Why Church Planters need Mentorship

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

When Jesus commanded his followers to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19), they responded by preaching the gospel and starting churches. Since that time, the gospel has spread primarily through the process of churches starting new churches. Church planting is a vital means by which the church’s gospel witness is extended or refreshed in a community. In the twenty years since our church in Washington, D.C. sent us out to being a new congregation in the exurbs of Virginia, the Lord has seen fit to use our church as His means to save the lost, mature His people, send out laborers into the harvest, and begin other new churches. All of that to say, church planting is worth it.

But man, is it ever difficult. Even though our church is a “success story” so far (if you’ll forgive the term), there were times that I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to persevere in the ministry. In the process of church planting, I’ve literally shed my blood, sweat, and tears. And most of the church planters that I have known through the years have had a similar experience. 

The particular challenges that come with starting a new congregation mean that church planters ought to seek out (and churches seeking to send out church plants ought to supply) mentors who can help them with the task. Let me suggest three reasons why mentorship is crucial for church planters.

Mentorship is biblical

First, mentorship is a biblical principle. Limitations are inherent in our humanity. We are not born with all the knowledge, wisdom, and insight that we require to navigate life — even the Lord Jesus needed to grow in wisdom (Luke 2:52)! For this reason, Moses needed Jethro’s counsel (Exodus 18:17-23), Elisha served a kind of prophetic internship under Elijah (1 Kings 19:21), and the apostle Paul helped guide Timothy’s pastorate (1 and 2 Timothy). It’s no wonder that the Bible commends the guidance, advice, and counsel that mentors are meant to provide. Here’s just a few examples: 

• Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. (Proverbs 11:14)
• The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. (Proverbs 13:14)
• Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed. (Proverbs 15:22)
• Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)
• Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. (Titus 2:3-5)

Lack of experience

Second, most church planters are relatively young and inexperienced. We most need guidance when we lack experience. Twenty years ago, I was a new pastor with a small church and a young family. I needed certain kinds of advice because I had no experience in those arenas. Now that I’ve pastored and parented for a couple of decades, I need different kinds of mentoring. I’m facing a host of new, different challenges: raising up the next generation of leadership, leading a church to build a bigger building, parenting adult sons and daughters. I need help in those arenas because they are new to me.

While it is not always the case, church planters tend to be younger men with less pastoral experience. That makes some sense; experienced pastors are more likely to stay in their current position or use their credentials to move into another established pastorate, while younger men are more likely to see starting a new church as a good opportunity to break into pastoral ministry.

Some men make it their ministry to start churches, hand them off to a qualified pastor, and then move on to begin another congregation. However, in my experience, most planters are attempting this particular kind of work for the first time. That means that starting a new church will present the planter with obstacles he has never encountered and challenges he has never dealt with before. As a result, he will benefit greatly from a mentor who can orient him to the terrain, advise him on what to expect, and give him counsel on how to deal with difficult and unanticipated situations.  

Unique Challenges

Third, the nature of the work means that church planters will face significant difficulties and obstacles. To name just a few:

Worry

Church planting can make the future feel uncertain. At the outset, there are many unanswered questions (Will people come? Am I ready for this? Will we have enough funding? Am I crazy to attempt this?). Having a mentor outside of the church gives the planter a safe and helpful context to share such concerns without undermining the church’s confidence in him. 

Discouragement

Most of the church growth that is worth its salt comes slowly, and most church planters will encounter at least one season where the future of the entire enterprise seems to be tenuous. In those situations, a mentor can help the planter to persevere in the work with an experienced perspective from the outside. 

Stress and loneliness

Church planting often involves a lot of stressful life changes such as: leaving one’s friends and church family, moving to a new community, starting a new job, taking on the responsibility of pastoring a congregation, and moving into a new home. Add into that mix the reality the perceived pressure to attract people to the church and convince them to stay. Any one of those things would be stressful enough, but all of them at once create a recipe for loneliness, pressure, and fear of man. An experienced mentor can help the planter weather these temporary difficulties with an eye towards the future.  

Satanic opposition

We see in Scripture that the devil is busy trying to hinder the church and the work of God (e.g., Acts 5:3, 1 Thessalonians 2:18, 1 Peter 5:8). Since this is the case, we should expect that any work that spreads the gospel of the Lord Jesus will attract the opposition of the evil one. I’ve heard the stories of many church planters who say that they began to experience unusual troubles (a house fire, a devastating medical diagnosis, marriage struggles, panic attacks) once they launched the church. We can’t always know what troubles come from Satan, but these sorts of things smell of diabolical activity. A trusted guide can help a church planter to rely on the Lord’s good purposes, even in times of trouble (2 Corinthians 12:9).

You’re not alone

It’s a good thing that church planters are not left to their own devices when it comes to launching a new congregation. God’s Word gives us our marching orders (plant new churches) and our methods (preaching with power, praying for the work of the Spirit, and evangelizing the lost). This means that men starting a new church don’t have to reinvent the wheel with each new work. It also means that an experienced mentor can help bring biblical principles to bear on the specific situations that a planter might face. If you’re considering church planting, you’d do well to find a guide you can go to for advice, prayer, and support. And once you’ve planted and walked down the path a bit, consider mentoring someone who’s just starting out.