What Church-Planting Taught Me About Rest

This is a guest post from Sam Mahlstadt. Interested in contributing to BeDeviant.com? Read more here.

My wife and I packed up our stuff last April, and moved to Winston-Salem, NC to help build One Church. When we arrived, we knew that the church’s September 13th launch date was quickly approaching, and we jumped right into strategic planning meetings. With another couple, the four of us made up the leadership team and bore the responsibility of birthing a new local church that would reach those who were overlooked and dismissed.

We were all transplants from Iowa, who had given up our comforts and safety nets to see this goal take place. A bit of pressure (read: fear) accompanied this responsibility.

The four of us met semiweekly to brainstorm, strategize and collaborate on ideas that would ultimately create the systems that facilitated the church. The meetings took on more weight as September 13th continued to stalk us. When we ran into a few consecutive dead-ends where we were expecting momentum builders and energy boosts, we had to answer some hard questions. We had to examine our efforts, and re-access what God was asking us to accomplish.

It caused us to think differently about our approach to creating the church. We were doing a lot of work for God, but we seemed to be distant from the work God was doing in us, and ultimately through us. With this realization, we stopped our meeting in its seemingly God-forsaken tracks, and began to pray as a group.

It was a time to refocus our minds and renew our hearts. That moment has served as a defining step in the direction and personality of the church we lead, as well as our approach to the church. I believe every company, organization, or ministry has these moments where a break is simply the only answer. Not more meetings or planning, but rest.