Lizards not Frogs...Rabbits not Elephants in Church Planting

Plant "Lizard" Churches and not "Frogs"
These metaphors come out of David Garrison's study of Church Planting Movements. They reflect what he has discovered about church planting movements throughout the world.

the problem with Frogs...Frog churches perceive themselves as ends in themselves, sitting fat and complacent on a lily pad (or main street), expecting the lost to come to them in search of salvation. Frog churches hold meetings in places where they feel comfortable and require the lost to adapt to their froggy world.

Lizard churches...Lizard churches are always pursuing the lost. Adaptable and ready for action, they move quickly into the world through cracks and crevices seeking the lost. Lizard churches penetrate their communities. They decipher the "missional code" of their community and people groups. They are willing to expend enormous energy, even lose their tails if necessary in order to bring the lost into the family of God.

Plant "Rabbit" churches and not "Elephants"
the problem with Elephants... An elephant reaches its full size in 3 years, however it does not mature sexually until 18 years of age and is not ready to reproduce until then (the male is not ready to sire until approximately 30 years old!) Once an elephant is pregnant it takes a full 22 months for gestation and has the capacity to bear just one elephant. It is another 5 years before the female is ready to give birth again and might bear 7 calves in her lifetime. Elephant churches always have a reason (building program, staff needs, internal growth, etc) for not reproducing a new church and once they do decide to reproduce (if ever), the gestation period is painfully long. After that they may not want to reproduce again for many years.

Rabbit churches... Rabbits are ready for reproduction at 6 to 9 months. They are continuously fertile. The gestation period is 31 days and they ordinarily give birth to 7 babies. During this time the adult rabbit is also growing and reaches its maximum size in 3 years (just like the elephant) In its lifetime, one reproducing pair, through its offspring, has the capacity of reproducing 476 million rabbits! Within the first three years, rabbit churches are thinking about when they might reproduce. They plant new churches as a regular part of their desire to carry out "the Great Commission" and they also build into the DNA of each of their "daughter" churches this culture of church planting reproduction.

Don't get me wrong -- God loves frog churches, lizard churches, elephant churches and rabbit churches all the same. But -- church planting movements that reach growing numbers of people from every culture, language and people group happen when churches function more like lizards and rabbits. What other metaphors help you consider healthy church planting movements?