Redeemer Central | The Collective | Single Entry | 5 reasons not to plant a church

5 reasons not to plant a church

David Capener

19/10/10

Ten years ago if you had asked any young, twenty something, missionally minded, Jesus loving, Christian, what they would like to 'do' for God you would probably have got this answer; Go and do mission in [.....................] (fill in blank with name of country). Ask the same question now and the answer will most likely be, church planting. Church planting is in vogue, you can buy the books, listen to the sermons, read the manuals and get the degree. For many it is seen as a pretty cool thing to do. And in many ways it is. At Redeemer, we along with Newfrontiers, are deeply passionate about church planting. In fact I am convinced that it is the only way that we will genuinely see Gospel transformation in our cities and nations. Our vision is to see churches planted across this nation and into the nations. My concern lies in the percieved 'trendiness' of church planting, we want to encourage more church planters to rise up, but not at their expense. What do I mean by that? Well I think there are things that a lot of the 'manuals' don't talk about, so I want to open that discussion up in this 2 part post. Part 2 will follow shortly and will be titled, 5 reason to plant churches. So here goes..........

Demonic attack

If you are church planting, then you are stepping onto the battlefield, not just the battlefield, but the front line. In fact, not even the front line, but you and your team are walking right into territory that the enemy believes is his. The enemy hates church. He hates church because it is Gods primary vehicle for the very thing that he cant stand, and that is people finding their way to the cross. He will do anything within his means to distract, dictate, disarm and defeat you and your team. Praise God that he has been totally defeated at the cross, but he is walking wounded, and will prowl around like a wolf seeking to devour its prey. In planting Redeemer Central we have experienced many different types of plans and schemes of the enemy, ranging form silly distractions to full blown strategies to try and take out the church or its leaders. We have experienced everything from mild illnesses, to sitting in A&E with a pale and limp 4 year old child. We have experienced simply strategies of disunity and wholesale attacks against the leadership of the church. We have been woken in the night by crying children night after night (especially when preaching) and have been disturbed in the night by demonic presences in our bedroom. Hear me, I am not the kind of person who thinks that there is a demon hidden behind every tree. But over the past few years we have experienced much in the way of strategic attack. If you ignore it and think it wont happen then don’t go church planting. Even if your theology doesn’t fit our experience, be careful, the enemy hates church planting and will come after you, your team and your church. Prepare yourself and your team, you wouldn’t send a soldier onto the front line of battle dressed in a bear costume in the hope that he might scare the enemy away. You hit the front line tooled up. In my experience the best weapons you can take to the front line are a few stones, a sling and a bunch of faith.

Hurt

Go church planting and you will get hurt, it goes with the territory of being on the front line. One of the main causes of hurt will be the very thing you are trying to get lots of; People. At Redeemer we are always keen to emphasise that we invest in people, not because of the outcome but because of the person. Businesses invest in people because of the outcome or product, staff are seen as expendable and easily replaced. We invest in people because people are made in the image of God and are very important. We also invest in people because churches should be places where people encounter second chances. In the cross we have received a glorious second chance, therefore we should be building churches of second chances. Church is, after all, the only community where your function doesn’t determine your value. Sometimes when you invest in people it doesn’t work out. You can pour your time, efforts, emotional energy, hope and faith into people and get nothing in return. Sometimes you might get something nasty in return that you didn’t expect! When this happens, when you pour yourself out only to see your best efforts spilt over the floor in a nasty mess, it hurts. It wont stop me, but it hurts. Prepare yourself to get hurt, go with a robust theology of hurt and disappointment.

Painful Sanctification

However much you feel like the finished article when you head off to church plant, you soon find out how much God still wants to do in you! I think that the two most effective vehicles for sanctification are marriage and church planting. Mental note; Don’t go church planting early on in marriage. As the church planter you will soon find out that the church is just a microcosm for many of the sins that you are battling with. And guess what? It is your responsibility through your teaching and preaching to give space for the Holy Spirit to bring conviction to your people. And unless you can live with being a hypocrite, you have got to preach those messages to yourself first. This is important because a church plant will become like its leader. I am responsible for my people, and will be held accountable for that when I get to meet Jesus face to face. Which is a pretty sobering thought.

Quitting

I’m going to put my heart on my sleeve here. There have been many times in the past few years where in all honesty I have wanted to quit. In those dark times when you would be quite happy flipping burgers in Mcdonalds, the urge to quit will be strong, and sometimes persistent. Ask any church planter how many times they have wanted to quit in the past year, if they say never, then ask them when the last time they lied was! This is why understanding the whole picture about church planting is important, and even more importantly, making sure that it is YOUR calling. By calling I don’t mean that time you listened to an inspiring preach about church planting and thought it was for you, I don’t mean the little voice inside that says ‘you can be the next Driscoll or McManus’. I mean the unquestionable, indisputable moment when you knew beyond all shadow of any doubt that you were born into this world to go and plant churches. This is your moment when the equivalent of a strange voice comes from inside a burning bush telling you to do something that you feel hugely ill equipped to do. Thats the call. In fact a good sign that God is calling you to do something is when you feel totally unprepared and ill equipped to fulfil the call. It is then that you will lean into God for the strength and power to do what he is asking you to do. When I feel like I want to quit, I remember the call.

Pressure

Church planting will put you under massive pressure. The combination of all of the above and many more things that I could have mentioned will combine and put you under massive pressure. You will feel the pressure to lead, grow, perform, pastor, structure and succeed. A little pressure is no bad thing, well for me anyway, I find I perform well under controlled pressure. However there will be times when the pressure just mounts up. Those moments when your diary seems to have mysteriously maxed out. It is saturday night, you promised the kids that you would watch x-factor with them and you have only prepared half of tomorrows sermon. And you are now regretting saying yes to preaching at another local church in the evening and to top it off you have had a week of sleepless nights and one of the kids is ill. Church planting is like no other job. I worked for a number of years at a high level as an Architect in London, which was a high pressure job, which I have now learned was tame compared to church planting! It is not always high pressure, if it is you are doing something wrong like poor time management or not developing or using your team properly. There will however be those moments of high pressure, its just the way things will roll. Be prepared for it.

I love the church, I love Redeemer Central, I love that I have been called to lead the team who are planting this amazingly exciting work. It is sometimes just helpful to get a reality check. I will be posting part 2 shortly, titled 5 reasons to plant churches.

Tags: Church planting