We (that’s the Minnesota Baptist Conference) just wrapped up our annual church planters retreat in Lanesboro, MN. Over 30 planters and spouses from across MN (and one from IA!) were there. As usual, it was a great time!
I was talking to a first-time attender who was a little new to our group and as I was sharing, I realized why this retreat is so important to our movement….the brief time that we’re together among the bluffs of the Root River Valley embodies many of the values that are a part of our church planting movement.
We value the church planter and their spouse. In an effort to make it easy for our planters to come (or impossible for them not to come!) we make it very affordable and we center the retreat around them. To be honest, the retreat is no cheap date. But we are committed to making it so affordable that the issue of finances are not even a consideration. Also, we have a schedule with different activities but we also make it very clear that if we never see you through the two days, that’s fine. Do what you need to do. Spend time with your spouse. Sleep. Canoe down the river. Stay up ’til 1:00 am playing hearts. We do this because we value the church planter and their spouse. This is a time for them to reconnect, re-energize, and renew at their pace, in their way.
We value being together. If you’ve never sat in a room with a bunch of church planters, then you’re missing something amazing. Stories are told. Notes are shared. Hearts are opened. Prayers are given. Laughter abounds. When you gather a bunch of people together who love each other, have nothing to hide, and truly enjoying hanging out with each other, ministry happens. We purposely don’t program a lot of elements into the retreat because we value being together and the result is ministry happens.
We value teamwork. Nobody should plant a church alone. Every planter has their core group of their leadership team. At our retreat, the value of teamwork is evident. Ideas are shared and encouragement is given….not because it’s the “encouragement session” but because we’re all on the same team.
We value the spiritual task before us. Church planters are often on the front line. It’s not often pretty. It’s a battle. We understand it’s a spiritual battle and a part of our time together is spiritual preparation for the battles that are yet to be fought…and won. We know the statistics of new churches and conversion growth. We live the impact new churches can have upon families and communities. That empowers us to the spiritual task before us.
We value fun. You know those times when someone you just met asks you what you do? You’re a tad reluctant to tell them you’re a pastor because you fear that they are going to pigeon-hole you into some drab, lifeless, conservative, boring box? I wish those people could come and hang out with my church-planting-pastor-comrades in a wonderful little resort at the end of little road in small one-horse town in SE MN. It’s a hint of Heaven…though in Heaven I hope to win a game or two of Hearts.
Looking forward to next year….
joel
