By NewChurches.com: In Episode 597 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Ed explore new, creative, and imaginative ways to handle issues surrounding church planting.

“What are some new, creative, and imaginative ways denominations and networks are planting churches?”

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

Different ways church planters are creating churches in 2021
If a stronger focus on disciple making and micro church approaches will be the new norm

 Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“Many networks tend to have a looser ecclesiology, they are get it done people.” – @edstetzer
“We are making a list of the ways churches are combining facilities.” – @edstetzer
“Our number one big opportunity was online.” – @edstetzer
“The idea of packing a bunch of people in an exciting room for a worship service didn’t resonate with a lot of people in 2020 and early 2021, so I think that helped push people toward more missional approaches.” – @edstetzer
“Launch large, up until COVID, had been increasing. And then when COVID hit, all these churches had to pivot.” – @danielsangi
“Many churches during the pandemic launched online.” – @danielsangi
“People revert to the norm. The most likely predictor of future behavior is past behavior.” – @edstetzer
“Other cultural issues would have in my view longer term, bigger impacts on missiological strategy assuming the pandemic is a two year experience.” – @edstetzer

Help us Multiply the Mission:

Please subscribe
Leave a rating and review on iTunes
Ask a question by clicking Send Voicemail on the right hand side of NewChurches.com
If you’re on a phone or a tablet, then go to www.speakpipe.com/newchurches to download the app and record your message
When you’re recording, introduce yourself and your context in about 15 seconds and then record your question for 30 seconds

This Episode’s Sponsor:

No matter how many people you have on staff at your church, there’s only so much you can accomplish in a day, right? Your church exists to serve your community, so the mission of your church and its staff is to reach as many people as you can.

So BELAY, the innovative staffing solution with over 10 years of experience serving churches with virtual assistants, bookkeepers and social media strategists, is offering a free download of their resource, ‘Church Leaders: Essential Strategies to Unleash Productivity.’

Let BELAY help your church live its mission in your community by helping you juggle less and accomplish more. Visit belaysolutions.com/lifeway for your free download.

The post Episode 597: New, Creative, and Imaginative Ways to Plant Churches, part 1 appeared first on NewChurches.com – Church Planting, Multisite, and Multiplication.

Source: Episode 597: New, Creative, and Imaginative Ways to Plant Churches, part 1

The post Episode 597: New, Creative, and Imaginative Ways to Plant Churches, part 1 appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By TheChurch.Digital: Pre-COVID, very few churches were doing groups online. Now as a result of social distancing, churches had to onboard their groups very quickly to digital methods. Interestingly though, as we’re coming out of the COVID and getting back to the building, some churches report up to 90% of their groups are staying online.

So, since our groups are staying Phygital, let’s talk about how to give our groups purpose. In a recent webinar I (Jeff) did with Gloo we talked specifically about strategies to get our groups on mission… multiplying…

So many challenges for 2021’s church. So many opportunities for ministry not of large masses, but of smaller individuals. This is the heart behind this conversation to get our Phygital Groups to Multiply.

If you’re enjoying this episode, subscribe for free using your favorite podcast app below:

Apple Podcasts | RSS Feed | Anchor | Overcast | Spotify | Pocket Casts | Google Play

ON THE SHOW

Source: PODCAST 119: Phygital Groups that Multiply

The post PODCAST 119: Phygital Groups that Multiply appeared first on Passion for Planting.

This is a post written by Rich Birch. Rich is the founder of Unseminary and is a member of my Speaking Team. You can book Rich to consult with your team or speak at your next event here.

By Rich Birch

If you’re not familiar with YouTube culture, you might not have heard of MrBeast.

Jimmy Donaldson (aka MrBeast) is the top content creator on the platform for 2020, and he’s super engaging. Over the years, he’s produced some amazingly creative content that has earned him over 54 million subscribers and all kinds of awards. He struck viral gold in January 2017 when he posted a video of himself counting to 100,000 that was viewed tens of thousands of times in just a few days. That might seem like a strange start, but it gained him a lot of notoriety and launched him into the stratosphere of YouTubers.

