What do we expect?

04 Aug What do we expect?

4 August 2026

On Sunday I shared an article that I had read, & I hope you were as encouraged by it as I was…Today, I have a bit more of the same, but in a slightly different vein.

A couple years ago, I was in an on-line pastors’ study group with a small cluster of church planters; people who had struck out, like us, into a new congregational venture apart from any sort of outside supports. We would read books together, study the Bible together, & pray for each other’s work in our varied locations around the world. One of the books we studied together was by Steve Pike who is a US-based church planting coach. His book was good. There were lessons to learn & things to try. I still get Mr Pike’s emails. Today’s blew me out of my chair. I’ll quote him:

I received a call from the leader of a new church plant that had been holding regular weekly services for about 18 months. “I’m calling to let you know that we’ve made the decision to shut down the church,” the planter announced. “I’m so sorry to hear that,” I replied. “Why are you finding it necessary to shut down the church?”

The church planter replied. “Well, we only have about 150 regular attendees and by this time we expected to be averaging over 500. It’s not sustainable, so we’re shutting it down.”

I could not believe my ears. This was an extreme case of expectations distorted by a church planting timeline that is increasingly out of touch with reality.

Note the details…a church in place as a worshipping community for 18 months…150 regular attenders…and they’re thinking about closing down because their expected timeline called for them to be three times larger. They don’t see continuing as “sustainable.” I found Mr Pike’s evaluation spot on: “expectations out of touch with reality.”

I had several thoughts…What would that guy think of Living Water’s “sustainability?” 13 years & going strong. Who’s in charge of “sustainability?” Us or God? How is he not “sustainable” with 150 in regular participation & who decided 500 was the “magic number?” I had others & I bet you would too. But the better questions came too…

What do we expect as followers of Jesus? What do we expect of one another as his church, of our leaders, our pastors, of our children as they grow toward adult faith, of ourselves as disciples…? Jesus gives us a small glimpse of reality: “And you will be hated by everyone because you are my followers. But everyone who endures to the end will be saved.” – Matthew 10:22 Christ’s commands to make disciples & proclaim his name in ever-widening circles in our lives is an enduring expectation, as is his command to make our love for one another the distinctive mark upon our lives. I don’t want to be too hard on a pastor I’ve never met, but over the years, I’ve learned to allow Christ to shape my expectations instead of some strategy, scheme, tactic, or timeline. I want our relationships not our balance sheet to drive our witness to this city & the people in it we know & love & who Jesus has given to us to lead back to him.

Thank you for being engaged in that with me…I don’t know what we’d do if we suddenly had 150 or 500 people in our mix, but I expect that if Jesus suddenly sends us that many souls to care for, he’ll also provide the means to do so. He doesn’t need me trying to out-think his grace & mercy or out-manoeuvre the Holy Spirit. He expects us to grow in our likeness to him & to deepen our reserves of faithfulness & bold witness…

Now some opportunities for just that…

• Sunday August 9^th – we continue our worship & teaching series on Joshua – Learning to be Different. Under Joshua’s leadership, God’s people stand on the border of their Promised homeland. Everything about them is about to change, but they are still called to be faithful to Yahweh. Becoming the people God calls us to be is always a process of learning to be His in the varied & shifting circumstances of life. But God is always faithful to his promises. When we fail. God is ready to reclaim & restore. God is always the architect of our days no matter the challenges & changes within them. Join us as we learn to be different under the joyous shaping of God’s hand on our lives.
• Saturday August 15^th – Living Water Prayer Morning @ the Prenzler’s home 10:00 a.n.
• Saturday August 22^nd – Albury Men’s Convention with Guest Speaker Malcolm Gill – We’ll have a car driving down…talk to Phil or me if you’re interested in going.
• And a few in the “Claim the Date” file:
  • Tuesday 8^th September – feeding the CSU UniChurch students! Details will come closer to the date.
  • Sunday 27^th September – Annual InterSport Lake-to-Lake Run-n-Ride – Worship begins at 12:00 noon with lunch in the Guide Hall

God bless you with his peace!