First Year Lessons
Posted on 12. Oct, 2009 by Re-blog in Church Planter University, Leadership
Here’s a great post from church planter Dave Nelson in which he shares The 5 Toughest Things About Leading a Church In My First Year! This is a great opportunity to learn the easy way from someone who learned these lessons the hard way… by experiencing them. So here’s what Dave’s learned after successfully launching a new church:
Share on Facebook1) Having boundaries. I think this is the same answer anyone will have who LOVES what they do. I recently promised my wife that I would shut off my computer at 6 pm every night… so that I resist the temptation to work.2) Taking risks. Everything about a new church requires risk. I’ve lost more sleep in the past 12 months than I have in the past 12 years.
3) Keeping ”outward” focused. Lots of people are willing to help start new churches, but few make it for the long haul. The reason for this is that launching a church requires LOTS of sacrifice (giving up preferences, financial and time commitments, etc) . It gets even harder when the purpose of the church is to create a place where people who don’t go to church will feel comfortable and accepted. Whenever I sense we’re going to lose somebody ’cause of our mission, I’m tempted to water it down.
4) Logistics. Dang. There are more details than I could have imagined to running a church. I could not do this without the couple hundred volunteers who serve at Great Lakes.
5) Trust. Every leadership book talks about the importance of trusting other people. In leading a new church, it’s hard to know who to trust. Who is going to around long-term? Who is going to stay true to the mission? Who has the character and ability to lead?
Related posts:
Leave a reply