In December 2020, MrBeast launched MrBeast Burger, a restaurant chain with 300 locations, and he did it all in one day. To put that in context, his restaurant chain is similar in size to Shake Shack, Smashburger, or In-N-Out Burger. However, those burger chains took years to achieve the size and clout that MrBeast Burger accomplished in a single day.

The unique spin that MrBeast brings to the burger business is that his 300 locations are completely virtual. The food is prepared by existing restaurants, ordered online, and delivered by third-party delivery services. MrBeast launched a MrBeast Burger app that provides relatively seamless ordering, payment, and delivery options. This is an astonishing achievement for any organization, and it provides all kinds of lessons for your church and my church as we think about what comes next in the life of our communities.

Obviously, MrBeast, being a YouTuber, launched his new burger restaurant with an amazing video. Jimmy and his team rented an actual restaurant for just a single day and gave away burgers, fries, and drinks. They gave away more than just their new, delectable food, however. On opening day, they gave away cash, computers, and even a car! This launch video has become a viral hit, and it is well worth your time to watch it and get a sense of the enormous scale of what MrBeast is doing. 

On launch day, the line of cars trying to get to the restaurant was 20 miles long. In fact, the line was so long that police eventually had to close down the restaurant because of all of the traffic problems it was creating in this North Carolina town.

MrBeast Burger is more than just an interesting fad or a YouTube story that came and went. It provides some lessons for our churches as we look to the future and think about the development of our ministries. Here are six lessons from the launch of MrBeast Burger that you can apply to your church.

Online and In Person // Leveraging the Best of The One to Make the Other Better!

It’s fascinating to watch these online celebrities and digital businesses push into the in-person world.

MrBeast Burger represents an interesting hybrid because it is clearly an online digital platform but it delivers an actual in-person experience.

Although I’m excited about all the digital innovation that’s happened over the last year or so, as we look to the future, we also need to consider how our in-person experience is going to be impacted by all that we’ve been learning online.

Rather than trapping ourselves in a false dichotomy of online versus in-person, how can we recognize the hybrid nature of our experiences? We obviously don’t live in a purely online world, and our offline world is increasingly injected with digitally connected technology. How can we find a unique combination of the two that acknowledges the world we live in?

I’m struck by Peloton when I think about this question. Earlier this year, Peloton commented in an investor call that, even though they’ve seen such strong sales online due to the pandemic, they have continued to be committed to their in-person locations. [ref] They recognize that the need to connect in person is not going away any time soon.

Rather than trapping ourselves in a false dichotomy of online versus in-person, how can we recognize the hybrid nature of our experiences? – @richbirchClick To Tweet

Audience Building // Who is Following Along With Your Church’s Story?

MrBeast didn’t spend any money on Facebook ads, direct mail, or any other paid media. Think about that for a minute. It’s astonishing, really.

He turned his sizeable audiences on to his concept, and it launched rapidly. This is an important lesson for our churches. Audience building is core to MrBeast Burger’s business. In their case, that means building YouTube subscribers, Instagram followers, and an email list that they can reconnect with over time to keep drawing fans into their business. Even the decision to launch their own app rather than rely on third-party delivery apps indicates their interest in connecting and communicating with their audience.

Our churches need to be thinking about the ever-increasing audience around our ministries.

Years ago, Rick Warren explained that churches have five “circles of commitment”—community, crowd, congregation, committed, and core. As church leaders, we are aiming to move people from the community to the core. However, there is a larger halo of people outside of the “community” that we need to build strategies to stay connected with. These are people who are aware of us but maybe attended only a service or two in the last year. Or maybe they downloaded content that they found helpful from the church’s website.

How can we capture this group of people’s contact information so that we can keep them connected over time and eventually move them closer and closer to our ministries?

Audience building needs to be part of our strategy as we look into the future. Effective ministries have always made space for people to belong to the community first without requiring them to behave in a certain way. Audience building allows us to do that at scale—to have a wide variety of people in the general orbit of our ministry who we hope will eventually connect in a more substantial way.

Effective ministries have always made space for people to belong to the community first without requiring them to behave in a certain way. – @richbirchClick To Tweet

Partnership Potentials // Working Together For a Better Future.

