplace, and moving into the harvest has been hard. The hours have been long. There are families that have left the church because they thought the church was supposed to be the community—not that the church was supposed to reach the community. Most of our neighbors have been supportive of our efforts, realizing that many of the hurting and wounded are around them anyway. But there have been a few who would rather have us push them into another neighborhood. The gospel is not only about how to get from earth to heaven; the gospel is also about how to get heaven to earth. Did Jesus not pray for the kingdom of God to come? We’ve been seeing the kingdom of God ushered into Birmingham, Alabama. We celebrate with people who finally kick their addictions. We are baptizing adults as they find hope in Christ. We are experiencing families reuniting after decades of dismal downturns and dead ends. To close where I began, we are learning that the best soil is the dirtiest soil—soil packed with the hurting, rejected and wounded.
Andrew Jenkins ~ Andrew and his wife, Cristy, live in Birmingham, Alabama, where he serves as the teaching pastor of The Downtown Church and Executive Director of The Village.
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STRATEGIC LEARNING ZONES By Joe Beckler
The defining moment for me, as a church planter, repeats itself almost weekly. I
constantly meet people in my town who are living without the hope of Jesus Christ. They are not going to show up at a church service. For that matter, they don’t want to have anything to do with church; yet, God loves them. As such, I feel compelled to seek out ways to effectively engage these people in meaningful connections with the gospel. This is often difficult because my own understanding of what a successful church looks like does not work when it comes to reaching the people we are encountering in southwest Colorado. However, God is showing me that His church can indeed reach the hard-to-reach crowds in my town. My wife and I came to Durango, Colorado in June of 2003. The local Baptist association invited us to come as church planters with the intent of starting a church that would connect with the local college culture. We had a year to prepare for this new adventure, and it was a productive time for logistically getting ready. However, nothing could prepare us for the challenge of clearly understanding our new context until we physically moved to Durango. The one exception that did help me was a book I read in preparation for our church planting endeavor. A good friend and seasoned missionary recommended that I read The Celtic Way of Evangelism, by George Hunter. Hunter’s work in The Celtic Way of Evangelism tracks the history of the Celtic Christian movement. The Celtic Christian community, originating in what we consider Ireland, initiated a brilliant missionary movement that grew with amazing momentum into parts of Europe. The methods of the Celtic Christian missionaries were inspiring and ingenious. As the story goes, when Celtic Christian missionaries felt the call to reach out to a new village, they would go with a mindset of learning the culture of the people they sought to reach. They would typically establish a camp (monastery of sorts) on the outer fringes of the community. Over time, they would learn about the people of the village—what they ate, their traditions and stories, their perception of spirituality, their work habits, lifestyle rhythms, and so forth. As they studied the community, they would begin to determine ways to bridge the message of the gospel into people’s lives. 217
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They didn’t compromise the message of Jesus Christ. Instead, they strategically found ways to use the culture of the community as a platform for sharing the message of Jesus in terms that could be easily grasped.49 The Celtic Christian missionaries loved the people they lived with. They learned and respected the village community and, as a result, they were extremely successful in propelling the gospel into unreached territories.
Strategic Learning Zones As far as our intent to see a church realized in Durango, my wife and I agreed that if we wanted to understand the people of our new community, the Celtic strategy was crucial. For myself, I began to look for locations that reflected the culture of the people we were called to reach. Early on, I identified a coffee shop on Main Street in Durango, which I considered a learning zone. I had no formal church office to go to (thank goodness!), so I would spend a regular amount of time weekly at this coffee shop. My intent was to listen and learn from the people I interacted with on a daily basis. As I observed and listened, I realized our target audience was extremely post-Christian. They were happy
How do I identify the unique ministry needs in my community?
living in Rocky Mountain “paradise.” Christianity was suspicious to them—mostly due to polarizing issues, which they assumed all Christians upheld. People in my learning zone also seemed antagonistic towards Christianity. When someone found out I was a “pastor,” his or her attitude towards me often changed. At first, this was frustrating, but I eventually got past my hurt feelings and tried to understand why people had such great distaste for the church. Often, I found that their issues and struggles resonated with my own struggles. In studying the cultural context of Durango, I realized that presenting the gospel using connection points, such as environmentalism, human rights, and love for creation and recreation, were going to be effective bridges. I also realized that our church had to be a “safe zone” for people who felt threatened by organized church/religion.
