Blog

School of Hard Knocks

February 8, 2010

Church planting reminds me of the Indiana Jones movies. Every plant is a new adventure full of excitement and potential doom. Indiana was always chasing the elusive prize and never knew what pitfalls he would face around the next corner. None the less, he pushed ahead and faced each problem in a new and creative way. 
Remember the scene in the third movie where Indiana was standing on the side of a cliff looking across to the other side of a deep chasm? In order to get to the other side, find the Holy Grail and save his father, he had to take a leap of faith. He didn’t know that a hidden bridge would catch his fall and provide safe passage to the other side. Church planting is a lot like that dramatic moment. To do it, you have to take a wildly dangerous leap of faith. Church planting is the most exciting, the most frustrating, and the most brutal ministry anyone can do. It’s exciting because it involves attempting something big for God. It’s the most frustrating and brutal because it will test every area of your life. Church planters have to be dreamers, visionaries, planners, and like Indiana, they have to have nerves of steel and thick skin.

Church planting will make you feel alive, and it can push you to the brink of insanity. It will give you a new sense of God’s presence and convince you that Satan is alive and well. You will celebrate the birth of a new church with unearthly joy, and experience betrayal from friends and family in ways you never thought possible. As a church planter, you will experience high highs and low lows. It’s dangerous and dramatic. As they say on television—kids, don’t try this at home.

After 16 years of pastoring established churches, God called me into the arena of church planting. God called me, Stephen Gray, a skewed and flawed individual. What kind of a guy am I? I’m one of those driven individuals. I don’t like to win; I like to dominate. My little ducks, though they stand in rows, need to be smiling and looking directly into the camera. I’ve been diagnosed as a type "A" personality along with a very useful case of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. And God called me.

My preparation for this new ministry adventure was both difficult and frustrating. As I prepared for this new adventure, I quickly discovered that church planting was not a very refined process. A multitude of varying models, philosophies, and conflicting opinions existed under the umbrella of church planting. With confidence and authority, each expert offered their opinion about the process and procedure and every seminar or book led in a different direction. In a short time, the whole church planting idea became overwhelming. I felt like writing these expert names on a dartboard, putting on a blindfold, and chucking a few darts. In truth, all of the books, the seminars, and the opinions were helpful, but none of it actually prepared me for my actual church planting experience.

Bottom line is this: planting a church is tough and most, if not all will go through the school of hard knocks as they set out to plant their church. The only thing that will help you through those trying times is an overwhelming sense of God's calling for this ministry. Likewise, we should always keep in mind "that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes." Dan 4:25 If you understand that simple truth, you will be able to weather any storm that comes your way.

God has called you. God has placed you in your position because he chose to do so. Your position of authority is not based on your wisdom, your knowledge, or your good looks. Nor is it based on another's desire for you to be in a position of authority.

Posted 2/8/2010 in Church Planting | 0 Comments - Add Comment

Fade-Away

February 5, 2010

In Feb 09, my new book Full Disclosure: The F-Words of Church Planting, will be releaed from ChurchSmart Resources. In this book Barry Smith, my co-author and I speak about the dangers of "Fade-Away." What is fade-away? It is the constant and unfortunate fading of vision, most churches suffer. Below is an expert from this book. If you like what you see, you can pre-order the book in the store.

"In 1979 Neil Young came out with a song on his Rust Never Sleeps album called, “My, My, Hey, Hey.” Now, that song my not ring a bell with you, but out of that song comes a lyrical phrase that most have probably heard, “Better to burn out than to fade away.” That phrase became even more popular after it was found April 8, 1984 in the suicide note of Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana. In both cases, that lyrical phrase had to do with the death of a rock icon. The first was Elvis Presley, the second was Kurt himself.
No one desires to simply fade away into oblivion when they die. In fact, most spend a lifetime trying to build some kind of legacy that will last beyond their time on this earth. Local churches are really no different. Like individuals, most churches desire to leave a lasting legacy as well. Sadly, many churches have experienced vision drift and their original passion has faded away.
If you do a google search on the average size of the American church, you are likely to be frustrated by the facts. No one really knows for sure, but it is estimated that attendance, in 75 percent of American churches, ranges somewhere between 75 -100 or less on any given Sunday. To make matters worse, the median age of those attending church is on the rise while the median age of the unchurched, continues to decline. Many churches are quietly fading away with little to no trace that they ever existed.
Some mainline denominations are experiencing a major crisis due to the age of general membership. According to David T. Olsen:
“In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the average age of church members is 58. For United Methodists, 61 is the average age. Sixty percent of Episcopalians are over age 50; 38 percent are over age 60. The older the members of a church are, the slower the church grows. Why? Older members do not have children, so they do not help the church grow through reproduction. Older members also tend to adjust slowly to cultural changes.”

What is happening to these churches? They have lost touch with their original vision. The vision of their founders propelled them into the forefront of early American culture and helped them to gain a spiritual stronghold in a newly conceived country. The evangelistic drive that was once at the core of these churches and denominations has been supplanted by a new ‘vision’ of maintenance and comfort. But this is not only a problem for the established church. Too often a church plant can fall into the same pattern. In fact, in many ways, that pattern is to be expected.
The early years of a church plant are chaotic, to say the least. As the church begins to mature and grow, the church experiences greater financial stability, membership starts to climb and the chaos of the early years begins to fade. Many planters welcome this sense of calmness. It is often during these times that the planter must re-engage the vision. The planter or planting team will need to choose between change or stability; between being conservative or remaining bold."

Posted 2/5/2010 in Stephen Gray | 0 Comments - Add Comment