By Jim Tune
The words of James Denney ring true to me: “No man can give at once the impression that he himself is clever, and that Christ is mighty to save.” You can impress people with your cleverness or you can impress them with Jesus, but you can”t do both.
It”s a common practice in church planting circles to search for a particular “type” of church planter. Competence, calling, giftedness””these characteristics matter when it comes to selecting a lead planter. The organization I lead uses a thorough assessment process to screen candidates for attributes that are useful in predicting church planter success.
Nevertheless, there is a subtle temptation to be drawn toward charisma over character, personality over purity, social aptitude over spiritual acumen. New and existing churches alike want to hire a “winner”””a racehorse, never a plodder or mule.
The apostle Paul states, “Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God” (2 Corinthians 3:4, 5). He even said his own accomplishments were rubbish compared to knowing Christ! (Philippians 3:8).
These are amazing statements coming from Paul, a brilliant man who was trained in the Old Testament, able to communicate in several languages, at home in Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome, a Jew through and through, a church planter, and a follower of the Lord Jesus. Surely if any man had reason to brag, it was Paul. But he says he is not competent to make any claim for himself. Whatever good he has done, it all comes from God.
In his book Quiet Hints for Growing Preachers, written in 1901, Charles E. Jefferson gives practical advice for those entering the pastorate. Near the end of the book, he writes a chapter called “Eagles, Race-Horses and Plodders,” in which he says the minister must have “a genius for plodding” because so much of a preacher”s work is routine. Sometimes it is hard to tell if you are winning or losing.
Many men, Jefferson says, cannot survive life in the ministry. Some preachers constantly compare themselves to those they think less accomplished: “They will lie about the size of their congregations and pad the roll of their church membership, and drop subtracting insinuations about the man ahead of them, and carry into the pulpit a heart full of envy and bitterness.”
It is a pernicious thing, this temptation to brag about our size, to throw around numbers as if our worth were measured by the size of our Sunday attendance. I can say it is a terrible temptation because I have felt it and feel it still.
While I can”t escape this fully, I can do this””I can remind myself that Christ has given the church whatever it needs to do whatever God calls it to do. And whatever gets accomplished, be it small in the eyes of our pastoral peers, or the sort of thing that ends up in bright lights and wins acclaim, it all comes from the Lord. Without him, nothing good would ever be accomplished.
God uses plodders. Sometimes he even uses me.
Sometimes He even uses me too… thanks Jim!
Encouraging and thought-provoking article. I appreciate your insightful weekly column. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Iv’e felt this way for years (57 Yrs) and anticipate the second coming of Christ. I plan to be in the number of the saints when He comes. God bless you for your article. It gave me hope for “keeping on going on”. Thanks!
I have a rural congregation who will be able to appreciate comparing the spiritual growth of the congregation to race horses or plodders. I am a plodder myself and look for the little encouragements. Does not bother me to see the race horses flying past because I know they will stumble at some point in the future, probably soon. I will be like the turtle who moves slowly past the hare and has a good chance of at least completing the race. The plodder moves slowly but has the patience to continue on toward the goal in spite of roadblocks and disappointments. I have just learned that in texting DFTBA means Don’t Forget to Be Awesome. I submit this text — DFTBAP — Don’t Forget to Be a Plodder.