Facing Failure

I’m going to be honest with you – this is not a message that I want to preach

I really wish that I could preach something different tonight, but unfortunately that is not the case

Tonight is a very, very hard night for me

Those of you here know why, for those who may be listening on the radio or online let me give you a little background

I’ve been a pastor at Harvest Family Fellowship since January of 2002

Back in 2011, after a lot of prayer, the leadership of Harvest Family Fellowship decided to start a second location in Tioga

In September of 2012 Harvest Family Fellowship Tioga was launched, and for a while things seemed to be going well

However, over the last few months it has become increasingly obvious that things were not going well

Harvest Family Fellowship Tioga was in a decline and was not a healthy church body

So, with a lot of prayer, guidance seeking, and tears I recommended to the church leadership team that we close Harvest Family Fellowship Tioga

Tonight is our final service, and honestly it is tearing me up inside

The last thing I ever expected when we started the Tioga church was that it would someday close.

I know that statistically speaking there was a very good chance that it would close – and many, many new churches do close within the first 5 years of their existence

However I was convinced that we would succeed

Yes, it was a big risk, but you’ve heard me say many times that you can’t have big faith without big risk

If you want great success you have to be prepared to accept great failure

I clearly remember telling our leadership team before we launched the Tioga church that we should not fear failure, and that if we fail I want to fail spectacularly!

It sounded so good then, but now that I am facing failure it doesn’t sound so good now

I know that some of you might be thinking “don’t say that Pastor Harry, you’re not really facing failure”

I know what you are trying to say, but the reality is that yes, I am facing failure

I tried to start a church, and it failed

I’m not going to say that I am okay with that, because I most definitely am not

Some may be surprised to hear that because in many circles the “proper” Christian thing to say is something along the lines of “well, praise God, it’s all good! The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord!”

Sorry, I can’t say that

I’d be lying if I did, and truth be told, if I want to make a difference in the lives of people then I need to be real

I can’t put on a phony “everything is okay” mask and expect to make a positive difference

No, I am not okay with failing – far from it

However, I can also say beyond a shadow of a doubt that even though this church plant failed, I don’t regret doing it for one moment

If I had a chance to do it all over again I wouldn’t hesitate – I would do things a little differently, but I would still do it again

I can say that because even though this church plant has failed, I know that we have made a positive difference in some lives

I also feel that we have positively impacted Tioga, at least in a small way

Failure stinks, but it’s a normal part of life

People who do not fail do not risk, and if you don’t take risks you will never accomplish anything great

I want to take a moment and look at a story in Scripture about failure

Right after Jesus fed the 5,000 He told the disciples to get in a boat and head across the sea of Galilee while He went up on a mountain to pray

After Jesus was done praying He decided to go across the Sea of Galilee Himself, so He did what any Son of God would do – He walked on the water!

Picking up the story in Matthew 14

Matthew 14:25-33 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶  When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. ²⁷  But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." ²⁸  "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." ²⁹  "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" ³¹  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" ³²  And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³  Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

There are many lessons that I could preach from this story, but what I want to focus on tonight is Peter’s failure

Peter started out well – he was actually walking on water!

However, at some point Peter took his eyes off Jesus, focused on the wind and waves around him, and he sank

He failed

I can certainly relate with Peter!

Things here at Tioga started out well and I was confident that they would get better

But they didn’t

There are many reasons why – some are my fault, some are not my fault, some are not anyone’s fault

But the fact remains that, like Peter, we failed

The good news in all of this, however, is Jesus’ reaction

When Peter failed notice that Jesus didn’t look at him and say “well, that stinks! Good luck” and keep walking to the boat leaving Peter to fend for himself

Jesus also didn’t take His foot and push Peter underwater saying “serves you right you loser!”

No – Jesus didn’t yell at Peter, He didn’t punish Peter, He reached out, grabbed Peter, and together they walked back to the boat

Yes, Jesus did say to Peter “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

But I am convinced that it was not said in a scolding or accusatory way

Jesus was lovingly reminding Peter that if he had faith, if he didn’t doubt, then he would have succeeded

I don’t necessarily think it was a lack of faith that caused this church to fail

But I do know that Jesus is not screaming at me or seeking to punish me in any way for my failure

Yes, I expect to have many conversations with Jesus about this failure in which I am certain He will let me know a few things that went wrong

But it’s not going to be in a scolding or accusatory manner

I am convinced that starting this church was God’s will, and that He is very happy that we took the step of faith to do it

Much happier than He would have been if we were too scared of failure to not start the church!

In fact, I am convinced that God is far more pleased when we step out in faith and fail than He is when we allow fear to keep us from doing anything

Yes, Peter failed, but at least he had the faith to step out of the boat!

There were several other dudes still in the boat that didn’t have that faith

Jesus was way more pleased with Peter than He was with them

There is one other thing that I want to clear up

Just as I am convinced that it was God’s will for us to start Harvest Family Fellowship Tioga, I am also convinced that it was not His will for it to fail.

God wanted this church to succeed

So why didn’t it?

I can’t fully answer that question at the moment

Yes, I can point to a few reasons why, but the bottom line is that even though it was not God’s will for it to fail, it did

Unfortunately we live in a fallen world in which God does not always get His way

“God is not willing that any should perish …” – yet people still do

Many times in situations like this people quote Romans 8:28 – and I think it is definitely appropriate to do so in this moment

Romans 8:28  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Many see this verse as saying that God causes everything that happens to work out things for good in us

I don’t believe that for a moment

God doesn’t cause the bad things that happen

God does, however, come down to us in the middle of our failures and junk and say “yeah, this stinks, but we’re going to get through this together and I will help you to make it into something positive!

I love Tioga

I love this church!

I love this building!

I love the people I have built relationships with while here

I will never forget this time in this amazing place

It’s time to close, but my prayer is that this closing is only temporary

That at some point in the future we will be able to return with a better plan and a bigger vision and build something that will make God proud!