Confessions of a Church Planter … part 2

Orginally published on Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 6:54 AM
by Devin Hudson

After reading Craig Groeschell’s Confessions of a Pastor, I decided to come clean about my own struggles as a church planter. After all, church planting is all the rage. It is the trendy thing to do right now. But the reality is that church planting is not for the weak-hearted. It is difficult and perhaps some of my confessions can help separate the called from the infatuated. Confession #2: I get lonely.

Let’s just be honest … church planting is a lonely calling.  Most effective church planters that I know are a bunch of ecclesiastical insurrectionists. We are institutional insurgents. To Erwin McManus it, most church planters are barbarians. They don’t like being told what to do and how to do it. They don’t like committees, boards, or any other elected church group that has the potential to regulate or censor a vision. They don’t like votes or business meetings or minutes or democratic run churches. And most don’t care for Robert or his rules of order.

Face it people: at some level most church planters are control freaks.  There are very few otters, golden retrievers, or beavers among church planters, but there are a ton of LIONS (all caps intended).

And for that reason, church planting can be lonely.  When my wife and I landed in Las Vegas, we had no body of believers ready to welcome us as their new pastor. We had no local church to embrace our children or to fill our pantry full of canned goods. We received no welcome basket from our new church and there was no “welcome pastor and his family” ribbon tied to a parsonage door.  It was us and only us.

And when Sunday came and it was time to go to church, we realized that for the first time in our lives, we were VISITORS at a church! When the pastor asked the first-timers to fill out guest cards, he was talking about us!  It was strange and lonely.

Church planting is lonely. No one gets the vision like you do. No one embraces the vision like you do. No one protects the vision like you do.  As a church planter, you trust very few people because you know that some of those you trust will ultimately walk away. Some of those who pray with you, cry with you, laugh with you, sweat with you, eat with you, set up chairs with you, and love on you will one day turn their back on you and walk away.  Church planting is lonely.

Here’s the good news. Do you know what loneliness did for my prayer life? It made it stronger. Do you know what loneliness did for my faith? It increased it. Do you know what loneliness did for my marriage? It made it healthier. Do you know what loneliness did for my relationship with my kids? It made it better.  Do you know what the loneliness of church planting did for me? It made me more dependent on God than I have ever been.

Church planting is lonely. But guess what? In 2 Corinthians 12.9, Jesus lets me know, “My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness.” His grace is more than enough for me. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Devin Hudson is the Lead Pastor of Grace Point Church in Las Vegas.  His blog GraceIsThePoint is a popular blog among church planters and young pastors and offers keen insight into the ups and downs of church planting.  His authentic and engaging style help prepare church planters for the raw realities of launching a church.  Devin is married and has 3 beautiful children.  He also has an earned PhD in New Testament.

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