Paul Clark
A few months ago, a colleague of mine said, “Paul, you need to read this book!” Well I did, and today’s I will focus on a few excerpts of Tom Bennardo’s book titled What no one ever tells you about Planting and Leading a new church.
I come more from the practical side of local church ministry and am not a fan of all the theoretical theological discourse that abounds on said topic. Since I have worked for many years in parts of German speaking Europe where church growth is minimal if non-existent, I sometimes feel exhausted hearing all the “Hype” and “Happy Talk” about how easy it is to reach your city and region and grow a strong thriving church when you follow these easy steps.
It’s estimated that 85% to 90% of all churches worldwide have plateaued or are declining in attendance, Tom Bernardo’s approach to church growth is very sobering, yet refreshing. He calls “lottery winners” the churches that experience tremendous, odds-defying expansion. “Like thousands of others, they played their numbers and bought their ticket, theirs became the one-in-a- million chosen for a windfall. “(Page 92)
Tom’s somewhat over the top illustration, helps us who are working in the trenches to realistically appraise our ministry journey of faith. Folks, it’s definitely not only about Sunday attendance numbers! Of course, I am always thrilled and want to honor those men and women whom God has used to grow large churches or strong movements, but as Tom points out, that these choice servants are the exception and not the rule:
“For every Moses in God’s plan, there were a hundred thousand guys named Ralph or George who served God faithfully, sacrificed to obey his ways, led their families well, labored and worshiped and lived and died, without seeing a movement start. But they were never written about. When their assignments were complete, God welcomed them into his presence with celebration. Their place in the Kingdom is revered and secure. But they didn’t launch any movements. You don’t choose to be Moses. Heck, Moses didn’t choose to be Moses. He was dragged kicking and screaming into the role of a movement launcher. “(Page 127)
Over the years I too have sometimes felt like “kicking and screaming” following well planned outreaches, with great efforts put forth by my fellow church workers and yet, the results are minimal. Someone once said that local church ministry success in Europe is measured in inches not feet. Ouch! Still, you and I faithfully plod on, gripping and pushing the plow, so good we can, obeying the great commission. Tom refers to the challenging reality that you and I know so well when we as “first responders” try to help people in great need or crisis:
“You rush in to help but find yourself attacked for not helping faster of more effectively. You’re accused of ulterior motives, taking sides, pushing too hard or not hard enough. Now you’re not only dealing with setback and delays in the initial problems caused, but you’re also exerting further time and energy defending yourself for the way you and your church responded. All of this serves to grind any forward progress to a halt. Forget igniting a movement; you’re doing well just to keep your head over water. “(Page 122)
We understand vividly from personal experience what Tom is saying yet we would rather always get up on our feet, help again those in need, rather than become cynical like Frederic the Great who commented: “The more I get to know people, the more I love my dogs.”
Tom states further: “…in God’s design, vision is far more about what happens on the journey than about ever reaching a destination. He shows us a picture to move us in a general direction and then introduces unforetold elements to accomplish purposes he considers more important than reaching a specific location.” (Page 181)
About 25 years ago, Sevgi, a teenage Turkish Muslim girl came secretly to our church plant in Saarbrücken and surrendered her life to Christ. It was so beautiful to see how she grew in the Lord, but was very afraid that her parents would find out. At some point, she decided to go to a women’s shelter for protection. Somehow, a social worker, along with her parents convinced Sevgi not to be afraid and she should come home. Once home, she was forcefully taken, probably drugged back to Turkey for a form of Islam brainwashing, which is quite common in Europe. A year later or so she was back in the Saarbrücken wearing traditional Turkish clothing, married off to a Muslim man and would not look at us or speak to us. For years we have thought about Sevgi and prayed for her.
Recently, attending a funeral near Saarbrücken, I met a lady who knew Sevgil for the last 10 years of her life. Sevgi had somehow broken with her family and as a dedicated Christian always shared the Gospel with everyone she met. Sevgi passed away in 2020 due to breast cancer as a strong committed believer. You cannot imagine how encouraged my wife and I were to hear this.
Just last year, I spoke with a man in Liechtenstein who surrendered his life to Christ over 10 years ago as a university student, attending the church we planted in Saarbrücken. This occurred years after we had turned the church over to a German pastor.
Today, you and I need to rejoice and enjoy the moment God has given us, even when we presently see so little fruits for our labors. We are doing all that we do, because we serve and love the One who has gloriously brought us out of the darkness into His light! You and I will probably never know the true fruits of our labors on this earth, until we receive our eternal reward!
Let me conclude quoting Tom’s very profound and encouraging words: “Aspire to the greatest impact you can make. Serve faithfully. Preach to fifty with the same passion and excellence you would if you were preaching to five thousand. But don’t take on the weight of pressure that implies you aren’t fully accomplishing your purpose unless you launch a movement that births dozens, if not hundreds, of churches. You don’t get to decide that. No one else in the world uses the scale your true Father uses to gauge your success. And if you can really believe it, no one else’s scale matters.” (Pages 129 and 145)