Church Planters Must Think Bigger!!! National New Church Conference April 2007--Will Help
You don’t want to miss this. I speak at conferences but don’t do a lot of personal promotion for them--I am this. BECAUSE to a large degree, planters, if not careful, can be driven to start a church sometimes for less than noble reasons. Planters, who are entrepreneurial, can also be focused just on their own thing. When this happens, you may grow a church, but miss the Kingdom. Todd Wilson and Dave Ferguson have asked me to help at the point of multiplication and movements. Though this will not set the DNA, it’s still good at the very beginning of the church planting process to get a vision for multiplication. The other night our church planting interns meet at my home. We talked, at length, about what it would look like if a brand new church started out adopting a city or people group in a hard place in the world and what would be expected of them in terms of helping a new church. I want our guys to realize that they can grow a church to 100 or 10,000, or they can grow God’s church to tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, if they think multiplication.
If the tracks are not merged in our way of thinking--planting is one thing and multiplication another--we will never have any shot at all of seeing a church planting movement. Give me Mark Harris, a guy whose church is 100 yet has started 17 churches with a total attendance of around 4,000 over against any single pastor who grew a single church to 4,000, but never planted. We need cockroaches, not dinosaurs. Ten years after both guys are gone, one guy has a single church he hopes succeeds, another guy has, as of today, 17 other churches, each of which could be a mega-church--or not--and continue planting other churches. We need new heroes.
Movements and Marketplace
Zech 6:12 . . . ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD. 13 It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ NIV
This morning as I was reading my Bible, I read this verse. By some, it’s considered to be a Messianic prophecy. This is the heart of what ministry should be. Faith laying over the world. The secular and the sacred merged. This is what I try to spend my life doing as a pastor. What does it look like? Where can you see an example? No doubt about it, in terms of fulfilling this merger of faith and work, Bob Buford may be the single most significant man in the past 30 years to see this come about.
He focused on getting pastors together to discuss their issues and improve their ministries. He’s touched the “temple of God” all over America. But, his greatest legacy will not be that--it will be that he redefined how “half-timers” use their lives for ministry in work. The whole “marketplace ministries” concept has been driven from him.
Yet, there are others, as well, who have been out on the front lines also doing significant things. Bill Pollard, who just wrote Serving Two Masters, a new book on what to do with profits. Kent Humphreys, an author and a ministry for businessmen. Brett Johnson is doing it globally. Graham Power has done some awesome stuff in South Africa. Books are starting to emerge on this all over the place. My own book, Transformation, has been read by many businessmen and many of them have contacted me on how to engage the world. I could list at least a dozen others off the top of my head that I know personally.
Preachers, missionaries, and other “religious” workers are trying to get in the game. They shouldn’t. As a pastor, our game is to equip and raise up people to use their “marketplace” skills to be raised up to play in the game that God has placed …
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MOVEMENTS BY COMPANIES
Let’s just dream for a minute! Pretend we have an unlimited supply of money and 1,000 of the most gifted preachers, organizational guru’s, and team builder’s all built into one. Let’s start 1,000 churches over the next ten years where each one will grow to at least 2,000!!!!! Those churches would change America overnight! WRONG — WE JUST DID THAT!!!!! In the past ten years, that very thing has happened and yet there are numerically less people in church than ten years ago.
I pastor a “mega-church ” and I believe in “church-multiplication ” so it may sound wrong to you that I would say that shouldn’t be our primary strategy — but it shouldn’t. We’re building a new 2,000 seat auditorium, have a large staff, and do a lot of the things that come with a mega-church. But, we must be clear, there has never been a church planting movement begun and sustained and replicated by mega-churches! I still believe in mega-churches — I believe in all churches and each one has a critical role. I believe mega-churches can produce mega-churches AND smaller churches that give scale, leverage, and resources to movements — not that it happens often here in the West as much as in the East.
The question is do we want to start a lot of churches or do we want to get into multiplication and perhaps a movement? We know the answer — multiplication and movement.
Army designations of size are as follows:
Soldier — basic unit
Squad — 9-10 for specific missions and fire power
Platoon — 16—44
Company - 62-190
Battalion — 300-1,000
Brigade — 3,000-5,000
Division — 10,000-15,000
Corps — 20,000-45,000
Army — 50,000+
The real work and effectiveness of the army comes in squads, platoons, and companies, this is how each other division is broke down in order to accomplish.
