Ross Turner
Vibrant Agency, CEO & Founder
Every pastor who has planted a church knows the pressures that are involved. You have a pre-launch strategy, you obsess over your website and branding, put an uncomfortable amount of money into mailers and social media ads, and you make it your personal mission to meet new people and invite them to your church.
You know that God has called you to reach your city, and you are on a mission. You have faith, passion, and you are ready to do absolutely whatever it takes to get your church off the ground and change people’s lives.
After all, what if it fails?
Let’s point out an undeniable fact about planting a church. Sometimes it doesn’t succeed like you expect, and that reality is a huge motivator. You can call it fear, or call it whatever you want. But that added motivation and pressure can really kick us into high gear.
But what happens when your church doesn’t fail? Notice that I didn’t say that it succeeded…but that it didn’t fail. You have people coming, ministry happening, bills being paid, and even some growth! Yay, it’s time to finally settle down a little!
Right?
I’m gonna throw some stats at ya.
When you first heard God’s voice telling you to plant a church, how many people were members of that church? 0. But you had that passion, great marketing, outreach events, social media campaigns, mailers, interest meetings, and even that feeling of that pressure….all of a sudden on launch Sunday you had over 300 people. That is a 300% increase!
And I bet you experienced a lot of Kingdom growth, not just transfer growth (that is a key distinction).
But what if that church planter drive and mentality is what we are supposed to continue with…like, forever?
What if the fact that your church didn’t fail actually allowed you to take the pressure off, and get slightly complacent?
When I think about what motivated Jesus, it was an intensely focused mission to tell the entire world about Eternity. And that is exactly what He told us to carry on as our mission as well.
Pastor, Church Planter, I encourage you to rekindle your obsession with reaching your city. Just as obsessed as you were in the weeks leading up to your church’s launch Sunday. Put your church planter hat back on, and reject any complacency that may have settled in. Get coaching, do some social media ads, do an outreach event, schedule some interest meetings, or pray and come up with your own ideas. But just don’t take your foot off the gas.
Now all ya’ll haters listen here. We’re not motivated by large numbers because it feels good. We’re motivated to tell people about Jesus. That’s why. So hit me with your judgy comments all you want, then go back to petting your 6 cats. Cause for some reason I can just tell that you’re a big cat person, and all ya’ll are weird. So enjoy that.