Spark: Igniting a Culture of Multiplication (My Review)

After attending the Exponential Conference in Florida a couple of months ago, I read the short book given to every conference participant.  Continuing the theme of the conference, this short book discusses the need to work towards multiplication in our local churches.

The primary tension that defines the problem and illustrates the proposed solution, centers around the imagery of "addition" versus "multiplication."  The author contends that the church growth culture of recent decades focuses on "addition."  We fulfill our mission by reaching more people.  Every one person matters to Jesus, right?  If we reach one person at a time, we eventually reach the entire world, right?  Maybe not.  The author rightly reminds us that the problems that accompany this "addition" mindset include the necessity to constantly add seats, staff, programs and structure to effectively minister to all of the added people.  In the end, too much time and money is spent accommodating our growth by addition.

The alternative?  The author suggests that we multiply.  As in, send out members and leaders to start new churches.

This is much more difficult than it seems.  (I have tried it....We are trying it...It is really hard!)  But I think he is right.

I really appreciate three elements of the conversation in this short book.  First of all, the author takes an "and" approach.  He rightly acknowledges that multiplication cannot happen without addition.  Second, I appreciate that he acknowledges just how difficult this is.  He shares case studies of both successes and failures.  Third, he outlines 17 tensions, or decision-points, but from the perspective of one pastor who successfully lead a church through this process.  This is not just a book of theory!

My only negative critique?  It was helpful to have the tensions outlined.  It would have been more helpful to also read some general guidelines for where to land in a few areas. For instance, Tension #5 - "Filling our Church Vs. Starting a New Church" looks at how large a church should be before planting.  It would be extremely helpful to have at least a few suggestions with some numbers, or at least a suggestion of how to make this decision. 

In the end, it is another good book, that is worth being read by any church that wants to make a huge commitment to make a huge impact for Jesus. By the way, it is also available in ebook format from Exponential.

Rethinking The Church - my review of James Emery White's book

After recently reading James Emery White's The Rise of the Nones, I was excited to read this earlier work of his.  As the title suggests, White encourages church leaders to re-think everything.  As the church growth movement enters another generation, we must again rethink not only our methodologies, but our strategies as well.  He also makes a clarion call not to rethink, but to appropriately remember our foundation of mission and vision in light of the Bible and theology.

I really connected with the chapter on rethinking evangelism.  White first suggests that we need to re-think our audience.  If we are trying to reach those who are not trusting in Christ for salvation, we must understand their level of knowledge and familiarity with Christ and the claims of the gospel.  For the purposes of illustration, White suggests an evangelistic readiness scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being a follower of Christ.  He contends that in 1960, the average American was an 8.  They believed in Jesus, including that he was the son of God and lived a perfect life.  Many even believed that Jesus died on the cross for them. It was a short trip to trusting in Christ.  They merely needed to make their belief personal.  Several decades later, he contends that the average American now sits at a 3.  They likely know something about Jesus, but not much more than that he was a good teacher. They also have little to no trust in the church and religion.  It is a looooong, journey to a 10. In response, he emphasizes that evangelism must now be seen as a process, rather than a one-time event.  This is gold, especially for us long-time church folks!

The second best insight centers on White's assessment of the evangelistic environment of churches.  Using the "seeker" language of the late 90's, he describes a continuum with "seeker hostile" on one end, moving then to "seeker indifferent," then to "seeker hopeful," then to "seeker sensitive" and finally to "seeker targeted."  This is helpful and important for churches to take a good and honest look at their evangelistic ministry. After years of evangelistic emphasis, it is easy to remain even seeker indifferent.

From here, the book diminishes in quality in the remaining chapters as he addresses discipleship, worship, community and structure.  I just felt like it was very basic, and that I have heard this before, many times over!  I might be feeling this way for several reasons.  First, this book was originally published in 1997, then revised in 2003.  This means that the revised edition is 12 years old.  I have heard all of this for 12 years now, so it is nothing new, but it probably was when it was published.  Second, White acknowledges his indebtedness to Rick Warren and Bill Hybels.  In fact, his chapters pretty much follow the five purposes as outlined by Warren. I am so familiar with their philosophies of ministry that this is very old stuff to me.

