For the first time ever, Outreach Magazine has produced a list of 100 Reproducing Churches. Why? The future isn’t just in growth, it’s in multiplication if the church is going to thrive.
J.D. Greear, Lead Pastor of the Summit Church—a multiplying church— and President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Todd Wilson, President and CEO of Exponential, talk about the five levels of churches, and why reproducing churches are the future. Fortunately, they also explain how even a plateaued or declining church can think about reproducing in a healthy way by taking the Church Multiplication Challenge.
The Church Multiplication Challenge is a call to action to embrace a new scorecard of healthy reproduction. The Challenge gives any church a simple, 3 step process for endorsing a declaration of multiplication, discovering how that relates to their current context, and sharing their commitment with others. Find out more at ReproducingChurches.org
Welcome to Episode 287 of the podcast. Listen and access the show notes below or search for the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and listen for free.
Guest Links
Instagram | Twitter | Summit Church | Gospel Above All
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | ReproducingChurches.org | Exponential.org
The Church Multiplication Challenge | Outreach Magazine | Outreach 100
Episode Links
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CNLP 111: How to Find Your True Calling – An Interview with Exponential’s Todd Wilson
Leadership and Self Deception by The Arbinger Institute
How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins
Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp
The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb by Kyle Strobel
3 Insights from J.D. & Todd
1. Multiplication needs to be a part of a church’s DNA from the beginning
A lot of churches get into this idea of, “Well, we’re not healthy enough to plant, we need to wait until we have 500 or 1000 people before we are ready to plant another church.” The problem with this is that once you go to that size, multiplication is not even part of your DNA anymore. A multiplication mindset takes a long time to build into a church’s DNA. If you can, build it in on day one.
So what do you do if your church is already growing and you want to become a multiplication-focused church? For multiplication to truly become a part of your church’s DNA, it’s got to be a discussion you have early and often. If you want to become a multiplication church, start ingraining it into your key leaders today, and making small contributions to other church plants in your area.
2. Multiplication creates an abundance mentality and culture
As a pastor, one of the biggest enemies to your church’s multiplication will likely be your own desire to keep your best leaders at your original location. We need to fight this. When we are looking at the people we are losing we are feeding a scarcity mindset. This scarcity mindset will do more harm than good but will be masked as “good stewardship.”
A much more effective mindset to have is a multiplication mindset that says “we have been given much, so we will give much away”. A multiplication mindset trusts God to continue to provide the resources needed to accomplish what he has called you to accomplish. This mindset extends beyond just people, it also affects how you distribute resources like finances and staff time.
3. You don’t need to be a growing church to be multiplying
As Todd looks back at the church that he grew up in, he can count nearly 300 churches that have been planted from that church. Want to know the shocking part? That original church had less than 150 members. Todd uses this as evidence to show that you don’t need to be a massive, growing megachurch to be a multiplying church.
The mindset that a small church needs to have if they want to be multiplying is a mindset that is more focused on who they are sending out to reach new communities rather than what they are building or accumulating. There is a wave of small churches doing this. Maybe your church needs to join them.
Quotes from Episode 287
Fame is making yourself accessible to a bunch of people you don't really care about, at the expense of those few that you do. @jdgreear Click To Tweet Church planters are like teenagers, all they want is your money, and your affirmation, and then for you to leave them alone. @jdgreear Click To Tweet If you can get 16% of the population behaving a certain way, it becomes the new normal. @toddwilson Click To Tweet Programs consume resources. They don't reproduce, only people reproduce. @toddwilson Click To Tweet The next 30 to 40 years are the reproducing church movement. @toddwilson Click To TweetRead or Download the Transcript for Episode 287
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Next Episode: David Kinnaman
David Kinnaman, President of the Barna Group, busts some persistent myths about people and culture too many leaders still believe. He also shares findings from his surveys of over 100,000 young adults, what they believe, what bothers them, and how a surprising number still have strong faith, despite what you read about the next generation. Plus, David and Carey test some assumptions about where culture is headed in the future.
Subscribe for free now and you won’t miss Episode 288.
