Date: Jun 30, 2003 [ 8: 19: 39]
Subject: Summary - One thing that discourages
© 2003 BCP Harry Shelton Cole
Subject: Summary - One thing that discourages
SUMMARY OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH PLANTING LIST
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Moderated and edited by Pastor Harry Shelton Cole
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Introduction: Some of the posts in the messages above seem so similar you
may think that they copied each other. That is not the case. Most of these
messages were sent and received before anyone had posted. Thanks for everyone's help and support. This list has already served a great purpose in the kingdom of God and the planting of the churches of God in all the world.
Fellowship meetings:
If your state doesn't have them start them and get to them for
encouragement. No one mentioned finances, both the churches and your
personal finances. This seems to me to be a major concern of church
planters. The advice I would give a church planter is not very tasty
but try to swallow it anyway. Be debt free before you go.
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Question: What is the one thing that threatens (or discourages) the
church planter in his first year of planting a church and what can be
done about it?
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Question: What is the one thing that threatens (or discourages) the
church planter in his first year of planting a church and what can be
done about it?
Malcom Feistel, missionary to Taiwan, stated that poor attendance or
zero attendance can be discouraging to the church planter. I view this
as having false expectations. Most of the discouragement that comes to
most church planters who are just starting are wrapped up in fals
expectations.
Bob Hines of Boise, ID,
stated that when a family leaves you and perhaps takes another family
the results can be devastating. For a church of 500 it is bad enough
but for a church of 30 it is like starting over again. Often the pastor
of a church plant does not have much experience in pastoring people and
when something like this happens they have a tendency to blame
themselves and give up. Bob also brings up the point of lonliness.
This will sometimes lead to a church planter becoming too friendly with
people in the church and lead to more problems.
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Question: What is the one thing that threatens (or discourages) the
church planter in his first year of planting a church and what can be
done about it?
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Pastor Jim Ragsdale of Whittier Bible Baptist is the first to answer the
question of the week. Of all the tools the devil uses against church
planters, I think that discouragement and finances are his two favorite.
Jim addresses how we can make a difference in any preachers life and
especially the church planter. Thanks Jim
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Jim Ragsdale of CA, stated that similarly not having what
is termed your "FIRST GOOD FAMILY" can be discouraging. People are
watching your faithfulness and staying in the Word and knowing for sure
that this is where God wants you is the help for such discouragement.
This rings true for someone told me once that you must be sure of your
call to an area because sometimes (discouraging times included) it (the
call) will be the only thing you can lean on.
He also added:
Probably the fact that home churches and friends do not stay in closer
touch with the planter. When you are planting a church you feel like you
are all alone, and except for the Lord and the immediate family, you are!
Having Started two Churches ---- The first, our home church did and stayed
by us for several years, as the work grew. The pastor was a great man of
compassion and understanding. People of the church were encouraged to stay
in touch with us and let us know that they were there for us if we needed
anything. (The Pastor lead them to be that way)
The Second church was started with little involvement by the home church...
The support that we had was minor and I and my wife had to work second
jobs. As a matter of fact, we worked second jobs during both times... the
second was harder as we felt that we were by our selves most of the time.
Most people in the towns were the same toward us... " A new Baptist
church, we already have a couple now," was what we heard, and most hear
that where ever they go, BUT the personal contact is what we were lacking
in the second and it made things seem much harder.
Many times we send out new planters and sometimes we forget about them, or
we do not encourage them as we should...
I try to stay in touch with our planters every week... (Monday most of the
time, as I know that is when we all would like to quit) I have a personal
800 # that I gave to one as they were VERY close to us and they really
needed the encouragement, I let them call me when they needed to... Works
for me...
The more personally we are involved with our planters, the more
encouragement they will have. I encourage our people to call and write
them as much as possible. Some do and it helps the planter to feel like we
are still behind them.
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Pastor Marc Leverett has hit the nail on the head. While I am sure that it
is not by design, most of the people who went to school with me graduated
with the same mindset that led me down the path of unreal expectations. I
have since put a proper perspective on such things and am still being
educated by and in the school of "hard knocks". Thanks Marc.
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Question: What is the one thing that threatens (or discourages) the
church planter in his first year of planting a church and what can be
done about it?
Unrealistic expectations. While we are good at pumping one another full of
faith and positive thinking, we sometimes fail to instill the patience and
perseverance that are essential for a church planter. This, in my
opinion, is the ONE THING that both discourages and threatens within the
first year in particular. Those who quit in the first year usually do so
because things just don't seem to be working out like they thought they
should.
What can be done about it? Well, depending on which unrealistic
expectations the man may have the answer lies mostly in a surrendered heart
for Christ to build HIS church. It may not be exactly what we had in mind.
The people who we start with are sometimes just that... those we START
with and then just as scaffolding is used to build the building yet is not
destined to be a permanent part of the building they do not stay in the
church. We hardly ever end up with what we started out with when planting
a church from scratch. The church I pastor now is very different (better)
than that which we had the first few years. We must accept and love our
beginning nucleus just as we do a newborn baby. We never know what it will
grow up to be!
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Along the lines of what Marc Leverett said, simultaneously Bill Britt, half
way around the world posted a message that similarly mentioned expectations.
However, Bill focuses on the expectations or perceived expectations of
others. The Baptist church planter must be prepared with only having his
call to lean on in the tough times. Thanks Bill --
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Question: What is the one thing that threatens (or discourages) the
church planter in his first year of planting a church and what can be
done about it?
I can only speak for what I think was the biggest thing that I had to
overcome. I allowed myself to be discouraged trying to live up to what I
thought were the expectations of others. I see this now as the devil at
work, as "others" never said or implied that I should have more or bigger.
This led to a lack of patience in building a solid foundation which caused
other problems later. I believe that we should enter into church planting
knowing that it is going to take some time to get these churches grounded
and established. Even here in Zambia, after 16 months we have two churches
that have over 100 people on a regular basis. It`s a lot of fun to boast of
numbers, but if I am honest I must also realize that only 20-25% of those
are truly committed to building a Baptist church. Knowing now that it is
going to be some time before these churches really live up to their numbers
will save me some discouragement later.
the initial excitement and energy needed to get a good take off but then the
ordinary and the day to day begin to wear physically and mentally. If we
are not careful to maintain the orbit God has put us in, we will crash and
burn upon re-entry>>>>>>>>
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David is a new church planter in Henderson, NV, I believe, just outside "Sin
City" (Las Vegas). No disrespect intended, we all live in "sin cities".
His point of view is a personal one that is a real-time view of what it is
like. Thanks David for posting. I hope this list will be a blessing in
your church plant.
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The hardest thing for me is the perceived expectations of the sending
Churches (read: Pastors). We live in a world that is very concerned about
return on an investment, and it is hard to escape that mindset. It can be a
heavy burden wondering what your supporters think of a less than glowing
report, especially as one turns into two, and two runs into three not so good
reports.
churches and pastors, care little for the labor pains -- they just want to
see that new baby. I would caution you to sandwich the negative or prayer
requests between whatever good happened that month. Many times I have
focused on the new visitor or just one incident of encouragement. Then I
reveal the negative in the form of prayer requests and then close
positively. Balance, in a word, may help both the church planter and his
supporting churches to communicate effectively.>>>>>
I am sure many Pastor's are understanding of the struggles of getting a new
work off the ground. Our adversary the devil just uses this to battle our
minds. I just wanted to share this because I'm certain other missionaries
would say a big Amen.
<<<Editors Note: Amen!>>>>>>>
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Jeff O'Dell, of Fayetteville Baptist in Arkansas, exposed in this post his
heart. He seems to be a preacher with great passion for church planting and
has been affiliated with the struggles that are only common to church
"pioneers" who unlike some, have to scratch out a church in areas untouched
by others. Like a true missionary he responded solely to be a blessing. It
is. Thanks Jeff.
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I reply with fear and trembling. I certainly don't want this to sound like
sour grapes. However, I agree with the other brethren who have mentioned the
overwhelming pressure felt to build a powerful work. Not only is there the
pressure to make each monthly letter full of glowing news, but add to this
the financial fact that most pastor's and fellowships will only make a
six-month commitment to a new work, and Satan can use it all to defeat even
some of the strongest men. (We make a life-long commitment to the foreign
missionary, but only a six-month commitment to the home missionary. Two to
three years would be a more realistic commitment. If the support can be
dropped sooner, then it's all the better. )
Not long after we started the church, we hosted a state fellowship meeting. I
felt that this would help the men develop a burden for our work. After the
meeting, I took our guest speaker out to lunch. Before we could get into the
restaurant, I broke down in tears. When he asked the problem, I simply
attributed it to the awesome pressure I felt to "perform" for the other
pastor's. I was so relieved that the meeting was over.
One other point and then I'll be quiet. I've never understood why a pastor
tells a new baby church planter, "Go to the city you're going, and when
you've been there for a year or two, we'll look at your progress and then
determine if we can support you." I heard this many times while raising
support. By the time they were ready to support the work, we didn't need it.
It was in the early days of the work that funds were strained. Again, we
support a foreign missionary two years before he gets to the field, not two
years after.
I've always wondered if we (the BBF) couldn't establish some guidelines for
home missionaries, much like for foreign missionaries. ( i.e. have them
approved by the fellowship, require an internship, have them go on
deputation, etc. Maybe even have a team of two couples go to an area and
start a church. We certainly could have used another committed couple to
help us get started. Maybe this could be another question of week.) I know
there would be some particulars that would need to be worked out.
at various fellowship meetings. The answer usually is that the state
fellowships are in charge of local church planting. If this is the case
then we need to examine what is working and where and what is not and fix
it. The Tribune is busy taking a survey via State reps to formulate some
ideas. Until then, read "The Right Ingredients", by Ben Feldott, written
and published in the Tribune and our state newsletter. Look for it at:
http://www.bbfi.org/states/MA/MAR96/right.html
>>>>>>>>>
I know I'm young and inexperienced. I don't claim to know it all. I'm just
speaking about the things that were our greatest burdens when we first
started. I pray all this is received in the spirit intended.
By the way, the editor's note from Wednesday, about making even minor
victories a major thing, and making negatives prayer requests in our monthly
letters showed great wisdom.
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END
2003 BCP HOME PAGE
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Pastor Harry Shelton Cole Moderator
bcp@baptistchurchplanting.com >:-o