In other words, this book might contain new ideas for some people, including many church leaders, but just not for me.  I cannot discount its value, for the first chapter was worth the entire book.

In the conclusion, White shares one more new insight.  He notes that as a pastor leads a church to change, the most difficult change will be from a "seeker sensitive" to a "seeker targeted" atmosphere, because at that point the average church member is forced to change and to stop seeing himself as the "customer."  While many might accuse White of supporting a consumer-oriented mindset of church, at this point he shows that he understands the missional nature of church and leaders.  But he also shows that he is a realist who understands that the move from consumer to giver/server is a long and slow one for the average church member.

If you are a church leader, especially a lay leader, trying to understand the changes happening in the church world, check out this book!

Thank You For the Break From Preaching

To My Friends at New Vision Church:

You might be wondering why I thought I needed to take six weeks off from preaching during June and July.  (After all, a pastor only works like one day per week, right?)  First, we have so many good preachers in our congregation (as you have discovered), and I have wanted to give them opportunities to preach, and this series seemed like a good way to do it.  I hope you have enjoyed hearing so many voices and perspectives.

During these weeks, I have not just been sitting by, doing nothing.  The break from weekly preaching allowed me to give extra attention to a few activities:

• I completed a training course on church planting, including certification as a trainer for the course.  I started the course a couple of years ago but was not able to finish it due to ministry responsibilities here at New Vision. (See below for the rest of this story)
• I organized and led the men's spiritual deepening camp out. This is a favorite annual tradition for me, and I was privileged to lead it again!
• In early June, I participated in three days of intensive adult curriculum planning for Nazarene Publishing House.  I had the opportunity to sit around a table with world-class Bible scholars, talking about how to plan lessons for Sunday School teachers to lead studies of the books of Jeremiah, Ephesians and Philippians.  I so much enjoyed the intellectual stimulation of discussing the Bible with scholars and preachers!
• I also wrote an essay that will hopefully be included in a book on the theology of holiness.  A colleague and friend from college is working on a collection of essays that share how young leaders view holiness, which is the special-emphasis of the Church of the Nazarene.  I submitted an essay on the topic of how we need to teach about holiness in terms of both love and behavior.  I will let you know if and when it gets published. (No, I won't earn any royalties on it)
• If there is ever a time to get a short break from preaching, it is during the month of June.  During our June board meeting, we set the church operating budget for the next fiscal year.  This requires a lot of research and planning.  I also have to submit our church's annual report of attendance, finances, and other statistics by July 15th.  Let's just say that June is a paperwork-heavy month.
• I was able to lead the song-worship for our congregation on two Sundays, and it was a lot of fun!  It was good to pick up a guitar again and sing loud!
• In July, during the week before VBS, I was privileged to co-teach the Churches Planting Churches seminar to a group of pastors interested in leading their churches to start new churches.  It was so inspiring to hear how God is moving in the hearts of pastors - and to hear their God-given visions!
• Finally, I have also given a lot of time and thought to planning the preaching and LIFE Groups emphases for the next year.  I am excited about the upcoming message series. We will look at improving our relationships, deepening our faith, understanding the Bible better, and developing a sense of our life's mission.  This fall, I plan to teach an outreach-oriented series on the subject of forgiveness.  Our LIFE Groups will look at several different topics that will also generally relate to the Sunday messages.  Let me know if you would like a sneak peek and I will show you what I have planned.  I would love to hear your feedback.

Finally, thank you for the short break from preaching every Sunday.  While I love to preach God's Word, sometimes my creative juices just don't want to flow.  I tell my friends that in ministry there are no late papers - Sunday morning comes around every week at the same time.  These few weeks without preaching responsibilities have allowed me to rejuvinate a sense of creativity!  I am looking forward to preaching in July!

Again, thank you!  Nu-Vees are the best!

"Gathered and Scattered" is too Simplistic

"Gathered & Scattered"

Gathered:  When the church comes together for worship, teaching, fellowship, sacraments, etc.

