Part of the Pitfalls in Church Planting series.
Continued from Pitfalls in Church Planting: Focus.

Planting a church is very dangerous for you and your family spiritually and morally. The time and pressure takes a toll on church planters, so good, safe, and humble accountability is essential to walking with integrity and honoring God. Moving to the top of an organizational chart should be done with strong accountability in place, or the devil will eat you alive.

Entitlement

One of the biggest issues you should watch for is a feeling of entitlement. It’s the feeling that you do so much and work so hard that you deserve a little something extra. Or maybe you deserve a certain respite from the moral standards you would place on others. Lots of church planters end up drinking too much or dealing with pornography because they are at the top of the leadership paradigm with no one to hold them accountable. Find elders from a sending church or other church planters to help you out in this way.

Protection for Your Soul

More important than delivering a great sermon to your people is becoming a great man for your people. Bishop Quayle says, “Preaching is not the art of making a sermon and delivering it. Preaching is the art of making a preacher and delivering him.” That doesn’t happen without help. Your church plant will be an agent of sanctification. The Lord will use it to refine you, break you, and put you back together. Accountability protects you from being disqualified in the process. Having a safe place to be held accountable is protection for your soul. It’s like holding a shield out in front of your character.

For our staff we use accountability forms that are filled out weekly (most weeks). Our staff knows that they will not be fired for anything they write down on that form. If you confess struggles and sin, then you will be protected and restored. If you get busted, then you will be removed and restored. Build a culture of confession and restoration for you and your team.

To be continued.

Vintage Church:

In this book, Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears discuss the essentials of what it means to be a biblical church. Find out more.