A Muddled Question to Ask A Pastor/Church Planter
"How's it going over there?"
Seemed so innocuous, the first thousand or so times I asked it. Just curious. But 19 out of 20 times the answer was meaningless. "Things are great," or "blowing and going," "crushing it," or whatever the expression of the moment was.
Truth is, a pastor/church planter is never sure how to answer. The "how's it going" question is impossible to answer because almost every startup is both thriving and dying at the same time. Thriving because its defying statistics simply by holding on to a pulse, and dying because its really only one bad month away from ceasing to exist.
The only way I know to respond to this question is to say something like, "Here's what God has been doing lately."
Following that line of reasoning, in the coming weeks, the DNA partners, Renewal Church and Randall Church will be combining our weekly email newsletters "Renewal News," and "Randall Life," respectively, to become ONE unified weekly email newsletter, "R-Life." Through our weekly articles, and calendar of upcoming events, the "How's it going over there?" questions start to dialogue more like "Exciting to hear and see what God is doing."
Pastor/Church Planters often try to pretend we're succeeding, instead of asking for the support of those around us — support that our families, friends, colleagues, and even strangers would be more than happy to give. While its easily forgotten, the good news is that God has given the way to finding meaning and purpose for our lives, a sense of belonging, true freedom and peace. His Church. May we unite as ONE.
Milo Wilson
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