If church revitalisation is like raising the dead (a difficult task by anyone’s standard—except Christ’s!), church planting is like giving birth (easier, perhaps, but still painful and labourious). Still, like childbirth, church planting can be difficult, messy, noisy, and worrying but it is worth it in the long run. In fact, the New Testament argues that there is something of a need for discomfort in church planting.
[Birth of Jesus Foretold] In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” — Luke 1:26-28 (ESV)