“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of ASia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.” 

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

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Church planters and planting teams are not immune from the hardships everyone faces. Like the rest of us, they deal with challenging relationships, serious illness, financial woes, deaths of loved ones and other kinds of suffering. Though, far too often, we see church planters in a different light. For whatever reason, we expect those in positions of leadership not to be phased by whatever troubles the world may throw at them. Because of that perception, many church planters feel like they have to press into the facade of saying that everything is fine. 

But, it’s okay to admit that you’re not okay. From our reading today in 2 Corinthians, we see how blunt and honest Paul is about the suffering he’s faced. He doesn’t want to leave the church uninformed of the troubles they went through. He even goes on to say that they despaired even of life and felt, in their hearts, the sentence of death. That’s not what you would expect to hear from a leader in the church today. But, in doing exactly this, Paul is setting an example of leadership. Admitting to our own human weakness and recognizing our need for God to sustain us. 

For our church planters today all across the globe, let us join together and ask for God to sustain them through the difficult times they are experiencing, so they can hold out hope to those in their new church and community. Share with others some ways the Lord has shown his compassion and comfort to you. Let those moments of faithfulness fuel your prayers for others!

Praying for Those Starting Churches: 
Our merciful God of comfort, we thank you for your power and mercy and strength in difficult times. We praise you for the many times we received comfort from you when we needed it. We acknowledge that we will experience both the suffering and comfort of Christ. We are thankful for our brothers and sisters that have walked beside us in the hard times and shown us compassion. We want to pray for those who are starting new churches and may not yet have a strong network of support in the new work they are doing. We know that you see them all, and you can minister to them from both their sending churches as well as those in their new church through the power of your Spirit.

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If you’ve enjoyed this excerpt from our United in Prayer guide and would like to join us for our 21 Days of Prayer, we invite you, your church leaders, pastors, staff and congregation to unite with us. To access all of our resources and let us know that you are praying with us, click here: converge.org/21-days-united-in-prayer