I’m noticing more and more just how easy it is in this church planting game to get sucked into trying to be something or someone you simply are not created to be. And I feel like that as my journey continues to develop, God keeps convicting me over and over in my life to simply be the person He has created ME to be.
I know we hear it all the time guys, but I still find myself falling into the temptation of trying to be someone I’m not or trying to do something God has not created me to be. And as I mentioned above, again I STRESS just how concerned I am for fellow church planters, pastors, and leaders trying to be something they simply are not.
In case you haven’t noticed, or most likely not admitted, it seems like every church planter in the world is trying to do what the BIG BOYS are doing. And before you go all psycho, crazy, mad on me at least take a moment to objectively hear me out if for no other reason than allowing me the opportunity to become transparent for sake of my own simple sanity…
For example, why in the world do we all have to blast loud and intense rock music through the biggest speakers we can find just to be like NewSpring? Or why in the world do we all have to structure our Bible study groups within our homes just to be like North Point? Or if that is cool enough anymore for you, why in world do we all have to drop eggs out of a helicopter to think we are being “innovative” just to be like Elevation?
And in NO WAY I am in the least bit daring to criticize these churches or any other churches trying to do what GOD has told them to do? In fact, I’m DEFENDING them! Because they, along with just a few others, always seem to be the ones everybody is ripping off, trying to mass produce, and here is the sad reality of it all…
IT MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU!
Why?
Because God may NOT have called YOU to do it!
He’s called Perry to do it, and Andy to do it, and Steven to do it. And what I’m constantly having to realize, and what I pray God will expose to you, is that I’m not them and neither are you! So quit trying to rob their ministry of the vision God has given to them and start doing things the way God has told YOU to do them.
Isn’t this the driving force that started this whole “new church” movement in the first place! Leaders simply got tired of everyone doing the same things, every single way, in every single church, every single time you walk turn around?
What has happened to us? Seriously. What has happened?
I can bet you a million dollars right now that I can sit right here at my desk, know that you are “new church,” and tell you with as close to 100% accuracy as I as can get exactly what order of service you will have layed out, the exact style music you have chosen to use during worship, the way you have structured your discipleship process, and even throw in what time these meetings will most likely take place!
And I can also, sadly, tell you just about how long your church doors will stay open based on the simple fact of you constantly trying to mimick and manipulate somebody else’s assignment. And I can promise you, it isn’t as long as you would like to think…
Because if I can sit here and tell you how PREDICTABLE you are, so can the people you are trying to reach! And here is the other sad reality, they, like me and like you, really know just how FAKE it all actually is because YOU haven’t spent enough time before God Himself allowing the Holy Spirit to ask YOURSELF what it is He has created you to do based on who He has created you to be & not based on how He has created everyone you are trying to act like.
I think Scripture has a word for this, isn’t it… hypocrite? Which is exactly everything we are trying to escape.
Isn’t it interesting how fooled Satan has all of us as He makes us believe we are becoming what it is we set out to destroy in the first place, all because we don’t believe enough in who God is and what He has created us to be that we have fallen right into the same trap that previous leaders in past generations have fallen into who simply to act like everyone else instead of the way God has called us to act.
So what is the true remedy for all of this madness?
BE WHO GOD HAS CREATED YOU TO BE! Nothing more, nothing less.
God has a divine assignment for every single one of us and I am just finding it hard to imagine that He, who is the Author of creativity, variety, and ingenuity would somehow mistakenly give every single one of us the very same assignment to completed in the very same way. Even Jesus mixed things up every now and then!
So ask yourself the hard questions. Am I being who God has created ME to be? Am I living out the vision He has He has given to ME? And how is this vision to be carried out in the life of people God has called ME to reach? Is it really in the same way God is using someone to reach people in Anderson, or Charlotte, or Atlanta?
Please don’t misunderstand me. I will be the first one to tell you that I admire, honor, and learn from all the same men you do. In fact, I am in the middle of an ongoing posting series sharing with you about the People of Influence in my life so that I can honesty portray how God is using these men to effectively impact my life. And irony would have it, it’s THESE leaders God is using to teach ME this truth!
And I will be the first to publicly tell you that I support each of these churches 100% and that I LOVE attending each of their services as often as I can in order to learn from what they are doing as they are some the most effective churches on the planet.
And I will also be the first to tell you that the church we are planting will have SIMILAR systems, elements, and characteristics from each of these individual churches simply because they are doing what God has called them to do in such an effective way. But we will always remember that it is what God has called THEM to do and not necessarily what He has called US to do in the area of people we are trying to reach.
But He does have SOMETHING He has called us to do and don’t miss out on that opportunity simply because you too scared, or too lazy, or too cool to attempt something different.
So there you have it. Church Planting therapy session one over with and take what you will from this post! But regardless of how upset you might be with me right now, and how ready you are to hit the comment button to blast me with self defeating responses, stop long enough just to honestly ask God what it is He would have you do in area of reaching the people He has called YOU to reach.
That is what WE are doing right now by asking the question, “Is this REALLY the only way to do church until Jesus comes back OR is there perhaps maybe a NEWER way OR slightly DIFFERENT way than repeating the same methods that we all seem to find ourselves repeating over and over and over again?”
You never know, you may just be the one to spark a new wave for the next generation to participate in God’s plan for reaching the world. But you really will never know unless you stop trying to be just like everyone else!
And this is where I believe that true INNOVATION (RELEVANCE, AUTHENTIC, and any of the other latest buzz words that we try to apply here for the sake of being cool) actually begins to manifest itself in a whole new way.
