When I was growing up, my pastor would cry during the sermon. He would get to the moment of invitation, and he would have to stop preaching to gather himself and then, he would continue on. The thought of his friends dying without Christ would overwhelm him as he would struggle to find the right words to convince his lost friends to come to Christ. I can’t remember the last time I saw a preacher cry during a sermon.
Betty was heartbroken when she found out there were thousands of deaf people in Nashville and there wasn’t a deaf church in town. There were hearing services interpreted for the deaf, but if you know anything about deaf culture, you will know an interpreted service is a hearing service, not a service for the deaf. Betty would sometimes become so frustrated in her efforts to start a church for the deaf she would sit in my office and cry.
In the glory days of the missionary movement at the end of the19th century and early 20th century, the young men and women who were responding to the church’s call to reach the world would often talk about their burden for a particular people group who hadn’t yet heard the gospel. We can read in their journals where they wrote about being up all night tearfully praying for Japan, China and the unreached tribes of Africa. They would sell everything they had, board a ship to places unknown, and carrying only a Bible and their burden, they would spread the gospel around the world.
There was no plan. There was no strategy. They would simply show up, get to know the people, and figure out a way to make the connection. Sometimes, they would start a school. Albert Schweitzer built a hospital. They would do whatever else they had to do to be able to lead a Bible study with the people group they had reached.
Over the years, I’ve had a lot of church planters come and talk to me about starting a new church in surrounding areas. One question always seems to stump them. “Tell me about your burden.” I wanted to know about the neighborhood or the community the young pastor had lost sleep over. I want to know how they discovered the people group they want to reach and how God has gifted them to reach this community. I wanted to know to what lengths they would go to see this group reached for the gospel.
You see, I discovered a long time ago that it’s not about style, but about substance. New church plants don’t fail because they didn’t have enough lighting or smoke machines, but because the planters and pastors didn’t understand the people they were trying to reach. These well-meaning leaders didn’t know how best to reach the people group around them.
Simply put, they didn’t have a burden. You can have all the gadgets and plans you want, but without the firm foundation of the Bible on which to stand and a burden for the lost that won’t be denied, it really won’t matter.
What’s breaking your heart? What burden keeps you up at night? Don’t start until you know those things. Starting without them guarantees things won’t end well.