It’s fascinating to me that a YouTuber struck up relationships with hundreds of restaurants all across the country to make his food and that third-party companies he’s never met will deliver for him. Talk about effective partnership building!

A partnering restaurant might be a local Italian place or a hometown burger joint. MrBeast Burger is focusing their efforts on marketing while relying on third-party organizations to ultimately deliver the food, meaning online delivery services cover the last mile to connect the restaurant and its customers.

It’s a fairly seamless experience that creates all kinds of value along the chain. Restaurants all across the country have seen a boost in business because of their connection with MrBeast Burger.

In the future, there may be new opportunities for us to work together as churches across the country in a similar way.

We’ve often drawn strong lines between our churches. However, one thing that we’ve seen pretty clearly during COVID is that churchgoers don’t necessarily hold to those lines. A person may attend Sunday morning services at one church, engage in weekly Bible study at another, listen to worship music from a third, and maybe even reach out to a fourth for some other kind of assistance.

As we look to the future, can we dream up creative new approaches to partnership that will ultimately propel our ministries forward, reach more people, and connect them with the teachings of Jesus?

As we look to the future, can we dream up creative new approaches to partnership that will ultimately propel our ministries forward, reach more people, and connect them with the teachings of Jesus? – @richbirchClick To Tweet

Authenticity Keeps Winning // Is There a Higher Cultural Value Than Excellence?

If you don’t normally spend time on YouTube or engage with vloggers, you might be slightly put off by how much authenticity these personalities exhibit.

So much of this content is behind the scenes and isn’t pretty or polished. This authenticity draws the community in even more. People want to engage when they see folks who are doing something online that is real and maybe just a little bit gritty.

This was exhibited in the early days of MrBeast Burger, when there were, understandably, a few complaints about some of the burgers. Rather than hiding behind corporate statements, MrBeast himself took to the airwaves and spoke publicly about the challenges of opening a restaurant chain overnight, committing to improving the warmth of the burgers and the crispiness of the crinkle cut fries.

This has spawned an incredible amount of community content. In response to the complaints, people are now posting videos and photos to show off their freshly delivered burgers and celebrate an amazing meal.

All of this authenticity, ultimately, is more endearing to MrBeast’s fans.

We’ve said it before, and we will definitely say it again. Behind-the-scenes content that draws your community into the production is key when it comes to creating great social media content for your church today. If you’re launching new projects in the weeks and months ahead, how can you show people the process behind the scenes? How can you let them in on what you’re doing?

Don’t hide behind a fake “quality” veneer. Show some authenticity. Let people know what it actually takes to do what you do as a church.

Don’t hide behind a fake “quality” veneer. Show some authenticity. Let people know what it actually takes to do what you do as a church. – @richbirchClick To Tweet

Community Service as a Growth Strategy // They Think It’s a “Good Thing” … We Know It’s a God Thing!

A core part of MrBeast Burger’s offering is a “buy one, give one” strategy.

We’ve seen this with TOMS Shoes and many other brands over the years. The idea is that a portion of sales will actually go to feeding people in the communities where orders are placed. Based on comments online and the way people talk about MrBeast Burger, this is clearly an important part of the appeal of this new restaurant. It doesn’t just make great burgers—it actually helps other people.

Our churches are called to make a difference in the lives of our community. Rather than hiding this away in some committee or as a sub-point on a strategic plan, community service needs to be seen as a part of your growth strategy. Time and again we’ve seen the draw of churches that focus on getting their people out of their seats and into the streets. And obviously, this kind of community service is not just good for your image in the community—it’s a God thing.

Narrow the Focus for a Bigger Impact // Simple Church is Still The Best Path Forward.

Take a look at the MrBeast Burger menu. It has just a few items. In comparison to the McDonald’s around the corner from you, MrBeast Burger has a much narrower focus, and it’s hard at work improving the quality of what it delivers.

This small menu gives them the ability to focus on a few items and do them well.

Remember Simple Church? The idea is that churches should do only a few things and do them well in order to have more impact. Clarity. Movement. Alignment. Focus. Work on those things that move people closer to the mission and strip everything else away.

