- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Greater rates of conversion.Statistical studies show that conversion rates tend to be higher in multiplying churches than churches that have one centralised location.
- A grass roots feel.A newly pioneered church feels raw and edgy rather than institutional. A lot of people find this vibe attractive.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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?