The Way to Plant a Church

I recently spoke with a man who had, at one time, attempted to start a new church in a needy small town. The work was so hard and he got discouraged. He did what we would think he should have done, he called the pastor of his sending church. 

The pastor of his church, a larger one from a southern region of our country, counseled him to come home. He did. And so, there is no witness, no church, in the town he left. 

I have to tell you, church planting is just about the most challenging thing a person can do. 

• It’s challenging spiritually. 
• It’s challenging emotionally. 
• It might be challenging physically if You have to work a secular job to pay your bills. 

Anyone with a human heart would counsel the discouraged church planter to throw in the towel and come home. 

Here’s the thing; the way to plant a church is to keep on doing it. It won’t get done unless someone keeps at it. Church planting is not just hard, it is impossible. If God doesn’t step in the whole work is hopeless. But God does step in. God honors faithfulness.

I can’t tell you how many times I would have quit if only I had had someone to give me permission. Fact was, I didn’t. I didn’t come from a larger, established church. I came out of a church plant that had come out of a church plant. If I had called my sending pastor to bellyache about how difficult it was … well, I just would not have done that. He was in the very same difficult spot I was. We could commiserate together, but there was no use going back home. It wasn’t any easier there.

Church planting is impossible. But the impossible has happened more times than history has recorded. If God has called you, and you know it, plug yourself into the town: 

• Get a job if necessary. 
• Start a business if necessary. 
• Stay a lifetime if necessary. 

If at the end of your life you have been a testimony for truth and you leave a foothold for another man to give his life to, you have done well.

Pastor Marvin McKenzie
In the Fields