Every church planter I’ve ever worked with has moments where they realize God has already been working to plant the church well before them. I regularly hear the surprised stories about a family that has been praying for two years for a church like this to be started, about a business that donates thousands of dollars of equipment or about the barista who was ready to hear the gospel. If you are planting a church, don’t think that you are taking God with you in your suitcase. God is already there and he’s been working on redeeming the story of the community and people’s lives for quite some time. The new church you are planting is just a part of that redemption story. So how do you discover where God is working downstream in your community?
1. Pray. (If that isn’t obvious, seek help).
2. Conduct a Community Needs Assessment. Chances are God knows what the community needs are and is working to meet them. Do the work of interviewing influential people and surveying the community to determine what those needs are and partner with those who God is already using to meet those needs. Check out Compassion by Design for more info.
3. Leave room for margin. Its tough to plan for divine appointment, those moments where God surprises you with an opportunity to speak with someone. Allow for some margin in your schedule in order to be flexible and take advantage of those God moments.
4. Get out of the office and into the community. Network intentionally and build relationships randomly. Discover who the people of influence are in the community and intentionally network with them. Build relationships randomly by working out of coffee shops, going to the gym, joining book clubs, going to civic clubs, etc. God works downstream in the lives of people not in the office.
5. Realize God is working downstream in your life too. You haven’t arrived spiritually. God is still working on you too. God is stretching you and growing you to mold you into the leader you need to be a year from now, five years from now. In order to get downstream where God already is, you have to let him mold you into the leader God already knows you need to be.
How have you seen God working downstream in the community God has called you to?
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Tags: church planting · Community Needs · God · Outreach/Evangelism · Prayer · spiritual development · spirituality1 Comment
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