expectations
i have been around church planting now for 18 years in some form or fashion. i remember my first conversation when a pastor asked me if i had considered church planting, “who’s mad at you?” turns out the guy was just pretty kingdom minded and gave me my first start. not a lot of money but 4 families that were servants in that church. which has nothing to do with my topic but…
anyway, having been around i have learned to set my expectations according to the called, the culture, and the community. now what do i mean by that. this morning i have already received 2 reports from church planters. one just barely a year old and the other his first preview service.
the first thing i set my expectations on are the called. is the church planter really a church planter or is he a pastor with no where else to go. harsh, but true, a deacon gets mad and the pastor goes and starts a church. not good. but a guy called to church planting, God will bless if…
he is in the right culture. there was a little discussion among some of my twitter friends last week about growth and evangelism, etc. one of my spiritual friends said, “God draws all men to himself” as if that should be a churches growth strategy. well, now i believe that, but i am in the church growth business somewhat. a church planter is trying to grow a church. most likely, (unless there are missionary/apostolic gifts) a called person will reach people like himself (culture). God calls ‘em, you gotta attract ‘em to your church…
which needs to be in a community like the called and the culture. a church planter is going to be most successful if he plants himself and his church in the community that is most like him culturally and to which he feels called. there are a few Jonah’s out there reaching a people they don’t particularly like but not many.
so anyway, these reports, one from Baltimore a year old, in the heart of the city, reaching pagan’s. Ellis reports 80 people in attendance. GREAT job. growing a group among skeptics and unbeliever’s is tough. Ellis is called to a culture (they meet in a pub) and a community that is taking a lot of time. my expectations were not that he would grow a mega-church next year but that he would grow a series of churches that will create community in a large city.
the second guy had a preview service yesterday and drew 90+ people and one person committed their life to Christ for the first time. he is in a small town in north GA. he grew up in the community. he loves his small town. expectations are a little higher numerically. he is called to reach his culture (small town, dechurched and unchurched people, most with a religious memory) and community. I think he will become a large church fairly soon. GREAT job.
here’s the quick lesson if you’re a church planter. make sure you are called. make sure you know the culture. make sure it’s in the right community. set your expectations accordingly. (and then there’s a little thing called strategy but i couldn’t think of a “c” word so that’ll be another day.) peace.
