We expect doubt to follow failure, but Scripture shows us something more unsettling. Fear often shows up after victory, when the cost of obedience becomes real and the future feels exposed. Genesis 15 meets us in that exact moment.

This chapter reminds us of a steady truth. The God who calls is faithful, even when our faith is fragile.

Victory Can Precede Vulnerability

Genesis 15 does not begin in a neutral moment. It comes on the heels of Abram’s most faithful stretch yet. He has defeated powerful kings, rescued Lot, and refused the spoils of Sodom. By every visible measure, things are going well.

Yet fear rises almost immediately. Abram has no land, no heir, and a small army to defend himself. After his recent victory, retaliation is possible. The future feels uncertain. Scripture shows us that fear does not always come from loss. Sometimes it comes from realizing what obedience will now require.

This is where God meets Abram. Not with rebuke, but with reassurance.

God Calls Fragile Faith Righteous

Before Abram says a word, God speaks. “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield. Your reward will be very great” (Genesis 15:1). God does not promise ease or protection from hardship. He promises presence. In the ancient world, a shield wasn’t decoration you put on a wall, it was used in war to absorb the blow meant for the soldier. Basically God is confirming to Abram that whatever comes, it will not reach him without passing through God first.

Abram responds honestly. He addresses God as “Sovereign Lord,” acknowledging both God’s authority and covenant faithfulness. Yet he also voices his concern. He reminds his Sovereign Lord that he’s still childless and the promise still feels distant. 

Ultimately, what God said and what Abram sees do not yet match.

This is not rebellion. It’s actually relational faith. Abram does not hide his fear. He brings it to God. Scripture consistently shows us that faith is not the absence of fear, but the decision to bring our genuine curiosity to God’s.

God responds, not with correction, but with vision.

Faith Trusts What It Cannot Yet See

God takes Abram outside and invites him to look up. The stars become a picture of promise. God does not give Abram a strategy or a timeline. He gives him a future shaped by trust.

Genesis 15:6 tells us that Abram believed the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness. This moment matters deeply. Abram is declared righteous before the law exists, before the promise is fulfilled, and while fear still lingers.

Faith, in Scripture, is not confidence in outcomes. It is trust in the One who promises.

God Remains Faithful When Faith Asks Questions

Belief does not silence Abram’s questions. Shortly after trusting God, Abram asks again, “How can I know that I will possess it?” His faith leans in rather than pulling away.

God does not shame the question. He initiates a covenant. In the ancient world, this ceremony meant total commitment. It was a declaration that the promise would stand, even at great cost.

My point is: Questions do not disqualify faith. Honest questions can deepen it. Scripture shows us that God is patient with curiosity rooted in trust.

Disclaimer: Why It’s Important to Know God Can Handle Our Curiosity

God’s invitation to bring our questions to Him is not an endorsement of unbelief, but a recognition of our humanity. Scripture consistently shows that faith and questions are not enemies. In fact, when questions are brought honestly before God, they often become the very place where trust is deepened rather than diminished.

First, this truth normalizes questions without excusing unbelief. The Bible does not shame those who wrestle. We hear this posture clearly in the prayer, “I believe; help my unbelief.” Honest questions acknowledge both faith and fragility at the same time. God is not threatened by this tension, and neither should we be.

Second, it reveals God’s patience and faithfulness toward His people. Jesus invites the weary to bring their cares and anxieties to Him with the promise of rest. This is not the language of a distant or irritated God. It is the voice of a patient Father who knows that faith grows best when fear and concern are brought into His presence rather than hidden from it.

Third, honest curiosity keeps momentum moving toward covenant rather than away from it. God responds to Abram’s questions not by withdrawing, but by clarifying His promise and strengthening His assurance. God already knows what we need before we ask, yet He invites us to speak so that our trust can be formed through relationship, not mere compliance.

Finally, learning to bring questions to God prepares us for the darkest seasons of faith. If we only practice honesty with God when things are going well, we will struggle to trust Him when clarity disappears. God’s faithfulness in moments of questioning trains us to remain present with Him when answers feel distant but His promises still stand.

God Carries the Promise Through the Darkness

As the covenant unfolds, Abram falls into a deep sleep. Darkness and terror descend. God reveals a future marked by suffering, waiting, and delay. Four hundred years will pass before the promise is fulfilled.

God does not minimize the hardship. He names it clearly. Faith does not erase suffering. It anchors us within it.

Then something remarkable happens. God alone passes between the covenant pieces. Abram sleeps while God commits Himself fully to the promise. This is not a shared agreement. It is a unilateral covenant.

The promise does not rest on Abram’s strength. It rests on God’s faithfulness.

The Weight of the Promise Rests With God

Genesis 15 shows us that God assumes full responsibility for what He promises. Abram participates, but he does not secure the outcome. God binds Himself to the future.

This points forward to the gospel. Just as God walked alone through the covenant in Genesis, Christ bears the full cost of redemption at the cross. The blessing promised to Abram comes to us through faith, not performance (Galatians 3:13–14).

God does not ask us to be strong enough. He asks us to trust Him.

Living With Fragile Faith

Faith does not mean certainty. It means bringing fear, questions, and hope into God’s presence. It means trusting God when success exposes vulnerability and when waiting stretches longer than expected.

Genesis 15 invites us to release control and rest in God’s commitment. The God who calls does not abandon His people in dark seasons. He carries them through.

Wherever your faith feels fragile today, remember this. God is more committed to His promises than you are.

A Call to Trust

God does not carry His promises forward by demanding stronger faith from fragile people. He carries them forward by binding Himself more deeply to what He has already said He would do. When Abram’s faith is quiet, hesitant, or worn thin, God does not withdraw. He draws nearer. He reassures. He shields. The weight of the promise never shifts onto Abram’s shoulders. It remains firmly in God’s hands. This is what trust looks like in dark seasons, not confidence in ourselves, but confidence in a God who refuses to let go of what He has promised, even when our grip feels weak.

Three Takeaways about God’s Faithfulness When Our Faith Is Fragile

1. Be encouraged to take honest questions to God.
   God does not rebuke Abram for his fear or uncertainty. Instead, He meets him in it. Scripture shows us that doubt, when brought honestly before God, becomes an invitation for deeper trust rather than a disqualifier from God’s work.
2. Remember God is a shield in both successful and scary seasons.
   God declares Himself Abram’s shield not only when danger feels close, but also when success could quietly replace dependence. God protects His people from fear and from forgetting who sustains them.
3. Believe God is more committed to His promise than we are.
   The fulfillment of God’s promise never hinges on the consistency of human faith. It rests on the faithfulness of God Himself. When our faith feels fragile, we are not abandoned. We are carried by a God who finishes what He starts.

These truths remind us that God’s faithfulness does not rise and fall with the strength of our faith. He is steady when we are uncertain, present when the path feels unclear, and committed long after our confidence wavers. The promise moves forward not because we hold on tightly, but because God does.

