Faithful, Fruitful and Reproducing Churches

In scanning the book of Acts it is apparent that not only was the early church "devoted to the apostles' teaching"Acts 2:42 but as a result was fruitful and reproduced.

Of course it didn't happen through cleverness or human effort, but God used His Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Teachers and faithful followers to spread the best news ever heard!

Sadly, some people today are suspicious of of churches that reproduce new believers, new groups and new churches, thinking that they must only be growing because of gimmicks or watering down the Scriptures. Some even believe that "normal" is hanging on and surviving rather than "thriving"

While the early church was persecuted and suffered much, "thriving" and "reproducing" was NORMAL. A quick look at Acts reminds us of this:

Acts 1:15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)

Acts 2:41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Acts 2:47 And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 4:4 But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.

Acts 5:14 ...more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.

Acts 6:7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Acts 9:31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria... grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.

Acts 11:21 The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

Acts 11:24 ... a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

Acts 13:49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.

Acts 16:5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

Acts 18:8 Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.

Acts 19:10 ...all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

Acts 19:20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

I fervently believe that God's desire is for every faithful church to be fruitful and reproductive. Some will grow faster. Some may grow larger - but every church has the potential to make new disciples who make other new disciples. Some will help new churches to grow with their faithful mission gifts. Others will plant new churches themselves. All can reflect and live out God's mission heart "all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

Marks of a Missionary Movement #5 - Adaptive Methods

In Steve Addison's book Movements that Change the World, Adaptive Methods is the 5th mark of a Mission Movement.

Addison reminds the reader that various forms of soccer (football) "have been played for thousands of years in diverse cultures." Why is that? "You can drop a round ball at the feet of a three-year old child and she can start playing immediately." That is not true of American football, baseball or golf. Soccer can be adjusted to play in any circumstance, geography and people group. It is an adaptive sport.

Adaptive methods in mission are like soccer in that they are simple, easy to learn, contagious, adaptable, transferable and low cost. Dwight Marable of Missions International has done extensive research on Missional Movements and found the same thing in research released in 2010's A Comparison of Root Principles in 2 Recently Assessed Nations, Missions International. Dwight found that where exponential growth of the church is taking place "training is given in small pieces in the homes of believers, at the village well, or in the rice field. They learn enough to implement and do, and they go and do just that. . . There is no waiting period. . . everyone should be teaching new converts and unbelievers creating a culture of training."

Adaptive methods enable a movement to function in ways that suit changing environments without changing the core beliefs. How can we know when adaptive methods are needed. Addison offers a powerful analysis:

"When powerful organizations and movements in one era end up crippled in the next, the cause is often 'the failure of success.' They stop learning and adapting. Worse still, the informal methods that brought initial success become formalized and inflexible with complex policies and procedures. Creativity and innovation jump ship or are made to walk the plank."

What is the solution? Revisit and embrace core beliefs; Give the young and young at heart freedom to pioneer new adaptive methods. Support grassroots missional networks at the local and regional level. Give permission, encouragement and support to those who demonstrate the spread of the one true Gospel in diverse and innovative ways and learn from them.

I would encourage you to order Steve Addison's book Movements that Change the World from http://www.movements.net

Marks of a Missionary Movement #4 - Rapid Mobilization

In his book Movements that Change the World, Steve Addison tells the story of Roland Allen to introduce the 4th mark of a Missionary Movement, Rapid Multiplication.

Allen was an Anglican missionary who wrote about planting churches among those who had not yet heard the Gospel. Born in England in 1868, Allen was ordained and served as a missionary in North China. As Allen challenged the methods of planting of churches in the early 20^th century he wrote a book titled Missionary Methods: St Paul's or Ours? Allen looked at the spread of the Gospel in Acts and noticed that where he saw the church growing exponentially in his day, it resembled what he read about in Acts. But mostly he saw slow, cumbersome, highly ordered ecclesiastical ways of planting churches which resulted in the addition of a few churches at best and looked very little like the early church. He grieved that multiplication was not happening in most places except for where indigenous people groups took it upon themselves to plant churches. He advocated a return to the methods of St. Paul.

Allen wrote "This then is what I mean by spontaneous expansion. I mean the expansion which follows the unexhorted and unorganized activity of individual members of the Church explaining to others the Gospel which they have found for themselves…I delight to think that a Christian traveling on his business, or fleeing from persecution, could preach Christ, and a Church spring up as the result of his preaching."

While his ideas were largely rebuffed by the Church of England, they sound much like the way the Gospel spread and churches were planted exponentially in Acts.

Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

The Greek here means to make disciples “in your daily comings and goings," or "as you pass from one place to another.” That's what followers of Jesus do. Acts 8:1, 4 tells us how this unfolded for early believers " On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria…{4} Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went." Who left and who stayed? The Apostles stayed in Jerusalem, and the other believers were scattered? So – who did the preaching? The scattered believers did…everyday followers of Jesus.

The result of the preaching of these scattered followers? The story of the church at Antioch paints the picture. Acts 11:19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Acts 11:20-21 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

The powerful witness of Christians scattered throughout the Mediterranean world resulted in churches being planted everywhere.

Does this kind of rapid mobilization still happen? It is happening in 3^rd world areas. In 2000, there were 360 million Christians in Africa. At the present rate of growth there will be 633 million Christians there making it the second largest Christian continent after South America. Fifty years ago the fledgling church in China was reeling from the expulsion of Western missionaries. Today the Christian church in China grows by 16,500 new believers each day! Why is this happening? It happens because new believers are excited and empowered to share Jesus the day they become a believer.

This can happen in North America among Lutheran Christians! As pastors and other leaders empower people to learn to know, love, listen to and share Jesus with their unbelieving friends, the Holy Spirit can work to bring about faith and new life! I want to be a part of that. How about you?

Marks of a Missionary Movement #3 - Contagious Relationships

While strategies and plans are helpful, nothing reaches movement status until it spreads through "preexisting networks of relationships." That is the third mark identified by Steve Addison in the book Movements that Change the World.

In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell pointed out that one of the three characteristics of epidemic change is "contagiousness". Gladwell discovered "the critical role that groups play in social epidemics…small, close-knit groups have the power to magnify the epidemic potential of a message or idea."

That was certainly the case in the early church. By 40 AD, disciples of Jesus likely numbered 1,000 to 3,000 followers. By 300 AD, historians estimate there were 6 million believers, nearly 10% of the Roman Empire. The spread of faith in Jesus was fast, spontaneous and with no central organizing organization! It spread through contagious relationships. We know that it is happening that way in China, India and other parts of Asia. I believe it is beginning to happen in North America again as well.

Several times in the last month as I stopped at various coffee shops in North Texas, I noticed small groups of mostly young people (most everyone is younger than me these days) huddling over their Bibles with cups of coffee, deep in conversation over what they were reading. I don't think this is an uncommon occurrence. In fact, even though denominations and local churches are declining in number, I am hopeful that there are signs that the Spirit is blowing a fresh wind of faith in our culture as young disciples of Jesus are sharing Good News, often in very public spaces.

A few final thoughts from Steve Addison. He states that one of the most important factors in one coming to faith is "a close and positive relationship with a committed participant." That happens in the context of relationships. Malcolm Gladwell talks about the rule of 150...the number of people most of us are able to maintain a relationship with. Each of those 150 have 150 more people. Imagine what would happen if you began praying for God to use you to influence "your 150". What would happen if you urgently asked the Holy Spirit to give you the opportunity to share Jesus with them? Would that work? Think about how it worked here:

John 1:41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah."