Calling and contentment

Church planting isn't for everyone...by everyone, of course I am meaning all of those who are called into pastoral ministry.  I'm in a bit close to it to explain why, but I can at least share from my own journey and possibly where it intersects with others called to the same.  I can begin by saying that it is indeed a calling and a particular personal wiring which one has that lends itself as affirmation to the calling.  The particular wiring might be best described as an "entrepreneurial spirit".  It is the same wiring that can seperate success from failure in leading anything from the ground up, whether it be a business, an organization, or an institution.  In its earliest forms it can be a very lonely place.  Eventually it leads to partnership, collaboration and community building, but in its earliest form, it manifests itself deep in the heart of the individual.  This is true of business.  This is true of church planting.
In the realm of a faith community, the best I can relate it is as Bill Hybels describes a "holy discontent ".  I can best describe it as a deep void like feeling in the heart that something is just not as it should be or was intended to be.  More than that though is the conviction that you could and should do something about it to set it right.  Here is where it gets complicated.  Many would see their holy discontent in light their dissatisfaction in the established church.  I might go out on a limb to say that this is not the sort of thing that should lead one into a journey of planting a new church that could "do things better".  It's pretty much basic pastoral ministry 101 to realize that there will be a level of dismay, discouragement, and discontent as the years and absurdity add up while valiantly trying to lead a consumer culture towards a sacrificial life of following Jesus.  It is my sincere belief that the discontent needs to be centered on the pastoral heart and not the pastorate.  In other words, what is your place in the matter and what are you, yourself and personally capable of doing about it?  The question is not " is there a better church for me?"  The question needs to be " is there a better me for the cause of the Church?"
If you are looking for a better church, dust off your résumé and put it out there.  Undoubtably there is one, for a period of time anyway...before the facade wears away and people just can't be the best version of themselves anymore.  Here is the reality though...there needs to be more churches and then by design there needs to be more people to plant those more churches.  God knows who those people are...he designed them and planted within them a holy discontent, not directed at a church, but towards their role in the Church.  It is not a fad thing, or a cool thing, or the latest thing.  it has been around since the days of Paul.  It's a giftings thing, as in he gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be.... You get the idea.
It is my experience that the discontent comes from being somewhere doing something for too long that you really weren't intended to do.  And it goes both ways.  There are pastors who should be stop
trying to be church planters and there are church planters who should stop trying to be pastors.  It can eventually be harmful both ways.  Both are necessary and God has provided and equipped both.  We just need to figure out the calling thing.

In the beginning...

It has been suggested by some that I document this new chapter in our lives known as church planting and our journey to the community known as South Lake Union.  After a good deal of hesitancy disguised as procrastination, and with little else of value at the moment to add to the greater conversation of the common good on my other site, I will begin the process of processing the new adventure.
Hopefully, the honesty communicated through these posts .... hopefully they are honest....will encourage those who read it in whatever way they need to be encouraged.  At the same time, but in a different way,  may they also provide warning and a healthy dose of reality to those who need that as well...especially those who find themselves somewhere along a similar path, either now or in a future life.
First of all, within this very first breath of the process, I feel that I need to address motives, as this is one of the most complicated pieces of the elaborate puzzle that has been set before us.  One of the first inquisitive comments that come from people not too familiar with church planting is this; "so I heard that your starting your own church".  I know that the question is innocent enough, I hope, but it has a tendency to cut right into the soul.  While I will admit that it's very awkward to hear, in an odd way it is good to be put out there, in measured doses anyway, because of that same feeling.  The ache in my soul acts as a barometer of sorts that measure my motives.  Each time that I have to wrestle with it I sense a bit more refinement in the reality of the journey that we are on and the perception that may come from it. The absolute last thing that I want is " my own " church.  That is a terrifying thought.  A church like that would not only be limited by my strengths, it would be also be hindered by my frailties.  A new church I am intensely interested in, but my own...not in the least.  I have found through the earliest parts of this journey that I am not even just interested in a new church.  It has to be a new church in a fairly new place...in other words, in a place where a new community of people dedicated to following and modeling Jesus would be able to serve and love without competing with others who have the same drive and motivations.  I know that it is virtually impossible to go where there are no churches present...I just want to avoid areas where a good deal of newness is already happening.  I want to go where few have gone before.   I am actually looking forward to encouraging those churches whose members are  already there and have been for generations, loving and serving in our new community, while at the same time not competing, Times Square like, for attention in the midst of other new voices.
At the same time that I consider the distinction of "new" I also know that it's not new for the sake of being new, as in different or a chance to flee the old.  The "new" of new church planting represents new life, new influences, new opportunities for people who don't know Jesus to get to know him in new and different ways.  People are attracted to new because in "new" they are less likely to impose on the party.  They are less likely to encounter the symbols and language and secret handshakes that they imagine we live by within our walls.  That is in large part, the reason that planting new churches is still, since the days of the original church, the most effective way of helping the greatest amount of people encounter and accept the love and grace of Jesus.  Herein lies the motive...and another day closer to new.