Exponential NEXT Podcast Episode 97

Series: Thinking Ahead: Pastors and AI

Title: Chad Williams, CEO of FiveQ agency, provides a comprehensive biblical framework for evaluating AI and technology in ministry. Drawing from Scripture, he traces technology through creation, fall, and redemption to help church leaders make wise decisions about emerging tools.

In this episode, Chad addresses the questions your congregation is already asking about AI. He explains why technology reflects God’s creative nature, how sin corrupts its purposes, and how redemption transforms even the most dangerous tools for kingdom impact.

You’ll learn four practical evaluation questions for any technology decision:

• Can I trust the source?

• Is it communicating truth or spreading lies?

• Does it amplify or replace human work?

• Am I creating or just consuming?

Chad demonstrates these principles across five ministry contexts: sermon preparation, administrative tasks, discipleship and pastoral care, outreach and communications, and volunteer training. Each example shows the “human sandwich approach” where human judgment bookends AI processing.

Whether you’re responding to concerned congregation members or evaluating AI tools for your team, you’ll gain theological grounding and practical wisdom for stewarding technology in ministry.

This episode is part of the Exponential AI NEXT podcast series. Learn more about how to get up to speed with AI for church at exponential.org/ai-next.

Guest:

Chad Williams, Five Q, CEO

Category: AI NEXT

The Need

I talk with a lot of church leaders these days – and almost all of them feel a similar tension.

They long to be faithful. Faithful to God’s Word. Faithful to the gospel that transformed their lives. Faithful to the people God has entrusted to their leadership. Simultaneously, they can feel the ground shifting beneath them. Their communities are changing. Culture is morphing. People’s willingness to engage with the church is not the same as it was a generation ago.

The need for innovation in the church in America has never been greater.

For some leaders, that word sparks hope. For others, it creates anxiety and even maybe fear. Innovation can feel like a threat – leaving tradition behind, chasing the latest trends, or experimenting with things that are too sacred to get wrong.

Bring this up in most churches, and there will be pushback of some form. You can count on a headwind the further outside the box the ideas become.

What If?

I love to play the what-if game. So let’s give it a go.

What if innovation isn’t the issue?

What if the real issue is how we understand innovation and the posture we bring to it?

What if the local church was never meant to be a museum to preserve sacred traditions, but was a laboratory where the Kingdom of God is practiced in real time?

As I type that question, I hear the prophetic words of Isaiah, “I am doing a new thing, can you not see it?” I also hear Jesus saying, “You will do even greater things than me.” I recall the words of Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus, “Now to Him…who can do immeasurably more than we can dream or imagine.”

What might it look like for the church to lean into a more innovative posture of leadership? Let me take a shot at answering that.

Innovation Starts with Posture

Before the church and its leadership need new strategies, it needs a new posture.

Posture is deeper than strategic planning. It is not about just another whiteboard full of new ideas. It also is not about simply the next big idea. It is way more than simply thinking outside “the box.”

It is who we are as leaders. It is seen through the convictions we hold and the curiosity we bring to the table. It is about what we have been called to, who we have been called to. A posture of innovation is about way more than being clever or cutting-edge.

It is about being awakened.

• Awakened to a new depth of relationship with God’s Spirit. 
• Awakened to the needs of others in a fresh way.
• Awakened to where God is already at work in our neighborhoods, communities, and city.

A posture of innovation is humble enough to admit we do not have it all figured out, and confident enough to trust that God is already at work where He is leading us. It is not about defending what has worked in the past. It is about discerning what might work in the future. Innovation that flows from posture doesn’t feel chaotic. It feels grounded. It is grounded in prayer, deep listening for Father’s voice, and likely the willingness to fail forward.

The Church as a Laboratory for the Kingdom

When I talk about the church as a laboratory, I’m not talking about reckless experimentation or new for the sake of new. A laboratory is a serious place. There are structures and rules that guide any experiment. It is a place where questions are taken seriously, learning is valued, and “failed” attempts are welcome.

That’s a powerful image for the local church.

In a Kingdom laboratory, experimenting with theology is off the table. God’s truth and the Gospel are not up for debate. What we are testing is methods. We are searching for a new cup that will encourage someone far from Jesus to be curious enough to want to take a drink.

We’re asking questions like:

• What does following Jesus look like in this neighborhood?
• How do people encounter Jesus today in real time, relationally?
• What kinds of spaces would help people grow as disciples in the places where they work, live, and play?

In that sense, experimentation isn’t unfaithful – it’s incarnational. It’s our attempt to live out the way of Jesus in real places, with real people. Any chance the inspiration is stirring to create a Kingdom lab in the church where you are planted? It is possible, maybe even necessary. Keep reading!

Two Kinds of Innovation Every Church Needs

One of the reasons innovation creates tension in churches is that we often talk about it as if it’s one thing. It’s not.

Healthy churches lead in at least two lanes of innovation at the same time.

Sustaining focuses on strengthening what already exists. It improves current ministries, clarifies systems, and helps churches serve people better within their established structures.

Disruptive, on the other hand, creates space for new expressions – new ways of gathering, discipling people, and forming community that may not fit neatly into existing forms of ministry.

Both matter. Both are faithful. And both need leadership, innovative leadership.

When we fail to clarify these two lanes, it often increases the potential for conflict. When we bless both, creativity can emerge and trust can flourish. 

Many churches are pretty good at sustaining innovation. They usually have systems in place that help them adapt and improve over time. What is missing for most is the disruptive.

Creating these lanes can empower a whole new pathway for new things to emerge. It will also likely surface a new level of leadership for someone who is currently parking cars or holding open a door and providing a smiling face at your weekend worship gathering. Building a Kingdom lab will be accompanied by a whole new way to empower and mobilize leaders who can build new expressions of church in new places and spaces.

How a Kingdom Laboratory Works

The good news is that faithful innovation doesn’t require massive budgets or complex strategies. It requires a learning rhythm.
Kingdom laboratories operate with a simple model:

• Discern – Pay attention to where God is already at work or calling you to join Him in a new place or space. 
• Dream – Ask what faithfulness might look like here, and now.
• Experiment – Try something new. Give a new approach a try. Feel free to even call it an experiment. 
• Notice – Watch what happens. Listen for stories. Observe resistance. Look for traction.
• Learn – Reflect on what this revealed about people and the mission.
• Adapt – Decide whether to refine, expand, or let it go.
  

This approach replaces fear of failure with a commitment to discernment. It is learning your way into a greater level of impact and effectiveness as you innovate as you go. It reminds us that outcomes are not fully in our control, but obedience still matters. Trust the process until God shows up; the fruit will follow.

Measuring in a Kingdom Lab

If the local church is a laboratory for the Kingdom, impact has to be measured differently. We need a new scorecard, or at least an updated one.

