Mutiplying...how to do it?
I am wondering what your experience has been in multiplying simple churches. How did it work for you? Did you send out two or three believers to plant a new church in their neighborhood, workplace, etc? Did you divide the group in half and start meeting in two homes? In the simple church I am a part of sometimes we have 30 people at our meetings. The discussions are much better when we have around 10 to 15 people. With 30 it seems like we don't have enough time to give everyone a chance to speak in depth. So we have been asking the Lord about multiplying and how he wants us to do it...Would you share some of your experiences in this area?
Tags: growth, multiplying
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tom LeCompte on -
Hey Bill,
It sounds like you are ready to multiply into at least two groups. That was the experience our house church went through. By the time my family got involved in it more than five years ago, our group was right around 30-35. There were few families in our church who had homes large enough to gather us all. Besides, we were still growing. Within a few months, we decided to make two groups of 15-25. I agree that smaller numbers of 15 or less is the best for intimacy and accountability. We also decided as a compromise to continue gathering the whole gang together at least once a month in a place that could hold us: an outdoor park, a community center, whatever. The next year we were large enough to make a third group. A few months later, a fourth group.
By this time, we couldn't quite agree on how to form our groups. Half of us wanted to form core groups of two-three families and build on them. Others wanted to literally put their names in a hat and randomly draw names for each group and stay in that group for three months before mixing it up again. For a while we did both simultaneously and it worked ok.
Some of us were "mixers" who liked to mix the groups up periodically while some of us were "fixers" who preferred a more permanent group that would grow and form more permanent groups. All the while we continued to gather once a month all together for a large worship service. Looking back, it seemed that what caused families to stay together in groups were the children. It became very important to the families who the kids hung out with week after week. I'm not saying that was right or wrong. I'm just saying that was the motivation for some families to worship together.
The largest number of groups we ever had was five. About a year ago, we had about a third of our church move on and form their own church. Now we are down to three more or less fixed groups and we are enjoying the same growth we've had over the past few years: about 5 families per year.
I'd like to say that we are intentionally planting churches among new believers and converts, but we are just not there yet. Even so, at least one of our groups is being very intentional about inviting unbelievers and internationals to our groups so that they can see what Christians in small intimate groups are all about. Many of them enjoy the experience enough to keep coming back several times and we have made a few converts. What we do is by no means a church planting movement. My prayer is that we will one day do that on a regular basis as our people catch that vision.
Hope this helps,
Tom
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Permalink Reply by Bill Benninghoff on -
Thanks Tom - that helps....We would like to have a large gathering on a regular basis just like you did so everyone can still stay connected at some level. The "mixers" and "fixers" idea is interesting... That will be a good thing for us to discuss as we pray and talk about this change.
Tom LeCompte said:Hey Bill,
It sounds like you are ready to multiply into at least two groups. That was the experience our house church went through. By the time my family got involved in it more than five years ago, our group was right around 30-35. There were few families in our church who had homes large enough to gather us all. Besides, we were still growing. Within a few months, we decided to make two groups of 15-25. I agree that smaller numbers of 15 or less is the best for intimacy and accountability. We also decided as a compromise to continue gathering the whole gang together at least once a month in a place that could hold us: an outdoor park, a community center, whatever. The next year we were large enough to make a third group. A few months later, a fourth group.
By this time, we couldn't quite agree on how to form our groups. Half of us wanted to form core groups of two-three families and build on them. Others wanted to literally put their names in a hat and randomly draw names for each group and stay in that group for three months before mixing it up again...[truncated for brevity]
Hope this helps,
Tom
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Permalink Reply by Marshall Diakon on -
Bill, multiplying must not be for the faint of heart. And, never as a pretense for division.
Done as a mission (i.e., to expand territory, increase harvest of souls, etc.), adding a house (barn, park, other location) seems to have the best opportunity without losing one or both boats to a scattering storm. Word of a failed "multiply" comes to our ears all too often.
If we're standing-room only today in the living room, and the maturity from discipleship has not yet taken hold among us, we may be well to connect with another SC/HC in aide to multiply with help from their seasoning. A good opportunity to get past (by practice) the autonomy doctrine?!
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Permalink Reply by Bill Benninghoff on
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Hi Marshall. What do you mean by "getting past the autonomy doctrine?"
thanks,
Bill
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Permalink Reply by Marshall Diakon on
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Bill Benninghoff said:Hi Marshall. What do you mean by "getting past the autonomy doctrine?"
Yes, Bill. In practice, one Simple Church may be slow/reluctant/hesitant to seek out the side-by-side help of another Simple Church regarding something that reaches to their core. This may be, in part, because we have inherited (even as a doctrine) the idea of autonomous churches: the expectation that every church must learn to fly on its own; set its own course, do or die. When in reality, there's only one Body of Christ, with many members & ekklesias that should be caring for one-another's well being. An opportunity to assist in a big way can help bring down the artificial walls created by autonomous churching.
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Permalink Reply by Bill Benninghoff on
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I see what you mean now Marshall. I agree. We need to be able to receive help from other simple churches that have walked further down the road than we have and may have insights that we need. I think we also need relational connections with other SC's regardless of whether our group is ready to multiply or not. Here in the Dallas, Texas area, we have get togethers twice yearly for all the simple churches in the area that we know about. In my opinion these get togethers have really been helpful for us to meet people who are doing simple church outside of our own groups.
