A Planter's Prayer

I have been reading the 4^th century classic City of God by Augustine of Hippo. It is a voluminous work that is a defense of Christians that have been accused of causing the fall of Rome due to worshipping Jesus instead of the plethora of gods that dominated Roman culture. This book may be the most quoted Christian text with the Bible as the lone exception. In a straightforward quote, Augustine writes the following, “No man can be a good bishop if he loves his title but not his task.” Clearly, Augustine is instructing pastors to be committed to the pastoral office with sincerity and passion. I have modified the quote to a prayer for a fledgling church planter. “Help me love this future church and not the title of ‘church planter’.”

“How exciting!” and similar exclamations from Christians in Sioux City and Desoto County is usually the response to us planting a church. To be sure, it is exciting. The hope that in the future an established, Gospel proclaiming church body with officers and a statement of faith will exist and God will use our core group to make it happen is what drives us to wake up every morning. However, “all that glitters is not gold.” It is heartbreaking, rewarding, painful, exhilarating and even monotonous. We pray for our neighbors; serve them; invite them to bible studies and suppers. Sometimes they are interested, but sometimes they aren’t. Circumstances can be frustrating; one friend of ours, Matt, was a good prospect. He claimed to be a Christian and liked what we were trying to do. God then blessed him with a promotion, but he had to move 3 hours away. On the other hand, there have been successes. I had a 2 hour long conversation with an ardent atheist, who became friends with me and has expressed interest in discussing the philosophy of Jesus; the Holy Spirit showed him flaws in his humanist worldview. We rejoice.

Rejoicing is not an option. We are told to “rejoice always” in Philippians. That text is so poignant to me because ministry success is always a mixed bag. Christ is never a mixed bag. He always encourages, always guides and always provides. Sometimes pursuing the calling of God is not exciting ; sometimes it’s not but it is always worth it.

In Christ, 

Richard