It's Not My Ministry

If you're planting a church, you know that one of the things that is so hard about church planting is dealing with the disappointment when someone leaves.  Maybe that's why so many church planters had a background in sales before they entered the ministry.  They're used to setbacks.

I don't know if I can say I have a secret to dealing with it.  Fortunately, we've had more people coming than going, but I wish no one would leave.  Honestly, I never expected turnover before we got started.

We pour ourselves into every person who walks through our doors.  I consider every one of them a personal friend.  It never ceases to amaze me how many of them will really open up to Cana and me, enabling us to share their pain and help them in their walk.  We get unimaginably close to a lot of people.  So when anyone decides to leave to go to another church, it hurts.  And yes, it's personal.

I know some really good preachers who aren't easy to get close to.  I've heard someone say about such men, "They like crowds but they don't like people."  I think it's more likely that they've simply been hurt and they've let the pain of friends leaving make them slow to form new relationships. 

I was talking to God recently in my self-pity, asking Him how we could keep from letting our constant stream of setbacks keep us from drawing in.  Lacking any tenderness or gall, He answered, "It's not your ministry."  Such wise words, and just what I needed to hear and understand.

I don't get to decide who comes and who goes, or how long they stay.  This church is where God put me, for as long as He put me here, to serve whoever He wants me to serve.   God gives and God takes away.  It's not about me.  It's not personal.

So we will continue to pour ourselves into whoever comes, and trust in the One who will never leave.