Some leaders are secretly afraid of reproducing new sites or new churches. And if you could get inside their brains this is what you would hear them saying, "But if I send a hundred people to go start a new site, I'm not sure the existing church will be able to take that kind of hit" OR "If I encourage some of my best people to leave and go be a part of a church plant, I'm not sure our church could recover from that kind of loss." We have got to let go of that fear; the church was made to be a reproducing organism and designed to be a missional sending agency.
We had about 25 people move from Chicago along with Troy and Janet McMahon to Kansas City to start Restore Community Church. This past weekend they had a great start with over 400 people at their launch. We also sent out about 190 people mostly from our CCC-Naperville and CCC-Romeoville to go and start CCC-Plainfield. And if you are a reader of this blog you know that we had a great first weekend with well over 600 people at that new location. So, what about the existing church that lost some of key leadership? What about the existing sites that sent 190 of their very best out to start this new site? How are they doing? Are they going to make it? I was looking at the stats that David Girdwood sent me and our attendance this past weekend was up by more than 1000 over the previous four week average. Our attendance at CCC-Naperville was up by over 200 and CCC-Romeoville was up by almost 100 over the average of the previous month despite sending 190 people out as a part of the launch team at CCC-Plainfield.
I definitely don't mean this as a boast, but only as a grace - it seems that God blesses Community when we reproduce and send people out to accomplish His mission.
Awesome post Dave!
I'm in total agreement on this one. We planted our church 2 years ago from a church of 400. Last weekend they had 500 in worship and we had 250. That's a total of 750.
To any pastor thinking about starting a new location or planting...don't let your fears hold you back from experiencing God's blessing.
Posted by: daleschaeffer | March 06, 2008 at 06:43 PM
When leaders are drawn to the thought of scarcity they become blind to the potential of new leadership from their church community.
As you send out your leaders you have a great opportunity to raise up new leaders, with new ideas and new energy. This makes for fresh culture and a different kind of church.
You are not just planting a church [or site] but renewing your culture, your people, your leadership.
Posted by: Kevin Rush | March 07, 2008 at 07:49 AM
What's that corning saying, "If you love something let it go, if it comes back to you, it's Wuv, tru wuv" - - -or something like that.
Yeah, our church, Church of the Highlands, is a multi-campus church and we continue to see amazing ROI (return on investment) when we send people to help launch a church. That's how we have to view it, as an investment and not an expense. Rock on C-cubed!!!!
Posted by: The Church Bartender | March 07, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Dave - great job on Tuesday, I hear that Almond Latte of Love increased your approval rating by 15%. It was my pleasure to be your Bartender for a day.
Posted by: The Church Bartender | March 07, 2008 at 11:05 AM
I would be interested in knowing what the size of the church/churches were that sent forth these people to the new church starts. And is there a size that a church should be if they intend to send 40-50 people out to start a new church? Should there be any concern for the mother church's health as well?
Thanks
Posted by: Mark Frenier | March 10, 2008 at 10:33 PM