Managing Motives
I just spent an hour with two church planters, Jay Brooks and Andy Sink.
I thought I'd blog something I shared with them.
I think the toughest part of church planting is managing emotions and managing motives. Church planting is an emotional rollercoaster. You fluctuate between excitement and discouragement. I don't know too many church planters who don't have frayed emotions on launch day!
The other challenge is managing motives. If you do the right thing for the wrong reasons it doesn't count in God's kingdom. If your motives are wrong nothing is right. If your motives are right you can't go wrong.
In all honesty, I think I do everything I do with mixed motives. On my best days I'm doing what I do to glorify God, but there is always some selfish ambition mixed in. You can want your church to grow for the right reasons--to see more people come to faith in Christ. Or you can want your church to grow for the wrong reasons--to feed your ego.
I think we could use some raw honesty when it comes to emotions and motives. Most church planters resonate when I tell them that I've faced severe discouragement at times and I've done the right things for the wrong reasons.
By the way, what is God going to judge at the end of the day?
Not the size of our churches!
He'll judge the motives of the heart--why we do what we do.
I thought I'd blog something I shared with them.
I think the toughest part of church planting is managing emotions and managing motives. Church planting is an emotional rollercoaster. You fluctuate between excitement and discouragement. I don't know too many church planters who don't have frayed emotions on launch day!
The other challenge is managing motives. If you do the right thing for the wrong reasons it doesn't count in God's kingdom. If your motives are wrong nothing is right. If your motives are right you can't go wrong.
In all honesty, I think I do everything I do with mixed motives. On my best days I'm doing what I do to glorify God, but there is always some selfish ambition mixed in. You can want your church to grow for the right reasons--to see more people come to faith in Christ. Or you can want your church to grow for the wrong reasons--to feed your ego.
I think we could use some raw honesty when it comes to emotions and motives. Most church planters resonate when I tell them that I've faced severe discouragement at times and I've done the right things for the wrong reasons.
By the way, what is God going to judge at the end of the day?
Not the size of our churches!
He'll judge the motives of the heart--why we do what we do.
6 Comments:
What a good word . . . we are getting ready to embark on our second planting journey . . . a roller coaster of emotions is a great way to put it. "Lord, help me to be about the right things and the right motives!"
Wow PM - what a terrific exhortation. Thanks for your honesty. Heidi
Pastor Mark,
Great wealth of wisdom. I definitly can see how emotions and motives management can be so important. Thanks for sharing your personal and experience and being so inspiring.
Chris Jarrell
That was a good one Pastor Mark. Sounds like God is on the stove again.
Zeb
Great post and very convicting. Love your blog! We actually sent our worship pastor up to DC to check you guys out before moving to the theatre we are now in.
Thanks for sharing such wisdom.
Thanks for the encouraging words Gary. I love your blog. Great stuff!
Mark
Post a Comment
<< Home