About three weeks into my work as the leader of a church plant/revitalization, I was able to put words to something that had been bugging me. Our group of fifteen was made up of people who had come from the sending church as well as a few remaining folk from the congregation we were trying to revitalize. Some members of the group were happy and joyful servants; others were skeptical that it was going to “work” but were willing to give it a try; and still others were distrustful and unhappy.
Yet the nagging feeling I finally was able to put into words: as dedicated as some of these people were, no one in the church cared as much as my wife and I did.
That’s not meant as a criticism of others. It’s simply the reality of church planting. For a church planter, the work can be all-consuming. It combines your religion with your career and your livelihood. The stakes feel very high, and it’s unrealistic to expect other people to be as invested as you in the church’s viability. I know from my own experience and from talking to other church planters that
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