Answering God's Call to 'GO Again' with Jordan Snowzell

Why Leaving the Field, Doesn't Mean You're Finished.

I’m a church planter. Well was…and about to be again.

I’ve been on a church planting adventure for about 12 years (on and off) where I have had the absolute privilege of planting churches in Wales, England, Cambodia, India, Rwanda and Kenya.

It’s been an immense holy rollercoaster ride with some wild highs and some tough lows. We’ve seen God move in profound ways as we fought some gnarly giants and grabbed hold of some unimaginable fruit. It’s been an amazing church planting journey and I wouldn’t change it for absolutely anything. But then God called me and my wife to lay it down, hand the church we were pastoring over to some of our incredible leaders and come back to the UK for a season.

We worked normal jobs, served at our local church, spent quality time with friends and family and admittedly, enjoyed western comforts we had missed over the years. People would ask us things like “where are you going next?” to which we’d answer, “Nowhere. This is us now.”

We kept batting off the possibility that we would go again. As many pastors and planters reading this know, building church is a great honour but it’s also a great stretching and not being on the front lines began to feel, dare I say it, ‘nice’.

Yes we needed a break, but if you’re not careful a season of rest can become a season of resistance.

Very quietly, very subtly, comfortability, complacency and unwillingness started to creep in. And we started to believe the lie that our time was done, that we had already reached the pinnacle of how God would use us.

Fast forward… We have been on a journey as a family and are at the point of saying yes to going again! Saying yes to planting and pastoring once more! God has put a place and a people on our hearts (an African country that I can’t name here online at this time) and we are preparing for another move.

It hasn’t been an easy yes, shaking off comfort and going to a whole new nation again and this time with a baby but it has been a purpose fuelled, life giving yes and I thought it might be helpful to share some of that journey with you…

I’ve broken it down into some practical steps. First being…

1. BE OPEN.

(“And I said “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8)

As I mentioned before, we were resistant in our hearts. We’d already discounted ourselves for future mission and when people asked or mentioned it we would give a strong ‘no’ rather than a ‘maybe’ or ‘hopefully’. We were not open to it. We had closed ourselves off because of hurt or tiredness and didn’t want to put ourselves out there in that way again.

But at the end of last year, God had been stirring both me and my wife and we couldn’t shake that there was more God was calling us to. We went for a prayer walk together where we simply spoke out, ‘God, we’re open to what you want to do. We’re open to going again.” And that simple prayer, that simple change of posture and openness was a catalyst for all that came next.

God does not like to force the door open, He does not push us into our calling, He looks for willing hearts. He looks for open doors. And as soon as we opened the door, He came flooding in. Immediately we felt alive with vision and possibility again and God confirmed in our hearts “yes, I want you to go again”.

2. PRAY

(“Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10)

It sounds like an obvious step and I guess it is, but once you’re truly open, prayer becomes much easier. Because you’re praying “God you’re will be done” and you actually mean it rather than secretly having reservations to what that looks like. And very soon God dropped a location in our hearts through prayer. A curveball location we didn’t see coming…

3. TALK TO DREAMERS

(“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17)

When a dream, a vision is coming into being, it’s like a cub that has not yet grown into a lion. It’s full of potential but it’s vulnerable at this stage. Who you talk to can either kill the dream in you, or help bring it to life. People can speak words of life or death over that cub and you’ve got to share with the right people. Talk to other dreamers, Godly leaders or friends who are also out there doing the thing!

We spoke to my brother and sister in law who are out pastoring and are on fire and it absolutely breathed life on the vision God was putting on our hearts. Their daring dreamer spirit was contagious and it resonated with us and we knew this wasn’t some crazy thing we were thinking about but something we needed to chase after.

And as always, we submitted this sense to our leaders. For anyone processing what you may feel like God is saying to you- the safest and best next step is to share that with a trusted leader.

4. MAKE A MOVE

(“Get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them.” Joshua 1:2)

When God calls you, start moving towards His voice. The Israelites weren’t given the land first, they had to start moving towards it in faith and God gave it as they went. There was a working out and a discovery in the motion of going. You don’t need all the answers, all the confirmation to start moving. God often confirms things as you start stepping out in faith. But He can only direct the steps of those who are moving, if you're stationary there are no steps for Him to direct.

So we knew we needed to go visit this place God had put on our hearts, it was a maybe, it was a what if, and that was enough for us to book a ticket and visit as a family. And God certainly directed our steps, we got there and we had so many confirmations, big and small, through people we met, and personal revelations in our hearts along the journey.

5. SAY YES

(“All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No.” Matthew 5:37)

God was calling us and we had to answer, so we as a family gave God an exciting and scary YES!

If God is calling, don’t put it off. Be careful not to delay your yes for delayed obedience is still disobedience. Even if the actual going is later, the yes still needs to be now.

We are not going immediately, we are going in a year, but we know we needed to say yes now and commit to it because there will be fears to overcome, funds to raise, practicalities to sort out, doubts to conquer so we have to hold on to the fact that we said yes to God when He called us. It will not work if it’s a ‘let’s aim towards it but see what happens’ kind of response.

If God is calling, He demands a yes or no response. There are many other things I could add but I wanted to keep it simple.

I believe there are many reading this who need to know, God’s not done with you and what is ahead is greater than what’s been. So, just start with that first step, try and get to the place of being open once again…