Starting a Church without Losing Your Soul

The following article was written by Ed Stetzer: All church planters would do well to read this excerpt that I have pasted here. You can read the whole article at: http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2009/01/starting-a-church-without-losi.html

Spiritual Renewal
I know this sounds basic, but many church planters neglect fundamental spiritual disciplines. An informal survey of Nehemiah Project church planters (North American Mission Board) revealed their greatest challenge was spending time with God. I talk to church planters all over the country from many denominations and I am amazed at how many find it difficult to maintain a quality relationship with God. They love God and trust him for the future of the church plant but for most it has become a long-distance relationship.

Church planting is a rigorous task that leaves planters physically, emotionally and spiritually drained. Church planters are busy and stressed. The inherent instability of church planting places constant pressure on these Alpha-leaders to excel. They feel that every sermon, every service, every advertisement, every contact, and every event must be exactly right for them to succeed. Performance pressure overwhelms their theological moorings as to who they are in Christ creating an incessant anxiety which drives them even further into the work that drains them. It's a vicious cycle.

Finding rest in the presence of God is the only answer. But rest rarely comes when the planter's mind is a vortex of what must be done next. "Next" becomes the enemy of God's work in their lives "now." Consequently, the planter's relationship with God gradually erodes over time leaving him spiritually dry and empty.

If you find yourself enslaved in the vicious cycle, there is only one answer-stop! Now, I don't mean push the "Pause" button on the church plant. But you need to put some of the responsibilities into the hands of others (even if they will not do it as good as you think you will) and give yourself more time for with God. Guarding your life with regular times of prayer, solitude, and Sabbath where you sit unhurried before God will ensure a rich and abundant reservoir of spiritual life and power. Planters who fail to keep their time with God a priority will invariably suffer in their personal walk and the church plant will feel the profound effects as well.

Ed Stetzer

A Soulwinner's Dilemma

What is a Soulwinner's Dilemma? To some it might be being stuck in an office or some other situation where you cannot meet people regularly and build relationships in order to witness. Or if you are a pastor or missionary, your dilemma is that when you are out witnessing you feel you need to be back in your study preparing lessons and sermons. Or visa versa.

But have you ever experienced the following dilemma? You discover that someone you lead to Christ a week or a month ago gets saved again? You will ask yourself, where did I go wrong? What did I forget to say or explain about salvation that they felt they weren't saved the first time? Or were they really saved the first time and were just confused by someone elses well meaning efforts? Now don't get me wrong, it doesn't matter to me who leads someone to Christ, as long as that person is genuinely saved. But that is the issue: who determines if someone is genuinely saved?

Here is the dilemma: You lead someone to Christ and another Christian witness comes along and determines that the person you brought to Christ wasn't really saved because that person wasn't lead to Christ by him personally. In other words, some people feel that unless they lead the person to Christ he is not really saved. I have seen this happen many times. It bothers me just a little.

I have actually experienced pastors and missionaries not accepting new converts simply because they didn't lead them to Christ themselves. Or they weren't there to supervise the soulwinning experience personally and give approval to the new converts profession of faith. Only after they personally counsel with the new convert and pray with them the sinner's prayer are they genuinely saved, in their opinion.

Personally, I'm just glad that the person genuinely gets saved. However, I am very concerned about the confusion that some new converts will experience because of this. I am also very suspicious of the motives of the person who doesn't accept the soulwinning efforts and successes of another witness for Christ. I'm all for 'double-checking' a person's experience in receiving Christ, but this goes a little bit too far, in my opinion.

Is there anyone else out there that has experienced this?
David

Three Saved last night

From the 22 converts that have come to Christ over the Summer and Fall we have been working hard to establish some small groups and work on discipleship. Last night three children received Christ after nearly a month of weekly small group meetings. (Home bible studies for those who may not know what a small group meeting is). Small group meetings are more than bible studies; they are times of interaction, sharing, praying and discussing God's Word.

The children belonged to the lady we had lead to Christ during the Summer. There were six children in the small group and three adults not counting our small group team leaders. This small group is beginning to grow and to see significant spiritual results.

The lady of the house remarked last week that our small group meeting was the highlight of her week. So far she has not been to our church but is beginning to anticipate coming. She has distant Jehovah's Witness background and knew nothing about the Bible when we met her. Please pray for her and her four children. (Three of her children were saved last night).

We rejoice in the salvation of those three precious children.
David

A Month Passes Quickly

So it has been a month since I lost blogged. It's beyond me where time has gone. So what do I blog about after being gone for over 30 days? I could talk about a number of things but none of them are really on my heart. Soulwinning is always on my heart!

We have been conducting the "Share Jesus Without Fear" series and small group study on Wednesday nights. It has really been a blessing. Several folks are implementing what they are learning. Bill Fay does an excellent job in the video and Lifeway did an excellent job in putting together this series. Tomorrow night will be our last night.

We are getting ready for Fireproof. It's a dynmic Christian movie that has been in the movie theaters. It is excellent. We are doing the Movie Event and advertising in papers, radio stations, and offering free tickets for the movie. We already have a great deal of interest. We are praying for God to move in a great way with souls saved small groups started.

If you want information on either of these quality outreach programs please get in touch with me.

Hopefully I'll be back in a few days.
David