Kelly Kapic has- again- written a book of immense value. While it is targeted at and intended for encouraging the heart of any believer, I think it has some unique insights for church planters and how we approach the daunting yet delightful task of planting churches.
A church planter doesn’t have to reflect long before he realizes that productivity and efficiency often rise to become our top priorities. We often want to get to launch day as soon as possible so that people can experience how we worship and how I preach the gospel. We want to raise funds quickly, we want to train leaders efficiently, and we want to check boxes off productively. It’s not surprising that these things are often driven by idolatry.
Kapic show us that God’s intentional design is often very different than our desires. In his chapter on sanctification, exploring the question as to why God doesn’t immediately and comprehensively change us, he points to Creation, Christ’s own growth in wisdom, and the Spirit’s work in sanctification to show that God delights in the slow process of development.
God’s highest value is not efficiency, especially considered in any simple or mechanistic sense- it is love. He is more interested in beauty than speed of process; he is more concerned to lift our gaze, to provoke song, to stimulate our imaginations than he is to just get things done. God is not wasteful or negligent, but purposeful and wise, patient and intentional as he works….Love, beauty, wonder, and worship are God’s main goals.
Kapic points out that God’s ultimate desire for us is that we develop and deepen our communion with him, and this takes....time. God values the process of our growth in communion with Christ just as much as he does the final product of our growth into full conformity to Christ.
How can this inform how we approach church planting, especially in the early phases? While there are many applications, let me just conclude with one.
The author uses the story of a friend who is an art professor. Young students often want to make their art quickly and get on to the next project. Yet, the professor mentors the students “in the promise and delight of development. Engaging in this slow, purposeful work, [the art teacher] offers an echo of the Creator’s own careful craftsmanship.”
The two phrases that stick out for me, as a church planter, are the “delight of development” and “the Creator’s careful craftsmanship.” It’s good to be reminded that God’s work is more often slow, intentional, and purposeful and that this work that requires process is something he delights in. This means that timelines and benchmarks are necessary for church planting, but that along the way, I’m called to delight in and be careful and intentional about how I commit to communion with God in prayer and reading Scripture, how I invest in and disciple those in the core group, how I pursue and get connected in the community, and how I cultivate the hearts of others who will lead alongside of me. I want my highest priority not to be getting to launch day, but to loving God and others along the way until we get there. It will likely take more time, but it better reflects the God who is faithful to build his church and advance his kingdom.
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