Part One - Multiplanting and the Big Church Dream
In Matthew 15 Jesus saw great ministry success only to then leave the town and go somewhere else. Colin says:
"In Many churches today there is a Capernaum mindset. We (rightly) celebrate the good things that God is doing in our areas, and we dream, strategise and pray about how we can maximise these things. But in doing so, the danger is that we miss the bigger opportunity that is before us."
On Matthew 9 (harvest is plentiful...):
What can we do when the need is so great and our capacity to reach those people barely scratches the surface of what is required? Jesus responded by doing two things: He asked for prayer about the situation, and he multiplied his pioneering ministry.
Again:
Prayer is vital. But prayer is not the only thing that Jesus did.
Colin says of Jesus' strategy:
Even though many people had been healed, fed, taught and delivered from demons under Jesus' own ministry, there were so many more to get to that Jesus split his twelve apostles into pairs and sent them out to do the ministry that he had been doing.
He went from: one to six to 36 (sending of 72).
Jesus' strategy in his ministry was a simple one: He wanted to get the good news to all the villages of Israel, and he knew that to do this he would need to go to them... Staying in one place and hoping the impact would spread to the edges wasn't enough.
On the Great Commission:
The commission was never just to build a big church but to make disciples of the nations, and by the time we reach Antioch in Acts 11, this was starting to take place.
The call to reach a region really ought to be part of the DNA of every church, and I constantly find myself both challenged and inspired by the scope of the apostolic vision.
On clarity of vision and mission:
The word 'division' literally means two visions, and Jesus himself taught that a house divided against itself cannot stand.
The problem is that:
for many churches, multiplication is an afterthought...
Chapter 4: How to start new sites
There is a diagram of a baseball diamond that features the four stages:
1) Talk it up
2) Midweek meeting
3) Sunday Meeting
4) Established
It also has a section 'Ready to bat' for new and emerging leaders and believers hungry to go.
Stage 1:
What we are trying to do through this is to unearth a few people who feel stirred by God that this is for them.
and then:
We are looking to get to the point where we have four or five people who are interested in trying to make something happen in that particular community.
Stage 2:
I find somebody who is organised enough to pull together a meeting each week and hospitable enough to create a fun atmosphere, and ask them to make the midweek group happen. They are a bridgehead for us into the community, but this doesn't necessarily mean they will be asked to lead the site as it moves into the next stages.
Stage 3:
We draft in reinforcements from other sites.
We know that in the early days people are unlikely to be attracted to a new plant because of spectacular Sunday worship services, but we do want everyone who walks through the door to experience teaching that they can connect with and worship that helps them engage with God. Alongside this we put a very high premium on hospitality and community. When there is just a small number, people have the opportunity to help newcomers feel like part of the community very quickly, and this is one of the biggest assets of a church at this stage.
PUTTING IT INTO PRACTISE:
Without vision it is impossible to advance. This vision can come from many places, but it is cultivated above all through prayer and intimacy with the Father.
Question:
How big is your vision? Do you have dreams beyond your own church of reaching the region in which you are based? What are you doing to turn those dreams into reality?
Part Two: Multiplanting Culture
Culture is about the way things are done right now, and every church has a culture, whether it has been deliberately crafted or not.
Leaders: you are the visual aid that will reinforce the culture that you are building.
Their seven cultures are:
1. A Second Chance Culture: Being quick to apologise and quick to forgive.
I have often thought about the topic of second chance and maturity in relation to Jesus' disciples. It seems like they were more 'mature' on the day they first heard Jesus' call and dropped their nets to follow than they were after three years with him when they returned to their nets out of fear, despondency and disappointment.
Great quote:
Maturity is forged on the front lines of the battle, ad so we must resist the temptation to make maturity a prerequisite for ministry.
Colin says that they regularly say:
We have both a 'very high bar' and a 'very low bar'. The high bar is aspirational and describes the standard that we hold out for discipleship. We are wholehearted in pursuit of God and don't want to settle for compromise in our walks with him. As we look to work with believers, we recognise there are always new steps that we can take in our faith journeys and we urge and support everyone to a very high standard of love, faith and devotion. At the same time we have a very low bar of getting started. We want to create opportunities for people to do meaningful things, even when their lives are still messy (we take our cue here from the opportunities that Jesus gave to the twelve). We believe that it is through these opportunities that people will begin to learn, grow and move towards the high bar.
2. A Have A Go Culture
Because we know that God has made promises for the future, we are willing to step out and try things in the present that might work and might not, knowing that ultimately, by his power, the promises will be fulfilled.
On Jonathan and Armour Bearer:
There are few things that drain faith from the people of God quicker than inertia, particularly when it seems like even the leaders have no compelling faith or narrative of what God is doing.
When nothing is happening in your church, sometimes all that is needed to break the blockage is just to do something. Especially when that something is full of faith.
On the apostles' approach:
Guided by the general instruction to make disciples to the ends of the earth, they seemed very ready to take a shot at whatever opportunities came their way, knowing that sometimes it would work well, and other times less so.
Part of the reason that our churches can get stuck today is our tendency to wait for too much certainty before we are willing to acts. We often look for multiple prophetic words from distinct and reliable sources, coupled with a strategic plan and set of resources that can handle any eventuality. Prophetic words and strategic plans are good but there is also a place sometimes for just stepping out in faith with one or two others, having a go at something and seeing if God is in it as you go.
Keep the risks low whilst the potential gains remain high.
On the armour bearer and Jonathan going up to the Philistines:
The so-called adventure with God at this stage amounted to little more than scrambling up a hill on all fours. It wasn't easy and it wasn't glamorous. Stepping out with God rarely is.
3. A Think the Best Culture
Don't write people off before they start...
Sadly, this is exactly the premise from which many church leaders begin. I can think of lots of conversations that I have had with leaders who can find a reason why pretty much everybody they can think of shouldn't take on responsibility.
Andrew Carnegie was an American businessman famous for developing people. How did he do it? He said:
Men are developed the same way gold is mined. Several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold... but you don't go into a mine looking for dirt, you go looking for gold. That's exactly they way to develop positive people. Look for the gold, not the dirt; the good, not the bad. The more positive qualities you look for, the more you are going to find.
The bottom line is that whichever of these we look for, we will find.
Honouring others and treating people with honour sits right at the heart of the Think the Best Culture.
One of my elders who is based in a poorer part of town, recently invited a couple of new guys to the church to join him for a McDonalds after the service, and they were visibly very moved to be invited - they went on to tell him that nobody had ever invited them for food before.
It comes down to treating people, like people.
Great John Maxwell quote:
Anyone can see people as they are. It takes a leader to see what they can become, encourage them to grow in that direction, and believe that they will do it. People always grow towards a leader's expectations.
How can anyone think the best of someone when their default is to assume the worst?
A Generous Culture
A Forward Looking Culture
A Wholehearted Culture
A Good Food Culture