There was a time when churches would actually brag about how many services or ministries they had. “We have 102 services at our church!” However, we’ve seen all kinds of evidence that simple church is the way for our churches to grow and reach the people in our communities.

One of my fears as we come out of COVID and its impact on our churches with the addition of a robust online ministry is that our churches will become increasingly complex and we will lose this power of being a simple church.

What can we remove from our church today to make us more effective tomorrow?

We need to cut back on things that don’t push the mission forward. What areas of our ministry are not effective? What projects are holding us back and siphoning resources? Now would be a perfect time for us to trim those things away so that we can focus our effort and energy on the aspects of our ministry that push us closer to our mission.

What can we remove from our church today to make us more effective tomorrow? – @richbirchClick To Tweet

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A Framework for Change: Get More People On Board (Free Resource)n

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Yes, there’s a ton of change happening right now. And it’s exhausting. n

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A Framework for Change: Get More People On Board (Free Resource)n

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Looking for more information about MrBeast Burger?

Here are a few links:

The Untold Truth of MrBeast Burger
The North Carolina Kid Who Cracked YouTube’s Secret Code
MrBeast Burger Crashes the Virtual Dining Scene

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the model down below!

The post How to Launch 300 locations in a single day. What MrBeast, YouTube, Ghost Kitchens can teach your church appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: How to Launch 300 locations in a single day. What MrBeast, YouTube, Ghost Kitchens can teach your church

The post How to Launch 300 locations in a single day. What MrBeast, YouTube, Ghost Kitchens can teach your church appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Ken Adams: I remember many years ago learning my multiplication tables. You probably do as well. I started with 1 x 1 and then continued to recite them all the way to 12 x 12. The repetition drove those tables into my mind in such a way that I still know them decades later.

Learning how to make and multiply disciples is also something we need to learn, it doesn’t happen automatically. The best way to learn how to make and multiply disciples is from the Master Disciple Maker. Jesus is the perfect model of what it means to make and multiply disciples. He took twelve unschooled and ordinary men and turned them into world-changers. Jesus led these men to be disciple makers in three years. Let’s identify some of the key steps in Jesus’ approach to disciple making that we need to follow today.

Recruit a group of people to train

There are lots of different ways to state this first step, but at the end of the day, Jesus made and multiplied a movement of disciples because He selected twelve men to come and learn from Him. Jesus spent a majority of His time with the twelve and He used that time to teach and model for them what He wanted them to be and do. In its most basic form, disciple making means identifying a handful of hungry people who are willing to commit to being trained and taught how to be more like Jesus.

Train that group of people to be like Jesus

Jesus calls us to make and multiply disciples who look and act like Him. During the time you commit to training your disciples, be sure you are training them in the character and conduct of Christ. The end goal of disciple making is that those you recruit will become more like Jesus and know how to help others become more like Jesus. Keep it simple. Train your disciples to be like Jesus the same way Jesus did. Spend time with them. Model for them. Teach them. Give them experiences, and then send them out to do the same with others.

Subscribe to the Discipleship.org email list here to get blogs like this delivered to your inbox each week.

Challenge them to reproduce more disciples

People are slow. They need help understanding what the true outcome of disciple making really is. I know this to be true because of how many Christians have actually ever made another disciple. Very few have! Christians are very good at sitting in small groups, filling in blanks, and placing our notebooks on the shelf before finding another small group to join. We are very good at consuming. We are not so good at reproducing. We need to be challenged to make more disciples and held accountable to do so. When you make disciples, don’t stop at the training phase and assume they will reproduce. Go the extra mile and hold them accountable until they repeat the process you did with them with someone else.

Making and multiplying disciples is not complicated. It is more a matter of obedience than anything else. If you study the life of Christ and are willing to make disciples who make disciples, you already have the plan and power to accomplish the task. All you need is the willingness to go and do it.

By Ken Adams

Used by permission. Originally posted here:

The post How Do We Multiply Disciples? appeared first on Discipleship.org.

Source: How Do We Multiply Disciples?

