What do you do when you feel like giving up? When all the doors seem to close on you, or you feel as though you’re in way over your head? Do you give up, or do you keep pushing through and hoping things will work out in the end? This week’s Publishing Secrets guest, Pastor Jim Wickham, has been there. Over and over again, he’s had to trust that God would open the right doors at the right time — and God has done exactly that. If you believe God has called you to the place you are right now, yet you’re thinking about throwing in the towel, let Pastor Jim encourage you to walk by faith and not by sight.
In this episode, you’ll also hear:
When Pastor Jim Wickham heard God calling him to leave the church he was already serving in and move out of state, he had no idea why or what God was calling him to do in the new city. But he obeyed anyway, and as he prayed for God’s continued guidance, a thought came to him: “Wherever Paul went, he planted a church.”
Then something strange happened. People from the community began to visit Pastor Jim and his wife, and without being prompted, many of them asked the same thing: “Are you going to plant a church?” One of those visitors offered the use of his renovated garage for a meeting place, and soon the congregation now known as Living Word Community Church was born.
To others who feel a similar call to church planting, Pastor Jim says it’s important to first be assured that you are really being called directly by God, and then to be faithful to that calling — because there will be challenges.
For Pastor Jim and his new congregation, one of the biggest challenges was finding a space to move into once they outgrew the garage. Many in the local community were hostile to churches that weren’t Catholic and refused to rent a storefront to them or allow them to meet on school property.
Although Pastor Jim could have pushed back with accusations of discrimination, he chose to be patient and trust God to open doors instead.
“I’m here to plant a church that will exemplify the love of God,” he explains. “And those people, they're not resisting me. They're resisting someone else, and that's the one I represent. And I want to make sure that the way I represent Him [communicates] that, ‘Okay, that’s okay. The God I serve — and we serve — opens doors, and no one can stop that.’”
Ultimately, not only did God provide a building, but He led Pastor Jim’s congregation to rent that building from a man who had stepped away from the church at large and needed to find his way back.
God’s provision for Pastor Jim’s life wasn’t limited to finding a building for his new church. He also opened doors for Pastor Jim to get much higher degrees of education than he would have done on his own.
It all started with Pastor Jim finishing his bachelor’s degree on the side while pastoring vocationally. Then his university opened up a new program that allowed students to earn a master’s degree in just one year. This was an intense program, and Pastor Jim admits he sometimes wondered why he had decided to do it. But he earned the degree, and enjoyed the feeling of freedom and accomplishment at having finished higher education for good — or so he thought.
A few years later, someone from the seminary reached out to ask if Pastor Jim had ever considered getting a doctorate as well. Pastor Jim believed there were many reasons he couldn’t — he hadn’t taken certain prerequisite courses, he thought he wouldn’t be accepted — but, again, God opened those doors and made it possible.
Throughout his higher education journey, Pastor Jim says there were many times he thought about quitting. But now he sees that God was using the experience to help him grow and conquer his insecurities.
“When I have my personal time with the Lord,” he recalls, “I hear another voice that affirms me and speaks life and says, ‘You can do this. Not because of you — you can do this because of Me.’”
Pastor Jim’s book, Facilitating Change to Reach All Generations, actually started as his doctoral thesis. When his family urged him to turn it into a book, he listened, even though he says he had no clue how to go about it. Again, God opened a door to make it possible, and again, Pastor Jim walked through the door.
The book’s topic came from Pastor Jim’s experience leading Living Word Church. Turmoil involving some of the church’s former leaders made it necessary for Pastor Jim and his team to turn their focus inward and prioritize strengthening their own leadership and programs.
While this was happening, the culture around them was experiencing shifts and changes that caused gaps in the church’s effectiveness at reaching various groups of people. “The culture outside shifted so drastically that I began to see the church was not really acknowledging that,” he explains.
People from new generations and different cultural contexts were being turned away because they didn’t understand the terminology being used or because the way the gospel was being presented made them feel unwelcome.
“I realized there are some shifts here that really need to take place in us,” he says. “We don't need to change our message; we just need to change how we say the message. How do we say this to connect with those people? And how do we do things differently, to connect with them and say, ‘You are welcome too’?”
If the church is going to be effective at reaching the lost, Pastor Jim believes Christian leaders must learn to understand how culture and values shift over time and how to appeal to people of different generations without watering down or compromising the gospel.
Often, churches or organizations that fail to reach people from different generations have fallen into an “us versus them” mentality. When that happens, Pastor Jim says it’s important to step back and examine yourself first.
Ask yourself why you feel that it’s you versus the other person or people, and let God show you the answer. Then work alongside Him to deal with the root issue instead of just the surface-level emotions.
“Instead of seeing the differences, then I can see what the real need here is,” Pastor Jim explains. “If they don't know Christ, that's the greatest need of all. And they're not going to find it if I'm going to be at odds with them.”
As Christians, we know that God lavishes His love on us. Instead of fighting against other humans, we must let His love and grace transform us into His image first, and then we must share that love and grace with everyone around us.
Of course, we also know that, ultimately, God is the one who works in other people’s hearts to draw them to Himself. But how we treat others and how we market ourselves to our community plays a direct role in either helping draw those people into our church or driving them away from it.
That means we need to closely examine how well we are reflecting God’s love, and it also means we need to ask real people whether they see God’s love reflected in us — and if they don’t, we need to make some internal changes. It’s not easy, and it can be uncomfortable and painful to hear negative feedback, but as Pastor Jim has experienced, this kind of self-evaluation is crucial to our success at reaching the lost and growing as a church.
Maybe you, like Pastor Jim in the past, are battling insecurities and difficulties and are considering giving up on what God has called you to do. If so, Pastor Jim advises you to remember that you aren’t in the position you are now because you chose it, but because God loved you enough to put you there.
“I don't think there's accidents. I think God is purposely leading us, and so it's always for our good,” he says in closing. “Look beyond the moment, beyond the internal struggle and the stress that's there. You may not be able to see what's beyond that, but we know who is beyond…. And He's always faithful.”
BIO:
James W. Wickham and his wife, Isla, reside in beautiful Southern Maryland, about an hour and half from Washington, D.C.. In July of 1986, they planted Living Word Community Church, which they still pastor. They led Living Word from its infancy, through the several stages of growth, until today they have their own building with plans of future growth and expansion. Both are passionate about people experiencing the transforming power of Christ’s love, the presence of God, and teachers of the Word of God. For almost forty years, James has filled various levels of leadership positions for the District Ministry Network, plus for over 20 years, he has served on the board of a local Crises Pregnancy Center. In addition to the position of pastor, counselor, mentor, and coach, he holds B.Th., B.A., M.A., and D.Min. degrees. He and his wife have three grown married children with eight grandchildren.
GET CONNECTED:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/James-W-Wickham/1788947756/
Get Pastor Jim’s book: www.amazon.com/Facilitating-Change-Reach-All-Generations-ebook/dp/B08RTVH5TT/