Pastor: Are you the same in public and private?
Dan Steel
Paul writes to his protégé Timothy in 2 Timothy 3v10: “You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance…”
It’s striking to me that Paul doesn’t only point Timothy to his doctrine, to truth, but also to his lived example. Faith is taught and caught. His words and his way of life both bear witness to the reality of Christ.
They tried to plant churches, then opposition hit
Dan Steel
Jesus didn’t sugarcoat it. “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33) He told his disciples and, by extension, us.
It’s a sobering promise, perhaps not the kind of promise we’re particularly keen on! It's especially sobering for those launching new gospel works in unfamiliar or even hostile territory. But He didn’t stop there: “Take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Church planting is a team effort, not a competition
Dan Steel
My kids always beat me at Risk. You know, the classic board game of world domination where you expand your territory, crush your opponents, and inevitably spark family arguments?!
Church planting can sometimes be portrayed as a game of Risk. Different networks and denominations rush to plant their flag in 'strategic' towns and cities — sometimes without considering whether healthy churches from other networks are already thriving there. While this may be a slight ‘straw-man’, there is sadly some truth to it (according to my study, just over 1/5 spoke of vision 'issues' between their network and the ground-level reality of what was needed).
The myth of the swiss-army-knife pastor
Dan Steel
Have you ever been in one of those meetings where a church is looking to recruit a new pastor, and the leadership opens it up to the whole church family to share their priorities for what they think should be sought in a candidate?
It would be an understatement to say the list can get quite long, quite quickly! For some, it’s preaching; for others, a love of evangelism; for some, administrative strength; and for yet others, pastoral warmth and the ability to handle complex, nuanced situations. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!
Wise church planting: two pitfalls to watch for
Dan Steel
Recently we had a friendly plumber at our house to investigate a patch of damp by the shower and a slightly strange smell. We ended up having to replace the whole cubicle; pipes, drains, tiles and all.
Sometimes in life problems are not immediately obvious, but over time – and in the hustle and bustle of life - they are revealed. Well, so when it comes to church planting. Sometimes problems that are there from the beginning don’t show themselves at the beginning.
Wise church planting: is the problem you?
Dan Steel
In this series of articles on church planting, the plan is to learn the lessons from church planters who have struggled. Not the usual suspects. Not the successful all-singing all-dancing ‘super-heroes’ with book deals and big budgets but the (often) unknown heroes who have planted around the world and it didn’t go as planned.
How quick will we be to listen to them? In each article we’ll consider one strand of why they struggled, and - what we’ll find, is it’s not really so much about church planting, more just the complexity of living ‘under the sun’.
When your church plant is failing...
We don’t often say it out loud, but church planting is deeply vulnerable. We go in with dreams, hopes, vision statements - and then we meet reality.
In nearly two-thirds of the cases I’ve seen where church plants faltered or failed, the issue wasn’t moral failure or bad theology. It was that they didn’t get what they hoped for. People, place, and property - the practical stuff - simply didn’t materialise as planned.