Scattered:  When the church departs the gathering, proceeding into the world for mission. evangelism, justice etc.

What is the church called to do?  The answer is easy: BOTH

This sounds nice.  It is nice.  It is a simple couplet, easy to remember.

But it is too simplistic. 

We often assume that our "scattering" is an individualistic endeavor to merely be Jesus wherever else we do life.  Or, in an attempt to combat individualism, we sit around tables with Bibles and beers (or coffee, if we are holiness folk), with other Christians and call in community, but in a spiritually neutral location so we can call it missional.  Assuming that our being will rub off on others, we conveniently excuse our lack of doing.


Here is the problem - it only lasts one generation.  Where is the multiplication?  In order for the cause of Christ and the Kingdom of Christ to last for more than a generation, there must be multiplication of disciples and of the gatherings of the disciples.  Yes, this includes the multiplication of organizations and institutions, but only as necessary to support the multiplication of disciples.
What if, instead of merely scattering to our workplaces, neighborhoods, and places of need, we scattered as teams, with the purpose and intent to re-gather in smaller groupings, in these other places of work, neighborhood, or need, not for more fellowship, but to intentionally invite others to gather as inquirers, seekers and disciples?

It is just not as simple as "gather and scatter."  There must be more.  We must envision and plan with an end in mind that includes multiplication "to the ends of the earth."  Then and only then are we faithful to the mission of Jesus.

Apprentice Field Guide - good stuff for learning how to mentor a ministry apprentice

After reading Jon Ferguson's book Exponential, I knew that I wanted to learn more.  The Ferguson brothers richly blend  personal discipleship with systemic discipleship.  That is, they are not just engaging in one-on-one discipleship, which always creates bottlenecks and is difficult to do on a larger scale. At the same time, they are not just church systems thinkers who attempt to disciple by program (which also doesn't work).  It seems that the key to maintaining this balance between personal and systemic ministry is their process of leadership development.  They develop leaders of programs by personal contact - and to which they give the term, apprenticing. 

Christian Community Church is by no means the first to use the term apprentice.  They know that.  But they have interestingly appropriated it to Christian discipleship and leadership development.  And I think this is a  key theory.  In the church world we have typically used the term "discipleship" to describe a process/plan of spiritual growth.  We also use the phrase, "spiritual formation."  In many circles, though, both of those terms describe a process that is all about "me and Jesus" and rarely results in reaching out to others or purposely developing as a leader.  With this in mind, the Fergusons and the folks at Community Christian refer to Peter, James and John as apprentices of Jesus - the guys who were bound to Jesus for the purpose of carrying on his work.  We then are called to become apprentices as well - carrying on the work of Jesus in our culture. 

This is genius!  It is action-oriented.  It expects reproduction and multiplication!  It acknowledges a need for the classic spiritual disciplines taught in spiritual formation- but not for merely personal reasons!  It is also highly relational!  To be honest, I have struggled to know how to develop leaders.  This is giving me some hope - and so I am giving a lot of energy this year to learning and practicing the development of ministry leaders.

Okay, enough for the philosophy of it all - the real help of this book is the practical help of how to identify, ask, mentor and release an apprentice.  Their list of must-have traits of a possible apprentice leader are great and very helpful.  I love the "parking lot test" for relational intelligence - when I see their car pull into the parking lot, am I excited to see them or do I hope to avoid them?"  Very interesting....

For me, the most helpful chapter discussed how to "make the ask," - that is, how to get someone on board to become an apprentice.  The authors remind us to "never say no for someone.  We must allow God to work in their lives.  We cannot have an apprentice if we do not ask.  It's up to us to present the opportunity, and up to God to work in them from there."  I need constant reminder of that.  I am too quick to say, "they are already so busy..."  Who knows how God has already been moving in their hearts?  Further, though, was their teaching to ask the person to pray about it, think about it, and get back to you, and then to pursue them.  Their approach of using ICNU, or "I see in you....the qualities of leadership....a love for kids....a heart for prayer....."  Genius!

This book has been very helpful for me as I explore this concept of developing leaders through apprenticeships - I will keep it on hand!

If you want to order a copy of this book, you can buy it here from Lulu.

I also just found an electronic copy available for free here:  http://242community.com/apprentice-field-guide

"Exponential" has pushed me into high gear!

The corners of the book are bent, the cover is scuffed, and the page edges are green and brown.  You would think that I dragged this book through the woods or something!  Well, I did.  While this is not a post about deer hunting, I have found that I just cannot sit in a tree stand for more than an hour without something to do.  So as I packed up for this season's two day bowhunting camping trip, I grabbed my fresh copy of Dave & Jon Ferguson's book, Exponential.  I believe I received the book from my friend Dale Schaeffer who planted Bridgeway Community Church in Pekin, Illinois.  I attended a workshop where he shared the leadership development principles outlined in this book.  After hearing him, I was hooked. 

While sitting in a tree stand for two days, I was mostly glued to this story of how to do church.  Incidentally, five minutes after I finished the book and put it away, and one hour before heading home, a nice deer walked down the trail.  I will spare you the details, but just know that my family has meat in the freezer!

Dave & Jon Ferguson planted Community Christian Church in Chicago and have experienced explosive growth and an amazing move of God resulting in thousands of changed lives. Exponential: how you and your friends can start a missional movement is their story.  The idea is simple:  focus on reproducing leaders and a church will grow exponentially.  Like many ideas, it sounds so simple, but in practice is difficult!

I noticed three concepts that stood out as consistent cultural practices in the life of their church.  First, their church is built on a theology and strategy of reproduction.  Rightly so, the Fergusons began with the end in mind - following the example of Moses, Jesus, Paul, and the implicit history of Christianity, they realized that a great and godly church must reproduce!  Christians must reproduce Christians; groups must reproduce groups; churches must reproduce churches, and movements must reproduce movements!  Beginning with that end in mind, Dave and Jon built their programs and structures around the idea of effective reproduction!  Genius!

Second, I heard loud and clear their plan for leadership development.  While this sounds like a very organizational term, we again see the example of Moses, Jesus and Paul as they developed future leaders.  If we need churchy language for it, we could call it "discipleship through mentoring, aimed at ministry and evangelism."  (Or we can just call it Leadership Development for Jesus)  At Community Christian, they are focused on developing godly, competent leaders, starting at the most basic level of small group life.  Potential leaders are identified and then asked to be small group apprentices.  Since this is the regular practice of the church, everyone knows that the apprentice is preparing to lead.  And they go from there, gradually promoting leaders in a system in which every leader is both mentoring and being mentored, developing both their skills and their devotion to Jesus.  This system is not only applied to fellowship/discipleship groups, but also to ministry teams.  I loved their description of a campus worship leader introducing an apprentice leader to the congregation, telling them that the apprentice is going to lead "the next song."

This idea inspires me!  It makes me want to push all of our church's LIFE group leaders to identify and begin training an apprentice.  We struggle so much in this area of identifying and developing group leaders. 

Interestingly, the books features the story of Troy McMahon, who started out as an apprentice small group leader, moved up to become a pastor on staff and then eventually moved to Kansas City to plant a church in the north suburbs.  And I know him!  He participated in the interdenominational church planting fellowship in which I participated!!!!  Small world!

The third recurring concept I discovered was that small group life is not only a leadership development system, but is also the connectional system for the church.  I know, I know, I should know this already, that growing churches help people to connect in small groups.  This just affirmed it once again that small groups are massively important.  It doesn't matter what we call them, but our people will only really connect with each other to the degree that they are active in a smaller group.  (This also helps to show the relational skills or lack thereof of potential leaders).  They believe in small groups so strongly that they state that, "small groups are the epicenter of community life in a church." (page 102)

Can you tell that I really liked this model?  Now I want to go to the annual Exponential Conference!

I am going to add two more of the Fergusons' books to my to-be-read pile.  First, I want to check out their Apprentice Field Guide in order to learn more about how to initiate a church-wide apprenticeship program.  Next, I want to read The Big Idea in order to learn how to craft worship services that really teach and connect well.

By the way - there is one more idea in this book that I just cannot forget!  Check out my next post for that idea.