Thoughts on The Multiplying Church

Bob Roberts Jr.’s, The Multiplying Church, is a very practical guide to church planting.  So, for those of you not interested in church planting I would suggest skipping this post.  Further, for those of you inclined to buy books I write about, I would recommend Organic Church over this work.  With all of that said, Roberts does makes some good points.

Foreword:

At the center of Roberts’ thinking is the dream of planting churches that plant other churches.  This is something he has done very well out of his church in Texas.  To accomplish this he focuses on leadership development and discipleship. 

In this vain Roberts encourages pastors to “constantly encourage members to get out where real people with real problems live and be Christ” (11).  This focus is similar to Missional Church thinking and Organic Church thinking—leave the safety of the church building and start living out faith in the real world.

Chapter 1:

The first chapter focuses on Jesus movements in Asia.  Helpfully, Roberts observes that these movements do not start because of a plan but rather individuals experiencing Jesus and being so passionate that naturally they reach out to their friends and family and the next thing is there is a church.  There is almost no institution.

The key in this type of movement is pouring into the lives of people and making authentic disciples rather than buildings and programs.  These movements are predicated on believers having an authentic relationship with Jesus and everything else flowing from that.

Chapter 2:

Roberts dream is to launch a global church planting movement.  To do this he wants to see local churches start to plant churches.  And for local churches to plant churches it will mean the involvement of everyone at the church including people like lawyers and business owners.

Chapter 3:

The key is to plant churches that plan on planting other churches.

Research has shown that “hiving,” sending part of an existing church off to start a new church is a very slow process.  Most churches can only hive once or twice and each time it takes about five years to recoup the leadership sent off.  So, instead, Roberts brings potential church planters to his church and mentors them and then sends them off to start churches from scratch.

Chapter 4:

Roberts argues that the goal of all church planting is transformation.  His hope is that church plants will be focused on transforming the communities they are part of.  To do this churches must engage in all spheres of a community’s life.

Chapter 5:

A huge component of all of this is for pastors of small churches to be willing to invest and train church planters.  For example Mark Harris has run a church of 150 people for fifteen years and planted 18 churches from that base.

Chapter 6:

The key trait of a church planter is to be a daredevil—church planting is a risky endeavor.  Also, they are visionaries who can lead others to see their vision as well.

Chapter 7:

The lay disciple also needs to be set free to take risks for God.  The key for a church to plant other churches is a pastor who can make heroes out of ordinary disciples.  It’s not about church planters but rather disciples.  To accomplish this we have to be willing to let disciples do more than just help run programs on Sunday morning.  Further, we need disciples who view their work place as their primary ministry.

Also, disciples need to be servant minded, prayerful, and willing to live a Christian life, which is an adventure.

Chapter 8:

The key is to start with the community and work towards planting a church that will transform the community.  Part of this is looking at all domains of a particular community.

Chapter 9:

One key is to gather a core group that is excited and in love with Jesus.  Then the hope is to let the enthusiasm of new believers reach other people.

Chapter 10:

Roberts lays out a seven-step decision matrix that he uses in this chapter which is actually pretty interesting.  The first step is call—“everything starts with a call.  What has God called you to do?” (142).  This point is very valuable—often in ministry almost everything works against fulfilling one’s call.  The second step is values—values determine behavior—so working towards the right values is key.

The third step is purpose.  Roberts argues that God has a purpose for all of us—which is helpful—but I’m not really sure the difference between call and purpose.  Roberts really does not lay that out.  The fourth step is vision, which lets us see the place we are going.  The fifth step is strategy, which combines the first four steps into a more concrete plan. 

The sixth step is leadership, which focuses on developing other leaders.  And the final step is evaluation.

Chapter 11:

Finances are the greatest stress point of a church plant—and it really takes a miracle from God for church plants to make it financially.  One key issue is for the church planter to make the biggest financial risks and be the most sacrificial with their money.

Chapter 12:

Another big struggle of church planting is learning how to do everything publicly.  The planter learns how to plant a church amidst doing all of life publicly and this is very challenging.  There is never enough time to get everything done and it is very difficult to balance family life along with spiritual practices.