Churches that start churches that start churches….

The cover story of the Winter 2008 issue of On Mission magazine asks the question: “Where do churches come from?” The answer is that churches come from churches. It is a normal and healthy thing for churches to reproduce themselves. New churches that are geared toward reaching new communities, people groups and population segments are the by-product of effective disciple-making.

Healthy churches continuously grow new disciples and leaders from the communities that they reach. New leaders need new opportunities to grow in the use of their spiritual gifts and churches need to keep an outward focus to avoid conflict and mission drift. It simply makes biological and Kingdom sense that healthy organisms and churches grow and reproduce.

Southern Baptists need to double the number of churches in the Greater Orlando area just to catch up with the rest of Florida. That can be accomplished fairly easily if each church that is a part of GOBA would start at least one new church in 2008. However, catching up is not enough because Florida is behind the curve when compared to the rest of the country and especially southern states. To keep pace with population growth, we need to start a least one new church each and every week in Central Florida.

The housing slump of 2007 is not expected to have a long-term impact on the growth of the region. According to myregion.org, the seven county Central Florida area is expected to double in population by 2050. The new growth will occur in population centers of smart growth where people can live, work, play, shop and worship together within their own neighborhoods. Areas like Horizons West and Lake Nona will bring tens of thousands of new residents to Greater Orlando.

Not only do we need to catch up and keep up with population growth, we need to focus on community transformation. Church planting is a bi-product of making disciples and releasing leaders. It is a means to an end - changed lives, changed communities and changed regions. In Acts chapter 19 we see the beginning of regional transformation as a church was started in Ephesus. This church trained missionary church planters and sent them to start churches that started churches that started churches. The result is that everyone in the Roman province of Asia Minor heard the message of the Gospel (see Acts 19:10). Imagine what Central Florida would look like if every man, woman and child had the opportunity to respond to the Word of God in their own context. It is possible that this place will one day be known more for Jesus Christ than Mickey Mouse. It starts with you and your church.

Innovation Church

Innovation Church officially launched last month. They meet on Sundays at the University Inn on E. Colonial @ Alafaya Tr. David Baxter is the lead pastor and they are sponsored by Eastside Baptist Church of Orlando. If you would like to get in touch, you can contact them at connect@innovationchurch.com.

blossoming a new blog

These are pics from blossom 2007.

Blossom and PowerPak were two powerful events relating to church planting that took place in early October. I am grateful to Jason Dukes, Mike Kimbrough and all of the guys at reproducingchurches.com for how they live sent. The blosom experience continues at www.livesent.com. Stay tuned for details about blossom 2008.

A Regional Vision

Over the past 18 months, thousands of Central Florida residents and community leaders have worked together to develop a shared vision for the seven county region that includes Orlando. The result is a commitment to work together to preserve the natural beauty of the area, encourage economic development, and concentrate on centers of growth that are connected by transportation corridors. If you would like to imagine the future of Central Florida, take a look at this video clip:

Click here to download the full report.

The population of Central Florida is expected to double by 2050. However, we are not expecting to see continuous urban sprawl. New population centers have higher density with a mixture of retail and commercial. The way that we plant churches is also changing as we adapt to our context.

reproducingchurches.com

Some of my buddies got together and bought me a new MacBook. Here I am looking suprised. Jason and Eric had already let the cat out of the bag. Thanks a bunch guys, you are the best.






Last week, I spent a few days hanging out with the founders of reproducingchurches.com at a leadership network meeting @ FBC Orlando. Pictured here are Jason Dukes, Keith Lancaster, Hal Haller, and Robert Beckman.

The above pics were lifted from Eric's blog. Eric and Mandy are out to change the world, starting with NYC.

An enviornment for reproduction

At a recent gathering of reproducingchurches.com the question was asked, "What are key elements needed to create and have a culture for reproduction?" Here is a summary of what was discussed:

_each person's gifts and passions are valued, and it is emphasized how much value each person has to give away.
_people are relating closely to one another, doing life together, not just gathering on Sunday.
_leaders aren't kept to preserve the organization. They are sent to spread the DNA.
_the strategy for the church does not just revolve around activities central to the church facilities.
_the vision to reproduce is more than talked about. It is lived out.
_tasks aren't delegated, they are decentralized. People are given authority to actually live sent without their pastor.
_giving away/reproducing is not just about church plants. It's about everyday living.

Church planting movements happen in environments where disciples of Jesus Christ are free to reproduce themselves and their faith communities.

People of the Book

Adam Mayfield is trying an approach to Life Groups that goes contrary to what he's been taught - reading the Bible...

We sent the kids to the front room with their Bibles, journals, and pens. The adults sat in the big room with their Bibles, journals, and pens. I led the meeting and said "Ok, start reading." We all started reading from the Bible. We were reading the same passages, basically a Bible reading plan that allows you to read through the whole Bible in one year. For the next 15-20 minutes no ones said a word, the kids in the front room weren't talking either.....everyone in the house (except my dog Tanner) were reading their Bibles. It was a beautiful silence. As people starting finishing up their reading they turned in their journals and started writing, during this time I walked to the front room to check on the kids and they were writing away, A big sister was helping her little sister fill out her journal.....IT WAS AWESOME. As people were getting done I went and got the kids and brought them into the room with us. When the last person finished up, I spoke again. I said, "I don't want to lead this time so you guys tell me, what did God show you." I sat in the room and listened as God's people told us what God had shown them from His word. It was refreshing, encouraging, and challenging. We then discussed prayer requests which everyone (including some of the kids) were writing in the front of their journals. IT WAS AWESOME!

It was INCREDIBLE. I loved it, God's people being His people, and teaching me His word. Yeah that isn't what I learned in Bible College.

Thanks, Adam, hmmm.... the Bible as life group material - great idea!

