by Gary Reinecke | Oct 9, 2016 | Church Growth, Church Multiplication, Disciplemaking, Focused Ministry, Leader Development, Uncategorized |
You are probably familiar with a Level 1 church. It is a church bent on survival. In 1988 I began a long and arduous journey with Historic First Church in Phoenix, AZ. The only way out of the dismal decline, from my perspective, was to plant a new and vibrant church with the intent of revitalizing the parent church. To work within the denominational polity we were led to plant a church within a church – aka “venue”. Some 25+ years later that new congregation has evolved into an urban, multi-ethnic community of faith call Urban Connect relocated in the revitalized warehouse district. Lot’s to report from that experience but for now, this Level 1 church serves as a good example of a church that has taken the leap to become a Level 4 church – read more below.
Previously, I introduced the book “Becoming a Level FIVE Multiplying Church Field Guide” (by Todd Wilson and Dave Ferguson with Alan Hirsch) and five levels of church multiplication as follows:
- The primary characterization of Level 1 churches are “subtraction, scarcity, and survival.”
- The primary characterization of Level 2 churches are “tension, scarcity, survival, and growth.”
- The primary characterization of Level 3 churches are “addition, growth and accumulation.”
- The primary characterization of Level 4 churches are “discontent, new scorecards and reproducing at all levels.”
- The primary characterization of Level 5 churches are “multiplying, releasing and sending.”
I found the book with the self-assessment helpful to determine where congregations are on the multiplication continuum. Read “Becoming a Level FIVE Multiplying Church Field Guide” and administer the self-assessment to determine where you are on the multiplication continuum. Here are a few questions to help a Level 1 church reflect and move forward, based on a self-assessment the authors created:
- Are we content being a Level 1 church?
- What options do we have to grow and reproduce?
- What level can we, by God’s grace, realistically become?
- What steps can we take to get from here to there?
- What steps will we take?
In the upcoming blogs I will take a closer look at the 5 Levels of Multiplication to illustrate the characteristics above with questions to coach your team to the next level.
by Gary Reinecke | Oct 2, 2016 | Church Growth, Church Multiplication, Leader Development |
Last year my home church, Crosspoint Community Church established it’s first “site” or campus in a local winery. The venue is intimate, DVDs of the sermon are played to convey the message and a large percentage of the people who now call Crosspoint in the Vines their home were not in a church 18 months ago. In a few months, Access Church will go public representing the first church plant that Crosspoint has launched. This affirms one of the two primary missions of the local church – “to care for the poor and plant churches” according to Lead Pastor, Steve Redden.
In the book “Becoming a Level FIVE Multiplying Church Field Guide” (by Todd Wilson and Dave Ferguson with Alan Hirsch) the authors identify five levels of multiplying churches as follows:
- The primary characterization of Level 1 churches are “subtraction, scarcity, and survival.”
- The primary characterization of Level 2 churches are “tension, scarcity, survival, and growth.”
- The primary characterization of Level 3 churches are “addition, growth and accumulation.”
- The primary characterization of Level 4 churches are “discontent, new scorecards and reproducing at all levels.”
- The primary characterization of Level 5 churches are “multiplying, releasing and sending.”
I found the book with the self-assessment helpful to determine where congregations are on the multiplication continuum. Read “Becoming a Level FIVE Multiplying Church Field Guide” and administer the self-assessment to determine where you are on the multiplication continuum. Here are a few questions to help you reflect and move forward based on your assessment:
- Where are we today?
- Where can we grow?
- What level do we want to become?
- What steps can we take to get there?
- What will we do?
In the upcoming blogs I will take a closer look at each of the 5 Levels of Multiplication to illustrate the characteristics above with questions to coach your team to the next level.
by Gary Reinecke | Sep 19, 2016 | Church Growth, Church Multiplication, Coach Training, Disciplemaking, Focused Ministry, Leader Development, Personal Development, Uncategorized |
“The Coaching 101 Handbook” was published so that church planters, pastors and church multiplication network leaders would be equipped to empower missional leaders (2003). Since then, the handbook has been translated into a couple of languages, hundreds of leaders have been trained and are coaching using the process known as the Five R’s. The purpose Bob Logan and I co-authored this resource was to offer a comprehensive coaching process that is spiritually anchored in Christ.
I’ve done a bit of reflection on the basic skills of coaching since then. As a result, I’ve altered the language slightly under the third area, from giving feedback to “Timely Advice”. It focuses on the the “timeliness” of the feedback Of course, advice-giving is discouraged in coaching and only encouraged when the person being coached has exhausted her/his ideas.
Why is that? I like to put it like this:
You have a 50-50 chance that anyone will do anything you suggest; but when people discover something for themselves, the ratios change drastically (like to 95%) that they will act!
