Expanding the Kingdom through Church Multiplication

On Thursday afternoon I had the opportunity to have lunch with and then spend the afternoon with four other guys in Vancouver, Washington (not to be confused with Vancouver, BC, Canada).

This was the first meeting of the newly formed Pacific Northwest District (EFCA) Church Planting Team. To my knowledge, this was the first meeting of such a church planting team in the PNWD for many years. Those present included three pastors, a District Superintendent and me. All of us have a heart for church planting and a desire to see church planters and church plants multiplied throughout the mission fields of Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

We spent time over lunch at the Olive Garden getting to know each other’s stories and why we share a common interest in church planting. Then we reassembled for some great discussion.

Much of what we talked about were the ideas and principles from Steve Addison’s book, Movements that Change the World. We dreamed together about how we might set the stage for a church multiplication movement to take place in the Pacific Northwest.

Addison writes about the five key elements found in movements that change the world: white-hot faith, commitment to a cause, contagious relationships, rapid mobilization and adaptive methods. Could it be that God might stir up such a movement for church multiplication here in the Pacific Northwest just like he is doing elsewhere in the world today?

Together we affirmed the vision shared by District Superintendent Bruce Martin – see the number of Evangelical Free Churches increase from 46 to 90-100 in the next ten years. Our desire is to work with the current pastors and churches here to help see this happen.

This is exciting stuff, especially in a district and region known much more for closing churches than for planting new churches.

The Pacific Northwest District currently has one active church plant, but three more may begin within the next 12 months, God willing. Please pray with me and us for a move of the Holy Spirit which results in multiplying disciple-making churches in the Pacific Northwest.