No Longer Children: reflections on a decade of church planting

Branded on the leather key chain to the keys of my 2008 Ford F150 are the words "Southlands: A Gospel Constellation." It speaks of our multiplying vision. We are not trying to grow to be one giant planet of a church. Instead, we want to be a constellation of churches shining the light of the gospel into the darkness of this world. 

My truck is as old as my American sojourn. In 2008, we joined a church that had multiplied 12 times in 14 years. Southlands was a bit like my old truck. Sturdy, willing, productive but showing some signs of wear and tear. She was a medium sized church -  about 500 people, which is remarkable really, when you think that only 1% of American churches under 1000 ever plant churches. She was the little engine that could.  

When the apostle Paul described a mature church in his letter to the Ephesians, he seemed to mix his metaphors with ships and children. 'Then we will no longer be children, tossed to and fro by every wind and wave of doctrine." What he seemed to be driving at, was that stability is a mark of maturity. A mature church has  enough ballast in its boat to navigate through the storms of heresy and theological faddishness without getting blown over, whereas an immature church is easily blown off course, or pushed over like a little toddler trying to stand in the ocean. 

What is true of doctrinal maturity, is also true of missional maturity in a church. One may need to navigate different seasons and weather conditions, but mature churches can hold their course against rip tides and cross winds, tacking along until the tides turn and the winds are at their back. There was a year that we somehow made it into Christian Leadership magazine for being one of the top 100 multiplying churches in the nation, but honestly, much of the time we have flown beneath the radar, and our journey has been a bit like that of the missionary William Carey who said, "My only genius is I plod."

By God's grace we have multiplied 8 times in the last 11 years and are preparing to plant again next year. One of those churches was folded back into the base at Brea during the pandemic, having lost its venue and many of its people due to the strange socio-economic dynamics of that time. But all of the others have grown in health and strength, some steadily, some slowly and a couple more rapidly. What makes me most joyful is that one church has already planted another two churches amongst unreached people groups in Thailand. I heard about one of our plants that is around 150 in size that baptized 11 people last Sunday. This is the dream. This is the why of church planting. Ultimately it is not about pins on a map. We plant new churches because we believe that they are the most effective way of fulfilling the Great Commission. As Ed Stetzer, a prominent missiologist and president of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism once said, "In winning new converts to Christ, church plants are light-years ahead of the average church because of their focus on reaching the unchurched. Healthy new churches have an outward focus from day one, communicating every month that the goal is to be a multiplying church.” (He is now the Dean of Talbot Seminary)

Another benefit of multiplication is that it creates a healthy vortex that draws spectator Christians out of the stands and on to the field of play as active disciples. This is true of leadership, volunteerism, generosity and prayer. In multiplication, the saints are equipped to do the work of ministry with a greater sense of urgency because multiplication creates a crisis of need. Larger churches that meet in one place tend to gather a larger crowd of consumers  who assume that the work of ministry will be done by professionals. This is true of smaller churches too, who can assume that it is only larger churches that will multiply. This is why I wrote Broken for Blessing  (Broken-Blessing) about the underrated potential of the medium sized multiply church. 

One of the tensions we've had to manage as we've matured into multiplication, is what I refer to as managing home and away game wins. Until 2010 we were like a team that won its away games but lost many of its home games. We had to push pause on planting for three years to regain home game wins - like financial and leadership health and seeing new disciples come to Christ regularly in our own zip code. Still today, more than ten years later, we are trying to find a sustainable rhythm of multiplying that enables the sending base to thrive, not just survive. That can be tricky, but we remain convinced, that like the boy with the loaves and fish in the feeding of the 5000, Jesus is asking us to put our loaves and fishes  in his hand to be broken, blessed and multiplied. He is able to multiply what we give him to feed the hungry multitudes with His life, and is able to replenish what we entrust to Him in good time. 

But the question remains, to every disciple and every church, "What will you do when Jesus asks you for your lunch?" When we respond willingly, we are caught up in His stunning multiplying miracle.