Nickels and noses are no longer effective. A reimagined scorecard needs to include more meaningful signs of transformation. Here are a few possible adds: 

• New relationships emerging with people who are far from God.
• People growing in obedience to Jesus through discipleship relationships that are seeing reproduction to multiple generations (See 2 Timothy 2:2).
• New leaders being identified, developed, and mobilized for mission. 
• New expressions of church getting launched.

These kinds of fruit often grow slowly. They don’t always show up on a dashboard when the journey begins for something new. They are deeply aligned with the heart of God and a great start to updating how we know if we are winning.

Courage Required

Let’s be honest: a posture of innovation around the local church isn’t easy.

It asks leaders to live with uncertainty. To release control. To say, “We’re learning,” instead of pretending we are sure.

But it also aligns us with the story of Scripture – a story where God consistently calls people into new territory without giving them the full map.

Innovation isn’t a distraction from pastoral leadership. In this cultural moment, it might just be part of our calling.

This article was never intended to answer all your questions or give you everything needed to build a Kingdom laboratory. My hope was that you would become curious enough to lean into the idea of what it might take to do build something to mobilize leaders in a new way in your current setting.

Practicing the Future Now

The church should be the most creative and innovative organization on the planet. Making a statement like that and then not backing it with some framework might seem lazy. If you have read this far, you know there is not the space to double-click on that idea here.

I am going to ask you to just trust me that it is true. Therefore, it should be normative that the local church should be a constant flurry of activity as new Kingdom ventures reach into new corners of our world.

The future of the church won’t be found by waiting for clarity. It will be built by leaders who are willing to practice the Kingdom of God now – through faithful, prayerful experiments.

When the church adopts a posture of innovation, it becomes more than an institution reacting to change. It becomes a living witness – a place where God’s future is rehearsed in the present.

In the words of Ted Lasso from the closing scene from Season 1 Episode 10, “Onward. Forward!”

For many leaders, the word “network” immediately conjures images of organizational charts, headquarters, bylaws, and boards. We imagine large conferences, complex funding models, and logos. We think of bureaucracy. We think of something that requires permission to start and a massive budget to sustain. 

If that is your definition of a network, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that you are probably too exhausted to build one. The good news is that you don’t have to.

That isn’t what a network is. At least, not the kind that changes a city. 

Over the last decade, through NewThing and now with Networks NEXT, I have watched thousands of churches attempt to work together. I have learned that while we often overcomplicate the structure, the essence of a movement is actually breathtakingly simple.

A network is not a corporation. A network is not a denomination (though it can exist within one). A network is simply a small group of churches that come together as friends on mission to multiply disciple-making churches together.

It is relational. It is missional. And it is accessible to anyone, anywhere.

But while the definition is simple, the execution requires intentionality. Just as a human body has vital signs that indicate health, a network has specific markers that separate it from a social club or a coffee group. We call this the Anatomy of a Healthy Network, and it is built on four shared commitments: Relationships, Reproducing, Residents, and Resources.

We call them the 4Rs. If you want to build a network that lasts, you don’t need a building or a staff. You need these four things.

R1: Relationships (The Foundation)

The first “R” is the one we most often skip when we get busy: Relationships.

In a healthy network, leaders are relationally connected. This goes beyond knowing each other’s names or attending a quarterly meeting. It means there is genuine trust, friendship, and shared life.

Why is this the foundation? Because mission is heavy. Planting is risky. Leadership is isolating. If you try to build a structure of multiplication without a foundation of friendship, the weight of the mission will eventually crush the structure. As I wrote last month, relationships are not a side feature of mission; they are the soil where multiplication grows.

I have seen networks that looked impressive on paper – great strategy, clear vision, strong funding – collapse within two years. Why? Because the leaders didn’t actually like each other. When the inevitable crisis hit, there was no relational equity to draw from.

Conversely, I have seen networks start with nothing but a few pizzas and a shared burden for their city. Because those leaders took the time to become “friends on mission” – eating together, praying together, and telling the truth to one another – they built a durability that allowed them to weather storms and eventually multiply.

A healthy network is a place where leaders give each other permission to slow down relationally so they can speed up missionally. It is a safe harbor where you are known, not just respected. If your network doesn’t feel like friendship, it isn’t a network yet. It’s just a meeting.

R2: Reproducing (The Engine)

The second “R” is Reproducing.

A healthy network reproduces by design. This is what distinguishes a network from a support group. Support groups exist to care for the people in the room; networks exist to reach the people outside the room.

Most of us were trained in the mathematics of addition. We ask questions like, “How can I grow my church?” or “How can I get more volunteers?” There is nothing wrong with addition; healthy things grow. But addition will never result in the saturation of a city. To reach the “16% Mission” – the tipping point where 16% of the population is engaged in a reproducing church – we need a different calculator. We need multiplication.

Healthy networks embed reproduction into their culture from day one. They don’t wait until they are “big enough” to plant. They believe that networks plant more churches and sustain more churches than isolated efforts ever could.

In these networks, the scorecard changes. Success isn’t measured by seating capacity, but by sending capacity. The win isn’t how many people we kept, but how many leaders we sent. When a network is healthy, churches stop asking, “Can we afford to plant?” and start asking, “Can we afford not to plant?”

This shift is difficult for a single church to make on its own. The pressure to keep the lights on is real. But when churches link arms, the pressure is shared, and the courage to reproduce becomes contagious.

R3: Residents (The Future)

If we are going to reproduce churches, we need leaders to lead them. This leads us to the third “R”: Residents.

A thriving network is resident-developing. One of the greatest bottlenecks to movement is a lack of leaders. For years, our strategy was to “recruit” leaders – to find a superstar from another city, hire them, and hope they stuck.

But the most sustainable movements don’t import fruit; they grow it.

Healthy networks commit to raising up the next generation of planters, pastors, and movement leaders from within their own harvest fields. They build pipelines. They identify young leaders (Gen Z and Alpha) who are passionate about causes and mobilize them for the Kingdom. They create residencies where emerging leaders can fail safely, learn deeply, and be tested before they are sent.

When a network commits to this, it changes the local ecosystem. Instead of churches competing for the same three worship leaders or youth pastors, the network becomes a factory for leadership development.

Imagine a network of five churches in your city. If each church committed to developing just one resident a year, in five years you wouldn’t just have five new leaders — you would have a new generation ready to plant the next ten churches. By developing leaders close to home, networks ensure multiplication continues with depth and durability.

R4: Resources (The Fuel)

The final “R” is Resources.

Healthy networks are resource-sharing. This is often the scariest “R” because it touches our wallets and our egos. It requires a shift from a mindset of scarcity (“I need to protect what I have”) to a mindset of abundance (“God has given us enough if we share it”).

In a network, we realize that we can do more together than we can apart.

• Shared Wisdom: One church might be great at evangelism, another at discipleship, another at operations. In a network, those best practices are open-source.
• Shared Talent: Maybe you have a graphic designer, and I have a grant writer. Why not swap?
• Shared Risk: This is the “Investment Benefit” of networks. Planting a church is expensive and risky. If one church tries to fund it alone, a failure can be catastrophic. But if five churches pitch in, the financial burden is distributed. We diversify the risk, which actually encourages us to take more risks for the Kingdom.

