11 Advantages of Multiplying Churches

  1. A greater sense of community.It’s hard to ‘one another’ one another when you don’t know one another. Multiplying churches maximises the sense of community at each.
  2. People know the leaders personally.It’s weird to follow someone you have heard speaking on a stage but never met in person. It’s not weird to follow someone you have been in the church planting trenches with.
  3. More ownership.When you’re a new church of 20, it’s a lot harder for people to cruise along as passengers than in a large church that is not multiplying.
  4. Effective pastoral care.When you multiply churches, people are in congregations where everybody engages with everybody else. It is a lot more difficult for pastoral issues to slip through the net.
  5. More opportunities to serve.Multiplying churches means multiplying preachers, worship leaders, kids workers and so on. There is more opportunity for people to step out in their gifts.
  6. Greater rates of conversion.Statistical studies show that conversion rates tend to be higher in multiplying churches than churches that have one centralised location.
  7. A grass roots feel.A newly pioneered church feels raw and edgy rather than institutional. A lot of people find this vibe attractive.
  8. City-wide impact.In a big city, there are different communities with different cultures. Multiplying churches are able to plant into these different cultures and truly impact a whole city.
  9. No leadership bottleneck.The more established a church is, the harder it can become for newer and younger people to take on responsibility. Multiplication prevents this bottleneck.
  10. Greater Flexibility.It is easier to turn a nimble fleet than a clumsy convoy. Being able to respond to circumstances or prophetic words is important in church life, and multiplied churches can respond more flexibly.
  11. Corporate Worship.The New Testament paints a picture of gathered worship where everybody brings a contribution. This is much more likely when you multiply churches than in one large church where the scale can hinder.

What others would you add? Can you think of any disadvantages?