Other Strategic Learning Zones … Join the Workforce I am a firm believer that as a pastor, I must interact constantly with people if I want to have a good sense of what is happening in the community. Early on, I realized that the more I understood the situations and perspectives in Durango, the better equipped I would be to communicate the biblical message. Thus, the coffee shop was just one part in God’s education strategy. Another component was working part-time in a local ski resort. Once again, this job was an easy way to learn about a particular group of people our church needed to reach. The resort employee culture is tough and gritty. Yet to this day, some of my best conversations about Jesus have occurred while shoveling snow, helping a lift operator, calling in medical help for an injured guest, and so forth. Working at our local ski resort over the past five years as an employee, volunteer, and chaplain, has provided a great way to engage the culture and get a sense of how to reach people who are caught up in the resort lifestyle.
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Hunter, George G. The Celtic Way of Evangelism (Nashville: Abingdon, 2000), pp. 39-40, 70, 92.
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Why Learning is Crucial Just like the Celtic missionaries, I am convinced that we, too, must invest ourselves in a process of understanding our community. This is a non-negotiable! The church-disconnect comes when churches look nothing like the people in the community. That is a stark observation in Durango. I live in a town full of people who love the mountains, enjoy adventure sports, take on rugged challenges, stand up for environmental causes, try to live “green,” and enjoy extremes. We understood that if our church failed to connect with these issues in a relevant way, we would miss the target. The more I learn about what is important to the people in my town, the more bridges I can build inside and outside the church. It doesn’t mean I have to embrace all the opinions and views out there. I simply need to listen, learn, seek to understand, and love. I genuinely want people who feel estranged from God to reconsider what faith might look like. To get at this, I must understand where these people are coming from. The only way to understand is to be in the midst of the community. This is an ongoing challenge for me, because it is easy to slip into a cozy group of Christ-followers. You must intentionally find ways to graft your life into the learning zones. You never become an expert of your community. You must continually be a student. I find it fun to invest my time continually learning about my community. The key to learning is admitting that you need to be taught. When people think you are eager to learn, they become eager to teach you. The more teachable you are, the more approachable you are. This quest for knowledge can be fun! Especially when you understand that you can “mine” people from inside and outside your church for the things you need to understand. My friend James, who is a part of our church, has taught me so much about music and environmentalism. In fact, those conversations have enriched his spiritual journey, too. Another good friend, Antonio, who is not yet a Christ-follower, has taught me the art of tele-mark skiing, which has created all kinds of recreational inroads for me with people in the winter season. I could go on and on. The learning process is rich with opportunities to grow in understanding people, all of whom God loves! I suppose we could have arrived in Durango, Colorado, and tried to start a church that simply looked like other successful churches in the area. We could have also come to the area and attempted starting a church that employed trends that are working in some other part of the world. I firmly believe that both of these approaches are problematic and inadequate, especially if we are serious about reaching people who are not yet Christ-followers. Re-duplicated church models are denying God the opportunity to creatively build bridges into people’s unique lives. For us, we discovered that our church needed to be unique in reaching outdoor-loving, athletic, spiritually-misguided people. And the best way to become that unique expression of church requires constant learning, studying the specific trends of our culture, and loving everyone … especially those who dislike Christianity.
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About Our Church and Some Words Concerning Theology … My perspective has changed a great deal since I started living the church planting lifestyle more than five years ago. Our church plant started meeting regularly after six months of preparation, research, and core group development. We were a small gathering of people for eight months—on average 12 regular attendees (including our initial core group)! This season provided a sort of incubation period where we worked out who we really needed to be as a church. It took a lot of time, prayer, risk, and perseverance. Our church is called Matthew’s House. We named our church with Matthew 9:9-13 in mind. It is the story of Matthew, the tax collector, who invited Jesus over for a party with his friends—tax collectors and sinners. The religious leaders were scandalized by Jesus’ willingness to associate with these “sinners.” Jesus told the religious leaders that He came specifically for the “sinners.” The “wrong crowd” needed Jesus, and He wanted them. One of my biggest, ongoing struggles has to do with the fact that many “sinners” of today’s world (me included) see church as the last place they want to go to for help. This bothers me. I am grateful that our core group decided that we needed to be a “safe place” for people to learn about faith and God.
How can I avoid allowing my cultural preferences to interfere with reaching my community?
Every Sunday when we gather for church, we say, “Matthew’s House is a safe place for your spiritual journey.” We emphasize this because the people who are coming are often approaching with a sense of estrangement towards God. Creating a safe zone allows people to show up, hear about God, and hopefully move toward a genuine faith decision. It takes time, but we understand that our calling in Durango is to be a safe place for God to do His work. I must admit that my understanding of the book of Acts has changed as a result of this church planting experience. I used to think that the book of Acts gave us a punch list of characteristics for what churches should look like. I’m rethinking that. Instead, I see the book of Acts as a historical look into how God specifically and uniquely created churches to meet the specific issues of different communities. Each of the churches described in Acts were different. No two were alike! The communities described in Acts required local churches that were designed to meet specific village dynamics. Acts is an amazing account of how the Holy Spirit broke barriers, left and right, to uniquely address each community with an indigenous expression of the gospel!
Conclusion … Learning Turns into Practical Expressions of Unique Church I believe that our worst mistake as church planters is failing to allow God the creative rights in developing specific expressions of church in our specific villages. We risk being motivated by what looks successful in other contexts. Whether driven by numbers, budget, innovation, or something else, we fail to submit ourselves to what God wants to do specifically where we live and serve. This means that Matthew’s House in Durango is not meant to be re-duplicated somewhere else. Of course, along with all gospel-centered churches, we hold common elements that are both sacred and biblical. Yet each church is a creative expression of God, designed specifically to reach specific groups of people. 220
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For us, our ongoing process of learning in Durango has helped significantly. Our research led us to practical expressions of church that fulfill our unique calling. Here are some of the ways our specific calling is fleshed out in Durango: 1. We meet on Sunday nights because the people we seek to reach in Durango love to play during the weekend. We decided that Sunday morning would position us to be a source of competition for existing churches. We wanted to collaborate, not compete. Thus, we chose Sunday night. This has its challenges, but in the end, it reaches the people we long to interact with; and honestly, I love telling people that they should play during the whole weekend then consider topping it off with a church gathering on Sunday night. We want people to walk in covered in mud after mountain biking, wearing their ski pants, dirty from rock climbing, and so forth. We are convinced that our church gathering needs to connect with people who like to play! 2. Brand recognition is crucial for our church. In Durango, Colorado, that means we communicate at every regular worship service that we are a “safe place for your spiritual journey.” We back this statement up by structuring our gatherings so that pre-Christians can come and interpret what is happening around them, as well as walk away with something significant. 3. Our church predominantly targets college-aged adults and resort/leisure enthusiasts. We don’t exclusively reach these groups, but they are a dominant part of who God has called our church to connect with. 4. These groups are highly transitional. Thus, we see anywhere from 50-60% turnover in our church annually. We have to literally rebuild our leadership constantly. This isn’t bad; it is simply reality in a mountain-town like ours. As we strategically reach groups of people who are on the move, we must structure our ministry to fit our context. In a sense, we believe we are training up believers for other churches and ministries—we are a sending agency. 5. We reach people who are typically walking into our church with a lot of issues— substance abuse, lifestyle dilemmas, bitterness towards church, and so forth. Sometimes it takes a long time to see spiritual transformation, but we’ve got some epic stories to tell! It just requires patience. 6. Our financial strategy is unique and creative. We rely on a base of internal and external partners to cover operational costs. Over time this will likely evolve, but to reach low-resource crowds, we have to think creatively. We don’t want to build a church that targets people for their money. If you look at our situation from a purely logical approach, we shouldn’t exist. Resources are so limited! But God is in control, and He has built this church out of impossible circumstances. We are a living testimony to the fact that God will sustain His work in the world.
