FMX Connects Free Methodist Multipliers

by Jeff Finley

Denominational executives hoped to attract a few dozen church planters to the recent Orlando gathering that launched FMX — a relational network of Free Methodist individuals and church-planting groups collaborating for the multiplication of disciples, leaders and churches.

“We thought there might be 30 or 40 folks who show up for this initial event,” Co-Strategic Catalyst for Multiplication Larry Walkemeyer said, “but we ended up with 105 at the banquet.”

The FMX kickoff was held at a time when some Free Methodist church planters were already in Orlando to attend the interdenominational Exponential conference, but FMX also attracted some people who didn’t attend Exponential.

“I was incredibly pleased with the turnout,” said Bishop Keith Cowart, who was reminded of a John Wesley quote: “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.”

“It just occurred to me: ‘We’ve got 100 people sitting here in the room right now.’ Wesley felt like he could see England turned around with 100 preachers,” Cowart said. “If every one of us had that same passion for God and to be free of the power of sin, to pour our lives into the kingdom, it’s amazing what God can do.”

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“We have a heritage, and it’s in our DNA that the church multiplies.”

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FMX worked closely with Free Methodist superintendents in determining whom to invite, and multiple superintendents and assistant superintendents attended the kickoff.

“I’m super encouraged about the launch of the national initiative for church multiplication in the Free Methodist Church,” said Southern Michigan Conference Assistant Superintendent Dustin Weber who also serves as the executive director of Mission Igniter, a church multiplication incubator. “We have a heritage, and it’s in our DNA that the church multiplies, and the body as a whole has so many resources to be about the work of multiplication. I think FMX is going to be a great way in which those resources are shared, and a greater multiplication work will happen as the result of it.”

Weber added that the Orlando kickoff event “did a great job of casting vision for multiplication.” He said Mission Igniter, which “provides the systems necessary inside of a movement of church multiplication,” is “grateful for the opportunity to join with others that are also likeminded and also delivering some of these services.”

Common Values, Many Models

Christ-compelled multiplication is one of the five core values of The Free Methodist Way. Bishop Cowart said FMX is “critical to where we’re trying to go, because if we’re saying that we value Christ-compelled multiplication, that has to get into our culture. The whole idea of multiplying disciples, leaders and churches really has to get into our movement at a deep level, and that doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by intentionality.”

He said “a huge step” is the hiring of Larry and Deb Walkemeyer as the strategic catalysts for multiplication. “We need leadership that is experienced — and has seen a great deal of fruit from multiplication — to help us deeply ingrain this value in our culture. Their leadership has been outstanding. They’ve done it at a super high level.”

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“We’ve got to be so much more kingdom-focused than just building our own little empires and our churches.”

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The bishop added that the Walkemeyers are “not bringing a model but bringing values and principles.” Regarding the FMX kickoff, Cowart said, “the beautiful thing about that gathering was that it was well-represented by various models. … We’ve got to be so much more kingdom-focused than just building our own little empires and our churches.”

Deb Walkemeyer explained that the FMX kickoff was designed to “identify all the different things that are happening across the country in our family. When you are going to plant a church, you have to contextualize it, and so we were hoping that FMX could be like an umbrella network that brings together all the different networks in our denomination so that they can work together and cross-pollinate each other. We’re not going to endorse just one type of model.”

She added that “it helps us as a denomination to really support and champion everything that’s being done in a healthy way.”

J.R. Rushik, an elder in the Acts 12:24 Churches Conference who serves as the Church Development Network’s director of strategic alignment, said “one of the things that I love about FMX” is that it’s “a network of networks  — not in competition, but encouraging and strengthening one another for the glory of God.”

Rushik added that he is “encouraged by Larry and Deb’s commitment to see every local community saturated with churches that meet the unique needs of the local community. FMX is creating an environment where all styles of churches can be planted and celebrated.”

Spirit-Fueled

FMX seeks to ignite Spirit-fueled multiplication. Participants in the kickoff event gathered under the banner of Acts 9:31, “… Walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the church multiplied.”

“We as Free Methodists have a special emphasis on that in terms of holiness — living in the fear of the Lord, the reverence and the awe of who He is, what He can do, and what He requires of us,” Larry Walkemeyer said. “As we take that posture, we expect to receive this power of the partnership of the Holy Spirit.”

Bishop Cowart also said the Holy Spirit is key to multiplication.

“We’re praying for a Spirit-fueled movement. It’s not something we can create,” Cowart said. “Only the Spirit can bring movement, but there are things we can do that would help ignite a Spirit-fueled movement, and prayer certainly is one of those.”

Kingdom-Oriented Leaders

According to the Walkemeyers, FMX’s purposes include:

• creating empowering relationships.
• uniting in movemental prayer.
• learning collaboratively.
• distributing supportive resources.
• optimizing polity toward multiplication.
• connecting leaders to ministry opportunities and supportive networks/organizations.
• convening FM leaders for inspiration, equipping and movement.

Bishop Cowart emphasized that multiplication includes developing leaders.

“I’ve never seen a truly successful church plant that didn’t have really solid leadership,” he said. “We have to be committed to raising up high-quality leaders, so pastors have to be willing to invest significant amounts of time in raising up leaders, helping to equip them, and giving them opportunities to develop their leadership gifts in the church.”

Cowart said churches should be kingdom-oriented and generously contribute leaders to multiplication.

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“Existing churches will, without question, be healthier if they’re committed to the value of multiplication.”

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“Generosity is a value that I think has to be at the core of everything a church does even at the point of being willing to give away your best leaders,” Cowart said. “It takes a high degree of generosity to say, ‘We’re going to raise up leaders, and we’re going to release them to the kingdom to do greater work.’”

Some people seem to believe church planting is in competition with making churches healthier, but he suggested the opposite is true.

“Existing churches will, without question, be healthier if they’re committed to the value of multiplication,” Cowart said.

Get Connected

An FMX website is forthcoming, and FMX is also working to build an email list for a newsletter that will be sent approximately once a week and share multiplication resources, stories and quotes from Free Methodist leaders involved in multiplication. For more information about FMX, contact your conference superintendent or email Larry and Deb Walkemeyer at Larry.Walkemeyer@fmcusa.org or Deb.Walkemeyer@fmcusa.org. +