Are You Ready to Plant this Church?

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For want of a skillful strategy an army is lost; victory is the fruit of long planning. ~ Proverbs 11:14 (NEB)

READING: Luke 14:27-33

It was quite an adventure to plant a church as a newlywed student. Far from my home in Brazil, I was going to Bible College in North Carolina at the time.

Many of the fine local churches were reaching specific language groups such as the Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese-speaking.

But there weren’t any local churches for Portuguese-speaking people, so I decided to plant a one.

My first strategy was to hold a service in Portuguese to attract the Brazilian community.

I was impressed with the number of people that showed up at what we called “Christmas Celebration.” We had another meeting at Easter.

I was under the mistaken impression that being able to organize a special celebration for a few dozen people meant I was ready to plant a church.

As time passed, these people demanded more attention than I was able to give them. The new converts needed discipleship and I wasn’t available for that.

Some families requested pastoral care when I was either taking classes or working at my secular job.

I thought everyone would be satisfied just to listen to a sermon in their mother language on Sunday.

I would have been happy to delegate these vital tasks of discipleship, visiting and teaching if only I’d had a team to share the load.

Some lasting good came of my efforts and my heart was in the right place. But, in hindsight, I see that I planted that church prematurely.

Perhaps this church would still be alive today had I waited for proper training and preparation before launching such a big project.

Father, I am sorry for taking more responsibility in ministry at times than I can handle. Show me how to honor you by doing everything with excellence. Amen.

David Godoy