To Plant .... or not ...

that is the question . . . .

As I struggle with this this class and the assignments, I am discovering more and more that I am not a church planter. When I first came to Emmanuel, I was a very 'green', gung-ho freshman with dreams of getting a Bachelor of Theology in Missions and taking on the world to bring people to Christ. I thought I was ready for whatever the world and God might throw my way. Move to a foreign country? No problem. Learn a new language? Bring it on. Evangelize a people group who had no idea who God was and help them start a church? Once I finished Bible College that would be a piece of cake. A graduate which a Bachelor in Missions could do anything and everything! I could not have been more naive.

The more I learned about the realities of present-day mission positions (as opposed to the glorified ideals I had in my head), the more the harsh realities of missions began to sink in. You typically don't just pick up a language in 6 months or move to a country right after graduation. Evangelism and church planting take years of preparation, relationship building, research, and gathering resources. None of this happens overnight and not everyone that God calls into the mission field is meant to be involved in every aspect of it. In fact, I have learned that God is not currently calling me to do any of these things. I planned on being a career missionary in a foreign country. But I have been feeling God actually calling me to work in the missions context in a completely different way through counselling. My skills and giftings are being directed towards the care of those I thought I would be joining; care of missionaries.

So, what does that seeming random tangent have to do with the Church Planting course? I thought that I was going to go overseas as a 'super-Christian' with all these amazing abilities to reach those who have yet to hear about God and then help them plant a church that would help nurture these new believers and reach out into the communities. But with each class session we have, I am realizing more and more that this is not an area that God has gifted me in. He has given me the ability to come alongside and encourage those he does call to plant churches but I do not have the vision nor the drive to determine the needs within a community and know how to establish a body of believers that can meet those needs. It has been and continues to be a very humbling experience for me. I have found myself wondering why I am even taking the class (besides the facts that it is required for my program) and I have come to these conclusions:
-God is teaching me that I am not 'super-Christian'
-If I am to care for missionaries, I need to have an understanding of what they are doing in their field so that I can know how to come alongside them
-The practical elements of planning, goal setting and research are applicable for almost all ministry situations
-There is always a chance that God may call me to be involved in a church plant some time in the future (since we never know what God's complete plan is) and this course can prepare me with the practical knowledge of how to go about that

Will I end up using what I have gleaned from this course to plant a church in the future? Only God knows that. Will the strategies and ideas taught within the course come with me in my endeavours to serve Christ and God's kingdom? Most definitely!