Bill
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Permalink Reply by Marshall Diakon on
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Strong relational connections -- a bond of love -- between the churches is a blessing not to miss. Regional gatherings can/do help foster this, and, Bill, I thank God for servants who are, like yourself, ready & able to help with those.
What are sometimes termed "networks" have also made effort, and, I worked through September-October developing a configurable RSS that taps our database to offer opportunity to further connect, but I can't help to wonder if maybe today we're largely waiting upon the Spirit of God to move in bridge-building among us?
sorta on the side, but, what if Peter, John, Paul, Timothy, Titus, and all the churches had had cell phones, e-mail, and a horseless chariot that could reach the next town in 15 minutes?
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Permalink Reply by Katie Mather on -
I have seen healthy growth and "cell division" that take place almost automatically. Within the context of the "main group" or primary group, it is understood that there is to be life, relationships, contacts of the church outside of a gathering (meeting). The plan is not to bring them into the original group, but the contact person is a part of the new group. Friends or others are added to this new group. This is the 2nd generation. Maybe you will have a special dinner or picnic or something where all do come together. But this is like taking your new family to visit grama's house. You only go to visit the relatives, not live there. Then maybe once or twice a year you have a family reunion and a whole bunch of groups get together.
I think that this problem many in SC are having is in whether to divide or breakup their groups is that they are always inviting everybody to their group. This is much like the IC where everyone is expected to bring people into the church. there may be too much concern over numbers, like we aren't anything until we have 12 or 15. So we have to keep inviting everybody in. How about keeping the orginal group on their night and have everyone take another night and go to a new person's place. And let that new person be the contact for establishing a new group. Mature believers from the original group can visit the new group now and then.
If you look at SC like its family life, then you can get a better picture. So when do you kick your children out of your house? Do you really have to kick them out of your house or are they looking forward to getting out on their own? Or do you have a house full of 30 something children who refuse to grow up and accept their responsibility in life and suck the life out of you? Is there a plan for growing children to eventually leave the nest?
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Permalink Reply by Bill Benninghoff on
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Great post Katie. I like your comparison to the family and your encouragement to ditch the "attractional" model of church and go after a more missional model.
Bill
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Permalink Reply by Marshall Diakon on
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Katie, your post is an eye-opener for me. I do want to be careful, though, to have in mind a faithful model of "family". (as family in the contemporary western world can often be fractured or disintegrated, where members may be "kicked out" merely for lack of healthy relationships.)
Are we as content with joy to invite someone to a simple gathering where we are not usually present, because, maybe that one is closer to them?
Instead of building a bigger nest, maybe we can open a flight school?
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Permalink Reply by Katie Mather on
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All this is, is the difference between parenting babies and parenting adults. In the IC, the "parenting style" is like they are parenting babies. Everything has to be done for them because they are too imature to do it for themselves. Whether or not that is true, that is how it is perceived. Certainly there are "babes in Christ" but how long does one stay a baby when an adult? Jesus worked with the disciples for only 3 years then he was gone. Paul was sometimes with a church for only two weeks then he was gone.
When my children were small, I was very much like the IC in that I never taught them to cook. They had to learn how on their own when they left home. They did have household chores. One day when my son was about nine, he was complaining when it was his turn to clean the bathrooms, "Why do I have to do this?" I told him that it was so that when he grew up and was on his own, he could take care of himself and not be a slob." He replied that he wasn't going to have to because his wife was going to do that for him. Amazing, and at nine years old... I didn't know where he got such ideas. Anyway, now he is married with 4 children and is Mr. Mom. His wife teaches school. He is finishing his college, and guess who is doing the housework? He is a good man!
Marshall, you are right about the distortions about "family" in our society. People don't even know what a healthy family is like. All people have experienced are degrees of dysfunction. Some things that people do, they think are healthy but are actually characteristics of dysfunction. So how would one be able to have a healthy SC if all they understood is the dysfunction of the IC?
I think it ends up just like in life. People grow up and focus intensely not wanting to be like their parents. Because you are focusing on their negative traits, you become just like them. What you focus on, you become.
So how long should it take for someone to become a discipler, let alone a disciple? Is there a pattern of discipleship? I think to avoid institutionalism, most SC avoids patterns even in discipleship. For a seamstress, a pattern provides a basic plan or layout or guide. Certainly there can be lots of creative license in the process, but a pattern will provide the necessary basic pieces that are required to make a garment. In the SC, we need to be aware of providing each with the basic necessary parts of the pattern that will provide a foundation for disciplemaking.
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Permalink Reply by Marshall Diakon on
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sister Katie,
on having/using a "pattern", men have tended to the poles of refusing all patterns/blueprints, or, becoming patternists.
There are things essential to maturity in Christ, and we ought not be afraid to acknowledge what is essential; while the essential in making disciples is also living & dynamic among us. Maturity is significant to healthy multiplication -- which is the genuine point of reproduction for the church/churches. Perpetual babes & stillborn are not the will of God for His children.
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