Church Planting is the Only Endeavor With a Built-In Exit Strategy

Planting a church may not actually serve to plant a church. I remember sitting in the rafters at a Willow Creek conference back in 2002, listening to Bill Hybels describe "the Jeremiah calling." This is where God sends you as an ambassador to offer one more grace-filled invitation to a hard-hearted community.

Unfortunately, it's the ministry of unfruitful evangelism, and new churches don't usually come out of it. But nonetheless, it's in the nature of God to be long-suffering in his compassion for the lost. There was a solid three years in Reston when I thought this was my calling. Turns out, God planted an amazing church there.

But the truth is, God doesn't need us to plant thriving churches. That's not the end-all, be-all of his mission. In fact, he made church planting the only endeavor with a built-in exit strategy. Listen to the instruction he gave his disciples in Matthew 10:14:

"If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town."

In other words, if people don't respond to the Gospel, you're not obligated to stick around. You've done your job. It may not have been to plant a church, but it still accomplished Christ's mission.

Comments

[Lara Morris]

Beautiful reminder! It gets so easy to think that, as Andy Stanley once said, "If I don't, it won't." But, the reality is taht God doesn't need us- He allows us to be used by Him to accomplish His purposes.

Thanks for that reminded, Ben! And thank God that advancing His Kingdom doesn't rest on us!

[jay hardwick]

"But the truth is, God doesn't need us to plant thriving churches. That's not the end-all, be-all of his mission."

So true, Ben. The church is not the end all...the Kingdom is. The church is the primary conduit and connector, but it's not the end all.

Being able to shake the dust off and walk away is trusting that the Kingdom is the end, not the church.

Being able to be a soil cultivator with little or no tangible harvest is trusting that the Kingdom is the end, not the church.

Love your thoughts on all this, Ben. More reason why you and I connect so naturally and have only met face to face twice. :-)

[phill]

This hard to wrap my brain around...

Because how can something that has consumed me for so many years not be the right thing...

And why has it taken so many years for the timing to come together...

And why is it that i waited for the right time instead of just step out and do it

[Rob Edwards]

Really appreciate your heart and your thoughtful posts on this topic.....

I was wondering:
Do you think that one of the reasons why church planters (and pastors, too) fail is that they don't know how to recognize what God is doing and get on board with that? Do they get so caught up in the prevalent mindset that they just dream up a plan then ask God to bless it that they miss what God is doing (or not doing) in a community?

God may open one person's eyes to what He's doing in an area and that becomes that person's invitation to get on board with it. At the same time He may close a person's eyes to His activity in that same community, because God desires to use that person in another area.

Blackaby is right: If we walk with God one day at a time, the accumulation of those days will put us exactly where God needs us to be when He is ready to use us in what He wants to do in the world.

[Pat Gillen]

I dig it! Hard to cope with and understand, but I definitely agree!

[Ben Arment]

Phill, if you're seeking God, it can't be the wrong thing. Even in our efforts to do what we think is the plan, God fulfills his own purposes.

I hope you're encouraged to know that God may be using you to cultivate soil, and it will bear fruit in the right season.