- Listening: “…it is best to listen much, speak little, and not become angry;” James 1:19
- Asking: “Then he asked, ‘Who do you think I am?’ Peter replied, ‘You are the Messiah.'” Mark 8:29
- Advising: “Timely advice is lovely, like golden apples in a silver basket.” Proverbs 25:11
I have also re-discovered that the most important discipline is at the hub of the illustration. Apart from Him, we can’t accomplish anything of value. The ability to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit and help leaders align themselves with God’s agenda sets world-class coaches apart from good coaches. This reminder gives us confidence in a Helper to accomplish the task.
- Abiding: “When you obey me you are living in my love, just as I obey my Father and live in his love.” John 15:10
Abiding in Christ is the glue that makes the three skills above “sticky” – it is a game-changer for leaders. How many times have you had people you coach come back days, weeks, months or even years later telling you that what you helped them take action on – confirmed the very thing the Lord had been prompting them to do? This is the gift that you give to people and sometimes, you receive a gift in return and experience the impact.
If you have a story of how you have helped people take action in obedience to Christ or make shifts in their leadership, please share your insights below. Until next week – keep on empowering leaders!
by Gary Reinecke | Aug 22, 2016 | Church Multiplication, Coach Training, Leader Development |
A couple of weeks ago I was speaking to a church planting leader.
He asked my opinion on the best way to develop a church planter. I suggested that he first take a look at the essential skills a planter needs to plant a church. Then I asked him what that training process would look like. His response did not surprise me…
- Just-in-time training is the best way to equip a church planter because the learning loop is short.
- The ideal context he told me, would be the church where the planter is already engaged.
- And finally, although some classroom instruction would be helpful, having a coach was paramount.
I affirmed his insights and then asked him if he would be interested in seeing a pathway to apprentice a church planter, highlighting best practices others have gleaned from their experience. His eyes lit up, suggesting that he would be very interested. That’s when I told him about the Church Planter Pathway Storyboard.
The beauty of the Church Planter Pathway Storyboard is that a coach can use this to apprentice a prospective planter using a one page format (called the One Page Coach) but is not bound to a particular model. Four developmental phases illustrate the ongoing process a church planter must visit and revisit, again and again, until a high degree of confidence has been demonstrated in the various skills needed. Because this is a competency-based process the planter-in-training does not “graduate” until competency has been achieved vs. completing a course or working through a set curriculum.
See if the Church Planter Pathway Storyboard touches on the most critical areas of developing a church planter based on your experience.
by Gary Reinecke | Aug 13, 2016 | Church Growth, Church Multiplication, Disciplemaking, Focused Ministry, Leader Development |
The question goes something like this: “Is there a difference between discipleship and leadership?” In your experience I wonder if you have found that discipleship and leadership bleed into each other. I actually had a leader ask the question and it caused me to reflect – my initial response was “Yes, there a difference.”
One simple distinction is that discipleship focuses on following and leadership, on influencing. This to is too simplistic of course; because a leader, the best leaders, follow Jesus. At the same time though, a disciple does shift their behavior when they lead and intentionally influence others.
I’ve spent a lot of time over the last 25+ years focusing on these two dimensions. If you would like to read more, check-out the free downloadable article entitled the Leadership Multiplication Pathway (go to the bottom of the page). In the article, I focus on the distinctions between being a disciple and a leader, using the Leadership Multiplication Pathway storyboard to illustrate a path leaders can use to coach people on their journey.
by Gary Reinecke | Aug 8, 2016 | Church Growth, Church Multiplication, Disciplemaking |
The organic vs. linear conversation about making disciples continues.
Organic, or highly relational approaches work. Linear, or programmatic approaches work. Church planters and pastors make disciples in a way that is effective in their context. You make disciples in your way.
One approach does not fit all.
When leaders know the process of disciplemaking they realize that, as long as the goal is clear and behavioral milestones are established; they can personalize their approach. By the process, I mean, the essential behaviors of a maturing disciple e.g. broadly defined as loving God, loving your neighbor and making disciples. In practice, they blend the organic with the linear.
For instance, one leader that experienced the tension between an organic and linear approach discovered a happy medium with a very simple strategy that requires a discipleship coach, to guide emerging disciples through the phases of maturity e.g. connecting, growing, serving and reproducing. He has contextualized a strategy so that it incorporates the essentials of disciplemaking using the Making Disciples storyboard (seen above) as the framework. The storyboard describes the process of a maturing disciple.
Here are some ways disciplemaking coaches use the Making Disciples storyboard in a coaching relationship:
- Assessing: Where are you in your journey?
- Clarifying: What’s next on your journey?
- Evaluating: How are you doing in this area of your journey?
- Brainstorming: What can you do to grow in this area to keep moving forward in your journey?
- Confirming: What will you do to continue your journey?
Connecting leaders with tools to make more and better disciples is a passion. Take a closer look at the Disciplemaking tools to see if this helps you refine your process. Please share what has worked for you below so that we can learn from each other.
