Churches that Multiply
Thanks to Steve Addision for the post “Churches that Multiply”, as well as the link to the PDF, from
Outreach magazine, “Features,” July/August 2007.
What stuck me was the common Value of “sacrificial giving”
“Sacrifice and money does not intimidate multiplying churches. Staff salaries and other valuable resources are freely given in order for new churches to more e!ectively impact their communities. “
I’m not actually sure that I’ve seen this in Australian Churches. I have seen churches that push out the plants but not with the resources or backing that they really need. I’ve come to the conclusion of late that Churches that are planted via a “Church growth” model are probably doomed to failure if under resourced. Yet there are other models out there that don’t need such resources.
I think that good missional models don’t actually need a lot of money; they do probably need good discipling. The Hirsch model = Christology=>missiolgy=>ecclesiology, (How you view Christ, will change how you do mission will shape how you do church) makes a lot of sense and escapes the church growth models. It is basically organic in nature and if true to form can have the result of multiplication. (I also think that the Hirsch model can be adapted for the mega church) Anyway there is more of a post on this coming up….
one of the questions i have asked friends lately that has been responded to with silence is:
ok, it is much easier for a church-plant to take a missional model, but what if your church has been established along the lines (sucessfully or not) of the church growth model and you feel to move to the missional model…how can you with wisdom and health move into missional with blowing-up the church?
Hi Steve, thanks for the comment.
I do think it is possible to transition an existing church. I’ve just heard my mate Duncan who helped a large 1800+ AOG achieve such a feat.
Some aspects in that change included
-affirming the past. What things are non-negotiable in the change.
-look and change key indicators of success eg instead of bums on seat every member having two non-Christians friends in an ongoing relationship
-Decrease the number of programs (eg alpha, help groups) run by specialist/event managers. To more discipleship/mentoring run by facilitators.
-A lot of teaching/preaching on mission and what this looks like for the average believer in the context of a large church.
-Celebrating the average person in there own context, the mechanic, the nurse, the secretary etc in there own mission field.
This is a pretty slimmed down overview.
Forge has a transition stream as well but it is mainly for mainstream churches. Not churches that were planted in the ‘Church growth’ phase.
I had Duncan speak at a Forge event but I forgot to record it! I plan to get him back just to speak to our church about on the topic so hopefully I will remember to record it. (I think Ranges is already pretty missional but its always good to be reminded)