Alan (not his real name) started a successful church in a large Northern California community. He worked hard, built up his core group and drew over 300 people to his launch service. By the end of his first year, Alan's church averaged over 200 in worship. By the end of his second year, his church averaged nearly 400. Alan became a hero to his local denominational leaders. Northern California is difficult soil and Alan's new church was their most successful start in over 20 years. His ministerial star was rising.
Then Alan resigned at the end of his third year. He was not leaving to lead another church. In fact, he was completely leaving professional ministry to enter the management trainee program with Taco Bell Corporation. People were shocked.
His friends, colleagues, and even a few fans tried convincing Alan into giving ministry another chance. Their reasons were admirably motivated: God equips gifted people like him to advance the kingdom. Alan understood and appreciated their concerns. But he was not budging. The reasons he cited are all too familiar. The pressures to succeed made him miserable, the church increasingly demanded more time away from his family, and he felt spiritually barren. Furthermore, Alan did not like what he or the church had become. The church was like a spoiled child demanding their needs be met and giving nothing back. Alan drew a large crowd, but felt like he was doing it alone. He was seeing very little life change in an outwardly growing crowd on Sundays. Physically, emotionally and spiritually disillusioned, he had enough. He wanted out, so he quit.
Most, if not all, church planters wrestle with at least some of the issues Alan faced. Admittedly, most don't quit. But many limp along nearly broken under the pressures to succeed. Some church planters so singularly focus on the task of creating a congregation that they forget to build a church and guard their own spiritual lives. When this happens, both the planter and his church suffer. Let's look at two practices that can help planters avoid a spiritually dry and disillusioned ministry.
Spiritual Renewal
I know this sounds basic, but many church planters neglect fundamental spiritual disciplines. An informal survey of Nehemiah Project church planters (North American Mission Board) revealed their greatest challenge was spending time with God. I talk to church planters all over the country from many denominations and I am amazed at how many find it difficult to maintain a quality relationship with God. They love God and trust him for the future of the church plant but for most it has become a long-distance relationship.
Church planting is a rigorous task that leaves planters physically, emotionally and spiritually drained. Church planters are busy and stressed. The inherent instability of church planting places constant pressure on these Alpha-leaders to excel. They feel that every sermon, every service, every advertisement, every contact, and every event must be exactly right for them to succeed. Performance pressure overwhelms their theological moorings as to who they are in Christ creating an incessant anxiety which drives them even further into the work that drains them. It's a vicious cycle.
Finding rest in the presence of God is the only answer. But rest rarely comes when the planter's mind is a vortex of what must be done next. "Next" becomes the enemy of God's work in their lives "now." Consequently, the planter's relationship with God gradually erodes over time leaving him spiritually dry and empty.
If you find yourself enslaved in the vicious cycle, there is only one answer-stop! Now, I don't mean push the "Pause" button on the church plant. But you need to put some of the responsibilities into the hands of others (even if they will not do it as good as you think you will) and give yourself more time for with God. Guarding your life with regular times of prayer, solitude, and Sabbath where you sit unhurried before God will ensure a rich and abundant reservoir of spiritual life and power. Planters who fail to keep their time with God a priority will invariably suffer in their personal walk and the church plant will feel the profound effects as well.
Theological Reflection
Eugene Peterson makes an interesting observation in his introduction to "Working the Angels." "The pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches. They are preoccupied with shopkeeper's concerns-how to keep the customers happy, how to lure customers away from competitors down the street, how to package the goods so that the customers will lay out more money." 1
Many pastors are feeling the pressure to attract spiritual customers, but at what price? Megachurch pastor Walt Kallestad reveals similar feelings in a recent Christianity Today article, "Showtime No More."
On the surface, all was well. I was a megachurch pastor with invitations to speak at conferences, write books, and mingle with dignitaries. Our church had state of the art facilities next to a major freeway. But that was on the surface. Deep down inside, I was mortified at what we'd become. We had to change. We just couldn't keep going like this. Not anymore. 2
Obviously, church leaders feel a tension between numerically increasing their congregation and increasing biblical maturity among the members. The conflict has always existed-just read Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Planters in particular feel the pressure because new churches must grow to survive!
