Church planting is difficult… plain and simple. It is not for people who just want to be a senior pastor. It is not for people who just want to preach on a stage. It is not for people who just want to work at a church. It is not for people who want to implement all they learned in seminary. To be honest, church planting is not for many people at all. Sometimes I wonder if it is for me. I did the whole seminary thing. I interned for churches. I led small groups and mission trips, but nothing has truly prepared me for church planting.

I am only about a year in, but so far what I know without a doubt is that church planting is primarily about connecting with people and then connecting people to Jesus. I never took a seminary class on this, never picked it up in church, never really learned it in a small group or even a mission trip. I’m not saying those things were pointless, they definitely had value, but not necessarily value for being a church planter.

I think maybe the best preparation for being a church planter is meeting with Jesus and diving into people… Spending time praying to Jesus, listening to His voice, meditating on his words in Scripture, pondering his nature and character… Meeting your neighbors, praying for people you come in contact with, talking to people at the gym and the coffee house, inviting people over to dinner, actually leaving your house!!! To be a church planter, you have to love Jesus no doubt. He has to be your treasure above all else. But, after that, and I mean in a close second, you must love people. And once you learn to genuinely love people, you must learn the art of connecting with them.

Church planting may not be for everyone, and it may not be for me after a few years of this, but if it is too be tried, you must abandon any preconceived, romantic notions of being a “senior pastor” or “having some people to preach to”, and you must learn how to connect with people.