Guys on the Ground: Justin Dancer
Top 5 Learns In Church Planting - From The Trenches
I'm just a regular servant of Christ who was given the privilege and responsibility to start two churches in South Dakota, and now I am in my first year of planting again in Northwest Houston. Sometimes I ask myself why I do what I do, but the truth is that I am living my dream doing my dream job every day!
Church planting is the most rewarding and difficult ministry of my life. A day seldom passes when there aren’t significant truths about God and healthy ministry practices learned. But after over a decade of church planting experience in the trenches and over five years of coaching and training church planters, here are five things that I wish someone had told me before I began my church planting journey.
Be Urgent About PatienceChurch planters are inherently entrepreneurially bent. This means that they aren’t patient about anything. They want growth, success, and movement yesterday. I’ve found that my impatience can lead to overlooking people and simply wanting to move to the next thing. The people we are called to shepherd quickly become a roadblock instead of disciples growing into disciple-makers. In the end, the people are the plan! We must embrace a spirit of patience along with our healthy visionary and entrepreneurial compulsions. We must be urgent about being patient.
Comparison Kills Don't do it. Really, don't do it. Don't compare yourself to other churches and other church planters. This has been the demise of many church planters and churches over the years. Certainly, learn from the successes and failures of others, but God didn't make you them for a reason! Instead, work diligently to find your uniqueness as a leader and the uniqueness of your church. Be content and energized in knowing, with clarity, who you are and the shape of the church that God is leading you to lead, being focused and faithful to that fingerprint. After all, God is not looking for clones, He is looking for uniquely gifted shepherds that take serious the commission to make disciples. Stay the course, and don't let the enemy collude your clear vision in the pursuit of someone else's vision.
No Leads to a Greater Yes One of the biggest favors you can do for your church is say “no” to things that might pull the church off of its founding vision and philosophy, and no to things that keep you busy doing good things that keep you from having the time to do the best things. Especially in the young and vulnerable days, lots of people will have lots of ideas about what the church should be, how it should be run and what you’re doing wrong. It’s OK to listen, but be EXTREMELY careful not to allow the vision of others to co-opt the vision God gave you when you risked everything to start the church. No right now to some things will likely lead to a greater yes down the road.
Resourcefulness Wins Every TimeResourcefulness is more valuable than we ever stop to readily think. Much of what keeps a church going through its difficult beginnings and through growth barriers isn’t just the enthusiasm of the church at beginning a new movement - it’s the God-given ability of the pastor to be a MacGyver - making something serviceable and winsome out of scraps when resources are extremely scarce. So be scrappy, my friends.
Church Planting is neither Easy nor SexyChurch planting is not sexy. It is arduous work that is often thankless. It is hard. It can ruin a marriage in a blink of an eye. It is financially taxing. It is messy because people are messy. So be diligent to temper your expectations and trust God in humility and He will lift you up in time with His mighty hand (1 Peter 5).
Fellow gospel servants, be encouraged and may God give us all an extra measure of wisdom and strength as we pursue Christ and His great commission.