When generosity replaces scarcity, competition dies. We stop seeing the church down the street as a rival and start seeing them as a partner. We realize that the resources needed to reach our city are already in the city — they are just distributed across different congregations. The network is the mechanism that connects them.

The Ecosystem

When you put these four commitments together – Relationships, Reproducing, Residents, and Resources – you don’t just get a better organization. You get an ecosystem.

An ecosystem doesn’t force growth; it creates the conditions where life finds a way. In an ecosystem, things cross-pollinate. Strength in one area covers weakness in another. Life begets life.

This is the anatomy of the networks we are building through Networks NEXT. We aren’t looking for administrative geniuses to build complex bureaucracies. We are looking for leaders who are willing to eat together (Relationships), who are tired of addition (Reproducing), who believe in the next generation (Residents), and who are willing to share what they have (Resources).

Start Where You Are

Perhaps you are reading this and thinking, This sounds great, but I don’t have a network. I just have my church.

That is exactly where every movement starts.

You don’t need a headquarters to start a network. You don’t need a 10-year plan. You need a few friends.

Look at your phone. Who are the two or three pastors or leaders in your city that you actually like? Who are the people you call when you’re frustrated? Who are the people you dream with?.

Call them. Buy them lunch. And then ask them a simple question: “What if we didn’t do this alone?”

Start with the relationship. Then, slowly, begin to layer in the rest. Dream about reproducing. Talk about your residents. Share a resource.

That is how the anatomy of a movement begins. It starts with a heartbeat.

Exponential NEXT Podcast Episode 96

Series: Thinking Ahead: Pastors and AI

Title: AI just removed the technology barrier that’s been killing your best ministry ideas.

You’ve had this idea for months. A better way to equip parents. A simple volunteer system. A tool that helps your people apply Scripture to daily life. You can see it clearly. You know it would work.

But then: “That would cost thousands.” “We’d need a developer.” Another God-given vision shelved.

Kenny Jahng shows pastors how churches are using AI to create custom ministry solutions by simply describing what they need. No programming. No developers. No massive budget. Just you, having a conversation with AI—and watching it build exactly what you need.

The prayer system your recovery ministry needs. The family discussion tool. The coordination system that fits YOUR church. AI builds it while you focus on ministry.

You’ll see concrete examples, get a simple roadmap, and discover how your pastoral instincts guide AI to serve your vision.

Use AI to build what your people actually need. You already know what’s needed. Now AI makes it possible.

This episode is part of the Exponential AI NEXT podcast series. Learn more about how to get up to speed with AI for church at exponential.org/ai-next.

Guest:

Kenny Jahng, AI NEXT, Director

Category: AI NEXT

I was 19, a transplant to Chicagoland, and a fresh Bible college drop out. Everything I expected for my life came to a screeching halt, and the only thing I felt like I had was a burden on my heart to see the next generation know and love Jesus. 

For the past two years (yup, I’m 21), I’ve worked in kids and student ministries at Community Christian Church. Immersed in all things next gen, I’ve had a lot of time to figure out who they are, what they want, and what draws them in. I often hear senior pastors theorizing on why the next gen does or does not flock to church. They start asking: Is it branding? Active social media accounts? Trendy programming? Is this all that Gen Z cares about!?

These assumptions aren’t completely misguided. But they’re incomplete.

Here’s my biggest conviction regarding Gen Z: They’re hungry. No matter who you survey, you’ll see it. Hunger, desperation, desire. The question is not if they’re hungry. It’s what they’re being fed… and what the church is offering in response.

So let me ask you a question. What’s your favorite food? (Stay with me here.)

As someone who’d struggle to provide only one answer, I’ll give you two: French fries and steak. 

When I want something temporarily satisfying, and when I’m (choosing to be blissfully) ignorant about what I’m putting into my body, I choose the fries. Every single time. Ordering fries as a side has become one of those knee-jerk reflexes of mine. They’re predictable, and so momentarily good that I forget how regretful I feel afterward.

Then there’s steak. Man. I choose steak when I’m mindful about what I’m eating, when I’m trying to build muscle and stamina, if I want to be sustained, and because it’s obviously the best thing for me. However, if someone were to offer me a steak, I’d probably hesitate to take it, knowing just how expensive and valuable this offering was.

This is where the tension shows up for the next generation. Some are reaching for the fries – whatever offers quick satisfaction – unaware it will leave them searching for more. Others have learned that depth and nourishment matter more than convenience. But underneath it all, they’re still hungry.

So, what does that mean for the church?

It means we cannot keep offering what is quick, easy, or surface level! That’s not how lasting faith is formed. What the next gen needs is not more fries – not more surface-level engagement, performative spirituality, or leaders who only talk about Jesus to fulfill a role description. They need leaders who emulate the life of Jesus. Leaders who walk with them, invite them in, challenge them, and are honest regardless of what it might cost them.

This kind of formation requires patience. It unfolds slowly, often without visible results. But it’s precisely this slow, relational investment that equips them to carry a life-sustaining faith into a world that desperately needs it. The next generation is hungry for authenticity, investment, and belonging. And it’s our job to offer something that nourishes.

Don’t just take my word for it. I surveyed young adults, teens, and emerging leaders and asked a simple question: What do you actually need from the church and church leadership right now?

The answers were not centered around production quality, branding, or innovation strategy. They were deeply spiritual. Deeply relational. And if I’m honest, they were deeply convicting for those of us in leadership. Here’s what they said:

• “I wish pastors would be more of an open book… We need to hear true raw experiences because that’s what resonates to teens, young adults, and even older adults.”
• “I want to hear that my pastor is actively seeking the Lord and listening to His voice… I wish they were more transparent with their humanity.”
• “I need someone to walk me through becoming a better leader.”
• “When I look for a church, I look to be fed truth and to find community.”

If you read those and felt a mix of encouragement and pressure, you’re not alone. Now’s the time to take a deep breath.

I know your plate is full. I know adding another thing to your to-do list can feel impossible. Here’s the good news: You’re not alone. This is not about reinventing the church or the systems you already have in place. It’s about returning to something we were always meant to be. And the best news yet – you have Jesus as an example and a Father who will carry the burden for you.

When you look at the life of Jesus, most of His ministry didn’t happen in temples or in front of crowds. Yes, He taught the masses. But He formed people around dinner tables, on long walks in private conversations, and in moments that we quickly overlook. He ate with people while asking questions, listening, correcting, and encouraging. He invited people into His everyday rhythms. Jesus didn’t just preach transformation – He modeled it in proximity. Gen Z is looking for leaders who are willing to be close enough to help shape their lives.

