Friday, February 13, 2015

Find a Coach!

I hope church-planting is not, as some say, at a zenith, going the way of tent meetings, stadium-sized worship events (concerts) and evangelist roadshows. As church-planters present and future we believe with our forerunners that Christians are called to be and make disciples. We also believe that disciples are made in and through the Church. If we do the math, more churches can and must result in more disciples of Jesus.

Planting a new church is a high call, and a brutal profession for the ones doing the planting. Done independently it can and will often result in failure. More often than not we planters bring on that demise ourselves.

Studies (done by smart people) support the idea that we all need coaches. New believers need mature believers to teach and model a Christ-centered life. Church-planters (who don't cease to be disciples, by the way) need coaches and mentors in order to think through their call, their theology, their ecclesiology and their mission as a leader and church. Planters need coaches to help them discover and acknowledge their own sin. I said it; planters need to discover and acknowledge their own sin!

How a planter responds to coaching is often the tip of the proverbial sin iceberg. We want autonomy but not isolation. We crave fraternity, but not accountability. We want to grow and mature in our faith and leadership, but not if that process makes us look inadequate.

Sometimes, and in an effort to protect our own idols we will willingly submit ourselves to the Kellers, Pipers, Chandlers (or insert favorite Christian author/celebrity here: ___________) of the Church world. We like them because they inspire without asking direct questions of us. How much more challenging it is to submit ourselves to someone who might actually know us.

Not that you asked, but here's my counsel to prospective and current church-planters: Get a Coach! Find someone ahead of you in the church-planting spectrum; someone who's walked under the Lordship of Jesus longer than you. Ask him to pour his life into yours. Listen to what he says, and respond to the questions he asks, even if his questions of you are intended to reveal your false idols.

And don't make your coach/mentor singularly responsible for your development. That's too much for anyone to bear, aside from the Holy Spirit. Disciple-making is done in community. Church-planting is done in community. You can have more than one coach. God can speak through different people at different times, and you can learn from Jesus through all of them.

As a church-planter, you'll be doing a lot of coaching in the near future yourself. You'll find yourself giving what you've received. In you and your new church, disciples will be made and God will be glorified...to the extent you were willing to receive.