Partners in Planting: Help and Encouragement for Church Planting Wives (e-book)

Sometimes I feel as if I hold a miraculous secret inside, the secret that active faith is more beautiful and more fun the more stomach-dropping it is. It’s not so much a secret as it is what God’s been whispering in the pages of His Book all along: I’m faithful. You can trust me. Come, go with Me!

We think of faith as hard work, as a burdensome calling, but it’s really being willing to sit peacefully in uncertainty, knowing that we’ve accepted an invitation to watch God show up and work in our freefall.

I’ve discovered this cherished secret through the profoundly difficult and profoundly sweet task of church planting. I tend to call myself a “church planting wife,” but in actuality, although I have played a different role than my husband has, I too am a church planter. I’ve helped labor to bring forth this baby, I’ve helped it find its legs, and I’ve imprinted part of my DNA on its heart. My husband proclaims over this baby and shepherds it as it grows, while I come alongside, often in quiet, unseen ways that are vital nonetheless. That is my great, kingdom-building calling: to be his “alongside”.

All church planters need their “alongside.” And the “alongside” so desperately need encouragement and support, as I’ve discovered throughout our six-year laboring. We need to be reminded, as we serve tirelessly and fight discouragement and wonder if the uncertainty will ever go away, that the whispered secret really is true: God is faithful. We can trust Him. Let’s press on!

Church planting wives, can I remind you of that today? Because I know how you feel.

Full of faith.

Full of fear.

All of these, sometimes all in one day. But this is true, whether our emotions are or not: God is faithful. You can trust Him in your freefall. Go with Him!

Can I also encourage you through the written word? I’ve authored an ebook just for you, Partners in Planting: Help and Encouragement for Church Planting Wives (linked below), so that you can have a resource at your side to root you on when you’re tired and turn your eyes toward God’s faithfulness when you’re discouraged. Most of all, through these words, I hope you are reminded of the joy and blessedness of following our God in faith.

Press on, dear sister! God is faithful. You can trust Him.