Riding a Movement

Right now I am reading two books: Be Fruitful and Multiply by Bob Logan and The Silent Transformation by Christoph Schalk. Schalk is sharing stories from churches around the world that are transforming culture through the application of organic principles. Logan is focusing on cultivating church multiplication movements.

A common theme among both of these authors is that church is not something to be manipulated. Church planting is a partnership with God – He does the bulk of work and equips His people to do the little things. So many churches are struggling today because they are paddling upstream in human strength instead of riding a wave of the movement of God.

Sometimes we make things so complicated that in order to get more done, we have to learn to do less. In some situations, it may be necessary to deconstruct, downsize, or simplify in order to move to the next level. For example, in order for church multiplication to take place, we must employ reproducible methods. Much of what we do is not reproducible because it is too complicated. Before we can do what God has called us to do, we need to undo the things He has not called us to do.

If you are doing things that cannot easily be passed on to someone else, then you have probably over-complicated the task or process. If you think you have simplified and yet are not mentoring anyone, then you are probably still working too hard at the wrong things.

Take a look at Ephesians 4:11-12 and ask yourself the following questions...
1. What is my gift?
2. How am I using it?
3. How am I equipping the next generation of leaders?

Launching Large

I’ve been focusing on starting churches with little or no money. It can be done and it has been done since the beginning of church. Small, reproducible churches are relevant in any context.

However, I am by no means against starting large churches. Very few people have been able to successfully launch and sustain large churches in the Orlando metro. A few have done very well. If you want to launch larger (100+ people), let me encourage you to do the following things:

• Fast and pray, go on a spiritual retreat... cry out to God... beg and plead with Him to let you do something else
• Keep your day job as long as possible
• Kill your ego
• Listen to your wife
• Define church
• Read, attend seminars and interview respectable people who know church planting
• Do an internship under a successful church planter (6 mos. – 1 year)
• Get to know… really get to know… fall in love with … be willing to die for your community
• Build a team that compliments your weaknesses
• Focus on mission, not launch
• Don’t be driven by calendar – establish critical milestones instead
• Enlist as many partner churches as you can – at least 3, preferably 5 or more
• Start and multiply missional small groups before renting, building or buying a building
• Don’t launch publicly until you have 50-80 committed adults
• Raise 2x the money you think you will need, no 3x and don’t stop
• Commit to nothing less than regional transformation... develop a Biblical view of what a transformed region will look like... find your part in it and communicate it with passion

Let me know if you have anything to add to this list

Whispering Pines Community Church

Billy and Ellie Mitchell were forced out of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina only to face another hurrican in SE Florida a month later. Now, they are planting a church in Port St. Lucie. Check out this video of Whispering Pines Community Church.

Church of the Highlands Port Orange Launches April1

My good friend, Hal Haller, is a serial church planter. He has a catalytic gift that suits him for starting and multiplying churches. Hal is a passionate evangelist, prayer warrior and multiplying leader. This Sunday, April 1st, he and his team will watch God launch Church of the Highlands Port Orange. If you are free any Sundays in the coming months, I am sure that Hal would love your help and encouragement.

Don’t quit your day job

If you are thinking about starting a church, I want to encourage you to keep working as long as you can. If you quit your job in order to plant a church, you will soon start asking yourself two questions; “How can I raise money?” and “How can I meet people?” You don’t have to leave the marketplace to enter the ministry. Try not to think of church planting as a career change and the church as an economic system.

A New Testament church is a community of disciples of Jesus Christ who are living missionally 24x7. Therefore, it is not necessary for someone to leave a marketplace mission field in order to start or pastor a church. A church planter here in Orlando recently entered the work force to (as he put it) “fund my church planting habit.” Although economics was his primary reason for going to work, he quickly found that his job gave him plenty of opportunities to develop relationships with people who are spiritually seeking.

It has been my observation that most failed church starts in Central Florida didn’t die, they were killed. Most of them simply ran out of money. Their outside support dried up and the young congregations could not cover the overhead of rented facilities, advertising expenses and staff salaries. So, someone made the determination that “we are no longer church” and told everyone to go home. This has been such a pervasive problem that Orlando has developed the reputation of being a church planting boneyard.

What if you could start a church with 0 start-up costs and no monthly overhead? What if you could do it without wondering if you were going to get paid or could afford medical insurance for your family? What if spent your week-days in an environment filled with hurting people searching for answers and got paid to do it? What if you planted a First Century church in the Twenty-First Century?

You can keep your job and start a church. You don’t have to rent a building to be the church. You can gather small groups of people in your home, community center, break-room, a coffee house, restaurant, etc. You can be the church wherever God plants you.

Myth Busters: New Church Survivability Rate

Ed Stetzer and the North American Mission Board have busted an urban myth about new church survivability. We’ve all heard the statistics, but few have offered any research to back it up. According to Stetzer’s research, the survival rate of new churches is much higher than has been rumored.

Download Report

Early or Probably Never

Erick is a young church planter in Lakeland, FL and member of reproducingchuches.com. He has discovered a central truth in church multiplication – build reproduction into the life-blood of the church early. Check out his entire post at muse.voxtropolis.com:

The DNA of a new church plant, even before its launch, should be actively
seeking to identify new leaders in other areas within the same geographical
location or abroad to help support financially and with sweat equity. Reason
being that a healthy church plant gives itself away, not the other way around.
It doesn’t take a few years to establish itself, but at its conception it is a
selfless entity. The organization of the church plant should model to it’s
constituents that they too are a temporary resource for that gathering and
ultimately as much responsible for leading and furthering the kingdom.
Furthermore, every person who has connected in a love relationship with Christ
should be viewed as a potential church and sending agent, not a faithful member
or contributor.

Good stuff, Erick, I couldn’t agree more!