By overemphasizing aggressive outreach, risk taking and innovative methods, planters can easily become preoccupied with numerical growth and fail to exegete everything from methods to culture. Having prepared for years to plant a church, their livelihood, personhood, reputation, hopes and dreams all ride on the success of the plant. Some church planters like Alan focus so much on outward success that they never personally reflect on God's work in the details of people's lives. Ultimately, they live in disappointment about themselves for not attaining every goal.
Planters must practice theological reflection to maintain biblical integrity in their perspective of ministry. Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."3 I wonder if the unexamined church is not worth starting. Integrating theological reflection into the vision and methods of a church plant will help both the leader and the people.
Ask questions like: What is the purpose and mission of the local church? What does it mean to be a Christian? What does a genuine disciple look like? What is authentic worship? What does Christ require of us, and what does faithfulness to Christ look like? How do we implement these biblical mandates successfully in our cultural context?
These and other like questions form a biblical baseline for planters. Then the baseline becomes the goal rather than building up one's personal sense of fulfillment. Plus the baseline keeps the pressure off of the planter and on the vision to keep the church on course.
One of the planter's most important roles is leadership. Wise leaders understand their role in shaping the vision and culture of the church. They also understand the need to remove oneself from the pressures of ministry and experience renewal and reflection. Planters who do this are personally and professionally healthier than planters who do not. And, they lead healthier, more biblical and more sustainable churches.
Being tired is just part of planting a church. Burnout and disillusionment don't have to be. Put your spiritual life in order first and a fresh wind of leadership will follow.
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1. Eugene Peterson, "Working the Angels" Eardmans Publishing Company, 1987, P2.
2. Walt Kallestad, "Showtime No More" http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2008/fall/13.39.html
3. Scorates - in Plato's "Dialogues"
Very good Ed, First for myself in this next stag for the family and me and for a few young guy's I know that are planting, as always thank you for your post.
scotty w.
Ed - What a blessing this article has been to me this evening. I'm a 51 year old church planter. I started the church December 14th. So much of what you wrote fits me to a tee. I am going to keep this article as one of my favorites and come back to it time and time again. Thanks from the bottom of my heart. Mark Pierce from Church Requel.
Hi Ed, as I'm sure you know, this is not only true for church planters but for all of us in ministry. I recognise many of the "symptoms". Being tired is not just a function of church planting but also of refusing simply to be a shop-keeper!
Enjoy your European adventures.
Ed...so on the money. I teeter on that edge as a church planter, and though I have gotten better over the years, the urgency of the NEXT can overpower the NOW so easily.
Blessings bro. THANK YOU!
Well said, Ed. Your comment "many church planters neglect fundamental spiritual disciplines" is not only true of church planters but of well-established churches, at least in my experiences. I cannot tell you how many times I've had leaders and long-time members in churches look at me with a wrinkled forehead and ask "what is a spiritual discipline?" Despite all the efforts of Richard Foster and Dallas Willard, many know little to nothing of the disciplines. Of course the blessing is in the doing (Jn. 13:17), so it's no surprise that churches are behaving like spoiled children!
One (very typical) response to my blog entry On Pursuing Holy Habits or to my study on The Spiritual Disciplines asks (via email to me) "Are you saying that we are sanctified by what we do?" with a tone that the disciplines are somehow a works-based activity and, therefore, to be shunned. This is so very typical of those who do have some knowledge about the spiritual disciplines, but drives an unnecessary wedge between what we do and what God does through us. With the Reformers I wholeheartedly agree we are sanctified by the same grace that saved us, yet God uses our Spirit-empowered activities as the primary means of growing us up in Christ. So too with leaders and churches en toto. If we want biblical maturity, we must do, in God's strength, the things that Scripture says.
Bam! Ed you hit the bulls eye on this one. I needed to read this, this morning. I am the church planter who is thinking whats next, morning, noon, and night. Definitely an eye opener.
