Giving Birth (to a new church) Post #2


I was listening to a podcast on one of my training runs this past week and the guy was talking about being nervous and things we say that just come out wrong. A State Patrol Officer pulled a man over for speeding and this is what he said, “Officer, I was in a hurry because my wife is going to get pregnant today and I wanted to be there.”

Of course we all know what he meant, we have all been nervous and said the wrong thing. When it comes to giving birth, nerves are in short order, if you know what I mean.

There are so many questions when it comes to giving birth (planting a new church). Like the following…

What will happen with the current site, will we continue to grow?

How many people will leave the birthing site to serve and worship at the new site?

How will we afford this?

Most families that I know ask these kinds of questions when it comes to growing their families. We will have to buy diapers, formula, etc… Our lives will change, it’s no longer just the two of us, now we have to consider a child. We won’t be able to do some of the things we did before, we will need a bigger vehicle, we are going to need child safety seats, child safety locks on the cabinets, etc.

But the fact remains, with all of the questions and the nervousness we have, it is God’s will that we be fruitful and multiply. As a church it is our mission in life to grow the Kingdom of God. So, it is not a matter of if we grow, but how do we do this best.

Over the next days and weeks I will continue to post and talk about the struggles that we have been through in planting a church but here are some great books that everyone should read, if you are planning to birth a new church. They do not offer all of the answers but there is a lot of great information from some people have been there and done that.

Launch by Nelson Searcy
10 Most Common Mistakes Made By Church Starts by Jim Griffith
Church Planting Landmines by Tom Nebel
Viral Churches by Ed Stetzer
Exponential by Dave Ferguson
The Multi-Sire Church Revolution by Geoff Surratt
Multi Site Churches by McConnell
Parent Church Landmines by Tom Nebel
These are some of the best ones that I have read and we still don’t have all of the answers. I hope someday to add one more to this list that we will be able to write from our own experiences at Out of the Box Worship Center.

Psalm 127:3 The Message

 3-5 Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift? the fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warrior’s fistful of arrows are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children! Your enemies don’t stand a chance against you; you’ll sweep them right off your doorstep.

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