The post How Do We Multiply Disciples? appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By NewChurches.com: In Episode 554 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Todd discuss how the church should multiply in the midst of a culture continuing to grapple with COVID.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

Some of the challenges the church will continue to face in 2021
How you grow in micro-ways and a macro-way

 Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“How in the midst of all of that should we multiply as a church?” – @danielsangi
“Jesus never said to go and make disciples until you have COVID.”  – @danielsangi
“Part of being a disciple is making other disciples.” – @toddadkins
“Perhaps in 2021, your vision for multiplication is actually a downward sort of root-focused based multiplication.” – @danielsangi
“Perhaps you need to grow in depth before you can be sent out and send others out.” – @danielsangi
“What does it look like for you as a church to be on the offense as it relates to multiplying and being a blessing?” – @danielsangi
“Your church is strategically positioned to bring the gospel to that subdivision, to that community through where people live, work, and play.” – @toddadkins

Recommended Resources:

Read Multiplication Today, Movements Tomorrow
Read 1,000 Churches

Help us Multiply the Mission:

Please subscribe
Leave a rating and review on iTunes
Ask a question by clicking Send Voicemail on the right hand side of NewChurches.com
If you’re on a phone or a tablet, then go to www.speakpipe.com/newchurches to download the app and record your message
When you’re recording, introduce yourself and your context in about 15 seconds and then record your question for 30 seconds

The post Episode 554: A 2021 Vision for Multiplication appeared first on NewChurches.com – Church Planting, Multisite, and Multiplication.

Source: Episode 554: A 2021 Vision for Multiplication

The post Episode 554: A 2021 Vision for Multiplication appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Ken Adams: For most of us, if we don’t have a good reason for why we need to do something that will be challenging, we probably won’t do it. Knowing why is essential in most any endeavor, but especially when it comes to multiplying disciples. If we knew and understood why multiplication is so important, we would be committed to making it happen. With that in mind, let me share with you a few of the reasons why multiplication is essential in carrying out the mission of Jesus.

Multiplication is the fastest way to reach the nations

Jesus called us to make disciples of all nations, and that can be done one of two ways. We can make disciples by addition, or we can make disciples by multiplication. Multiplying disciples is by far the fastest way to accomplish the mission Jesus gave us to do. If we make disciples by addition we will never reach all nations simply because addition can never keep up with the exponential growth of the world’s population. Multiplication starts slowly but it picks up steam quickly, so quickly that the world’s population of nearly eight billion people can be reached in a lifetime if every disciple multiplied more disciples.

Multiplication is the smartest way to reach the nations

If you wanted to provide your child with the best education possible, would you choose a classroom with a teacher student ratio of 1 to 100 or 1 to 10? No one would intentionally choose the larger teacher student ratio if that person wanted to give his or her child a quality classroom experience. This is another reason why multiplication is so much smarter than addition. In movements of addition, groups or classes tend to get larger and larger. In movements of multiplication, the goal is to keep multiplying groups of people so that the church is getting larger and smaller at the same time. In Acts 2, the Church in Jerusalem was over three thousand members strong, but those members stayed small by meeting from house to house. That was a very smart way for the Jerusalem Church to grow.

Multiplication is the easiest way to reach the nations: Maybe you have heard someone say, “Work smarter, not harder.” The smarter way to make disciples is also the easiest way to make disciples. Think about your money for a moment. Would simple interest or compound interest be an easier path to building personal wealth? Compound interest is allowing your money to work for you by multiplying it. The same is true for disciple making. Trying to reach the nations by addition is so much harder than reaching the nations by multiplying disciples. For example: if I gave you a penny a day and doubled it every day for thirty days, you would have over $10 million dollars in thirty days. That’s easy money.

I’ve given you three good logical arguments for why you need to multiply disciples, but the real reason we need to multiply disciples is because Jesus told us to. Multiplying disciples is ultimately a matter of obedience to Christ’s commission. You are either making disciples who make more disciples, or you are not.

By Ken Adams

Used by permission. Originally posted here:

The post Why Do We Need Discipleship Multiplication? appeared first on Discipleship.org.

Source: Why Do We Need Discipleship Multiplication?

