Monochurch - Exponential

Project: Monochurch
Leader: Cam Huxford

Purpose

Monochurch exists to reach the next generation with the gospel online, and then connect those who respond to a network of house churches where they can be discipled.

Project Categories

Church Planter Recruiting and Equipping
Church Planting and Funding Model
Collaborative Methods for Increased Planting
Digital Engagement and Technology Models and Methods

Disciple Making and Church Engagement
Methods and Models for Mobilizing Everyday Missionaries
Micro Models and Expressions

Big Idea and Overview

Jesus gave us the mission for our church in Matthew 28: “Go and make disciples.” Here is our approach to the two core tasks of the Great Commission. We “go” to the next generation online. In that way, we can meet them where they are instead of relying on them coming to us. Then we “make disciples” by connecting the people who respond online to a network of house churches where they can be discipled by believers. Our network of house churches is spread across five states (and counting) so that we have more places to disciple the people who respond. In June of 2021, we reached 41,000 people online and saw 7 of those connect to our house churches. In Nov of 2021, we reached 35,000 people online and saw 6 of them connect to our house churches. As of June 2022, we have reached 6 million people online, 22,000 responded, which led to 2,000 online conversations and we are currently trying to figure out how many will connect. We have two pathways for the people we reach online. One pathway is for non-Christians and the other is for Christians. The pathway for non-Christians is designed to lead to them connecting to someone at a house church. The core metric we look at is how many conversations we can create between a non-Christian and a Christian. The pathway for Christians is designed to get them into a Zoom training where they learn how to plant a house church. Practically, we use online channels with our church name, “Monochurch” to reach Christians because anything with the word “church” in it will get suppressed online in reaching non-Christians. We use online channels which are “under cover” and go by the name “Ghost Ship” to reach non-Christians.

Customer / Mission Field Context

We have two separate “avatars” or target audiences we are trying to reach. The first is the young millennial or Gen Z age non-Christian who will never visit a physical church or watch an online service. Statistically, the next generation of non-Christians will not come to us so we must go to them. The second is the young millennial or Gen Z age Christian who is disenfranchised by the consumerist side of church culture and longs to participate in the Great Commission in a meaningful way.

Our context is the internet. Church history could be told through three technological advancements: The Roman roads, the printing press, and the internet. As demonstrated with the first two, the Church grew exponentially when Christians leveraged cultural innovations. We have yet to truly leverage the internet. The big post-Covid innovation of the internet that the church has yet to leverage is this: vast physical communities can be connected online in a meaningful way. This innovation has nothing to do with reach. Reach is fairly easy. The next opportunity is more about connection.

Goals and Desired Outcomes

3-Year Goal: I simplified our vision for our leaders as best as I could in this statement. “I want you to have a great-grandchild in the faith.” Our first goal is to see 4 generations of disciples and 4 generations of house churches planting other house churches. By the time we get there, we will have seen thousands of conversions.
6-Year Goal: To plant 3,600 house churches in six years. We are learning how to do this directly from a “Disciple Making Movement” in India that has planted 7,000 churches in 7 years. We intend to plant one house church for every county in America in 6 years. (Not necessarily in every county.)
12-Year Goal: To create an open door into the church for every non-Christian in America. This does not currently exist. Not everyone is welcome to the church because currently, non-Christians must fit into specific cultures to feel comfortable visiting a church. To complete this goal, we would have to re-activate the priesthood of believers in America, go to the lost rather than asking us to come to us, and plant a house church on every street. There are currently not enough entry points into the church.
50-Year Goal: Complete the Great Commission. The early church grew from a handful of people to 33 million people in 300 years by the power of the Holy Spirit and by leveraging cultural innovation. The modern-day church can reach the entire world on the internet and create an opportunity for every one of those people to be discipled. If one church plant can reach 6 million people online in the first year, think of what we could do if we all work together.

Results and
Impact

We look at everything we do in terms of the two core tasks of the Great Commission that I stated above. So I’ll divide the list into two:

Go – go to the lost online

6 million people reached with gospel content
1 million returning viewers
22,000 comments
2,000 conversations

Make Disciples – disciple people in house churches

5 house churches were planted initially
3 of them have replicated
Churches in Seattle, Phoenix, Dallas, Nashville, and Savannah, GA
5 baptisms in the first year
The first season of house church leader training produced the 8 current churches
Season two is beginning now
Season two of training includes a group of families in Europe
We will add churches in New Jersey, Prague, and Houston in the coming months.