I'm meeting with fellow church planters in our 2020 network every other Tuesday. It's a time when we share the victories and the defeats of church planting in New England. It's a great group of guys that are committed to reestablishing a beachhead for the Gospel in a hard to reach place. This semester we are reading a book called Master Plan for Evangelism by Robert Coleman. It's an older book but contains some of the basics of how Jesus changed the world with a small band of committed followers - perfect for the Pioneer Valley.
The idea in the Selection chapter (ch 1) is that Jesus didn't spend a lot of time with a massive amount of people. He selected a few. Those few were the 12 disciples and within that group, He even chose 3 (Peter, James and John) with whom He spent even more concentrated time. Why did he do that?
He did it because he wanted to start a movement and not an organization. Organizations grow by addition (adding new people to the group and then maintaining). Movements grow by Multiplication (training people who will train others who will train others). It is so easy to fall into "addition" thinking as a pastor because you love to see those numbers grow in your services, small groups, events, whatever.
When you are in the beginning of your church plant, it is easy to focus on a few because you only have a few and you need that few to produce some numerical growth to justify your existence. After you've reached a certain critical mass, it is so natural to shift into addition thinking because numerical growth feels really good for you and for your church and there are some things you can put time and energy and money into to boost those numbers. A little time spent on a lot of people = addition to your church.
I know that we've (MERCYhouse) fallen into an addition paradigm more than a few times over the years and as we stumble into our 12th year as a church I find it continues to be as challenging as ever. So as a pastor, but also as one who really wants to see a movement in this valley, I have to ask myself, "Am I focusing on a few?" Who are my 12? Who are my 3? If I'm not, to begin to pray for who God desires for me to focus my time on.
As a church planting church, one must not weary of this process. You are constantly sending out those who are devoted and trained. One, because these kinds of leaders are needed in a church planting core and Two, because these kinds of leaders are going to gravitate toward a church planting vision. So it is a necessity that you be raising up twice the leadership as a non planting church - enough to send out the door to plant new churches and continue in the ministry of the mother church.
I underestimated the need for this and realize this in the wake of 2 church plants in 2 years. Disciplemaking is the call of every church but is the lifeblood of the church planting church. In the past, I've simply prayed and then initiated with the few that God led me to, or just invested in whoever was at the top of the church org chart. This year I'm trying something a little different. I'm certainly still praying and investing in church leaders, but I'm also leading what I'm calling a bootcamp. It's a group of guys that I meet with on Sunday afternoons. There is homework and accountability and the group environment has a bit more intensity (fines for missing and not being prepared . . .). It's something I experienced with my own mentor long ago as a college student. My hope is that in this environment, I'll be able to encourage all in their walk with Christ, but also see who those are who are movement makers. Devoted and trained and ready to lead others in the same direction.
