{"id":3330,"date":"2010-05-20T12:10:58","date_gmt":"2010-05-20T17:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stonescryout.org\/?p=3330"},"modified":"2010-05-20T12:59:04","modified_gmt":"2010-05-20T17:59:04","slug":"church-in-the-making-valuable-for-ministry-leaders-not-just-church-planters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/?p=3330","title":{"rendered":"Church in the Making: Valuable for ministry leaders, not just church planters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019ve been handling publicity for a new book about church planting <\/span><\/a>that I think should be of interest not only to those seeking to and thinking about planting a church, but also to anyone hoping to start something new to advance Christian mission.<\/p>\n

Church in the Making <\/span><\/a>by Ben Arment doesn\u2019t mince any words, and it has the tone of a soldier who has fought the good fight and won, but at a high personal cost, with the sense that the battles could have been easier with better intelligence, and mourning the soldier-friends who he has seen fall around him.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never tried to start a church, but I knew even before reading this book that it is extremely difficult, with a high rate of failure. Arment<\/span><\/a> demonstrates a passion for saving future church planters from heartache and failure; but in the process he writes some things that will undoubtedly rub church planting traditionalists the wrong way.<\/p>\n

For instance, Arment writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have placed a dangerous label on church planting that puts tremendous pressure on planters to persevere through any and all difficulties. We call it faithfulness. But in many cases it should really be called stupidity.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you have plans to plant a new church, open a new campus, or help someone who is, you need to get and read Church in the Making. It is well written and an easy read. It\u2019s worth your time.<\/p>\n

But it is also valuable to people like me who are involved in starting and advancing Christian organizations, missions, and causes. I\u2019ve seen a lot of the same mistakes that Ben describes in ministry start-ups of all kinds; and I\u2019ve made a number of the mistakes myself. I wish I would have had Church in the Making to read several years ago.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve marked nine different principles in the book that I\u2019ve seen ignored by too many ministry leaders (myself included).<\/p>\n

1. Plant in Fertile Soil <\/strong><\/p>\n

Arment: \u201cEvery community has an established degree of spiritual receptivity. When you plant a church on fertile soil, it springs to life out of the community\u2019s readiness. When you plant a church on infertile soil, it chokes and gasps to survive. In this case, you have to stop planting and start cultivating.\u201d (page 3)<\/p>\n

2. Experience Produces Humility<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arment: \u201cYou can always tell a new, inexperienced church planter because he\u2019s the only one who thinks he knows what he\u2019s doing. The veterans show a humility that can only come from experience. It takes a year or two to knock the self-reliance out of the new guys.\u201d (page 10)<\/p>\n

3. A Dream and Hard Work are Not Enough<\/strong>
\nArment: \u201cChurch planters are notorious for thinking that a great dream plus hard work equals a thriving church. But church planters fail all the time with this formula and have not idea why.\u201d (page 46)<\/p>\n

4. Build a Network First<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arment: \u201cI\u2019m convinced that when God calls a planter to start a church, he calls him either to start a social network first (which can take years) or simply to leverage the one he\u2019s been building around him.\u201d (page 81)<\/p>\n

5. You Can\u2019t Do It Alone<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arment: \u201cWhen God creates a church in the making, he doesn\u2019t just call one person to start it. He calls a whole network of people who have been growing pregnant with vision.\u201d (page 137)<\/p>\n

6. Properly Channeled Frustration is Good<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arment: \u201cGod uses frustration to shape a vision. This is what he did to Nehemiah. And this is what he did to me. If God doesn\u2019t build up a tremendous amount of frustration within us, we\u2019ll never have the passion to pursue his calling.\u201d (page 158)<\/p>\n

7. Don\u2019t Let Cash be King<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arment: \u201cThe only thing worse than not pursuing your God-given vision is compromising your God-given vision for the sake of cash flow. Don\u2019t let money do this to you.\u201d (page 162)<\/p>\n

8. Put a Good Staff to Work<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arment: \u201cSenior pastors are notorious for under-estimating the potential of their staff, mostly because they overestimate their own potential. Creating systems in your church is a far better way to leave a legacy than building up yourself.\u201d (page 191)<\/p>\n

9. Many Tomorrows Do Not Include You<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arment: \u201cThe fruit of the gospel comes from building a church that can exist without you and beyond you. (page 193)<\/p>\n

Grab this book. If you are in ministry work, whether or not you are a church planter, it\u2019s likely there\u2019s something in it that will shake your ministry world.<\/p>\n

[See these reviews of Church in the Making at ChurchMarketingSucks<\/span><\/a>, In My Head<\/span><\/a>, and from Neil Tullos<\/span><\/a>.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been handling publicity for a new book about church planting that I think should be of interest not only to those seeking to and thinking about planting a church, but also to anyone hoping to start something new to advance Christian mission. Church in the Making by Ben Arment doesn\u2019t mince any words, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,30,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-christianity","category-jim"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}