Almost all church planters begin with a dream. In the beginning it might be a burden to reach a certain group of people in a certain town—or—an entire city or area of the country. Then there is much prayer and sharing of the vision with a handful of people (and these days, various church planting groups as well), the development of a launch team, etc.
If these people really have a desire to expand God’s kingdom for His glory and honor than the dream can often sound pretty audacious. It’s fun to dream big for God because, in Him, you actually have the resources to do it!
But one thing is sorely missing form the arsenal of early church planters and their fired up groups. What’s missing is a healthy dose of reality.
“Oh, I knew it. Here comes the cup of cold water thrown in church planter’s faces from the pastor who already has a large congregation and is already seeing God accomplish the vision.â€
No. Chill.
I believe in you. In fact, I will go a step further. If your vision is truly from the Lord and you are giving Him all the praise, nothing will be able to stand against it. But this does not mean nothing will try to stand against it. This does not mean that the evil one will simply write you off because you have a dream. In fact, announce your dream and you’ll have his full attention—guaranteeing obstacles are about to be strewn all across your path for years to come.
For some reason this piece of reality seems to hit a lot of church planters as though it came right out of left field. And they slowly begin to succumb to a slow death.
Bit by Bit.
This doesn’t have to happen. Tomorrow I’ll show you the signs and then we will learn how to get through the valleys of ministry.