I was thinking the other day about what it takes to be a church planter and as I have been thinking about that I came up with this phrase. A Church planter has to be able to make something from nothing. Now if you are saying, "Chris you are so crazy", then you probably aren't a church planter.
To be an effective church planter you have to be able to make something out of nothing. I remember all three church plants Linda and I have started and it started with a dream and just me and my family. I never inherited a core group or launch team nor would I want to. We have never had a church give us a group of people to help form the launch team. I have had to work hard at every single person we brought into the launch team.
When you don't have money you have to figure out how to make something out of nothing - that means you might need to work an extra job or be extra time raising support. If you are a called church planter you will have the tenacity to figure it out no matter how hard it is.
When you don't have the people you will have to figure out how to recruit people. This is where it gets really really exciting. When I realized God wanted me to start a church and we had no people then I realized I needed to start winning some people to Christ! I know that sounds elementary but it seems that we are raising a generation of church planters that don't want to do the hard work of evangelism. They think people are just going to flock to their vision. Then they are disillusioned when that does not happen.
If you look at the life of the Apostle Paul he never let lack of resources stop him. He sensed God's call and always made something out of nothing. If you are a church planter or staff person, when was the last time you encountered a problem and instead of giving up you chose to make something out of nothing?
What other characteristics do you think church planters need to have?
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