We’ve all heard those church planting success stories. Of how a church launches with a handful of people and then soon grows spectacularly in a short space of time into what is deemed a “success.” I praise the Lord for those stories, as demonstrations of his extraordinary grace and favour. But the hard reality for most church planters is that church planting is one of the hardest things you will do in your life.
Church planting stories of rapid growth and success are often held up as the norm.
It is unfortunate that the few church planting stories of rapid growth and success are often held up as the norm for others to emulate. It is easy therefore for church planters to get very discouraged when growth isn’t immediate and success isn’t apparent. Self-doubt, doubt in God’s faithfulness, and his calling can easily start to creep in. All of these, left unchecked, form a lethal cocktail that leads to many church planters throwing in the towel and another failed church plant.
My Church Planting Story
Allow me to share some of my church planting story, which certainly hasn’t been an easy journey. Just over six years ago, in late 2017, I began the process of planting a church in Waterfall, Durban, South Africa. I’d come around to embracing Reformed theology some years back, while ministering in the Anglican Church. This led me to pursuing theological studies at a Reformed seminary in the United States. During that time, I became a member of a Presbyterian church (in the PCA), and later its church plant in downtown San Diego. What I observed there inspired me to plant a church back home.
Durban has a population of four million people. But there are remarkably few biblically-faithful, gospel-preaching churches—let alone Reformed churches —compared to other parts of the country. Pentecostalism, New Apostolic Reformation-type churches, hyper-charismatic movement, prosperity gospel and broad Evangelical pragmatism are the predominant flavours.
It was this great need for a Reformed witness in Durban that motivated me to plant a new church. Having been exposed to confessional Presbyterianism and a taste of church planting in the United States, I set out with the aim of planting a confessional Presbyterian church in Durban.
Providentially, I got connected to a group of biblically orthodox Presbyterian churches in Cape Town. With their blessing and support, I started the process of gathering a core group together in late 2017. We soon began a mid-week Bible study which became the beginning of the church plant. After doing lots of teaching, planning, leadership training, fellowship and outreach events, we got to the point where we launched Lord’s Day worship services in September 2019.
Quick growth didn’t materialise as we had imagined it would.
But just months after launching, COVID-19 hit and the government banned all churches from gathering. Then some of our key leaders emigrated or moved to other parts of the country in quick succession. On top of that, our community was badly hit during the horrifically violent riots of July 2021. And then devastating floods the following April. Quick growth didn’t materialise as we had imagined it would. Our outreach and evangelism efforts were met with limited success. In short, while we have certainly experienced God’s incredible faithfulness to us, it’s been a tough ride!
How then should struggling church planters face challenges and disappointments? Here are a few suggestions that I can offer in the light of my own struggles.
Remember: Slow and Steady Wins the Race
I think many church planters overestimate what can be done in two years and underestimate what can be done in ten years. We overemphasise the need for rapid numerical growth and underemphasise the wisdom of building slowly and faithfully. I remember preaching to five people for many Sundays in our early days. As discouraging as this can be, we need to remember that God is calling sinners to repentance and faith in Christ, sanctifying saints by the power of the Holy Spirit, and building his church every single time that his word is faithfully preached—even if it’s only to five people.
We overestimate what can be done in two years and underestimate what can be done in ten.
Church planter, I urge you to persevere. Hang in there! Carry on plodding on, and faithfully preach the gospel. Even if it takes many years, God is faithful in gathering his elect and building up his Church through his ordained means.
Rely on the Ordinary Means of Grace
What then are God’s ordained means through which he builds and strengthens his church? Looking around at South African broad evangelical culture, you would not be mistaken to think that they were things like having a slick, professional worship band filled with ridiculously good-looking people, an expensive light and sound set up, single origin coffee after church and edgy preaching on the latest hot cultural topic of the day.
Thankfully God’s ways of growing his church are available to those of us who don’t have money to spend on sound, lights and expensive coffee and who are not edgy nor good-looking! In his word, God promises us that the ordinary ways he chooses to feed, nurture and grow his church are through the faithful preaching of the Word, the correct administration of the sacraments, and prayer (WSC 88).
This truth keeps me from getting distracted by gimmicks, causes and the latest cultural trends.
Our most important weekly task has to be proclaiming what is “of first importance…that Christ died for our sins…that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Proclaim this gospel of Christ in all Scripture that you preach because it is this message—and this message alone—through which God awakens the hearts of dead sinners and raises them to new, eternal life in Christ. Indeed, the gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).
God accomplishes all this through his effectual word (WLC 155). Through it God always accomplishes his sovereign purposes (Isaiah 55:11). He creates something out of nothing: a new redeemed people of his own (Genesis 1:3).
As a church planter, I find this truth incredibly liberating. It keeps me from getting distracted by gimmicks, causes and the latest cultural trends, and helps me to focus on what God has specifically called me to do: relentlessly preach the gospel, administer the sacraments and pray for the people God has entrusted to my care.
Trust in God’s Faithfulness
I remember crying out to the Lord one afternoon in July 2021, when it appeared as if all was lost. Our city was descending into what was looking like a civil war. Gun shots had been ringing throughout that night and people had been killed just some hundred meters from my home. Most of my leaders had emigrated and others were considering to do so. Everything I’d ever known was falling apart. Was it even worth continuing with the church plant in a place like this? Where was God in all this? How could he let this happen?
In the face of calamity and disappointment of not seeing the fruit that we had hoped for it can be easy to fall into despair and depression. Yet we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that God is with us even during these times. He is faithful even when we are faithless (2 Timothy 2:13). He is still working out his perfect, sovereign plan, even when it doesn’t appear like he is.
God is still working out his perfect, sovereign plan, even when it doesn’t appear like he is.
Rejoice and trust in the God of our salvation, like the prophet Habakkuk did in the midst of calamity and fruitlessness: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:17-18).
Look for the Green Shoots
Why should we do this?
God is faithful. Jesus himself has promised us that he will build his church and that the gates of hell shall not prevail (Matthew 16:18). Our God is faithful to build his church in the face of all kinds of obstacles, calamity and disappointments. My church planting journey has certainly had its fair share of all of these things. And I am sure that I am not the only one. Yet in the midst of the darkness and disappointments, let us never lose sight of the fact that our sovereign God is still working out his perfect plan to redeem a people for himself through Christ, to build his church. This means that even in the most difficult times, always look for these green shoots of God’s redemptive work.
In the midst of the disappointments, never lose sight of the fact that our sovereign God is still working.
Last September we celebrated our fourth birthday. We baptised our first family of six. By God’s grace, we are growing. We have welcomed in new members and receive visitors regularly. New believers are being discipled in the truths of the gospel. Our little group of children is being catechised in the faith. Our members are being instructed in God’s truth and growing in their love for the Lord. They’re hearing the law and gospel proclaimed every week, they receive the sacraments and are growing in godliness.
God is working slowly but surely through these very “ordinary” things. By it he’s achieving something quite extraordinary; he’s gathering to himself a people from out of every nation, tribe and tongue, miraculously raising sinners from death to life, that they may worship him, glorify him and enjoy him forever!
