Support from Other Churches Means a Lot
I attended Community of Grace Lutheran Church this past Sunday. Tim Wright planted that new church in north Peoria about 2 and a half years ago as a mission out of neighboring Community Church of Joy, a mega-church of over 10,000 members. Tim had the luxury of having about 600 people willing to leave Joy to help him start his new church. And they've been very successful, having bought property and already starting their building program. Tim is a great preacher and his church is certainly serving as a model of a successful new church start.
Tim has been particularly gracious to me as a fellow church planter. We've met for coffee and emailed a few times. This past Sunday I sought Tim out before worship so I could give him my new business card and tell him about my new website. He told me had seen it, was very complimentary and then said something that just kind of blew me away. He said that his leadership team had discussed me and my new church plant and agreed that they wanted to help me in every possible way. Tim said (and I quote, at least as well as I can remember), "We want to make sure that this (meaning my new church plant) happens!"
As I said, I was blown away. First of all, because this was one of the strongest messages of support I had received from any church and it came from a Lutheran church in my target community. Instead of seeing me as a threat, they had embraced my vision andsaw this as God's work, a work they wanted to support as fellow Christians.
In fairness I also want to say that a neighboring United Methodist church (Willowbrook in Sun City) has also offered their support in a number of ways, including handling the church finances for the first year. For a church planter out in the field that kind of support is absolutely essential. It can get kind of lonely out there and knowing that other churches and pastors are supporting you with their prayers and with other assistance means a lot.