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7. Our learned ministry strategy is simple—we tell people to make their passion their ministry. If you like climbing rocks … make it your organic venue for ministry. If you like backcountry skiing, make it your strategic venue for being the presence of Christ in the world. We don’t measure success based on how many people are at church on Sunday night. We base effectiveness on how many understand their role in representing Christ in the places they live, study, work, and play. To facilitate this strategy, we constantly seek out ways to naturally be in the community. This means everyone, including myself. I must model an incarnational approach in the way I lead. 8. We spiritually nurture our people through one-on-one discipleship, small groups, worship gatherings, and hands-on missions (both locally and globally). Our crowd has a unique interest in missions and social justice. We see this clearly as a way God is working in our community of Christ-followers. Thus, we make it a point to annually expose our people to missions, both abroad and in our town. The above characteristics are specific, learned expressions of church for Matthew’s House, a church in Durango, Colorado. Do not re-duplicate! Sure, we can learn from each other, but no cookie-cutter approaches are allowed in God’s kingdom movement! Each context, each town, each city is an opportunity for a unique, relevant expression of church. We must never slack on doing the hard work of learning who the people are in our community. Otherwise, we cheat our community when it comes to showing the miraculous, universal, and relevant nature of the gospel. My conclusion is that we must prayerfully engage our communities in whatever ways we can. We must constantly study in order to appreciate where people are coming from. We must relinquish control to God, too. God will whisper to us as we live, work, play, and interact with the towns and communities we seek to reach. We, then, can be part of His creative gospel revolution, which is moving forcefully throughout the world!
Joe Beckler ~ Joe and Cheri Beckler, along with their three boys, live in Denver, Colorado, where Joe serves as an Urban Church Planting Missionary.
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A 52 Every Believer Sharing...Every Person Hearing
Can you imagine the impact upon your community if every believer was
passionately sharing the gospel—if every believer involved in your church plant was driven by a desire to see that every person heard the gospel? God has called every believer to be an “Activator of the Gospel.” How? By praying every week for the lost and by heading out into the communities, seeking an opportunity to share the good news of Christ with those who desperately need a Savior. All across Canada, God is motivating believers from all walks of life and from every age group to pray and share the gospel at least once each week—52 times a year—through an evangelism movement called Action 52. The dream? The dream is that all of their churches are helping, encouraging, and supporting one another to develop a nationwide movement of prayer, evangelism, and discipleship. Action 52 originated in Venezuela through the ministry of Pastor Francisco Aular. His son-in-law, Cesar Parra, was instrumental in introducing Action 52 in Canada. Through a simple evangelism kit containing a small card reminding believers of their calling and a ziplock bag containing 52 seeds, Action 52 seeks to make evangelism a way of life for every believer. The card challenges believers to share the gospel in one of three ways: through prayer, through sowing the gospel into the lives of people they know or meet, and through teaching the Bible and inviting people to church. The seeds serve as a reminder for participants to pray, asking God for an opportunity to proclaim the gospel. When this happens, whether it is through a verbal witness, the handing out of a track or a book, or through some other means of sowing the gospel, they remove a seed from the bag. The apostles had this vision 2000 years ago. Acts 5:42 gives us the example: “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ” (NIV). In the summer of 2008, students attending a youth camp in Alberta, Canada, were challenged to be part of Canadian National Baptist Convention’s vision of 1,000 churches and 100,000 baptisms by 2020. They responded with passion. In tears, many came forward in a worship service to pick up their Action 52 bag with the 52 seeds and card challenging them to pray, tell, and make disciples. Two months later, those young men and women had planted 180 seeds, resulting in 90 conversions!
