Review: It’s Personal
I spoke to someone recently who first pastored an established church, and then became a planter. The level of spiritual attack intensified greatly when he became a church planter. It’s hard to explain this, but he doesn’t seem to be the only one. There are risks inherent in starting a church, and you’d better be prepared for what’s coming if you go down that road.
It’s Personal: Surviving and Thriving on the Journey of Church Planting
is about surviving and thriving in the midst of planting a church. The authors, Brian and Amy Bloye, sound a warning: “Church planting will expose every weakness in you. It will bring every flaw to the surface and put it on public display. Check your pride at the door.” Later, they repeat the warning: “Planting a church will magnify every weakness you have.” Still want to plant a church?
The Bloyes write from their own experience, having planted a church. Their experience is similar in many ways to what many planters will face: lack of money, spiritual attack, and a very uncertain future in the early days of planting. Their experience is also very different from what many planters will experience. Not every planter will have served under Jerry Falwell before starting their own church, and not every church will grow as rapidly as the one described in this book.
Still, everyone can learn from the topics that the Bloyes cover: discerning whether you’re called to plant a church, protecting your marriage and family, dealing with growth and change, building friendships, and maintaining authenticity and spiritual vitality. There’s lots of solid and practical wisdom in this book from planters who have been there and remember what it was like.
This book offers two things to two different groups of people. First, if you’re not a planter, it gives you a taste of what’s involved in planting. Jesus said something about counting the cost, and this book will help you do just that. Second, if you are a church planter, this book will give you the assurance that you’re not alone, and it will give you some strategies on how to survive what you’ve signed up to do.
Church planting is personal. To plant a church, you need to know you’re called, and you need to know how it’s going to affect your life, marriage, kids, and pretty much everything else. You also need to know what to do to survive. It’s Personal offers a taste of what it likes, and provides valuable wisdom on surviving and even thriving as someone who is planting a church.
