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.
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.” — John 10:28-30 (ESV)