What’s the difference between a good idea and a God idea? A good idea will work some of the time; a God idea will work all the time. Scripture warns us not to lean on our own understanding but to trust God wholeheartedly (Proverbs 3:5). When we’re not willing to submit to God’s leadership and authority in our lives, God will let us follow our own devices. In following them, we will never experience what God is waiting and wanting to do in us and through us.
In the book of Job, this man with incredible trials in his life, says the simple but profound statement, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return.” The same is true of all of us. We came into the world with empty hands, and when we die, we take nothing with us. When you understand this basic truth, then you understand that everything that passes through your control and possession in this life is not about ownership, but about “stewardship”. Picture in your mind the following: your house, your bank account, your cars, your family, your friends, your talents and skills, the months of your life. You’ll notice everything is temporary, everything is limited and everything stays here.
Church planters, whether full-time or bi-vocational, no matter what strategy or model they have chosen, are always in need of financial support for their church’s general budget and material support towards their outreach endeavors. Direct financial support may seem to be the least connected way of encouraging a church planter, but in many ways it is the most important. Often the level of financial support a church planter receives directly effects if they are able to stay on that field or take the next step in their strategy. In center-city or urban centers the living expenses can be astronomical. Bi-vocational work is usually not enough to meet the needs of their families and can be very difficult to secure in this economy. However God calls you to be involved in church planting, we pray that He leads you to directly invest financially in church plants as an offering to Him above your tithes to your local church. Please also consider discussing the possibility of direct financial assistance with your church’s missions committee. Often it is difficult for churches to imagine the need for missions giving beyond their denominational projects or people who have been sent out from their local congregation.
The strength of Christ is found in grace. More grace is released to us when we press in and actually boast how in our infirmities (how powerless we are within our own power – our own abilities, in other words), rather than complain or remain frustrated in them. God says there is sufficient power available for all our trials when we are able to fully surrender in our human weakness to the sufficiency of God’s grace for each particular situation.
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