Church Planting & God’s Sovereignty
“How did the doctrine of God’s sovereignty encourage and shape the early years of your ministry?” was a question I heard pitched to a panel of pastors at a church planting conference recently. At first, I thought the question seemed a bit out of place. But it proved to be a question that followed me home from the conference.
How had the kind, sovereign purposes of God encouraged and shaped my first five years of church planting? Initially, that question got my mind racing in many directions—the faces and friends who had come and gone in those early years of planting, the numerous funerals I’d performed as a young pastor, and the tragedy that had taken place in my own family. God’s providential hand of care and protection encouraged me in myriad of ways during those first five years.
But it was that second part of the question—how God’s sovereignty had shaped those early years—that left me wrestling. One thing that seemed inescapable was the way God’s sovereign purposes proved instrumental in shaping my faith as a pastor especially considering my apparent shortcomings and failures.
This truth is illustrated on the pages of the Scriptures through the life of Abraham recorded in Romans chapter 5. Summarizing the circumstances surrounding God’s promise to Abraham and the birth of Isaac, the Apostle Paul contends:
He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old) or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised (vv. 19-22).
While we applaud the faith of Abraham, doesn’t the apostle seem to stretch the details here? How does Paul’s description square with the whole Hagar and Ishmael thing? Seemed like there was some wavering and need for further convincing. How can Paul say, “No unbelief made him waver,” and he was “fully convinced”? What’s the apostle doing here?
He is teaching us something essential about faith. Faith is not characterized by the ebbs and flows of our lives and ministry but by its enduring nature. Abraham’s faith endured despite his moments of weakness, doubt, failure, and sin.
Abraham was a fallen, fickle human being like you and me. Receiving the promise that a nation would be birthed through him at such a late season of life was hard enough. But then he was forced to do the truly difficult thing of waiting on God. Years passed between the time the promise was given and its fulfillment. During this time, Abraham had moments of weakness, doubt, and serious failure, just like you and I. But those were momentary. What endured was Abraham’s faith, not in his own ability, but in the sovereign purposes of His God who was able to do what he had promised.
My early years of pastoral ministry were marked by many mistakes, not a few failed attempts, and multiple missteps. And yet, God was faithful. His sovereign, kind purposes were at work guarding my ministry, shaping our little church, and teaching me about the true nature of faith. Leadership in the church is characterized less by the highs and lows of ministry but by a lifetime of faithfulness rooted in the sovereign purposes of God. While our ability, wisdom, and ingenuity will fail, God’s faithfulness never does. God remains faithful to fit our faith to lead.
Here is where Abraham’s story is especially helpful in discerning God’s sovereign purposes. The text says Abraham grew strong in his faith. Or a better way to say it is that God strengthened Abraham's faith (v.20). And how did God do this? God fit Abraham’s faith through his failings. By faith, Abraham had to learn he had nothing in himself to cling to but solely the promises of God to rest in.
Years after Isaac was born, God called Abraham to take his precious son, whom the promise resided in and he had waited years for, up the mountain and sacrifice him. In that sober scene in Genesis 22, Abraham rises early in the morning, cuts the wood for the offering, grabs his knife, and heads up the mountain with his precious son. But before he goes up, Abraham tells his servants to stay here, “for I and boy will go up to worship and come back again to you” (22:5). The author of Hebrews tells us Abraham said this because he knew that God was able to raise him from the dead.
Where did Abraham learn of such resurrection power? Where did he derive such a conviction that God could raise the dead? He learned it through his failings. He learned it by refusing to wait on God and trying to orchestrate his heir through Ishmael. Through all this, God taught Abraham something essential about faith. Faith is located at the end of ourselves. Faith in God’s ability is found through the acceptance of our inability. God remained faithful to His promises by bringing life from Abraham and Sarah’s dead body. Through his failings, Abraham learned that the certainty of his faith resided not in Himself but in the faithfulness of God, who is able to do what He said.
The early years of ministry are often riddled with deep joys and dark disappointments. In those most difficult moments of church planting with friends leaving, financial uncertainty, and disunity in the body, God proved to be most faithful in fitting my faith as a leader. Faith calls for us to continually turn from ourselves and turn to Christ. Difficulties, failures, and missteps in ministry afford us such opportunities if we are willing to walk by faith.
If you find yourself in those early years of ministry and feeling the weight of the task, the shortcomings of your leadership, and maybe even the effects of your failures, look to the sovereign Lord who is leading you. Look to the God who is faithful in fitting your faith as a leader of His people. Faithfulness in those early years demands resting in the sovereign purposes of God and just doing the next thing in front of you to the glory of God. As you pursue faithfulness in ministry, let me encourage you to allow three truths to guide your leadership.
Be Honest.
Ministry has a way of forcing us to feel our inadequacies and shortcomings. In those early years, these only seem to intensify. Faithful leaders are never afraid to face failures. If failures are opportunities for God to fit our faith, then we must be honest about where we are. Pastor, see your failures through God's sovereign purposes and allow Him to fit you to lead His people for His Glory.
Be Patient.
Leaders are often good at knowing where we want to be in ministry. We are aware of the size of the church we desire, the number of churches and missionaries we plan to send out, and the size of the staff we need to accomplish it all. We can articulate where we are supposed to be in ministry. But rarely are we aware of the fact that we are not leading that ministry because we are not yet the leader necessary for such a ministry. At least, not yet. And more importantly, we fail to recognize the process of becoming the leader we need to be is what we are doing right now. The failures we are facing; the shortcomings and missteps we will walk through next week; be patient, pastor. Let His sovereign purpose sustain and solidly your leadership.
Be Hopeful.
God is faithful. He is at work, not only shaping your ministry but shaping you, pastor, into the leader He desires. Pastor, learn to lead with eyes of faith resting in the truth that “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). Don’t fall prey to believing the outcome of your leadership and ministry will be determined solely by what you can see with your eyes and touch with your hands. Abraham could have never imagined what God would accomplish through Him—“In hope,” Paul says, “he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations” (v. 18). When there was no hope physically speaking, Abraham hoped in the promises of God—“As he has been told, ‘So shall your offspring be’” (v. 18). In light of the sovereign purposes and promises of God, pastor be hopeful.
So, how did the doctrine of God’s sovereignty encourage and shape the early years of my ministry? Through the difficulties, disappointments, and failures, God’s sovereign purposes proved instrumental in shaping my faith at every step. Pastor, as you attempt to lead God’s people, be honest, be patient, and be hopeful because God is sovereign and good. He is faithful to sustain your ministry and shape you into the man necessary to lead His people.