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Reproducing Church Movements

Written by Jon Ferguson

There is a lot of talk about movements – freedom movements, people movements, church-planting movements.  The theme of the 2009 Exponential Conference was “The Art of Movements.”  And while there is a lot of energy and momentum in the church-planting world surrounding reproduction, I’m not convinced we are yet experiencing what could be called a real church-planting movement. 

If we want to see a movement of reproducing churches some things will have to change, and one of the things that must change is our systems.  They must be simplified in order to reproduce at a rate that will result in a movement.  Here are three systems that we must simplify.

1. We must have a simple discipleship model. 

When we look at Acts 2 we see three key experiences for every Christ-follower: 

• Celebrate which is primarily about a growing relationship between us and God (“all the while praising God.” – Acts 2:47) 
  
• Connect is primarily about a growing relationship between us and the church (“Everyday they continued to meet together.” – Acts 2:46) 
  
• Contribute is primarily about a growing relationship between us and the world (“shared everything they had.”- Acts 2:44)  
  

A simple model for discipleship is to expect every Christ-follower to be growing in these three experiences. 

2. We must have a simple leadership path 

We base our leadership development path on 2 Timothy 2:2, where Paul writes this to his apprentice Timothy: 

“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." 2 Timothy 2:2

We see four generations of leadership in this message from Paul to Timothy: 

• Generation 1 – Paul
  
• Generation 2 - Timothy
  
• Generation 3 – Reliable Men
  
• Generation 4 – Others
  

That challenge caused us to create a simple leadership path that looks this way:  

 

3. We must have a simple training plan  

In Acts, Luke makes an easily overlooked point about Paul’s interaction with his apprentice Timothy.  He says, Paul . . . “wanted to take Timothy along for the journey.”  (Acts 16:13).  Below is our interpretation of what it might have looked like for Paul to take Timothy “along for the journey” and what it could look like for a leader to reproduce him or herself in an apprentice. 

• I Do.  You Watch.  We Talk. 
  
•  I Do.  You Help.  We Talk. 
  
• You Do.  I Help.  We Talk.
  
• You Do.  I Watch.  We Talk.
  
• You Do.  Someone Else Watches.  
  

Ultimately only God can provide what is necessary to see a real movement of reproducing churches.  And while we are seeking him, asking him to fuel this movement, let’s check our systems, keep them simple, and be sure they are not getting in the way of what God might want to do through us.