The following is a guest blog post by Jon Ferguson, a founding pastor of Community Christian Church in Chicagoland where he provides leadership in new ventures. Jon is one of our 50+ speakers at the Exponential Regionals this fall:
Multiplication Thinking is Not Enough
There aren’t many aspects of church life, discipleship, and leadership development that I have given more thought to than multiplication. I think about how to multiply more disciples, leaders, groups, teams, churches, networks and even movements every single day. But I also realize that thinking about this and dreaming about it will only get us so far. My behavior must follow suit. And the core competency and defining behavior of a multiplying leadership culture is apprenticeship.
We love using the word apprentice because it conveys the idea that the person in that role is aspiring to something more. An apprentice is not a co-leader or an assistant leader; an apprentice is someone who is being equipped and trained to become a leader.
In his second letter to Timothy, Paul writes: “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” (2 Timothy 2:2)
Paul took the life-changing message of Jesus and passed it on to Timothy, who would pass it on to other trustworthy people, who would then pass it on to others. There are four generations of Christ-followers being apprenticed in these verses.
- First Generation Paul
- Second Generation instructs Timothy
- Third Generation to invest in “reliable people”
- Fourth Generation “who will also be qualified to teach others”
Leaders require followers for sure, but true leadership is not measured by the number of people following you, but by the number of leaders you multiply. In light of that, we have a simple process that has proven successful in multiplying leaders in almost every leadership role or function of the church. But before I walk through it, ask yourself: Who is someone you could bring alongside yourself like Paul brought Timothy alongside him? And what would it look like to walk that person through what we call “The 5 Steps to Apprenticeship”? Now, I know you might think, “I can’t believe he is showing us this 5 Steps again.” I make no apologies because this may be something you are familiar with . . . something you think about, but here’s the question: Are you actually putting it into practice? Have you let your multiplication thinking lead to multiplication action or behavior?
Step 1: I do. You Watch. We talk.
Step 2: I do. You Help. We talk.
Step 3: You do. I help. We talk.
Step 4: You do. I watch. We talk.
Step 5: You do. Someone else watches.
These five steps can lead you from multiplication thinking to multiplication behavior
and form the basis of a multiplying movement!
Special Invitation from Jon
Jon Ferguson is one of over 50 speakers at the Exponential Regional conferences this fall. Join Jon and others at the Southern California and Chicago regional conferences!
Hero Maker Conferences
Hero Maker is the theme for Exponential 2018. The theme focuses on the shift from being the hero to coming alongside others for them to become the heroes in our church’s unfolding story. At each conference, we will unpack the 5 essential practices for leaders to multiply leaders: multiplication thinking, permission giving, disciple multiplying, gift activating, and kingdom building.
| 5 Main Sessions | 10+ Speakers | FREE Equipping Labs |
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Regional Conference Locations
- Washington, DC: September 10-11
- Southern California: October 2-4
- Bay Area: October 22-23
- Houston: October 24-25
- Chicago: November 6-7
- New York City: December 5-6
To learn more and to register for any of the 2018 Hero Maker conferences, click here.
