Personal Lessons in Church Planting - Part 4

Some Personal Lessons from Church Planting - Part4 

This is the final article in a four part series by Graham Hill - Personal Lessons from Church Planting. You can view Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

Here are some personal things I learned while church planting.

Church planting is a team sport, not an individual sport.

Charismatic, dynamic, talented, individualistic, egotistical, narcissistic, and extraordinarily gifted people don’t make great church planters. Great church planters embrace a confident humility. They understand that the church’s health, vitality, and mission depend on teamwork, inclusion, community, humility, relationship, and, most importantly, love—within the church community and outward toward its neighbours.

Church planting is about learning to have open ears and eyes.

For me, it was about learning to hear and see. What is God doing and saying? Where is the Spirit leading? How is Jesus present in my neighborhood? Where are the signs of hope, inclusion, renewal, and love in my city and neighborhood? What are my neighbors doing and saying, and hoping and feeling? How can I hear and see?

Church planting needs large doses of play.

After a while, I became tired and overworked. I forgot how to play. I’ve concluded that long-term, sustainable ministry requires large doses of play. For me, that means days at the beach, going to the gym, taking up a sport or hobby, joining local community groups and clubs, walking my dog, reading novels, and going to the movies with friends. All the talk about self-care can sometimes feel a bit boring, but I’ll take play any day!

Church planting depends on imagination.

There is where beauty, art, literature, theology, creation, architecture, stories, films, and more come in. Healthy church planting requires fertile imagination. How do we creative, innovate, pioneer, and find beauty and meaning without imagination?

Church planting is deeply relational.

Here’s the thing. No church plant will survive without deep friendships, healthy marriages (if you are married), intentional neighbouring, and many other relationships. This is one of the most relational vocations and calls one can imagine. A ferocious commitment to relationships is critical to church planting.

Church planting shows you the power of forgiveness.

I made many mistakes, hurt people, broke promises, didn’t act with integrity, and showed terrible leadership.

But I also did many things well. I helped people, kept promises, sought God’s help, and tried hard to show the true nature of Christlike Christian leadership.

In all of this, I learned the power of forgiveness. I saw the extent of people’s grace, patience, love, and hope.

Church planting is a very personal experience and story.

Some experiences are common to all church planters, but many experiences and stories are deeply personal and unique. We all need safe spaces to tell these stories and encourage and support each other.

Personal Lessons in Church Planting is an except from Graham Hill's blog. You can find the blog post here.

Great church planters embrace a confident humility. They understand that the church’s health, vitality, and mission depend on teamwork, inclusion, community, humility, relationship, and, most importantly, love.