Spend enough time talking with church planters and you’ll eventually hear them say, “This is not at all what we expected; this is not the way we thought it would unfold.”
Over the last 5 years, I have heard real planters say:
- We expected ten families to move to the other side of the city, and only got one.
- We didn’t expect to have twins during the first year of the plant.
- We didn’t expect our family to move four times in the first six months.
- We didn’t expect to change worship locations three times in the first year.
- We didn’t expect to land in the neighborhood we landed in.
- We didn’t expect it to be near to impossible to find a facility.
- We didn’t expect to get national attention for allowing dogs into our services (Austin has more dogs than children!)
- We didn’t expect it to be so hard to gather people far from God.
- We didn’t expect our Missional Core to become “scaffolding” that fell away after the first year.
- We didn’t expect an elder to fall into adultery in the first month.
- We didn’t expect to have conflicts with close friends.
Church planting almost never goes as expected, which is why, when Dr. Charles Ridley studied church planters, he identified “resilience” as a characteristic of those who were effective. He described it as “the ability to stay the course in the face of major setbacks, disappointments and opposition.”
You can have the best training available, and be incredibly gifted, but you will inevitably face the unexpected and unpredictable in this start-up venture. Resilient leaders effectively manage their expectations and learn to make adjustments. Without plenty of bounce, the expectations will kill you.
Ask yourself:
- Do I have a behavioral pattern of great perseverance and overcoming obstacles?
- Am I able to remain optimistic and determined in the face of resistance?
- Am I a learner?
Effective church planters don’t just keep doing the same things while expecting different results! They learn quickly how to assess the unexpected, change course and overcome obstacles.