Multiplying Churches One Name at a Time

By James Leman

“There are roughly 350,000 churches in the USA. Less than 1% are multiplying.” – Pastor Frank Briggs at the RiverX Conference

I had coffee recently with an old friend. He and his entire extended family — a very influential family — used to attend the church I pastor. They were active members and pillars in our church body. Roughly 11 years ago, conflict happened. My friend, his entire extended family, and many other people who were relationally tied to this family left our church.

Soon thereafter, the group that left started meeting together to pray, to look at Scripture, and to worship together. It did not take long before a “church” was born. A name was picked. A 501(c)(3) was applied for and granted. Signs were made. Volunteers for child care were found. The rest is history.

My old friend (who I had coffee with) has pastored that church since it began. They recently celebrated 10 years as a church. As I sat with him, drinking my mocha, we celebrated the goodness of God in this story!

So does that count as me (or the church I pastor) being part of a church plant? Does that qualify me to write an article on multiplying churches? I do not see myself as a church planter or a church multiplier. I have never felt like I had that gift set from God.

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“To reproduce churches, we must first reproduce disciples/believers.”

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A Change of Heart

I recently had the privilege of attending The RiverX Multiplication Conference that took place in the days immediately before The River Conference’s Leadership Summit in San Antonio, Texas. Over the course of those two days, followed by a dynamic one-day Leadership Summit, I have had a change of heart. I have realized that God has called me and equipped me to multiply churches. He has called me to do that, however, with one person, one name, one story at a time.

In the Great Commission, found at the end of Matthew’s biography of Jesus of Nazareth, the last thing Jesus told His disciples was:

“I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18–20 NLT).

Notice this: Jesus did not tell His disciples to go and plant churches. He told them to go and make disciples, but not to stop there. Make disciples who obey all the commands Jesus gave, which meant that this final command, “Go and make disciples,” was a command the new disciples were to obey as well.

Multiplying churches occurs when disciples make disciples, and they, in turn, make more disciples. It is a continuous cycle.

In their book “Planting Missional Churches: Your Guide to Starting Churches That Multiply,” Ed Stetzer and Daniel Im write, “Reproduction is the goal — reproducing believers, ministries, and churches.”

Far too often, we skim over the “reproducing believers” and go straight to the “reproducing churches.” We go to conferences. We read books. We develop a strategic plan. We send out a plant team who feel God nudging them to go with the goal of planting a church that will grow in numbers.

Friends, we cannot miss that first part of the Stetzer and Im quote. To reproduce churches, we must first reproduce disciples/believers. We must take Jesus’ charge literally and make disciples (who, in turn, make more disciples). How do we do this? One person at a time. One name at a time. One story at a time.

Names and Stories

In his book “Planting by Pastoring: A Vision for Starting a Healthy Church,” author and church planter Nathan Knight gives the charge to: “Plant by pastoring names, not numbers.” Knight reminds us that “Jesus didn’t hastily build the church. He was deliberate and careful. He prioritized relationships over speed. … Names, not numbers concerned Him.”

People. Real humans with stories. Names concerned Jesus.

Names like Simon — who would one day have his name changed to Peter “the Rock.”

Names like Matthew — who would have had a story of mistrust and hatred, but that story changed when Jesus called his name.

Names like John — who knew one thing: He was a disciple that Jesus loved.

I mentioned earlier that I do not see myself as gifted or hardwired to plant churches. I am a pastor at heart, a shepherd of souls. I love learning people’s names and stories, walking with them in life and faith, figuring out with them how to order their lives around Jesus Christ. I love the relational side of church ministry. Relationships take time. They are messy. It is out of relationships that multiplication of churches happens.

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“I multiply churches by multiplying individuals who seek to live out the call of Jesus to make disciples who make disciples.”

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Three of the six multiplication truths discussed at the RiverX Conference demonstrate this:

• Multiplication must be born out of love. It’s individually crafted, not mass-produced.
• Multiplication is relationally driven.
• Multiplication is slow at first, but give it a few years, and it transforms a neighborhood.

I now see that I am called to be a church planter. I do that by investing my time and effort into one person at a time, one name at a time, and one story at a time. I multiply churches by multiplying individuals who seek to live out the call of Jesus to make disciples who make disciples.

If this is how we have breakthrough multiplication of churches, one name and one story at a time, then I guess I am a church planter after all.

Are you a church planter? Who are you pouring your life into? Who are you walking life and faith with? Who are you discipling? Who are you challenging to go and do likewise?

I spent years pouring into my friend that left the church I pastor. Now, he is pouring his life into other people in the church he pastors. By this shift in mindset, I guess I have planted a church! Let us all become church planters! In the words of Nathan Knight:

“Let’s plant churches that plant churches that plant churches who aim at names [relationships], not numbers, so that more and more people might treasure Christ together, forever.”

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