GlocalNet

On more than one occasion, I’ve found myself in a group of meg-church pastors who make a statement like this. “We need to partner to start some significant churches--we don’t need to waste our time on these little churches of a hundred or two hundred--but to really start a thriving large church.” They don’t get it! I try to educate them, but, more often than not, to no avail. When they make a statement like that they miss two things. First, they don’t know their history. Where faith has exploded, it has never been because of the multiplication of mega-churches, but of smaller churches from 50 to 200. This happened in the early church, Europe, American history, and now it is happening in Asia. Nothing wrong with a mega-church if that’s what God has for a church. NorthWood is a mega-church, BUT to not know history is to make some major mistakes. Second, they don’t understand the nature of movements. Movements are personal and viral. Where movements have emerged, it hasn’t been because of the large, but because of the small. There is a difference between a fad and a movement. A fad is a short-lived growth spurt based on mass hype and enthusiasm. A movement is a long-term growing tsunami gathering every drop of water that will change the landscape of everyone and thing it touches.

So . . . I’m at a conference called Faith Forward at the Crystal Cathedral and I meet this young pastor David Phillips. His church isn’t a hundred and he walks up to me and begins talking and tells me what his church has already planted and how many they are planning to plant every year. HE’S THE SECOND GUY I’VE MET WHO IS AT A SMALLER CHURCH THAT HAS MADE CHURCH MULTIPLICATION A PRIMARY FOCUS! NorthWood started planting when we had 300, and, at the time, I thought we were too small. Mark Harris is a pastor in Tucson, Arizona. His church runs around 150 and has planted 18 other churches that when their total is combined represents around 4,000 people.

I want to see churches multiplied so badly, but for that to happen, it can’t be just the larger or mega-churches, but the smallest units multiplying. When we do that, we just may have movement.