Health, Growth and Multiplication
by Rob O’Neal, Director of Church Multiplication
A healthy church, like any other living organism, multiplies itself. It’s a principle we find in nature, particularly at this time of year. May is when the irises bloom in our yard. My wife planted them shortly after we moved in, and they exploded the next spring with new blooms and shoots. Pretty soon our irises had multiplied to the point that beds were overgrown. That’s just what healthy irises do.
However, that is not the case for the irises underneath the tree in our front yard. They dwell in relative shade, and despite getting the same soil and water as the others, the lack of sunlight makes them unhealthy. Consequently, they barely bloom and don’t multiply. My wife plans to take them out this summer.
Similarly, Jesus said in John 15:5 that if we would abide in him — stay connected to him, listen to his voice, and obey his commands — we will produce much fruit. Healthy followers of Jesus make more followers of Jesus. Individually that means that disciples bear fruit by making more disciples. Collectively, churches bear fruit by starting more churches.
It’s happening across our conference right now. Church planters are going to new regions like a seed sent up by some healthy plant, floating on the wind until it finds fertile ground where it springs up and grows. In other cases we see churches in a region working together to bring a new church into being. The best cases are the congregations who sense God’s call to multiply and start a new church nearby.
Research shows that this principle includes our Conference. Sociologist and church planting expert David Olson has found that thriving Christian groups have church multiplication movements embraced broadly across the organization. Those groups who lack such a commitment decline. Jesus’ words even apply to our Conference!
Healthy churches multiply. It’s that simple. That’s why the Church Development ministry of the CCCC views church multiplication as an integral part of their process. In the end a newly healthy church will start new churches.
Just ask St. Peter’s Reformed Church in Zelienople, Pennsylvania. Jim Bertoti, the church’s pastor, has been an integral part of the Church Development ministry for some time. Now his congregation is involved in blessing the beginnings of a new congregation in a nearby town. St. Peter’s member Andy Pepe is leading a ministry that may become the Berean Bible Chapel. As St. Peter’s grows more and more healthy, it is multiplying. Jesus’ multiplication principle still works!
We can be grateful that the CCCC is a healthy place. The evidence is a thriving church multiplication movement. God is blessing our work for his glory.
