10 Mistakes I’ve Made (so far) as a Church Planterby Chris Thompson
Every once in a while, I get people to ask me for secrets and tips and pointers for things that I’ve done well as a church planter and pastor of
Radiant Life Fellowship. The truth is, I usually feel like a
bumbling, idiotic amateur most of the time! Don’t get me wrong, we’ve done some things well and the grace of God has really been on us during this first season, but I’ve made a ton of mistakes! A TON!
I think church planters are notorious for having to learn from mistakes they were warned against (and for reinventing the wheel).
10.
I completely, totally, absolutely (did I say completely) overestimated how much money we would be raising from week to week. We started with a small core of 7 families, including my own. A few months later one of the families had to move to Singapore. 1 family was in debt over their heads...therefore had nothing to give to church. Several months later a couple more families were left unemployed. A huge percentage of the employed adults that attend are either in a financial crisis or are a bit skeptical about giving to churches. We do have some very faithful givers. But they are in the minority. We’re working on solutions for all of these things, but I made many decisions based on these estimates and soon found myself in a bit of a leadership crisis without the financial resources to support the decisions I made.
9. I had this dream of starting a church with a strong core of healthy believers who were ready to reach out to the lost, hurting, broken, messy people in our community and in our world. I overestimated.
I didn't realize that the very core that willing to plant Radiant Life WERE actually, themselves, the hurting, broken and messy people. I've had to be "pastor/counselor" a lot more than "church planter" which ultimately sidetracks the mission of a church plant and produces a lot slower growth/conversion rate. I was told by a few gazillion people that launching and pastoring this church would be like working two full-time jobs. I thought that was stupid. Turns out I was a bit stupid! I did not properly plan for just how much time and effort it would take to plant and lead this awesome community.
8.
I underestimated how much effort it would take, for a church plant, to build influence and credibility in a city before people would be able to trust us enough to even check us out.
7.
It's been a bit tricky leaving a 100+ year old church that I served for 12 years on staff...and planting a church in the same city. I had to take, essentially, a 1 year (Moses-like wilderness-wanderings experience)outside the city (with the core) before returning to the city to launch. That hurt us. But it helped us determine who was really in it to win for the long haul. It also did help us recognize our real values. But I'm not sure I would do that again, in that way...if I had to do it all over.
6.
I underestimated the need for office space. I have heard a lot of different opinions on this and regularly read that it is not advisable to jump right into having an office, but we need it. With a family of 6, my home is a terrible makeshift office space. We will still make use of public space, our house, other homes, etc., but a dedicated office space is pretty essential in my opinion. As of now, we still don't have a dedicated office space.
5.
I really regret not having a very clear, well conceived definition of what it means to be a member/partner of our church. Some of this really stems from my own personal hangups on the idea of membership. However, I am thinking that I don't want to throw out the baby with the bathwater on this and we are now working hard to define what this means in our context.
4.
I have been jaded by people who lie and don't come through and promise more than they actually deliver. So it's been hard for me to release projects, ministry, leadership, etc to people because I've been burned too many times and I end up holding the ball wondering what just happened. This is not a good spot to be in as the lead pastor. My leadership learning curve has been huge. I'm still not there, but I'm working on it.
3.
We don't have a functional assimilation system that would really channel excited attenders into committed volunteers. We are just now starting to get this together, but I think we burned out a few volunteers in the process. As a very strong relational connector, I realize that is both an asset and a liability for the church. As a liability, unless the people coming begin to connect with each other and other connectors in the church...everyone will be connected to Radiant Life only through me. That's not good and I'm trying to rectify that in our systems.
2.
We haven't been courageous enough and being courageous is essential to who we are as a community. Huntersville really doesn’t need another church doing the same old stuff that reach old people. Our core has very small relational networks that they are comfortable in. And those networks tend to be churched people. It's taken my own family the better part of a year to re-orient our lives around relationships with lost people. As a church, we're still working on this one too.
1.
I did not paint a clear enough picture to our core, early on, of what it's gonna take to launch a church well. If we were on this wilderness wandering season, with the plan to launch one day in Huntersville, then I should have kept that at the forefront of our vision. I think I lost several "sprinters" who were surprised that planting a church is a marathon and it's difficult, rewarding, life-changing work.
Bonus Mistake. I did not realize how difficult (gut wrenching) it would be for me and my family when some of our close friends, who started on this journey to plant a church...opted out and left to go to another church that was already established. That hurts and sucks. But God is faithful. God knows who we need for this journey and this calling. Ultimately He IS enough.
God is still working in and through me. Mostly
in me these days. I need lots of prayer for me and my family and for the people of Radiant Life.
I've actually made more mistakes than these 10 and I know I will make lots more mistakes in the future. The key is not to make the same mistakes over and over again. I look over these mistakes and others and realize that I would never have learned the lessons I've learned or become the person God is shaping me to be without experiencing these mistakes.
Starting Sunday, September 20th Radiant Life Fellowship will be launching preview services @ Blythe Elementary School.
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