What If You Left The Church You Love?
“I would simply urge you this: make your default that you go where you're needed most before you go where others are already laboring.” - Zane Pratt.
"And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, 'Here I am! Send me.' - Isaiah 6:8
“No thanks! We love our church.”
I hear this statement weekly as I invite people to be part of our new church plant. And to be honest, part of me loves their response.
First off, I totally get it. I hope everyone loves their current church. And I appreciate the response because loving your local church is an essential element of maturing as a disciple of Jesus.
We should all love our local church.
We should all serve our local church.
We should all give to our local church.
But most people's statements reveal a common misconception.
A Common Misconception About Church Planting
A common misconception about church planting is that you are inviting people who dislike their local church to join your new and better church. But church planting is not like opening a Chick-fil-A beside the local Popeyes. You are not inviting people to pay their tithes to the better chicken restaurant down the road.
Instead, you are inviting people to do what Christians have done for centuries — plant churches.
In fact, my friend RD reminded his church of this the other day when he said, “Every church was once a church plant.” This was to remind us that church planting is not something new; it is how every church has once started. You can watch his statement here.
Your church was a church plant.
Your grandma's church was a church plant.
Your city's mega-church church was a church plant.
And people who started those churches most likely didn't start it because they hated their current local church.
Sure, some start due to church splits.
But those don't usually last long.
Healthy churches are planted by people who love their current healthy local church.
If You Dislike Your Current Church, Stay There
I keep telling people that if they dislike their current church, they should please stay. If you are disgruntled with your current church, you are really going to hate church planting.
Church planting is HARD.
Church planting is SLOW.
Church planting is SACRIFICE.
The bottomline is church planting is more about engaging to meet the needs of others in a community and less about attending something new to meet your spiritual needs.
Instead, we are inviting people who love their local church to help plant a new one for new people.
Calling All People Who Love Their Local Church
Yes — I hope you love your church.
I hope you love Jesus so much…
I hope you love your kid's ministry so much…
I hope you love your pastor so much…
I hope you love your Sundays so much…
I hope you love your local church so much…
…that you'd be willing to sacrifice your Sunday experience so that others might experience life in Jesus.
So what if you faithfully, wisely, and graciously left the church you love to plant a new church?
Imagine what might happen through your radical obedience.
I leave you with this quote:
“I would simply urge you this: make it a default that you go where you're needed most before you go where others are already laboring.” - Zane Pratt.
For The Local Church 📍
Landon Reynolds