Mez McConnell: How Can I Know If I’m Going To Be A Successful Church Planter?

The more I (begin to) understand the American mindset when it comes to church planting, it becomes clear that many (not all) of our cousins differ to us on the notion of success. How do we know when we have made it? How do we gauge when when we have been successful in planting? Some think that the ‘magic number’ is no less than 200. Some think more, not very many think less. Some think that a plant must not start with less than 70 people and, again, others differ on that. Most agree that it seems easier to ‘birth a new baby’ than it does to ‘revitalise’ an existing, struggling church. Nearly 100% think that the city is going to be won through ‘small groups’. All are scared of the word ‘failure’ even though they talk like it doesn’t really matter. Everybody wants to be successful. As one individual confided to me: ‘I won’t feel like I’ve really done anything until I’ve made it in the church planting world.’ I’ve been told that if you haven’t made it by the time you’re 40 in NY then you need to get out and make way. It seems like that is the way of it for church planting as well. I remember vividly a young man who once introduced himself to me as a ‘trainer of church leaders’. He was 21 years old. I resisted the urge to laugh at him.

These are exciting times but also dangerous times to be a church planter. I have been doing this for over a decade and I still feel on the dumber end of clueless. Yet, kids are walking out of high school thinking that they have it all sorted. Others see the Mark Driscoll’s of the world and hope that emulating his explosive church growth will make them ‘famous’. The problem isn’t nearly so bad in the UK. If anything, it is the opposite, although there is a growing clamour for church planting (PTL). Here, young men don’t want to enter the pastorate anymore and who can blame them. Dying churches, holding on to dying traditions, expecting young men to come in and just maintain the status quo. That’s why church planting seems like an exciting proposition for so many. But, I am concerned that in letting young, success driven men loose on the landscape we could be (a) doing damage to them and others and (b) missing out on so much experience from Godly men who have laboured for years in ministry. These men may not look all cool and hip but they have broken their backs on the altar of sacrifice and suffering and may just have a little something to contribute to the church! Keep reading