Kristi said this:
I’m interested in your thoughts on your readiness in planting a new church.
Honestly I’m uncertain as to what the “right” answer to this question is. I can say that the older I get and the deeper into church planting ministry I get, the more ill prepared I feel that I am. If you would have asked me three years ago I would have told you that in three years I’d be planting a church, that I had lots of growing and maturing to do, but that I felt like I was generally ready start. I blame that on the ignorance that generally comes with our 20’s. These days I tend to think more along the lines of, if one ever feels confident in their ability and readiness to plant a church then they’re probably not quite ready yet.
Also, any time line that we’ve ever made connected to Renovatus or a daughter church plant has always been way off…by about two years actually. The reality that we’ve had to come to grips with is that we don’t know much about church planting and what we do know (now) is that success in church planting comes from God alone (at least the kind of success that we seek).
So with all that said, am I ready to plant a church? Only God knows. My prayer is that discovery lab will be a tool for God to make things more clear and begin to better outline his plan rather than mine.
If I was to take a guess as to when I’ll be planting a church and how ready I am here’s my thoughts…Right now I feel as though there is still a lot of work I need to do with Renovatus before God is ready to move me on to another church. Also I feel like there are still a few specific things I need to learn and work on before I should lead a church. Also, I don’t think its time yet because for the type of church I believe God is cultivating we are in need of more partners. People who are willing and open to doing life together in a deeper and more experimental way (don’t get dirty on me here).
So there you go Kristi, a very brief piece of my thoughts. All in all what it comes down to is that I’m learning to let God do what he wants with me. I’ll probably never be ready to plant a church, but one day when I’m just weak enough to let God do his thing without me getting in the way then it’ll be time…and that day could be tomorrow, next year, or never. It’s really up to him.
So what you're saying is that in many ways, being ready to church plant is like being ready for a vasectomy? Who really stands up and shouts "I'm ready!" for either. Both are painful. Both are well worth the process. Ok, I'll stop at these cheesy comparisons.Coming from a planter who often wonders if I'm ready yet, I gotta think there's a lot of wisdom in what you said. I don't mean that in a false humility sort of way, but in a very honest way. In my limited experience, people who announe to the world they're ready often aren't; and the people who are a little reluctant often are.Personally, I think the vasectomy would feel better.
It's weird to read about your thoughts and to see them mirror mine so much – As I've been gaining more experience I feel I'm less prepared/ready for church planting. When people have asked me what our church will look like over the years that we've been dreaming about it the answer has become progressively more vague. It started with an excited regurgitation of something I read in a Dan Kimball book or something. Now I just have to say: It will look like the people that God chooses to send.I think that the more we are willing to give up control and to admit that this is God's church, the closer we are to God allowing us to help him to plant his church.See you in a couple weeks!
Dwayne – I like your metaphors. Ryan – Thank you for sharing. I think you have some very mature thoughts on this process. We are praying for you and Jess as you go through it.