When church planting puts a marriage to the test
Dan Steel
There’s no doubt that church planting is personally costly.
Both the organised events and organic needs can be costly: whether it’s the ongoing reality of evening meetings and early mornings, the weighty mental ‘to-do lists’, or the growing number of pastoral burdens or stress and uncertainty about the future and the viability of the project. Will we have enough money? Somewhere to meet? Enough people? What will this thing look like in 12 months-time?
The myth of the swiss-army-knife pastor
Dan Steel
Have you ever been in one of those meetings where a church is looking to recruit a new pastor, and the leadership opens it up to the whole church family to share their priorities for what they think should be sought in a candidate?
It would be an understatement to say the list can get quite long, quite quickly! For some, it’s preaching; for others, a love of evangelism; for some, administrative strength; and for yet others, pastoral warmth and the ability to handle complex, nuanced situations. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!
How to say a good goodbye to your sending church
“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years" - attributed to Mark Twain.
There can often be something of the restless teenager in the heart of a church planter - eager to step out, carve their own path, and move beyond the familiar embrace of the mother church. Yet, as Twain’s reflection suggests, experience often proves more valuable than we initially assume. The mother church, far from being outdated, will hold wisdom that should not be so hastily dismissed.