There will be no multiplication movement without a strategy that can produce churches at the smallest unit size possible. If the focus on church planting is only planting mega-churches then we dramatically limit who can be involved and who can plant. We wind up with a pool of 1200 churches to start a movement. HOWEVER, if we focus on units of …
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Movements & Multiplication--Two Different Things, or Related?
Been thinking a lot--why are cell churches here in the U.S. and cell churches overseas so different. I think I have a possible answer. When faith first comes to a previously unreached area, it engages society first through normal means of society, i.e., work, art, science . . . An initial group of people find faith and it begins to spread. Everything is new. It begins to multiply and then it turns into a church--initially cell, usually. A movement is underway now. Hopefully, it becomes a massive movement. Then, churches grow, buildings are built, the institution comes (which isn’t all bad). At first, multiplication continues, but then slows to starting—and, then, very few churches are started and you wind up with a big old dying--at least decaying--institution.
Picture the process like this with one thing moving to the next:
Gospel->Society->Evangelism->Movement->Multiplication->
Established Churches->Church Starting->Institution->Starting a Church->Decay
It is out of a “decaying institution” that many people in the U.S, not all, start a house church. A movement church historically is made up of new believers that are closer to the DNA of the original church--thus more powerful. No one is gripping about what was--it’s what is. Our U.S. house churches are generally led by people fed up with the traditional church or building church. Thus, two different reasons for house church makes all the difference in the world why one is effective and one is not. One says “I can’t get enough of this.” The other says, “I’ve had enough of that!” Two motivations and two results.
Question. Is there any movement that spreads to a people group that’s been repeated? I can’t think of or find one. I can find instances of revival or movements within existing movements, i.e. Campus Crusade for Christ or Azusa Street Revival and the Charismatic revolution.
What if God uses movements for initial aggressive penetration into a nation and after the seed is planted--it’s then multiplication. I’ve been thinking movement here in the U.S. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’s multiplication. Maybe this is a good thing and activity because the reality is no one can make a movement.
Thus, in the U.S. today so many young guys and gals going into the ministry are thinking of tying into church plants. What if this desire is God’s awakening of …
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Darfur
Today, along with Rob Bell, Bill Hybels, Jim Wallis and a lot of other people, I signed a document that will run in newspapers across the US to encourage action/pressure to improve the situation in Darfur Sudan. This is “kingdom” stuff. Know what’s going on. 
Darfur Backgrounder and Policy Points
Courtesy of the Save Darfur Coalition
October 16, 2006
Situation in Darfur
According to recent estimates, at least 400,000 people have died in Darfur since the genocide began in February of 2003. It is impossible to know what the final number will be, however, as the genocide is still taking place today. What is known is that there are approximately 3.5 million men, women and children in the western Darfur region of Sudan trying to survive the Sudanese government-sponsored campaign of violence and forced starvation. These innocent victims are essentially on life support, their continued existence dependent on U.S. and international humanitarian aid and the presence of African Union peacekeepers. Despite the best efforts of the under-funded and under-manned African Union peacekeeping force, attacks have increased in recent months, leading to tens of thousands of new arrivals at refugee camps in Darfur and across the border in Chad.
This situation has been seriously exacerbated by the Government of Sudan’s military offensive in Darfur, initiated in late August, which has displaced thousand of additional Darfurians and will likely cost thousands of additional lives. Given this new offensive, civilians are looking at an ever more precarious future, one in which dependency on international aid is likely to rise. Violence is already visibly increasing. The International Rescue Committee reported a dramatic increase in systematic rape earlier this summer, and more humanitarian aid workers were killed in July of this year than had been killed in the previous three years combined.
This increase in violence has put the humanitarian life-support system on life-support itself, and the nightmare scenario of a complete security collapse and the spike in death-rate that will surely follow now appears to be not a possibility, but a probability. UN official Jan Egland has previously said that he believes the death-rate could rise as high as 100,000 per month if security collapses. The situation in Darfur may soon test that theory.
International Action …
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Reasons Why Faith Spreads
Alan Hirsch and I have been hanging out this weekend and have talked, debated, evaluated and had a blast the past 3 days. Last night, we were talking about movements. Why did movements in the early church grow like they did? Why has China, and now parts of India, exploded like it has? This isn’t meant to be comprehensive at all, but, as we talked, three things really stand out in my mind.
