Avoiding Our Weaknesses

I’ve been reading a very challenging and stirring book by Darrin Patrick, Church Planter: The Man, the Message, the Mission (Crossway 2010).  I’ve always believed that there are many ingredients that the Spirit of God tosses into the mixer in order to produce a church plant.  It seems reasonable to conclude that one of the most important ingredients; the flour, if you will, is the church planter himself. 

While planting a new church can, and should be, a thrilling and energizing ministry adventure it is not an easy thing to do.  It is a challenging ministry and is not for those who are thin-skinned, faint of heart, overly confident, naieve, or undisciplined; and those are five negative characteristics that are just at the top of my list. 

Sadly, experience reveals that sometimes even the brightest candidates for successful church plant leaders are the most devastatingly surprising failures.

Having engaged in the pastoral ministry in one church for twenty-five years, I think I have at least a basic understanding what sort of “stuff” a man needs to be made of and the “intestinal fortitude” required to be a successful Pastor.  In no way do I think that I fully attained to the ideal in that regard but my personal shortcomings, in retrospect served to more fully educated my understanding of what was needed.  But church plant leaders are a different breed.  Certainly they must be Pastors, but there is an added quality about them that sets them apart from those who pastor established churches.  I know that it exists, and can see glimpses of it from time to time in the men I am privileged to work with in the ministry of church planting.  But I don’t have my mind completely wrapped around it yet.  That’s one of the reasons why I’m enjoying this read of Patrick’s book.

Today I was struck by the way he opens Chapter 4.  It might be well to explain that the first section of the book (seven chapters) deals with the characteristics of the church planter.  He must be Rescued, Called, Qualified and now, in Chapter 4 – Dependent.

“I noticed something recently at the gym.  It seems there are basically two kinds of guys who go to the gym.  Near the free weights and on bench presses, you find the huge no-neck guys who spend most of their time doing heavy lifting.  These guys are huge.  However, most of them are not in great shape, and you hardly ever see them on the treadmill or doing sit-ups.  Then, on the treadmill, you find skinny, zero-body-fat guys who can run like gazelles but hardly ever hit the weights.  Both groups tend to stay in the area where they are most comfortable and avoid their areas of weakness.  One day after a great workout I sensed the Spirit telling me: “it is the same with pastors.”  Pastors tend to stay in their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. “Theology guys” tend to spend a lot of time reading and discussing dead theologians.  “Missional guys” tend to spend a lot of time analyzing culture and drinking lattes.  “Shepherding guys” tend to spend a lot of time hanging out with people and counseling them.  But rarely do we see pastors step out of their strengths into their areas of weakness.  Why is this?  Because it is uncomfortable.  It is difficult.  It is flesh-starving.”  Patrick explains that “flesh” here is used in the sense of that which is a part of us that has yet to be surrendered to God in recognition of the fact that “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.” – John 15.5

The new (as in young) church planter is often out there there doing ministry with not a whole lot more than a shelf full of class notes, some idealistic expectations and an optimism that sometimes borders on naievete.  We need the idealism and optimism.  They are necessary qualities in a church planter.  But if they lead the unwitting church planter into an over confidence in his ability to do the work without a healthy sense of dependence, he and his ministry are doomed from the start.

I serve an organization that is comprised of independent men and churches.  Independence and autonomy are highly prized, and rightly so.  I believe that those are biblical principles.  But when those principles lead to arrogant isolation, then they become devilish principles.  Patrick makes the point that we all have our strong points and weak points.  It seems to me as though the one who is successful in ministry must be well rounded in his ministry.  He cannot expect his strong points to cover for the weak ones.  He must instead acknowledge his weak points and seek to bolster them by surrounding himself with, and creating a sense of dependence upon, those who are strong where he is weak and who can, therefore, help him in those areas.  This, I believe, is the genius of the biblical concept of “plurality of leadership” in the local church.

Of course, there is an even more fundamental dependence which if missed will be absolutely fatal to the church planter … or for that matter, anyone in ministry.  That dependence is the one that we must cultivate in relation to the power of the Spirit of God who empowers our ministry.  And that dependence is most effectively developed by cultivating a vital and growing relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

As I think back over the years of ministry that the Lord has privileged me to serve Him, I must confess that there were times when I could have benefited from a greater sense of dependence.  How about you?