There are numerous pressure points for leaders of new churches. I write of one such pressure point in “The Genius in the Kingdom: How Discipleship Impacts Church Planting” –
“…culture is communicated not only by words but also by the example of the planting leader and the team. This is particularly important in the first five years of a new church in the areas of evangelism and discipleship …in the early years of a new church, a planting leader may experience two pressures from members of the team who have prior church life experience before joining the team for the new church. These people will generally place a higher value on services and programming than the planter does. In my view some team members may be present in the team, but unable to truly adopt the new culture personally or establish it in others. And so, the pressure they can apply can be quite unhealthy. It is a key issue to enlist only those who clearly understand and have adopted the culture of the vision for this new work. This commitment to and honouring of the planting leader helps the new church to avoid this pressure point.”
We cannot afford to be swayed from a commitment to discipleship especially in the first few years of a new church when culture is being established.
The book is now available on paperback and Kindle from Amazon.
Peace
Colin
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