So, how can that look for you as a church leader? I have ideas. Small, medium, and large perspective shifts to help you reach the next generation. Chew on them for a while. Pray. Then implement the small things first. Let’s take steps together. Ready? Set. Go.

Start With Access

In many churches, senior leaders are unintentionally distant. Not because they don’t care – but because leadership is busy! Whether you’re preparing the coffee, setting up rooms, leading teams, or preaching the message, not many people see all that goes into what people experience on Sunday. I get it. I see you. But to a young leader or attender, distance can feel like disinterest. And trust me – they’re watching for you.

Most young people don’t expect unlimited time with you. But having access (a.k.a. presence) matters more than we think. What if you try this:

• Walk around the lobby before service. Don’t get stuck in the green room. Try to have as many quick interactions with as many people as you can. It takes 30-90 seconds to make someone feel seen.
• Who is sitting alone in the auditorium well before it fills up? A quick glance, a bold hello, and availability to see the person makes all the difference.
• After service, check out the first-time attender spot. Say hi, ask their name, see why they checked it out, and make yourself available if they have questions. They’ll most likely come back next week.
• Who’s the young person on staff that you don’t really know? Get a coffee with them. Make space for conversation that isn’t tied to performance or productivity. Help them feel known.

You don’t have to be everywhere all the time. But being intentionally visible communicates something powerful: You matter enough for me to slow down.

Your Table Is Your New Discipleship Tool

You don’t need a program to disciple Gen Z. You just need a table and a question. Don’t let your lack of hosting skills, need for perfection, or unpolished devotion hold you back. You have what they need: a listening ear and safe place to land. Your presence and consistency build healthy leaders.

Imagine the impact of:

• Hosting a small rotating dinner once a month for young adults or young leaders
  
• Starting a small group of 20-30 somethings, opening your Bibles, reading the scripture from Sunday (no added prep needed), and asking, “What stands out to you?”
• Sharing stories of mistakes, not just victories.

Paul wrote about this in 1 Thessalonians 2:8: “So we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.”

Get this engrained on a hat, T-shirt, or write it in sharpie on your arm. Your life experience is discipleship material. And no, you don’t have to have it all together.

Remember: What You Do Behind the Curtain Is More Important Than What You Do On the Stage

The next generation craves honesty, transparency, and authenticity from their leaders. You can’t form the people you lead if you’re not being formed yourself. You need to lead well behind the curtain.

• Do you have a group of pastors, mentors, and peers to sharpen you and hold you accountable?
• How do you engage your personal relationship with God without turning every devotion time into a public lesson?
• Try not to put yourself in unwise situations. You don’t need willpower to resist a temptation that isn’t present.

A mentor of mine says, “A leader who can’t be questioned can’t be trusted.” Can you be questioned? Are you the same in every room you walk into?

Faithfulness has never started on the stage. Jesus reminds us in Luke 16:10: “Whoever is faithful in the little will be faithful in much.” Long before leadership is public, it’s personal. And the next generation is paying attention to both.

Start small. Be relational. Begin with the conviction that discipleship has always moved at the speed of trust. The future of the church will not be built primarily on better stages, strategies, or systems. It will be built on leaders willing to be known, to invest deeply, and to faithfully form the people God has entrusted to them.

They’re not looking for perfect leaders – they’re looking for present ones who walk closely with Jesus and with them. The church has always been at its strongest when leadership is passed down through relationships. 

Psalm 78 reminds us that we are called to tell the next generation the works of God, not just with words, but with lives worth following.

This has always been God’s design – faith formed through relationship, not performance.

Someone is watching how you follow Jesus.

Someone is learning how to pray by watching you pray.

Someone is learning how to lead by watching how you handle pressure, conflict, success, and failure.

And one day, someone will be standing where you stand now – leading, shepherding, discipling – because you chose to let them walk close enough to learn. You have the chance to offer truth, investment, formation, and Jesus to the next generation. And the best part? You don’t have to manufacture it. You just have to live it.

In 1952, Helen Kenyon, a leader with the National Council of Churches, labeled 11 a.m. on Sunday as “the most segregated time” in America, a lament Martin Luther King Jr. repeated in sermons and speeches throughout the Civil Rights era. 

Everything began to shift around 2000.

In that year, sociologists Michael Emerson and Christian Smith published their now-seminal work Divided by Faith. Their research showed that only about 7.5 percent of all American religious congregations, across all faith traditions, had at least 20 percent diversity in their Sunday morning attending membership. 

At the time, this threshold was emerging as the sociological benchmark for defining a multiracial church. Still, the American church, though faithful in many ways, remained deeply segregated by color, class, and culture, reflecting patterns shaped more by past experience, personalities, and preferences than by the reconciling power of the gospel.

Against that backdrop, when the Mosaix Global Network first championed the vision in 2006 of seeing 20 percent of churches become multiethnic by the year 2020, the goal sounded audacious, if not naïve. How could centuries of racial separation inside the church possibly give way to such dramatic change in just two decades? The skepticism was understandable. The challenge was enormous.

Yet it happened.

As Emerson later observed, “By 2019, that figure had increased to about 18 percent, a growth of 240 percent. Such congregations remain the clear minority but this is a substantial change over a 20-year period. Among evangelicals that change has been even more dramatic. In 1998, less than 5 percent of conservative Protestant congregations were multiracial, but by 2019, more than 20 percent were racially diverse, an increase of more than 400 percent.”1 

By 2024, when broken down by Christian tradition, growth in multiethnic congregations followed a similar upward trajectory:

• Catholic: 17 percent (1998) to 22 percent (2024)
• Mainline Protestant: 5 percent (1998) to 17 percent (2024)
• Evangelical: 7 percent (1998) to 24 percent (2024)

What once appeared impossible has, by God’s grace, become measurable reality. Emerson concludes, “The first quarter century of the Multiethnic Church Movement produced a demographic miracle… We should shout it from the mountain tops. God is working!” 

That language is not merely sociological. It is doxological. Gratitude is the only faithful response to what God has done.

But gratitude alone is not enough.

But Now What?

Every movement that survives its first season eventually faces a defining question. Success creates new responsibilities. Momentum demands maturity.

While the American church has made real and measurable progress toward demographic diversity, it has not advanced nearly far enough toward shared power, justice, or deep unity. Research consistently shows that many diverse congregations avoid difficult conversations about race, inequality, and injustice in the name of “keeping the peace.” In practice, peacekeeping often becomes conflict avoidance, and conflict avoidance becomes a barrier to transformation.2

Emerson and others, such as Korie Little, have named this dynamic with painful clarity. Too often, Emerson notes, we have “dressed up white churches in brown face,” achieving diversity without structural or cultural change. Diversity without equity. Presence without voice. Belonging without influence. 

This reality forces us to confront an uncomfortable truth: demographic diversity, while essential, was never the destination. It was the on-ramp.

