Churches Planting Churches

Church in the Making (2 of 4)

Posted on 14. Jun, 2010 by Steve Swisher in Book Review

Momentum: Mo or No Mo?

Church in the Making provides a solid “reality check” for anyone interested in planting a church. In order to even think about planting a church, you have to be somewhat of a dreamer. Most of us rather be called a visionary since it sounds better. You have to be someone who can see the potential, the opportunity, the possibility of what God can do regardless of the odds stacked against you. You have to be someone who likes to read books like the Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus that talks about having the boldness of Braveheart.

For me, just about every book I read to prepare me for planting a church fell into two categories: strategy and inspiration. Church in the Making is a mixture of strategy and realism. Ben Arment brings these two dynamics together in what he calls Momentum-Based Church Planting. Without momentum, even an extremely gifted planter with a great strategic plan and an audaciously, inspiring vision can fail to get a church off the ground.

Personally, I have been a part of two church plants, one with and one without momentum.  Without momentum, it seems like all your efforts are doomed from the start. You plan stuff out, spend money to promote it, mobilize your core to work hard, and then nobody shows up.  Currently I am a part of a church that has had momentum from the start.  Arment says it well, “When it comes to momentum, the ‘have nots’ keep loosing, and the ‘haves’ continue to get more and more.” One third of Church in the Making provides insight and examples of how church planters have been able to start with momentum and what they’ve done to keep it going.

This past week my wife picked up my copy of the book and started reading it. It was the first church planting book she’s read. We had a great discussion about the book and our experiences over the past 6 years in church planting. I’ll be sharing her thoughts next Monday, but the quick summary is she wished she’d read this before we started the church planting journey.

Related posts:

1. Church in the Making (1 of 4)
2. Church in the Making (3 of 4)
3. Andy Stanley’s Making Vision Stick