I think there are some common areas as church planters/pastors where we are prone to making mistakes. It’s not that we always make these mistakes but I think we are prone to them. We are tempted to make these mistakes if we’re not careful.
Here at Element we are fast approaching one year of ministry in Cheyenne. God has already done SO MUCH more than I could have ever imagined in Element Church. I am ABSOLUTELY humbled to be a part of this, and it blows my mind that He wants to use me. **Sidenote: Could it be a ploy of our enemy to always make us question whether God wants to use us?** I was thinking the other day about mistakes I am prone to, and I think that a lot of other pastors are as well. There are probably more than 5, but here are 5 mistakes we make as church planters/pastors. (no particular order)
5. The we need…syndrome: We’ve GOT to have a (insert ministry name ie. youth group) so lets make “so and so” the youth leader. As a pastor, especially a planter, we need to learn something. It is better to have NO ministry at all, than to have a bad leader in a bad ministry. I would MUCH rather not offer a youth ministry for a while, than to offer one with a bad leader or offer a bad ministry. In trying to keep your church from being wounded, you may end up wounding a good leader who’s been put in the wrong position and you still end up wounding your church too. This mistake is ALWAYS a temptation.
4. The we should… syndrome: I’ve seen on LOTS of church plant web-sites say something similar to the following “We’re a new church that offers, this, this and this AND soon we’ll be offering much more” and they include their lists of what they’ll be offering. One of the mistakes we’re tempted to make is to be all things to all people. As a new church you want EVERYONE to come to your church and you’re almost willing to do EVERYTHING to get them there. We should have this, and this, and this, and this, and then they, and they, and they will come. You don’t HAVE to have a women’s ministry. You don’t HAVE to do what your old church did. You don’t HAVE to do ANYTHING except what God wants you to do. There is nothing wrong, ESPECIALLY when starting a church, to do only a few things. This is SUCH a big mistake temptation. If you try to do too much too soon you’ll end up accomplishing nothing. AND you’ll also make mistake #5 in the process. The old axiom “Keep it simple stupid” applies SO much to church planting. This was a BIG learning moment for us. We were on our way to making this mistake before learning it. And it is STILL a temptation.
3. The when we…syndrome: A MAJOR mistake we make is saying “Well, when we have more people…” “Well, when we have more money…” “Well, when we have a building…” Don’t get me wrong, you can do more things with more people. You can do more things with more money. And you can do more things with a building. BUT WHAT ARE WE GOING TO STINKIN’ DO NOW? If you have five people, what will you do? If you have 50, 500, 5000? If you’re church is called by God to be where you are at, you have been placed there for just such a time as this. DO SOMETHING! We pastors, ME INCLUDED, are great at this. The when we syndrome. If you don’t use your now, God will never give you a when! Now that dog’ll hunt! There will never be a big enough church, fat enough account or beautiful enough building. Once you have it, there is always more.
2. The we can’t…syndrome: Why not? I think many churches don’t see God’s blessing because they live in the can’t of our humanness and not the CAN of our God. This kind of goes with #3. There comes a time as a church when we’ve got to be willing to look beyond the possibility of failure and into the capability of God. If we’re not willing to fail, we’ll never be capable of succeeding. Did Peter fail when he sunk in the water or was he just the only one willing to try? Was Peter the only one to deny Christ, or the only one willing to show up at the high councils courtyard? Now, we shouldn’t just try things for trying sake, BUT, if God is moving us to do something DO IT. I’d much rather try something that doesn’t work, than look back always wishing we had tried.
1. The we did…syndrome: Hmm, this is a tough one. Look at what WE did. Look at the church WE grew. Look how much better WE are. Look at what WE built. God gave me Isaiah 55 just after we were called to plant Element in Cheyenne. I call it Element 101. All of our core values are found in this passage. I’d love to go over them each but that’s for another post. As I read this passage and God was speaking to my heart I was thinking, “MAN, through Element people will find life. They’ll be connected into family. Their lives will be changed. Worship will take place. People will have their significance awakened and we can serve one another.” But I was STRUCK THROUGH THE HEART with the last verse of chapter 55. “These events will bring great honor to the Lord’s name; they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.” WE DON’T DO SQUAT! If for some reason our churches make an impact, people receive life, lives are changed, significance awakened, may it bring glory to the LORD’S name and no one else. May I, as the leader here, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS give God all the credit.
Praying to avoid these mistakes,
Jeff
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