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C H A P T E R T H I RT Y- F O U R
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GOD S PLAN,, FOR SHARING
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God is at work in North America. He is at work in the hearts of those who know
Him and those who have yet to know Him through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. As you begin crafting your strategy to engage your community with the gospel, you can do it with the confidence that you can reach your neighbors and the nations. In fact, the nations have become our neighbors. God has a plan for every person to hear the gospel through every believer sharing. At the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting of 2008, the president of the North American Mission Board announced a national evangelism initiative called “God’s Plan for Sharing” (GPS). The goal of this initiative is to see God’s people getting out of their seats and into the streets sharing the good news of Christ among all peoples in North America. From these humble beginnings, “God’s Plan for Sharing” was begun. The rally cry is simple, yet profound – “Every Believer Sharing, Every Person hearing by 2020.” GPS is a National Evangelism Initiative, not a “program in a box” handed down by the denomination. Development and piloting have been the work of state convention and association leaders, agency leaders, and local churches. This is truly a grassroots effort. Even the delivery of resources and encouragement to assist in the implementation of GPS by a local church has been a partnership between the state conventions and your denomination. Secondly, “God’s Plan for Sharing” has four biblical components that have been proven throughout history to bring effective evangelism, revival, and spiritual awakening. They are:
• Praying – Every church praying for lost people
• Engaging – Every believer sharing as a trained witness
• Sowing – Every lost person receiving a witness
• Harvesting – Every church harvesting and celebrating every salvation response 225
ENGAGING YOUR COMMUNITY WITH THE GOSPEL
As you reflect upon these components and the development of your evangelism strategy we encourage you to consider the following questions:
• How will your church actively pray for lost people?
• How will you train believers to share their faith?
• How will your church plant create intentional opportunities for believers
to share the gospel with lost people in your community, county, state, and across North America? • How will you help individual believers develop a personal evangelism strategy to reach those with whom the live, work and play?
• How will you sow the gospel among the lost in your community?
• How will your church celebrate and disciple those who come to Christ?
Finally, it was determined that in order to keep the momentum of Southern Baptists growing, six campaigns would take place between 2010 and 2020. The campaigns would happen during the even numbered years, with learning pilots taking place during the odd years. Each emphasis would have a definitive theme to rally God’s people to share the gospel. The time between campaigns would be used to develop the newly learned skills, involve more members, and develop new relationships among lost people identified through the campaigns. For more information about GPS please visit www.GPS2020.net or contact the Evangelism Director for your state convention.
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additional resources For additional resources, including an accompanying discussion guide, and to connect with some of our writers, please visit our website:
TESTIMONIES
www.churchplantingvillage.net/ready?
Lessons from The Harvest Field By Steve Bass
Discover Church Planting, located on the Church Planting Village, is a web-based resource designed to help you identify how God has shaped you for ministry and to encourage you to utilize your gifts and talents to advance the kingdom of God through church planting. Discover Church Planting has links to…
• Quick Test – a test designed to help you discover if you have the attributes of a church planter.
• Finding Your Place in Ministry – This comprehensive online assessment will help you discover how
God created you with a unique personality, spiritual gifts, abilities, passions and experiences.
This tool also includes a Leadership Assessment.
• Resources – This page contains links to Bible Studies and other resources to further guide you in your journey to discover God’s will for your life.
If you are interested in serving on a church planting team or becoming a church planter please contact the following (which can be found at www.SBC.net), for more information:
1. Your local association’s church planting leadership
2. Your state convention’s church planting team North American Mission Board Church Planting Group Phone: (770) 410-6234 (information) Email: DiscoverChurchPlanting@NAMB.net For questions or additional copies of this book, please e-mail us at resources@namb.net Phone: (888) 749-7479 (resource line)
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We’ve all been there at one time or another, like a runner at the starting line waiting for the gun to sound, anticipating the start of a new adventure. Thoughts begin to race through our mind. Have I prepared enough for this new journey? Have I done my homework? What if I fail? Am I READY? In that moment, God often speaks to us through a friend…someone who has a kindred spirit, like passions, and energizes us with their words. We come away encouraged and with a clearer perspective, ready to face the new adventure. Just as iron sharpens iron, a man can encourage — sharpen another. We are reminded that we can advance the kingdom of God by leveraging our lives for the good of another — one conversation at a time. Imagine what we could do if we could tap into the experience and words of other church planters who once wondered, “Am I READY?” What would we hear? What could we learn? In this book, READY? Preparing for the Pressures of Church Planting, you will find real life conversations from church planters who have faced the pressures of ministry and have found God was READY to take them through the challenges of planting a church.
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CHURCH PLANTING RESOURCE LIBRARY A Southern Baptist Convention entity supported by the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® For general information, call (770) 410-6000, or visit www.namb.net. To order materials, call Customer Service Center, toll-free 1 866 407-NAMB (6262), or visit www.namb.net/catalog. 22.CPREADY
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