I saw this yesterday on Cass Midgley’s Facebook profile. Cass’s friend Jim is a church planter whose perspective on church planting and spiritual development has changed over the years.
Cass has given me permission to reprint a portion of his article. Check it out below:
If Jim Were Planting A Church Today
Setting the Stage
I have planted two churches. One has developed into a very healthy attractional church, the other a cutting edge missional church. I worked much harder than I needed to and focused much of my energy attempting to achieve the wrong things. I would trade anyone anytime to be able to plant a church today in comparison with 30 years ago. Now I have other things to do but I want to help others who are interested in this work have more fun, achieve better (and more interesting) goals and survive the psycho- spiritual battlefield one encounters in this work.
30 things I would do differently
- Have a career in an unrelated field – like music, teaching, marketing or my own business
- Realize that if money were removed from ministry most pastors would quit.
- Accept some money from my spiritual community out of principle.
- Gather people around serving others instead of knowing more.
- Be happy with leading 5-10 people and knowing them personally.
- Serve my spiritual community by making connections for them in our local community.
- Introduce people to Jesus in the context of serving others.
If these intrigue you, stop by Cass Midgley’s Facebook profile to find the other 23 things Jim would do differently.
