Starting a Church

We had dinner with two of our friends last night, Jim and Sarah Gilliam, who are gearing up to launch a church in Vancouver in 2011. As we are now about 4 years into a church plant, it is just a flood of memories listening to them talk.

It’s fun to reminisce about our journey and breathe a little sigh of relief that we are in a slightly different season now. For the first three years of a startup church, it’s a gamble of survival. Is anyone going to come? If they do come, are they going to stay? Is anyone going to give in order to pay the bills? Will our doors and our dreams stay open for one more week?

Now, this far in, there’s a pretty good chance that we will survive for the long haul. I say that with my fingers crossed, since any organization dependent on people is always at the mercy of our humanity. However, at this point, I have a pretty strong hunch that North Creek Church is now a very permanent and solid place in our city.

Even though we are no longer in the “Is this even gonna work?” stage, I would not say that it’s any easier. That is probably the irony of starting a church. It’s so much work at the beginning and then, if all goes well, people come and everything gets so much more REAL. It’s flesh to all those dreams and now days are filled with faces to pray for, rejoice with, mourn with, and grow with. It’s intense to say the least!

So, we wish our friends the best! Enjoy the journey and may you be as blessed with wonderful people as we have been!