From Integration to Maturity

If the first 25 years of what I believe to be a 100-year movement brought initial integration, the next 25 must bring the movement to full maturity. Churches that meet demographic benchmarks will need to move beyond assimilation – integrating individuals into a dominant culture so that differences are minimized or eliminated – and toward accommodation, adapting structures, practices, and expectations where difference is not merely absorbed but genuinely sustained and empowered. Only then can people of every color, class, and culture foster authentic relationships, practice mutual advocacy, and together engage their communities at the bridge of Christ’s humanity. 

To do so, pastors and ministry leaders, churches, networks, and denominations alike will need to set aside lingering fears and embrace faithful interaction with all people, not just some people, for the sake of the gospel and the glory of God.

Mosaix and Exponential NEXT define a healthy multiethnic church as one in which people of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds will themselves to:

• Walk, work, and worship God together as one
• Recognize, renew, reconcile, and redeem broken relationships
• Establish equitable systems of authority, leadership, governance, and accountability
• Advocate for justice, mercy, and compassionate engagement in the community
• Embrace the tension between sound theological reflection and real-world application in an increasingly complex society

These commitments do not emerge naturally. They require intentional leadership, theological clarity, and spiritual courage. They also require churches to confront intrinsic fears: a fear of loss, fear of conflict, fear of offending donors or members, and fear of change itself.

Emerson is right to remind us that unity in a multiethnic church is not rooted in uniformity or ideological agreement. Rather, it is rooted in a shared allegiance to Jesus Christ, before whom all stand equally and from whom all receive grace. 

Why the Next 25 Years Matter More Than the First

The stakes of the next quarter century are higher than those of the first.

In the early years, diversity itself was the miracle. In the years ahead, diversity without depth will no longer suffice. The credibility of the church’s witness increasingly depends on whether our congregations reflect not only the diversity of God’s creation, but the justice, love, and unity of God’s Kingdom.

Pastors Chuck Mingo and Troy Jackson rightly frame this as both a mandate and an opportunity. Ours is one of the most diverse generations in human history. Few eras have been given such a clear chance to embody the oneness Jesus prayed for in John 17 or the vision of Revelation 7, where people from every nation, tribe, and language worship together before the throne of God. 

But opportunity always carries responsibility.

An undivided church is not optional; it is biblical. As such, it is central to the gospel’s credibility in a fractured world.

A Vision Worth Pursuing: By 2050…

Throughout history, entire eras of the church are often summarized in one resonant word. 

For example, ask any church historian, “What was the single greatest move of the Holy Spirit in the fourth century AD that catalyzed a significant advance of the gospel?” Most will likely respond, “Constantine,” referring to the emperor’s dramatic conversion and the subsequent legalization of Christianity across the Roman Empire. 

Likewise, when considering the 16th century, many will say, “Reformation.” They’ll point to Martin Luther’s courageous posting of his 95 Theses to challenge ecclesial corruption, or to William Tyndale’s English translation of the Bible, which ignited a passion for biblical literacy across Europe. 

Now imagine… 

If the Lord has not yet returned, and believers 500 years from today look back and ask, “What was the single greatest move of the Holy Spirit in the 21st century AD that catalyzed a significant advance of the gospel?” what do you suppose they’ll say? What will be the resonant word? 

While we can’t know for certain, still I’m convinced that the word, whatever it is, will testify to this: in the 21st century…

• Men and women of diverse ethnic, economic, and cultural backgrounds willed themselves to walk, work, and worship God together as one, beyond the distinctions of this world that otherwise divide.
• Across the Western world and into the East, followers of Jesus bore credible witness to the reconciling power of the gospel by refusing to remain segregated by color, class, or culture in congregations designed for sameness.
• A systemic shift from prayerful longing to intentional, tangible expressions of Christ-centered unity took place and sparked a movement not centered in any one person, event, or institution, but grounded in incarnational practice among everyday believers.

Toward that end, a new audacious goal emerged at the Mosaix Conference in 2025. As articulated by Troy Jackson and Chuck Mingo, and embraced within the broader movement: 

By 2050, eleven o’clock on Sunday morning is no longer the most segregated hour of the week, but the most undivided hour of the week in the United States.3

That vision intentionally reverses past lament and dares us to imagine a church that finally lives into its calling. A church whose unity is not superficial, but sacrificial. Not performative, but powerful.

The first 25 years proved that change is possible.

The next must prove that maturity is inevitable. Indeed, we must will ourselves to walk forward together… grounded in humility, strengthened by faith, and convinced that God is not finished with His church.

For the sake of the gospel, then, remain prayerful, persistent, and convinced: it shall be done.

NOTES

1. Emerson, Michael O. and Smith, Christian. Divided By Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America (Second Edition: Oxford University Press, 2025).

2. From an article written by Michael Emerson, published by the Mosaix Global Network in its Mosaix Conference magazine, Lift Up Your Eyes. (November, 2025)

3. From an article written by Chuck Mingo and Troy Jackson, published by the Mosaix Global Network in its Mosaix Conference magazine, Lift Up Your Eyes. (November, 2025)

Exponential NEXT Podcast Episode 95

Series: Thinking Ahead: Pastors and AI

Title: How to Get Started with Agentic AI for Your Church and Ministry

Natchi Lazarus breaks down agentic AI in plain language for church leaders who want practical solutions, not complicated tech jargon.

Discover how AI agents work 24/7 on your behalf—creating content, posting to social media, and tracking results while you focus on people. You’ll learn the four essential components of AI agent systems, when to use agents versus simple AI tools, and the SONG framework for implementation.

Get step-by-step guidance to deploy your first AI agents with no-code tools, understand multi-agent workflows, and set up proper guardrails. Whether you’re tech-savvy or a complete beginner, this episode shows you how to transform AI from a confusing buzzword into a practical tool that multiplies your ministry’s gospel impact without requiring coding skills or technical expertise.

This episode is part of the Exponential AI NEXT podcast series. Learn more about how to get up to speed with AI for church at exponential.org/ai-next.

Guest:

Natchi Lazarus – CC Academy, Founder/CEO

Category: AI NEXT

A pastor experiments with an AI writing tool to draft a newsletter. The process takes minutes instead of hours. He pauses, realizing he just gained an afternoon to visit a hospital, return a phone call, and pray without rushing. The moment feels small, but it marks a turning point. Artificial intelligence is no longer an abstract concept. It is becoming part of the fabric of ministry.

According to the recent State of AI in the Church National Survey by Exponential and ChurchTechToday.com, almost 90 percent of pastors support using AI in ministry, and 61 percent already use it regularly for sermon preparation, administration, or communication. The shift is happening everywhere. It is not about machines doing spiritual work. It is about pastors rediscovering what their work is truly for.

Rediscovering Purpose Through Technology

Recently, when I asked a pastor how AI was changing his work, he laughed and said, “It’s helping me breathe again.” He was not exaggerating. For years, administrative details and endless messages filled his week. Now, an algorithm can draft his emails and organize his notes. He can spend more time listening to people and less time managing systems. Technology has not made him less human. It has given him the space to be fully present.

