It's Personal: Surviving and Thriving on the Journey of Church Planting

by Brian Bloye, Amy Bloye, Andy Stanley (Foreword)

A challenging and encouraging manual for day-to-day life in ministry written specifically for couples who want to do more than survive the process of church planting and leadership—who want to actually thrive and grow in faith together as a family.

Though we may feel like we can't show it, every aspect of planting a church is personal. Church planters and those in ministry leadership roles give so much to starting and growing healthy, thriving churches that when some people inevitably criticize the church, or leave altogether, it's hard not to take it personally.

Brian and Amy Bloye know firsthand the emotional and relational toll that planting churches can take. In It's Personal—part of the Exponential series, inspiring and equipping next-generation church planters—the Bloye's get personal about finding the right balance of family and ministry. Planting a church is more than a ministry—it's a calling that touches every aspect of your life in very personal ways. With intimacy and wisdom, Brian and Amy discuss topics

How to protect your marriage while planting a church.How to respond to growth and change.How to lead well while still maintaining space and time for family.How to know when it’s becoming too personal.With a forward by Andy Stanley, It's Personal will challenge and encourage you to avoid some of the pitfalls of planting a church and be equipped to build both strong and prevailing ministries, and healthy marriages and families.

Each chapter includes interviews with church-planting couples who share their personal joys and struggles, giving you authentic insight into the issues families face when planting a church.

Genres: Leadership, Church, Nonfiction, Christianity

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 16, 2012

Reviews

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book MUST be required reading for anyone thinking about planting a church. Brian tells his own planting story with candor, authenticity, and passion. In the context of his journey, he walks us through the key aspects of a church plant and a church planter. To me, the most compelling element of this book is the fact that it is completely absent of strategy, process, and formula. Of course, there is advice on how to handle certain situations, but this book is more about the heart of the church planter and the church than it is about how to start a church that will explode. This makes the book timeless, because methods change almost daily, while principles are unchanging.

In a culture that is obsessed with quick fixes, sexy sermon series, and all-star bloggers, Brian and Amy bring us back to the refreshing and humbling reality of what Christ really intended when He established His church, and how we must go about our lives and our vocations if we are to truly be a part of that vision.

I've not planted a church personally, but I have been involved in three plants, one from the first day, which my family is still a part of today; I've been on the outside, the inside, and everywhere in between. It is an essential element of God bringing about His kingdom, and one of the most challenging and demanding endeavors a human can pursue. SO, if you know a planter, you dream of planting, or you are planting, get this book today and read it. And then read it again.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book touched on the experiences of Bloye and his Wife from their church planting experiences explaining their struggles, failures and successes. It offers some helpful insights with questions to prompt personal reflection over things to consider when church planting.

It was well written and I enjoyed the personal anecdotal style it was written in coupled with quotes from a variety of pastors throughout the book.

Some take aways:
1. Importance of persistence when church planting
2. There is no guarantee of success
3. Importance of having a stable family life is vital to church ministry
4. Setting time aside is important e.g exercise, retreats
5. Knowing one's limits to prevent burn out
6. Church planting is not easy and things never pan out the way you want it to
7. Reliance on God is essential, if you lose sight of him you will burn out and be discouraged
8. Do not be reliant on approval or numbers to determine success of a church plant
9. Importance of working together as a team, if your church gets too big it's okay to delegate and not be involved in everyones lives
10. Church planting is vital to spreading the gospel and one needs good mentors surrounding them to navigate through issues well

[Ian Minielly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read a bunch of books on church planting, there is one thing almost all of them have in common, very little on the act of planting and bunches of stuff on the need for more plants and how biblical it is. This book is different. The Bloye's discuss what it means to plant. How it impacted their lives and how it impacted their children and marriage. How much of a struggle it is and how it truly is personal, because you pour everything you have into the effort.

I enjoyed reading about their journey. They have had huge success planting. I did not have as great an experience, but I shared many of the same experiences they did. They made it and I didnt, so I really enjoyed reading about what it could have been. If you are going to plant, I would suggest this book before any of the other books on planting. I would also suggest you find an up and coming community because that will give you the people you will need to make it. If you go into a depressed community, it will be way harder to make it. They made it and turned it into something bigger than themselves. This is a great thing.

[Wesley Roth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fantastic "introduction" so to say to church planting, and what couples should expect if/when they are called by the Lord to plant a church. The book weaves together both Brian and Amy's thoughts and experiences as they were lead to church plant. They offer some of their best practices, their experiences, some things that worked for them and a few things they would have done different. This was a really helpful book to begin to glean best practices and counsel from a couple and family that pursued Kingdom building! Will hope to return to write a longer review once my class ("Multiply Curriculum") with the SEND Network is complete, later this year.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

About 80 pages in I almost quit, because there wasn't that much that was very helpful, and because of the large gap between the author's models and my own church values. But I'm glad I continued, because there were a number of good thoughts in the second half.

The short dialogue sections were a bit cringe-inducing, which was unfortunate.

In short, some really good ideas if you can get past the packaging.

[Evan Hoekzema · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely appreciated this book from both authors. They shared some of the high’s and low’s of church planting from their own story. They talked about important dynamics and realities in ministry, no matter where you serve. I especially appreciated their family and marriage-focused approach. They acknowledged it’s impossible NOT to take things personal in ministry, the secret is not to take it too personal and let it define you.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, the beauty of this book is that after reading a number of books on church planting--all of which focused primarily on process--this one focuses primarily on the personal. It provides a glimpse into one couple's experiences of planting a church and what they learned from it. As a result, there are a lot of good insights that other books with a different focus might have missed. I personally found several takeaways that I will be choosing to incorporate in my own life and ministry, and I feel like this book will help me to be more well-rounded in the future.

The bottom line--this is a good resource for anyone thinking about planting a church. It's not the only book you should read on the subject, but it is definitely one you should read.

[Meg Pileggi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for any couple who has been called to plant a church. Grateful for the recommendation as this book encouraged me to focus on the eternal goal of reaching lost rather than making sure everyone is happy all the time.
Biggest take away: It IS personal planting a church (it involves every aspect of your life) but it is not about me (thick skin).

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

A church planter must read

My wife and I are about to plant a church. This book walks through the raw and real emotions involved in church planting while reminding us that, at the end of the day, it's not about us. It's all about Jesus!

[Natasha Red · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful humble look at the reality of church planting - written for the pastor and his wife but so applicable for anyone considering being a part of a church plant.

[Barb Winters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for pastors & their wives!

[Rachelle Cobb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this to better understand and support the church planters I know. Great stuff! Especially appreciated the authors’ focus on family life.

(I did cringe when he mentioned Hybels and Falwell.)

[Luke Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very grateful for this book as one about to start this journey. One of best things on subject I've read

[Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would be a good book for anyone thinking of entering ministry especially church planting.