Why plant a church? (Part 1)

The Call.

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” — Eph 2:10 (nlt)

Why plant a church?

This is something I have to ask myself nearly every day. Why am I planting this church? Why? There are numerous scriptures I have memorized that clearly present the necessity for discipleship, evangelism, and multiplication. There are numerous books that explain the need for church planting in much better detail than I could give you. There are countless statistics I could show you that show the absolute necessity for church planting, but honestly, none of these points are the reason why. Don’t get me wrong- they are good reasons and certainly play into it, and in a future blog I will go over those reasons, but they are not THE reason.

Now there has unquestionably been moments where I thought these were the reasons, I have undoubtedly used these explanations, scriptures and statistics as the reason when explaining WHY to a friend who wants to join, or to a skeptic wondering why anyone would plant a church, but again its not why!

The true answer is both simpler and more complicated than I want to write and you want to hear. The true answer is so simple that it’s not comfortable to give as a valid reason. At the same time, it’s so spiritually complex that it’s too hard to explain, which is why many pastors revert to answering with scripture and statistics instead of the simple answer, which is this; they feel called to it.

The reason why a pastor should plant a church is because he is called to do so.

Listen! You can make disciples, evangelize and multiply the church without planting a church. The argument I often hear is, “There are already plenty of good churches, why not go there and help there?” The answer to that question is yes, there are and you are right. However, that does not change the simple fact that, God for whatever reason, calls men to plant churches. Sometimes these churches fail, sometimes they blow up, and sometimes they trek on for a decade walking the fine line between success and failure, and what is this all for? God’s glory! Whether a church plant lasts three years and closes its doors, or it has explosive growth and lasts 50 years, or walks that fine line for 10–15 years before it closes or a new pastor takes over, is not the point (even if it seems like it is). The point is God’s glory, and I would strongly argue that all three of the above examples, if done in obedience, give God glory.

We tend to make it about numbers, and about the “visible” success, but God in His eternal view cares about the heart. He cares about our obedience.

If it were about the numbers I would not have helped three church plants and now plant a fourth as the lead pastor. If it were about numbers I would have already closed the doors to our current church plant.

If I did not feel the Spirit’s calling to plant this church, I would not do it.

It is too much a burden to bear if you do not feel called.

I currently work full time in addition to ministry and I have a wife and baby. These each by themselves can be stressful enough, but all together it is not worth the stress unless you are called.

If it was about money, I certainly would not do it! As it stands, I work 40 hours or more each week. In addition to that, I put in 20–30 hours each week in ministry- UNPAID. There is no money in it for me!

If I let my fleshly emotions get in the way, I would quit after every Sunday service that was smaller than expected. I would quit every time a new person decided to attend another church. I would quit when a friend decides to leave the church for another church with a better children’s ministry, or one that is closer to their house, or one of the many other reasons people can give.

But it is as simple as this: Success or failure, 3 years or 50, paid or unpaid, I KNOW that this is what God has called me to do. I must do it out of obedience and for His glory.

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” — Eph 2:10 (nlt)