Good thoughts although they are more psychological than scriptural. Christ taught that we should lose our soul and that whoever seeks to save his life (soul) would lose it. Luke 9:24
I do not believe this article addresses the real issues of ministry burnout. For every Christian (not just church planters) it is an issue of which source are we drawing from, the Spirit or the self. It is a sad day when we quote Socrates, while trying to encourage church leaders instead of quoting Paul. Loved the shopkeepers point.
This is a fantastic blog! Thank you so much for posting it. I have a question that I think may play into this a bit and I'd love for someone with your experience and perspective to answer: Can a local church be too big? Is there a level of solubility churches reach where they can't facilitate life change, only Sunday services? Or is it too dependent on leadership of the church, location, and culture to make any generalizations along these lines?
Wow! Thank you very much!
I am moving my family back to CA from AZ this weekend (Antelope Valley if would know where that is) with a missionary call for the area. We are seriously praying about a church plant and your words have spoken to many of the very concerns that have been laying heavy on my heart.
I want so much to serve God with everything I have in me, but I have seen so much pain in the hearts of church planters I know. I believe that bringing life to a new family should be joyfull. This blog has reminded me that it does not have to be the way I have seen it done the wrong way. There can be joy...there will be joy, as long as I rest in the powerful arms of my Father and constantly fall back into the leadership of His Spirit.
Thank you again!
Ed, you amaze me.
The truths and insights of this post are real, accurate and personal, at last for me. It is a cycle that we church planters find ourselves in. If we are not honest about it and take time with God, I know we are doomed to wondering in a dry and weary world, been there done that.
One aspect that many of us face, especially in the economic state we find ourselves in lately is, the drive to find the next donor, partnership or sponsor. I find it hard to trust God to provide and tend to add this much needed and necessary aspect to my plate. It’s my job, since I’m the planter, to raise funds. I can’t ask someone else to do that, and they don’t have the passion I do for the church, or so I can think.
A second point I’d like to add is to have a solid accountability group that holds a planter accountable. A few people that can honestly speak into my life and tell me when I’m off base is necessary for my own personal, spiritual growth. Also don’t forget that wives are the best at telling us the truth we want to ignore! What good is it if a man gains a church but loses his heart for God?
I've seen it happen; a friend grew a church to over 200 only to see it crash because he was doing it on his own, all by himself. Then came burnout and temptation and failure. I try to remind myself daily it is God who grows the church; my responsibility is to water, nurture, and equip the people God gathers together.
Thanks again Ed.
I think your article is right on Ed.
Magazines glorify the big and fast growth (like Outreach magazine) yearly tribute to superstar growth and superstar pastors... oddly eough I have yet to see a list of "Top 10 maturing churches" LOL
The other pressure on planters comes from sponsoring agencies or churches whose finances are tied to numbers and other statistics. Very few sponsoring agencies tie their financial support to the planters spiritual health or the health of the people he is reaching.. it is almost exclusively tied to attendance or baptisms.
I am starting to think that the only way planters can be truly successful is to plant bi-vocationally and build slow and strong.
I have been involved in research about ministry burnout for a number of years. I finished my dissertation in 1995 on clergy burnout during a time when the church was focused heavily on growth and evangelism (hasn't changed greatly, huh?).
Granted, Ph.D. work is dull stuff, but the findings are just as applicable today.
There seems to be interest again in care of ministry staff. i would like to be involved in the conversation.
Here are some of the findings:
http://in-formatio.com/?page_id=120
Very good stuff!
As a 23yr old guy fresh out of Bible college I find that a lot of pastors like to give me the "fluff" of ministry. How glorious it is and how it's work, but it is so rewarding and it is good just hear something blunt and honest. It's like Driscoll says in his video "The Good Soldier" Paul constantly is warning Timothy of the battle and is prepping him like a soldier, not like a motivational speaker for the next 25 years, but someone who is going to need to be disciplined in all areas of life. Great post, Mr. Stetzer
Since seminary days, I've read about pastoral, missionary, church planter burnout. The answers are all the same: spend more time with God, delegate, don't perform, don't put so much pressure on yourself, etc., etc. All of those answers are good and they have benefit, especially the spend more time with God part. Thank you for posting this. At the beginning of last year, I started spending the mornings with the Lord instead of in the office doing "stuff." It made a huge difference in my life and I saw real growth.