The post Why Do We Need Discipleship Multiplication? appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Source: What Are Micro Churches?

The post What Are Micro Churches? appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Stan Rodda: Recently I asked disciple makers on Instagram what their #1 struggle in disciple making was. I wanted to know what people on the front lines are wrestling with when it comes to making disciples. One of the first responses I got was about getting to 4th generation disciples.

“I only have one guy right now,” he said. “I’m looking for that next level type of discipleship.”

For those involved in making disciple makers, getting to multiple generations is a huge prayer and goal. We want the Gospel of Jesus to spread to all people. We crave for it to move well beyond us. This is a worthwhile goal and vision because it is one that Paul shares with us in 2 Timothy 2:2…

And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. [HCSB]

At the end of the day there is only one level of discipleship; obedience to King Jesus in all things who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth by God the Father! Focus on that and you will get to reproducing disciples to multiple generations. With that in mind, here are some practical thoughts and ideas to help you get to the next generation of disciple makers.

Press Into Obedience!

Reproducing disciples are born out of obedience to King Jesus. There is no way around it. The more we press into obedience, the more we become like Christ and the more our heart beats in alignment with his. As we seek and desire to see generations of disciples being made in our time, we must never forget the beginning of it is obedience. We must constantly be taking an assessment of how we are doing ourselves in this area.

What areas of your life need to be more fully surrendered in obedience to Jesus?

Is there an area of unconfessed sin?

What is holding you back from doing more of what God asks?

What do I need to repent of and begin to walk in God’s truth?

So much of disciple making can be summed up in modeling the right behaviors. If you aren’t modeling confession and continued obedience, you aren’t going to be able to reproduce that in another disciple. Taken to its logical end; your disciples won’t press into obedience and won’t be able to help others press into obedience either. Once you stop pressing into obedience yourself, you effectively end the possibility of a reproducing movement of disciple makers. As the old adage goes…

You can’t lead anyone else to where you aren’t willing to go!

Be Faithful With the One God Gives You!

Jesus calls this “faithful with little, faithful with much.” When you show yourself to be faithful with the one God has given you, you will naturally receive more. This can often be twisted into earthly blessings, that God is promising more blessings when I’m faithful with some others, but that’s not the reality. The reality is that when I am faithful with those God has given me to disciple, He leads me to more. And here’s what it looks like to be faithful practically.

Think of all the “one another” passages in Scripture. Now be that kind of person for your disciple.

Encourage them

Train them

Love them

Lead them

Bear their burdens

Correct them

Pray for them

If you want life on life discipleship, the kind that Jesus had with His disciples, then you must be faithful with the ones God has given you. In essence, you must view your disciples the way Jesus viewed His. And His view and aim was to be faithful with those God had given Him. And He was.

While I was with them, I was protecting them by Your name that You have given Me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, the one destined for destruction so that the Scripture may be fulfilled. [John 17:12 HCSB]

Focus on a Healthy Disciple First!

A healthy disciple hears God’s voice and obeys. As they take steps of obedience they begin to transform and mature. In their maturity, they are able to reproduce that in someone else and make more disciples.

Early on in the process, it is not like this. Children are immature and unable to reproduce. Only mature adults can reproduce. Spiritual children are the same: immature and unable to reproduce. If you want to get to generations of disciples, focus on a healthy first disciple. A maturing disciple will develop in these key areas:

Daily abiding with Christ through Scripture

Hearing God’s voice in Prayer

Taking immediate steps of obedience when God calls

As they continuously hear God’s voice and take more steps of obedience, they will mature and multiply. But you can’t get to 4th generation disciples without a 1st generation disciple.

Embed Multiplication DNA Immediately!

Your disciple may not be at the level of obedience where they are ready to multiply yet to another person. Sometimes that’s okay and sometimes the root of their disobedience needs to be rooted out. That said, multiplication DNA must be established immediately. Even if they struggle with the ability, they must always know that’s the direction we are headed.

