Being a Church Planter is Not Always Exciting!
Now I'm a church planter. I think in lots of situations, planting new churches is a really good thing. I've also been a minister of churches that had been around since Victorian times, which is also a good thing. It’s often "horses for courses" as they say.
However, while I know I don't speak for every planter or minister, I'm struck that being a church planter is very like being a church pastor. There’s preaching, services, pastoral care, Bible study, prayer and administrative work in both. And the majority of work for a pastor is in the same ballpark as the majority of work for a church planter.
There are some differences of course and for the church planter some of those are at the exciting/buccaneering end of things. Most pastors of well established churches don’t get to plan many things from scratch, whereas most church planters get to plan pretty much everything from scratch. Most pastors have ruts that they would like their churches to get out of, especially in areas like prayer or evangelism, whereas plants are often initially full of enthusiasm and freedom in those areas.
But there is a flip side to this. Most pastors have all their governing documents, policies, finances and buildings in place for everything they do. Those things have to be maintained, updated and occasionally new things come along, but for the church planter all of this has to be sorted, often pretty much all at once.
Having spent large amounts of time and effort trawling through all kinds of technical documents and policies, setting up all kinds of new procedures and going through all kinds of training (and let’s not pretend we’re there yet!), this is both quite overwhelming and, let’s be honest, not very exciting!
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important stuff and it’s important we do it well to the glory of God. However, I don’t think many church planters went into it for the stacks of admin, nor do I think most people joined a church plant for the policies they would get to read in quick succession!
Similarly, there can be a romanticised view of the freedom church plants have from buildings. As someone who used to be a minister in churches with old and often complex buildings, I’m definitely on board with this. Plus we meet in a really nice, warm, flexible venue now. But we don’t arrive at church ready to go. We arrive with stuff in the car to get setup. If I forget something it’s go back home and get it, or do without. Each week involves setting up and taking apart again, packing the car, unpacking the car, packing the car again and then unpacking it again. And it's not like we set up some cool, dynamic worship space - we have a basic PA, a projector and laptop and a music stand!
Now don’t hear me complaining - we’re really grateful for our little church plant. I’d also like to see more church plants around us and around the country. But I don’t want us to lift up a ministry unrealistically. There are lots of things about most ministry (and more jobs to be honest) that are hard and boring. That’s just as true of church planting. If you’re going into church planting or your thinking about it, then be realistic.
I also wonder if it might be good for those who appoint/select church planters to think a bit more carefully about this. Often they look for dynamic entrepreneurs. I’m not sure where to start with why I think that’s dubious, but I wonder how often we look for people who are good on policy, procedure and admin!
I also don’t want us to demean other ministry. Sometimes over the last 20 years in the UK it’s felt like the cool kids go into church planting (obviously I’m making it my mission to prove that’s not true). But that has (perhaps unintended) implications for normal (read boring?) pastors. This is just daft. Plants and planters are great. Pastors and well-established churches are great. Let’s thank God for the good things in both.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important stuff and it’s important we do it well to the glory of God. However, I don’t think many church planters went into it for the stacks of admin, nor do I think most people joined a church plant for the policies they would get to read in quick succession!
Similarly, there can be a romanticised view of the freedom church plants have from buildings. As someone who used to be a minister in churches with old and often complex buildings, I’m definitely on board with this. Plus we meet in a really nice, warm, flexible venue now. But we don’t arrive at church ready to go. We arrive with stuff in the car to get setup. If I forget something it’s go back home and get it, or do without. Each week involves setting up and taking apart again, packing the car, unpacking the car, packing the car again and then unpacking it again. And it's not like we set up some cool, dynamic worship space - we have a basic PA, a projector and laptop and a music stand!
Now don’t hear me complaining - we’re really grateful for our little church plant. I’d also like to see more church plants around us and around the country. But I don’t want us to lift up a ministry unrealistically. There are lots of things about most ministry (and more jobs to be honest) that are hard and boring. That’s just as true of church planting. If you’re going into church planting or your thinking about it, then be realistic.
I also wonder if it might be good for those who appoint/select church planters to think a bit more carefully about this. Often they look for dynamic entrepreneurs. I’m not sure where to start with why I think that’s dubious, but I wonder how often we look for people who are good on policy, procedure and admin!
I also don’t want us to demean other ministry. Sometimes over the last 20 years in the UK it’s felt like the cool kids go into church planting (obviously I’m making it my mission to prove that’s not true). But that has (perhaps unintended) implications for normal (read boring?) pastors. This is just daft. Plants and planters are great. Pastors and well-established churches are great. Let’s thank God for the good things in both.
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