I returned last night from a three-day trip to Indianapolis to visit our three church-planting couples laboring there. I was deeply touched by their utter sold-out commitment to doing the Lord's work in their context. I felt honored to be in their presence.
After spending significant time with the couples collectively and individually, I came away with one sad conclusion. I fear our established churches are not doing enough to help newly planted churches.
I'm not sure what is causing this problem. Maybe churches think they have to give thousands of dollars and surrender scores of members to help. If so, we need to undercut this assumption. Church planters we work with ask for little. They want prayers, fellowship, and emotional support most of all. They would be thrilled if a church would merely covenant to pray for them and have someone stay in touch with them.
Also, a church does not have to give a King's ransom to help church planters. The people I meet with would be thrilled to have $100 a month, and maybe have only 3 or 4 people come each year on a mission trip. Surely our churches, whatever their size, can do this. Pray for our church planters. They are on the front lines, in the trenches, fighting spiritual warfare with too little help from behind the lines.
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