“We will multiply to others…”

“We will share with others…”

“Who is in your life right now that…”

“Who are you praying for right now that…”

You want them to be thinking outward focused right away. To get to generations of disciples, we must move rapidly toward having eyes and a heartbeat for lost people. Your disciple needs a gen map (Oikos Map) immediately. Who are the people that God has already uniquely positioned them to reach. They need to be praying for God to go before them to those people from the start. The more their heart is burdened for lost people, the more likely they are to multiply to another person.

These are four imperatives that come to mind when I think about getting to reproducing disciples. What are some other areas you believe we must focus on to achieve multiplication? What else must we do to see the completion of the Great Commission in our day?

Let’s take Kingdom territory!

Source: 4 Imperatives to Help Reach Multiplication

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Source: How Do You Create a Culture of Sending

The post How Do You Create a Culture of Sending appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Healthy Growing Churches: Each generation that has ever lived believed that they were living in the most interesting and challenging time in history. The questions they had to answer were more significant than the previous generations, and the barriers to greater humanity were more overwhelming than any other age had ever experienced before them. The pace of cultural change appeared to unfold at a faster rate than any other time in days gone by.

The Challenge

Right now, in this generation, it is difficult to argue against the challenging culture in which we find ourselves embedded. In almost every category you can imagine, life is a constant challenge. The pace of change in our world right now is happening at a speed that makes keeping up a consistent challenge. Technology is changing the way we do everything. The economic landscape is shifting with every week that drops off the calendar. The changes in the culture of the U.S. alone can feel overwhelming. We could add to this list, but you get the point.

There is no question these changes are impacting the local church. It’s left church leaders across our country wrestling with how they navigate their way to higher levels of effectiveness in our unique cultural times. The pace of change demands that we re-imagine the relevance and role of the local church. How do we continue to morph to ensure the church continues to advance God’s redemptive cause?

The Answer

There are many answers to this pressing question as we seek to lead the local church forward in Her missional quest, but there is one answer that must ascend to the top of our lists. The local church must reclaim and live into the call to inspire, enlist, equip, and deploy everyday missionaries to be the hands and feet of Jesus where they live, work, and play.

This isn’t a new answer. Jesus was clear when He passionately spoke the words that we find in Matthew 28:19. This was Jesus’ plan A for reaching the world, and there is no plan B. Our calling as individuals is simple. Each follower of Christ should be walking another individual toward and across the line of faith into a personal relationship with God. It is then our responsibility to help them become an obedient follower of Jesus to see that process repeat to multiple generations of reproduction. It is the call of every local church to ensure there is a pathway and framework to ensure that reproducing disciples are being made and disciple-makers are being raised up and sent.

The Most Significant Volunteer Organization on the Planet

The Church is the most significant volunteer organization on the planet. There are tens of thousands of volunteer hours available from people each week who claim Christ as their Savior. What if a significant portion of those volunteer hours were being leveraged by everyday missionaries living into their missionary call in the places where they live, work, and play? What if some of those hours were more effectively being used to raise up disciples who make disciples?

Our best path forward in our unique culture times is to lean into Jesus’ Plan A for reaching the world. Anything less than an all-in approach to disciple-making as church leaders will leave us with less of an impact going forward. Worst-case scenario, it will likely mean the continued decline and impact of the Church in America.

Make Disciples!

The encouraging dynamic at play in the American Church today is the growing number of church leaders and churches that are working hard to figure out how to make disciples who make disciples to multiple generations of reproduction. It certainly feels like the number of churches that are also wrestling with what it should look like for their church to multiply is at an all-time high.

Are you in the number? If not, then here are a few questions you must answer:

Do we have an intentional framework and pathway to ensure that these everyday missionaries (reproducing disciples of Jesus) are raised up and deployed?
How are you identifying the disciple-makers in your local setting and then empowering them to reach out and disciple others?
Are you prepared to send the called and qualified leaders to establish missional outposts, networks of missional communities, and new churches?

There are resources and tools to help. God has raised up an army of trainers to help each of us figure out how to navigate our way into and through the call of Matthew 28:19. Lean into these resources so you can reach maximum effectiveness in joining God in His redemptive cause in our unique cultural times.

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Source: Plan A

The post Plan A appeared first on Passion for Planting.