Steve Nicholson has directed church planting efforts in the Vineyard Association for more than twenty years. Cutting Edge magazine recently interviewed him about a dramatic question: is there ever a time to give up on a new church plant?
Cutting Edge: Early on in a church plant, sometimes the church planter wants to quit because of the difficulties and the pressures. Is that fairly common?
Steve Nicholson: Well, it’s not just church planters. It’s common for pastors in general because it’s hard to see your rewards. They are usually distant and seem more ethereal.
CE: So what are some of the signs that it really is a legitimate time to quit and not just the normal temptation that comes with the difficulty of the early years?
SN: A good criterion is whether you can still articulate a compelling vision. Do you have it in you? It’s difficult to recover from the inability to articulate vision. Pure survival is not a very good witness. You have to be able to say, “Why are we doing this, and why is it worth doing?” If you can’t do that in a compelling way anymore, that’s an indicator that maybe you can’t go on. But Mondays don’t count as an indicator!
CE: [Laughter] Or February in the Midwest.
SN: Right. [Laughs] Another thing I often ask is, “Are people coming, and are they sticking with the church?” Of course, not everyone has to stay. But if nobody’s visiting or they take one look and run away, that’s probably a bad sign. Now if people are coming and looking and some of them stay, then that means there is still potential there. Another huge thing is that sometimes it is the condition of the planter that has to be considered, not necessarily the condition of the church. The job is so demanding. Sometimes, you might find yourself in a crisis that makes it impossible to click in with the church process. Cancer is an example. If you’re not able to do the job, and it’s not going to turn around soon, then you need to quit.
CE: What do you do then? Do you try to turn it over to somebody?
SN: Exactly. Many times when people get to the point of quitting, they don’t talk to anybody about it. That’s the first mistake. The second mistake is, if they quit, they usually just close the church and don’t give someone else a shot at saving it. If there’s enough good that has been built up, the church can actually probably be saved by somebody else. Then the next question is whether you can help develop a strategy to get someone in to take the church from that point.
CE: Quitting can almost be a fantasy that’s like a coping mechanism. You might think about it, but it’s wise not to just go do it. It won’t work the way you think.
SN: That’s right.
CE: Are there specific moments that you can think of when it’s particularly tempting for somebody to quit but should be advised to press through it? Are there typical patterns or situations?
SN: When there is a big moment when you feel like you must quit, think about it. Did it happen right after you went through a major conflict or someone came in with a huge criticism? Well, if so, that’s never a time to quit. Maybe a key person in the church leaves. Your first thought is, “He’s irreplaceable. I can’t go on without him.” Actually, the truth is that nobody’s ultimately indispensable. You need to give God a chance to replace that person in that role. Often, he might replace the person with somebody who may be better.
CE: That can be a key growth point in your church sometimes. Maybe that person needed to get out of the way so that you can get to the next place.
SN: Exactly. But it’s hard to see that at first amidst the devastation. It might have even been one of your closest friends. It makes it even harder to imagine going around without him or her.
CE: You know, is there something to say here about seasonal attendance patterns, just to remind people that attendance goes down in the summer? And nobody goes to church the week after Christmas. Don’t get depressed because of that.
SN: [Laughter] There are definitely seasonal patterns between Christmas and New Year’s. There is no particular high attendance time, either. And this year, the Fourth of July landed on a Sunday—I don’t think any church in America had a high attendance that day!
CE: Right!
SN: It certainly doesn’t mean the attendance is down or that it’s not working. It just means people are taking vacations. They’re doing what they probably should be doing. So keep a little perspective. Especially in their early stages, I encourage church planters not to look so much at the numbers, but to look for the new people. Frequently, what happens is that your number goes down because your regular people go on vacation. But it’s also a time when new people check out churches. So that might be a time when it would be exceedingly helpful to pay attention to new people.
CE: It sometimes takes a while for people to really believe that they’ll come back in the fall, but they really do come back in the fall.
SN: Yes. In fact, if a church attendance doesn’t go down in the summer, then that is a certain sign that the church is growing. And when fall comes, there are going to be much higher numbers.
CE: Are there things young church planters or potential planters can do now to put themselves in a better situation later?
SN: Number one, make sure you have a good relationship with a coach who can help you when it gets tough. Number two is to recruit committed prayer partners. Get them to pray for you on a regular basis from the beginning. Plan it so that all you need to do is send e-mail updates and they’ll pray. It can save your life if you’ve got that in place. I also think that a good strong team makes a huge difference. You need people who believe in this as much as you do. When the going gets tough, they will stand there and fight for it when you’re not sure you have any fight left.
