How to Know Your Calling as a Church Planter
If you have been called to start a church, not only will the calling be undeniable, but you will also be able to trust that God will equip and empower you to do the work that He sets before you.
When He is the one who has chosen you, it is because He knows that you can fulfill the calling, standing on His strength. The feelings of inadequacy with which you may struggle have no place in God’s call.
Let’s look at some ways to recognize a proper calling:
- Prayer and Bible study. God calls, and confirms His call, through prayer and Bible study. People who are called often feel that God confirms His calling every time they pray or read the Bible.
- Surprise. A surprise calling happens more often than you may think. Ministry may have never entered into your own plans for you life, when (surprise!) God intercepts your plans. It has been said, “When God is stirring in my life, everything familiar gets uncomfortable.” This surprise calling leads to a 180-degree turn in career and life focus.
- Holy discontent. While anger, resentment, or discontent toward an existing church or pastor can be a source of improper calling, a proper calling will often carry with it a sense of holy discontent. This type of discontentment is not focused on problems within a ministry but has a heart to improve the situation in a particular community. Holy discontent also comes when you have ignored God’s calling in your life and you realize you will not find fulfillment until you surrender to His will to start a church.
- Burden for the unchurched. A proper call is always accompanied by the desire to reach the unchurched. If your goal is to change the Christians in your community, you are most assuredly not called to start a new church. However, if you have a strong passion to reach the unchurched, you may be hearing a call from God.
- Godly counsel. A proper call will be accompanied by confirmation from those around you. Seek out the other leaders and (prayerfully) gauge their responses to your call.
You must decide to walk into the adventure to which you feel God is calling you.
"'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations… For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,' says the LORD." (Jeremiah 1:5,7-8, NKJV)
Your partner in ministry,
Nelson
P.S. If you’re planting a church and you’re ready to learn all you can about a successful church launch, click here to access my FREE resources for church planters!
The FREE resources include: The Call of a Church Planter, Funding Your Church Plant, Launching Large, Starting Small Groups, and Starting a Worship Arts Ministry from Scratch ($149.00 total value)
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Nelson Searcy is the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church, with locations across New York City and in Boca Raton, FL. By God’s grace, he identified and developed the Eight Systems of a Healthy Church® that he has used to coach over 5,000 churches in the US and around the world to adapt those eight systems to their unique ministry fields, resulting in great health and growth.
Nelson regularly coaches pastors online and in-person through the Church Leader Insights and Renegade Pastors Network ministries that he founded. He also leads several annual pastor in-person conferences and online training events. In ministry for more than 25 years, Nelson and his church routinely appear on lists such as “The 50 Most Influential Churches” and “The 25 Most Innovative Leaders.”
