Can a denomination become a multiplication movement again?
This is the looming question I’ve been living with over the past eight years of denominational leadership. In 2016, I was invited to serve as the director of Church Multiplication for The Wesleyan Church. Previously, I had planted multiple churches, started a church planting network, and taught several church planting courses. In those roles, change and innovation came relatively easy. However, when I began serving at the denominational level, I quickly discovered denominational culture change takes a long (emphasis on long) time and innovation isn’t necessarily the default posture of a well-established denomination.
When I began my denominational role, I knew if movement was the goal it would require a lot of experimentation and innovation. Over the years, our tribe has certainly moved the needle on church multiplication and there have been several lessons learned. Here are five principles that have helped shape our current culture of multiplication innovation:
1. Culture change must happen from the top-down and the bottom-up.
I like to say The Wesleyan Church is a safe place to do something dangerous. The leaders at the top of the organization have sought to create a “perMISSION” giving environment for innovation and new forms of church. But the real innovation is going to come from the leaders actively engaged in the mission field. One of our mantras that has helped create a permission-giving atmosphere has been, “It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people!” Over the years, we have worked to create an environment where pioneering leaders feel welcomed and accepted.
2. Apostolic multipliers will lead the way.
Most apostolic leaders struggle to fit into typical lead pastor roles within a denomination. I know this because I am one! Apostolic leaders tend to envision ministry occurring far beyond their Jerusalem (or local community). Apostolic leaders don’t just see a community — they see a region or territory. Apostolic leaders view their Ephesian 4 equipping gift as a stimulant for all other gifts (prophets, evangelists, teachers, and shepherds). It’s not uncommon for apostolic leaders to have a train of leaders behind them who also sense a call into ministry. Instead of squelching the uniqueness (and messiness) of apostolic leaders, our tribe has attempted to fully empower and release control to those leaders who function with apostolic impulses. This has led to several church planting networks and these leaders have also discovered the unique value of being connected to a broader denomination.
3. Champion the stories of multiplication catalysts.
Within The Wesleyan Church, church planting has been a value for decades and we would regularly tell the stories of church planters who were reaching a new area for Christ. One of the things I knew we needed to shift was from telling the stories of church planters (which we still do) to also telling the story of the church that was multiplying and sending the new church planter out. On the local level, when I was a pastor and we were doing a baptism event, I would typically have the disciple-maker of the individual getting baptized also be a part of the baptism. When we shared baptismal stories, I would point out the disciple-maker and celebrate them. In the same way, when a new church is planted, we want to make sure we celebrate the sending church just as much (if not more). This shift has changed our culture dramatically and moved us from being about church planting to being about church multiplication.
4. The denomination’s essential ecclesiology must be clarified.
One of the dynamics we realized was how multiplication innovation sparked new forms of church. These new forms were operating with a different scorecard and different counting system. From the denominational level, we set out to clarify what we called our Essential Ecclesiology. This clarity allowed our apostolic leaders to experience a new sense of freedom and excitement for multiplication innovation. Plus, it allowed our smaller-to-midsize churches to embrace multiplication with new creativity. Our Wesleyan Essential Ecclesiology description can be found here: https://www.wesleyan.org/whats-a-church.
5. Leadership roles must be clarified (national, regional, and local church).
Early on in our multiplication innovation journey, we held an event called Unleashed. The goal of this event was to unleash our apostolic leaders and multipliers. To do that, we needed to clarify who is responsible for the movement. At Unleashed, I remember saying, “Denominations and districts don’t plant churches — it’s the local church that plants churches best!” However, we had to be honest and recognize most of the planting authority and veto power was still being held at the denomination/district level. We hadn’t fully empowered the local church to multiply in the way they felt led and we hadn’t fully empowered the local church with financial resources yet. We knew our denominational and district leaders certainly had roles to play in multiplication innovation, but we wanted our local leaders to feel the responsibility for their Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Our Acts 1:8 initiative was created for this precise reason. Years later, it’s exciting to see the multiplication innovation coming from our local churches and most of our pioneers/planters are coming out of our sending churches.
The two big goals in The Wesleyan Church are: 1) Reach and surpass a 6 percent reproduction rate, and 2) See at least 16 percent of our churches become sending churches. We have made a lot of progress, but we still have a way to go. Without a doubt, pursuing and making room for innovation has transformed our multiplication culture.
The prophet Isaiah sensed God doing a new thing in his day when he echoed God’s words, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:19).
I believe God is up to something good in the 21st century and denominations still have a purpose if they can leverage Holy Spirit empowered innovation. The present church era will require innovative leaders and our denominational institutions must embrace change. What will arise in the not so distant future will be beautiful!
