Church PLANT Manual

Session 3: Nurture and Transition • 77

Seminar 9 Creating Pathways for Multiplication Rev. Ted Smith

Creating Pathways for Multiplication We know it may be difficult to think of multiplication while struggling to PLANT your first church. However, as Scripture suggests, healthy things grow. 1 Jesus intended that the little band of disciples gathered in the upper room (Acts 1:13) would change the world through the gospel. Indeed, it was said of early church leaders like Paul and his companions that they had “turned (their) world upside down” (Acts 17:6). The global mandate of the gospel was made clear by our Lord in all the great commission texts of the gospels (Matt. 28:18-10, for example). Amid planting your first church, your team should give ample consideration and wrestle through answering a fundamental question, “How will we multiply?” In this section, we will explore a few models of multiplication with the goal of encouraging your team to discern your unique pathway toward reproduction even before planting your first church. All models discussed here, and other models of multiplication, require intentionality on the part of a church plant team to build multiplication into the DNA of their church. It should be noted that multiplication is seldom accidental. Beyond the distractions of the enemy, a host of barriers will stand against your team as you move toward multiplication. One key hurdle to multiplication will be the time and attention your team gives or chooses not to give to the idea of multiplication. To be clear, church planting is a demanding enterprise in every aspect of the word. Church plant teams will need to be able to

1 Biblical texts like Mark 4:26-32 and 1 Corinthians 3:6 underscore the metaphor.