No two church planters and no two church plants are alike. Even leaders of the multi-site movement will tell you that each location of their church is unique in many ways. Someone recently put it to me like this – church planting is like baking a cake. Nearly every cake has a few key ingredients that make up the foundation, but some have different flavoring, different icing, some take longer to cook, some are fluffy, some are thick, some give you gas, etc.
Today I am beginning a series to talk about some of the key ingredients of church planting. Warning, without these ingredients, your cake church plant is liable to be a disaster!
Faith is the bedrock ingredient to a church plant. Church planting requires a man or woman to look at absolutely nothing and believe so strongly that God and people will gather together to make something out of nothing. The Courageous Church is raising $30,000 and we are $28, 120 away! It takes faith to look at how far away we are from what we need and still believe that we are going to reach $30,000.
I recently went through a major assessment center with ARC and was somewhat embarrassed to find that my Stress Level measured very, very high. I am the King of Cool (in my own mind). The assessors immediately told me that they expect the stress level of a church planter to be high and that they would be a little nervous if it wasn’t high, because planting a church requires major risks. Faith is the thing that pushes you through the stress and into the work that God has called you to do.
Faith is what it takes to tell strangers that you are leading something that they will be interested in. Faith is what it takes to not give up when things are tough. Faith is what it takes to believe that all 150 things that you need to fall into place will fall right into place. Faith is what it takes to get through the times when others are telling you that your city doesn’t need another church.
Have a great plan, get a banging website, put gel in your hair and wear designer jeans when you plant your church, but whatever you do…make sure that you have mountain moving faith – you’re going to need it!
{ 4 comments }
The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
That’s word, bro!
Absolutely David! Faith is central man!
-Shaun & Crew
I like the way Andy Stanley put it,
“Faith is CONFIDENCE that God is who He says He is and that He will do what He said He will do.” -Faith, Hope & Luck Message Series
Antwon,
That series really helped me understand faith in a much more mature way.
-Shaun & Crew