a mustard seed church
A few months ago, I blogged about mustard plants. (Never mind that that post was supposed to be the intro to a series. The ideas have continued to flow, they just never made it to the blog!)
Some of that thinking has really helped form some ideas about the initial stages of what our church community might look like. I was able to develop the ideas in a paper for a class. While at a church planting boot camp a few weeks ago, I reworked that paper to form a general strategy for developing a multiplying church model. It is linked below for those who are willing to take the time to read it. I’d be thankful and honored if you would share the thoughts and questions that it stirs for you.
Tags: church planting, hodos project, life, mustard
27. May 2008 at 12:32
[...] that is designed to reproduce itself. I’ve posted that strategy on my personal blog — A Mustard Seed Church. I would be grateful to anyone who takes the time to read through it and offer your questions and [...]
29. May 2008 at 08:45
[...] came across this post a mustard seed church over at some strange ideas It has some interesting thoughts about the mustard seed being an [...]
16. July 2008 at 12:23
[...] Mustard Seed Church Here is John Chandler’s post containing a link to his paper regarding a possible model for a replicating church. I love the idea [...]
12. August 2008 at 16:56
[...] was my response to my friend Doug’s email earlier this summer. He had read the strategy document I was developing for our church start up. After reading it, he thought that it was similar to a [...]
13. August 2008 at 11:37
john… just got done reading, so these will be rough thoughts.
1st let me say that it was good to hear the strategy for your passion - i have been waiting awhile for this work in progress (sorry it took me so long to find this since it was posted in may). as i have said before, you are one of the smartest people i know. i really like this as a starting point. the emphasis on multiplcation sounds terrific.
i am left curious about the specifics of a couple of details, but i a sure that they are in the works.
how will the network be maintained? will it be voluntary, like a collection of small groups?
where will the supporting resources come from for the pastoral need? and also for the public meeting space (once you reach 50+ you are outside of the structural capacities for the avg. home)? how great will the need be?
beyond multiplication what will be unique about the network that will give it a means to overcome any of the organization challenges that a traditional model faces?
last question (maybe this answer won’t be published online): what won’t be a part of this model that is a part of the traditional model?
*** i will keep chewing on this ***