All of that is good and should be said. However, there is a reason that "Alan" left the ministry and I doubt that it was all his fault or related to things that he should have been doing better. Maybe the whole system is unstainable. Maybe there is only so much that one person can do? I mean, maybe it was never meant to be this way in the first place. Were churches supposed to have rock-concert type Sunday services? Huge, expensive buildings next to freeways? Were they supposed to be led by an Ed Young type superstar communicator/performer/teacher/leader/speaker/whatever? Do the examples that we are given work for everyone if we just try harder?
I praise God for the churches that are planted and grow. But, they often have the same characteristics if you listen to their pastors: they are full of selfish consumers who think first about themselves. If we are not making disciples of Jesus, then what is the point? Are we witnessing the collapse of a system that was never totally Biblical to begin with? Will we weep over the death of something that God has allowed but did not necessarily call into existence? I don't know. But, I do know that continuing to tell pastors/church planters that their problems will be solved if they try harder or do it better when they are busting their tails is likely why guys like "Alan" would rather work at Taco Bell. I'm not saying that Ed was saying this in his post. His advice is good. But, the landscape is littered with the bodies of blown out pastors and church planters and we never stop and ask if there is something wrong with the whole system. We just look on their weakness with pity and try and find the next guy that we can send into the fray. Some make it. Some don't. But, environment has a lot more to do with it than people want to admit, I would think.
Just some ramblings and questions that I am struggling with myself. Ignore if they don't make sense.
Sadly, what you're saying (and Kallestad said this) is that church planting these days is just an exercise in direct marketing methods and has little to do with Christ in the pastor or people at all!
Ed,
As a church planter I can attest to the pressure to produce that outward gem, the dynamic Sunday morning meeting. I am in an environment, Ukraine for the last 16 years, where there is no choice but to be missional. I have started one church, and we are now on our second. I will also note that your books on planting missional churches and breaking that stubborn code is making the second round an easier and more enjoyable one.
I was just recently in the US where a pastor asked, “So, have you started your church yet?” This really bugged me because it is like asking a pregnant woman if she is planning to have children. Having a child requires an initial interaction, conception, prenatal formation and birth. Then comes parenting, etc.
Each part of a child’s life is important as is each stage of a believer’s life. Just focusing on herding a bunch of people into a well-organized meeting is both shallow and short-sighted. It is about the people, the person and their relationship with God.
I remember reading about the life of Hudson Taylor years ago and his passion for Jesus and reaching the lost. Later in his ministry he was hit with the reality of the need to start churches, but that was secondary to reaching the lost.
The spiritual disciplines are first. If we do this without yielding to a success-motivation I believe that more of us will cross the finish line actually breathing. Dying after the finish line is not victory.
Whose, not who's
David Troublefield
Minister of EDUCATION ;~]
Lamar Baptist Church
Wichita Falls, TX
david@lbcwf.org
Not only are pastors becoming "shop keepers", Christians are becoming consumers. I am seeing more and more truth to Alan Hirsch's thoughts that consumerism is "the spirit of the antichrist." (Not his exact words but you get the idea.)
The "shop keeper" problem is promoted by the consumer mentality, indeed. Not sure which was first... maybe they came at the same time.
Ed
I think the words "few fans" tells a lot of the story of what is happening, not that he chose this.
Ed,
Great post. As I read it the thought that kept coming to mind was something that John MacArthur has said numerous times when asked what his "method" of growing Grace Community Church was. His response is always that he had no growth strategy but to worry about the depth of his ministry and God would take care of the breadth of it. It seems to me that if we teach our people the word, to think biblicaly, God will handle the increase in all the areas.
