Simon Cox Blog: Reflecting on Church Planting in the Aftermath of Being on the StartUp Podcast, Part 2

Friday 21 September 2018

Reflecting on Church Planting in the Aftermath of Being on the StartUp Podcast, Part 2

Three major topics church planters have contacted me about since the podcast began airing.

In one of the episodes of StartUp, my wife Leah is asked about my mental health in relation to church planting. She describes the venture as “inhumane.” I didn’t know she felt that way, but she has seen firsthand the toll church planting can take on someone. It can really beat you up.

At this point, some people will say, “that’s an exaggeration.” Yes, many men and women have had great experiences with church planting. They’ve always had plenty of people, funding, volunteers, and baptisms. That’s great.

My sentiments reveal the experience of the rest of us: those who feel incredibly alone, who scare our families and ourselves with our irritability and anger, who don’t know if they will be paid each month, and who feel like we have to please everyone and are incapable of pleasing anyone.

If this is your experience, then what you are experiencing is inhumane.

I’d like to offer some reflections on a few major topics church planters have contacted me about since the podcast began airing.

Vulnerability

“Thank you for being so honest and vulnerable” is the phrase I’ve seen most in emails since the beginning of the StartUp series.

People from across the spectrum, even if they disagreed with me on everything, were grateful for my openness about my weaknesses and struggles. This surprised me because I honestly don’t feel like I was that vulnerable. Perhaps that’s because some of my issues have forced me to come clean with my struggles, or because I’ve spent a lot of time in therapists’ offices talking about these things.

Or maybe this is because I have seen people’s lives destroyed because they felt like “faking it” was ...