The church has always adapted its message to the tools of its time. The printing press put Scripture in the hands of ordinary believers. Radio and television extended sermons beyond walls. The internet created new ways to gather. AI continues that same line of innovation. The difference is that this tool listens, organizes, and learns alongside us.

Discernment as Everyday Leadership

The challenge for pastors is no longer access to technology but wisdom in using it. Every day, leaders face a question: Which work requires the human touch, and which tasks can be supported by digital help? AI can draft outlines, track communication, and highlight patterns. Pastors still bring empathy, wisdom, and discernment. The tension is not between human and machine but between distraction and focus.

A clear AI policy helps teams make those choices together. It defines how tools are used, what data is protected, and how transparency is maintained. When these boundaries are clear, creativity grows. People stop wondering if AI is safe and start asking how it can serve.

Listening Through AI

AI can help pastors listen differently. A sermon transcript can reveal which themes resonate most. Attendance data can uncover unseen patterns. Prayer requests can show spiritual needs that rise and fall with seasons of life. AI does not feel, but it helps leaders notice what they might overlook. It is not replacing intuition; it offers the sharpening of it.

One pastor told me he now uses AI to summarize prayer requests and follow up with people he might have forgotten. Another uses it to translate devotionals for Spanish-speaking members in her community. These stories are not about efficiency. They are about ministry happening. AI is becoming a tool for care.

You can even repurpose sermons into devotionals, blog posts, or video clips that meet people where they are: scrolling through feeds or listening during a commute. The same message reaches new ears, not because the gospel changed, but because its messengers learned a new rhythm.

Leading With Integrity and Trust

When new tools enter sacred spaces, trust becomes essential. Congregations deserve honesty about how AI supports ministry. When pastors explain that it helps with organization or communication, they invite people into the process. Transparency builds credibility.

The same is true for privacy. Churches handle sensitive information every day. Before using any platform, leaders should confirm how it stores data and who can access it. Protecting information is another form of pastoral care. Another reason why every church can benefit from an AI policy that keeps stewardship clear and accountable.

Expanding the Mission Field

AI is helping pastors imagine new ways to reach people where they already are. A devotional created with AI assistance can be translated and shared across cultures. A short sermon video can find its way to someone seeking comfort late at night. These moments may seem small, but together they represent something significant: Ministry is expanding beyond walls and schedules into spaces that are always open.

Digital spaces are becoming modern neighborhoods. They are filled with questions, curiosity, and quiet searches for meaning. AI gives pastors a chance to step into those spaces with empathy and purpose. Each message, image, or prayer shared online becomes another point of connection that can open a door to faith.

This shift centers on people and how they are being reached in new ways. AI can really change the daily experience, creating moments where faith can enter ordinary spaces and spark connection.

Leading With Curiosity and Confidence

A few months ago, a pastor I spoke with described what it felt like the first time he experimented with AI. He compared it to learning to use a microphone after years of shouting from a pulpit. The voice was the same, he said, but the reach changed. That simple moment carried a lesson about leadership. Technology does not replace conviction; it multiplies its effect when guided by curiosity.

Curiosity often begins with a question: What can this tool teach me about my community, my craft, or my calling? Leaders who lean into that question begin to see innovation as an expression of stewardship. They test, learn, and teach others to do the same. Their confidence grows not from certainty but from willingness.

In this way, AI becomes more than a new platform or process. It becomes a classroom for faith in action. Each time a pastor experiments, reflects, and refines, they demonstrate what it means to lead with courage and humility. Confidence only grows through discovery, and that discovery can point back to the God who invites His people to keep learning.

The comfort is that technology changes constantly, yet the pastoral call remains the same: to love people well. The early Church once debated whether the written word would dilute oral teaching. It did not. It preserved truth for centuries. The same courage is needed now. Learning new tools is an act of faith in God’s ability to work through every medium available.

AI offers pastors an opportunity to model curiosity. When leaders explore new ideas with humility, they give their congregations permission to do the same. Curiosity becomes contagious. It keeps the church from becoming cautious when it should be creative.

Returning to the Heart of Ministry

The conversation about AI often begins with tools and ends with transformation. The real breakthrough is what happens in between. As pastors adapt to this new reality, something deeper always seems to unfold. AI is quietly reshapes how leaders think about time, attention, and trust.

The promise of speed is a red herring in my humble opinion. The future of ministry is not faster; it is more focused. AI allows pastors to step back from the noise and design their work around presence. The hours saved through automation can be reinvested into study, prayer, and relationships. Technology highlights what has always mattered most: the ministry of presence.

The pastors who thrive in this new season will be those who treat AI as a partner in clarity.

The invitation of AI is simple. It calls pastors to think again about how they spend their time, how they share their message, and how they nurture their people. And who doesn’t want that?

Consider this compelling story of multi-generational church multiplication.

In 2012, Andrew Hopper launched Mercy Hill Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was a campus pastor sent out from The Summit Church, a multisite congregation 75 miles away in Raleigh. Today, Mercy Hill Church is a multiplying multisite church of 4,000 people gathering in five locations across the greater Greensboro area, with a mission “to make disciples and multiply churches.” Since 2019, Mercy Hill has also planted six churches in North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida. Five of the six church plants already have church planters in training to be sent out when fully equipped. 

The backstory is even better. 

Summit Church began as Homestead Heights Baptist Church in 1961 and experienced a pivotal shift in the 2000’s under the leadership of J.D. Greear. Embracing a church multiplication mindset, Summit Church transitioned into a multisite model that now includes a dozen campuses throughout the Raleigh-Durham (RDU) area and a vision to plant 1,000 churches worldwide. In 2009, Greear’s church planting vision led to the creation of the Summit Collaborative, which has already planted – directly or through partnerships – more than 600 churches nationally and globally. 

Mercy Hill Church was one of those 600. Summit Church sent multisite campus pastor Andrew Hopper and 30 others to plant an autonomous church carrying the multiplication DNA of Summit Church. 

Andrew advocates in a recent Unseminary interview with Rich Birch that the multisite model complements church planting rather than competes with it. He explains that there is a continuous need in a multisite church to cultivate new leaders for multiplying groups, services, and campuses, which naturally prepares individuals for the challenge of church planting:

“I love the multisite model. I think it’s probably the best leadership development tool that I’ve ever seen in churches, and obviously I benefited from that.”  – “Building a Sending Church” with Andrew Hopper

At Mercy Hill, the core team members who joined its church plants came from their multisite campuses rather than the original broadcast campus. These members – who have already shown commitment to the mission by adjusting their lives to a multisite campus – were primed to take the larger step of moving to a new area to support a church plant.

What’s the Lesson?

Mercy Hill Church is a great example of a multiplying multisite church that was birthed out of another multiplying multisite church. Multiplication is not only in its mission statement – it’s in its DNA.  Summit and Mercy Hill became multisite churches before they planted churches. They learned how to build leadership pipelines and send people to reproduce congregations with a multisite strategy. The multiplication DNA is embedded in every congregation and transmitted through second, third, and fourth generation reproducing churches – church multiplication on steroids!