Thanks for this article. Our church plant is still in the pre-launch phase, but make no mistake, we are a church in every sense. Perhaps I'm naive, but I am always astounded at how so many in church leadership measure success by worldly standards. I'm pretty sure God never said, "Go forth and get into debt by building or renting large places to worship Me; your worth will be measured by how many people came to hear your sermon last Sunday."
We are completely self-funded, which in our case is an absolute and amazing blessing. Our pastor has a network of pastors that serve as accountability partners and support, but we have the luxury of allowing God to grow our church, not some 2 year success plan created by someone that is not intimately familiar with the needs of the community where we live.
P.S. - I'm looking forward to hearing you again this year at Exponential. Not only are you scary smart, but you have the spiritual gift of sarcasm. I dig that.
Hi,
I would like to share with you a good ebook that's free to help pastors and their wives with discouragement and burnout. You can find it at: http://www.stoppastorburnout.com . It's quite helpful.
If you have pastor friends or even their wives, we are currently inviting pastors and pastor wives to join charter membership club for free for 2 months,you might want to share this with them. You may visit http://www.susandavidlifecoach.com/index.php/sponsors for more information.
We would also like to invite you to view our video on this topic at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miF-R0bCz0A.
Feel free to share this with your friends or people you care for.
Thanks,
Susan David
Whew! You must live in my head. Plant #3 - had to take a year off before this one for reasons above.
Take heed planters.
One tip: I had godly men for ten years who saw it coming. Five years before even I saw all the lights flashing red on the dashboard.
If you have a couple brothers tell you you're in trouble, you are!
PS For me, it was a sabbatical that led to a Sabbath that led to a new life rhythm.
You're right on Stetzer, even if you are smart. THANKS
Ed --
This may be the most compelling thing you have ever written. Nice work.
Great article.
Now, take the pressures of the church planter and apply them to those carrying much of the load in the SBC: bi-vocational pastors.
Bi-vocational pastors find themselves in much the same position, but without the financial resources available to many denominational church planters. We must work in the secular world to subsidize our ministries. However, many people still expect us to conduct visitation, attend class gatherings, and participate in other activities, even those held during our study time. We somehow manage to put in a full day's work outside our ministries and still provide well-researched sermons and Bible studies.
While accountability groups sound nice, when should we meet with a group? At night, during what little family and study time we have? On the weekend? I hope I'm the exception in working 7 days a week (M-F in computers, Saturday in sermon preparation, Sunday - you know), but I suspect I'm not.
It's all well and good to say we should take time out for spiritual renewal. Most of us have to ration our vacation leave so we always have available time for funerals, church emergencies, and such.
I saw a sobering statistic lately: 80% of graduates from Southern Baptist seminaries leave the ministry within 5 years of graduation (here's one citation: http://saidatsouthern.com/80-will-leave-the-ministry-within-5-years/). I wonder how many of them graduated with student loans and such and found themselves in bi-vocational ministry, ministering to small congregations afraid of change and unwilling to meet the opportunities in their communities.
No wonder church planting looks so enticing to many; it's an opportunity to make a "fresh start" and avoid having to deal with issues generations old. OTOH, if everyone goes into church planting, who will serve the small churches that form the backbone of our denomination, weekly feeding people who need Christ and the Scriptures as much as those in fresh fields?
This is my story almost exactly...and I wrote it out but it's too long to post and might be taken the wrong way too so I'll just say this. Ed's right...kill your ego, and get with God. Ask for help. My wife and kids were the real victims of this situation and no one has even really thought about what they went through cause so much has been focused on me. I'm good now...in fact i'm great...but that took a year and a half. Ed's right folks...Ed's right.
Great article! I´m part of a churchplant team in Berlin, Germany. We´ve just launched services after a busy summer & a lot of the team (incl. myself) are feeling the need for spiritual refreshing. We need to guard ourselves against pushing too hard and not trusting Jesus enough to build His Church. Thanks for the wisdom Ed.
Great words Ed! Thanks for sharing. It is easy to neglect personal spiritual growth in hopes of the next new numerical growth program. I hate seeing burn out and have decided it won't be for me. :)