A few years ago, we attended a church service where a young man was introduced who had come to plant churches in our area. He announced his goal was to plant two hundred churches in the metropolitan area. I couldn’t believe it. That would almost double the number of churches in our region. This church growth movement was not new to me. For many years, pastors have been challenged to set goals for such growth because, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time,” as Zig Ziglar once said. What saddens me is that this idea is not found anywhere in the Bible and is opposite to what is found within its pages. To claim such a thing about church growth is arrogant and presumptuous. It ignores the sovereignty of God.
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil” (James 4:13–16).1
Isn’t it God who gives the increase, not our goal setting and church planting techniques?
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6–7).
The famous theologian and former championship boxer, Mike Tyson, once said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Although I’m sure getting hit by Mr. Tyson would have resulted in my demise, his statement is accurate concerning whenever our man-made plans come crashing back to earth.
What will the young church-planting man think when his project collapses? Will he think he didn’t work hard enough to reach his goal? Will he wonder if he didn’t pray enough? Or is it the devil who has caused him to fail?
We could all ask ourselves the same questions when we get hit in the mouth and our plans go south. The truth is, most of the time, we can only speculate. Unless the Lord reveals it to us, we just don’t know. Nevertheless, we must, as Christians, believe that regardless of the reason that we are laying on the floor rubbing our jaw, the Lord is sovereign over everything that we do.
“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand” (Proverbs 19:21).
The Lord is much less concerned about the success of our plans than He is about our knowing Him.
“On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:22–23).
So, you planted lots of churches. Jesus is unimpressed.
Most important to Jesus is knowing Him. Abiding in Him. Having fellowship with Him. Living in His eternal kingdom. Showing forth His glory in what He does. These are His goals for us. How will He accomplish them? Well, the outcome does not depend upon us. When we do what we do, He does what He does, and He does it perfectly. The man-made goals we concoct mean very little.
“Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13).
Lord, when we get hit in the mouth and our plans fail, help us to know that You are at work for our good and Your glory.
1All scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (2016). Crossway Bibles.
Gif courtesy giphy.
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