What can we learn from this sequence of multiplication? Multisites can be just as effective as new churches in their evangelism.  Follow my logic through this series of questions.

1. What is the most effective evangelistic strategy in the church today?

Missiologist Peter Wagner emphatically answered that question decades ago by saying, “Start new churches!” Repeated research affirms that new churches usually reach more people better, faster, and more affordably than existing churches. 

2. Do multisite campuses achieve the same results as new churches?

Warren Bird’s 2022 survey of reproducing churches through ECFA (Evangelical Counsel for Financial Accountability, ecfa.org/surveys) revealed that multisite congregations typically grow faster than church plants. Why? Multisite congregations typically launch strong with 100 or more committed church members who already live in the community of the new campus. 

This is not merely growth by moving believers from one location to another – they hit the ground running as fully functioning congregations on opening day, with operational support from the sending church that frees them to focus on evangelism and discipleship. They also benefit from a trusted brand name and a strong core of local, enthusiastic, DNA-carrying congregants. Most important of all, more people can be reached with the new location – producing growth, reproduction, and multiplication.

Andrew Hopper at Mercy Hill Church affirms that each new campus launch has included many baptisms of people newly professing their faith in Jesus Christ. As those newcomers were discipled, many reproduced themselves by inviting family and friends to hear the gospel. As of this writing, four of their five multisite campuses have experienced solid numerical growth and have been feeders to their church plants. 

Some have questioned if multisite campuses are really churches because of their form or model. Yet the New Testament focuses more on function than on form. Consider the multisite model seen in the Jerusalem megachurch, which had centralized governance overseeing thousands who met in multiple locations across the city. The New Testament Greek word for church, “ecclesia,” means “assembly” or “gathering.” Acts 2:42-47 describes the function of a local ecclesia:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. . . They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. . . praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

All the key functions of a local church – biblical teaching, fellowship, worship, prayer, serving their neighbors, and evangelism – occur in a typical multisite congregation. 

3. How do multisite churches contribute to church multiplication?

Exponential’s Five Levels of Church Growth, developed by Dave Ferguson and Todd Wilson, helps explain the growth stages of more than 320,000 Protestant churches across the United States.

Level 1 – Subtracting Churches 

Level 2 – Plateauing Churches 

Level 3 – Adding Churches 

Level 4 – Reproducing Churches 

Level 5 – Multiplying Churches 

Level 3 churches typically grow by adding services, buildings, and venues. Churches that reach megachurch size (2,000+ in attendance) usually do so through Level 3 growth by addition. 

To reach Level 4 – whether a church plant or a multisite campus – it must birth one or more expressions of itself, which in turn have the potential to reproduce. Multisite does that by birthing a congregation in a new location. Multisite can therefore be an expression of church reproduction for churches of all sizes that can lead to Level 5 church multiplication. 

To understand how multisite churches contribute to church multiplication, it is important to distinguish multisite congregations from church plants. 

Multisite congregations are essentially reproductions of an existing church, governed centrally, and typically established within a 30-minute drive from the sending church. They are usually led by campus pastors who excel as team players in implementing the vision of the sending church. 

Conversely, church plants are reproductions of a church model but are self-governed, and generally launch beyond a 30-minute radius from the sending church. Church planters act as vision-casters and often seek to “do church” in a unique way that, while respecting the sending body, is organizationally distinct. 

Though different, both multisite campuses and church plants can be outgrowths of reproducing churches. However, not all multisite campuses or church plants become multiplying churches (Level 5). By Exponential’s definition, multiplication occurs when the multisite campus or church plant reproduces a congregation that, in turn, multiplies to the fourth generation and beyond. 

Despite these differences, the mission is the same – extending evangelism and discipleship by starting new congregations. The local community, however, is indifferent to whether a new congregation is autonomous or centrally-governed, whose vision is being cast, or how it is funded. 

Multisite churches can plant churches in various ways. Bird’s research, “New Faces of Church Planting and Multisites,” found that 49 percent of multisite churches are committed to both strategies – birthing multisite congregations and planting new churches concurrently. Some multisite churches “slow-plant” a congregation with the goal of it becoming autonomous over time, while others create a “family of churches” or multi-church networks through partnerships that share resources and DNA to start new congregations. Many apprentice future church planters, offering financial support when they are ready to launch. 

4. Can multisite churches play a role in helping to achieve the 16 percent mission of Exponential?

The mission of Exponential is to help the Body of Christ reach a 16% tipping point of the 320,000 Protestant churches in America to become reproducing and multiplying churches.        It is an audacious but attainable goal – 50,000 churches making disciples who make disciples and churches birthing churches that birth church networks and movements. The latest research indicates that Exponential is making progress toward that goal with an increase from 4 percent (in 2019) to 7 percent (in 2024) of churches becoming reproducing and multiplying churches, based on Lifeway research for Exponential.

According to Warren Bird’s research posted at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, there are about 1,800 U.S. megachurches (Level 3), with an overall weekend average attendance of 4,092. Yet there are an estimated 8,000 multisite churches (Level 4). Not all multisite churches are megachurches, but 70% of megachurches are multisite – and that trend is increasing (see Warren Bird, The Changing Reality of America’s Largest Churches, ecfa.org/surveys). 

The multisite model that emerged at the turn of the 21st century was the breakthrough strategy that helped break the pattern of Level 3 growth only by addition (adding services, buildings, venues, members, disciples, etc). As already noted, half of all multisite churches are also committed to church planting. 

Summary

The multisite strategy has proven to be an effective evangelistic church reproduction model for making more and better disciples. More importantly, it has been a catalyst in rediscovering the multiplication DNA inherent in the church and has reignited new energy for church planting among local church leaders. 

Whether a church grows by addition, reproduction, or multiplication, what truly matters is whether the congregation serves the local community in Jesus’ name, reaches unchurched people with gospel-centered preaching, and makes disciples of Jesus who, in turn, make more disciples. All approaches should aim for making disciples by adding, reproducing, and birthing new congregations that lead to multiplication.

In the end, the debate over whether multisiting or church planting is better misses the point. Multisite and church planting can not only go hand in hand– they complement one another. Both are valuable strategies in the playbook for church reproduction and multiplication. 

Loosely paraphrasing the Apostle Paul,  

“What does it matter? All that matters is that Christ is being preached, whether through multisiting or church planting. That’s what makes me glad, and I will continue to be glad.” (Philippians 1:18, CEV). 

If you are in a multiplying multisite church – or know of one – please let me know. I would love to share the story!

Be blessed, be fruitful, and multiply!

“And the message of God kept on spreading, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. . .” Acts 6:7 (AMPC)

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria was having peace, being built up. And going on in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it continued to multiply. Acts 9:31 (LSB)