First, everywhere these movements spread, they were generally more communally based societies. When the head of the household came to faith, so did everyone else. Ho Chi Minh was right when he told Stalin Communism would work better in Asia than Europe because of the communal element and the power of ideas.
Second, Christianity was new. This meant that it didn’t have centuries of history, Ecclesiology, denominations, and personalities to pollute it like we have had. Thus, the DNA of the church was stronger and more viral allowing it to take hold and spread. In short, it was powerful when applied.
Maybe a third, and this one would really needs to be researched, it’s more sociological in nature. Since the beginning of time, man has felt this sense of wanting to be and do significant things. How could he do that in the first few millennia? He could only be in government. When Christianity spills out of the Jewish confines into a broader Gentile context, it gives humanity a chance to love, serve, give, and count all the things that really matter. No other religion or government prior to that point allowed that. Could this be why, as Rodney Stark writes in The Rise of Christianity, faith spread from a few thousand to millions by its second century? The first example of a classless society was Acts--that’s pretty radical, more than today, given the time, context, and everything else.
Maybe a fourth--one other thing that has really struck me. I’ve always said we start with planting the seed of the Gospel in society and then the church emerges. Alan’s formula is: Christology + Missiology = Ecclesiology. That’s what I’ve said--Alan just said it better and more complete. I have been stunned, visiting with some Ph.D. missiologists in our church, that many people, missiologist, and theologians start with Ecclesiology first!!! No wonder there are no movements in the West!
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Lessons From Carey
This is a post Bill Wilkie put on the Sept. 29 blog. It’s so accurate:
If we are going back to the beginning, where does the “Original Commission” fit in from Genesis 1 to ‘...multiple, fill, subdue and rule?’ If mankind’s original purpose was never withdrawn but actually work, does that make this type of work holy? Does the Great Commission then become the complement rather than the only driving force? Is discipling a nation as the end as important as discipling an individual?
Disciple a nation-create new institutions with appropriate values, policies, practices and structures.
This merits a holotabloggin!!!!!
This kind of “engagement” is very significant and requires long-term perspectives and work--the only kind that really makes any difference, at all. It also merits what we do in terms of societal engagement. Vishal Mangalwadi in his Legacy of William Carey gives him as a model that transformed a culture. He wasn’t your come hear my sermon on Sunday kind of a missionary. His was not just “go preach” but “go engage,” his entire life said that.
One of his “elders” Ryle made that famous comment about if God wants the heathen saved, he will save them he doesn’t need Carey. Ryle was right about who does the saving. This relieves me of much guilt that I don’t need to “save” anyone! I grew up with the fear that I was populating Hell faster than I could populate Heaven because how could I witness to everyone and where did my responsibility start and stop. Ryle was wrong about how God does it. God expects us to be right in the middle of the process--flawed as we are--broken as we must be--using us as the instruments. Don’t forget, Carey was also just as reformed as Ryle in his theology. The question was not what is “reformed” but what was the effect and impact of “reformed” theology upon the world. Carey’s biggest lesson initially to the church was “go.” It could be the most important lesson of Carey is coming today in terms of “what” meaning how he engaged society. Carey was the first social gospel evangelist, or, as I would say kingdom gospel engager!
Interns & Leadership
Had a blast last night with all of our interns. We had 15 young couples of every denomination, background, and race. From 20’s to 40’s, representing the countries of Korea, Mexico, Liberia, the US, and East Texas! Every model was discussed by all of them. These guys are the “cream of the crop” and I’m super grateful to be associated with them. We ate barbecue and then they asked Nikki and me lots of questions--some really good questions. We focused on family a lot and ministry some.
One question was how my leadership had changed over the years:
Level 1: Leadership by friendship--since you’re my friend help me.
Level 2: Leadership by systems--at 300, too many people to know everyone well--so mastering infrastructure crucial.
Level 3: Leadership by leaders--reproducing yourself and pouring into a few guys.
Level 4: Leadership by vision--though this is present at every level, this is your primary opus operandi, and is driven through relationships and systems.
Level 5: Leadership by leverage--something I’m just now beginning to understand. Pulling key influencers together to sharpen and focus one another’s energies to do something bigger than they could normally do alone, albeit something good. I’m learning the “truly greats” operate like this a lot. This is how they’ve done their greatest work and what they live for. I think this is the level 5 leadership that Collins writes about. It’s movement from the self-centered self-serving “me” to the other-centered other-serving “we.”
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