You. And.

In 2 Timothy 2.1-2 Paul says this to Timothy, “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others as well.” If we were going to pick just one passage that informs how we approach multiplication it would be this one. In these two short verses we see at least four things all oriented around the Gospel that provide handles for how we develop planters that can multiply churches. Verse 1 speaks to a Gospel Identity and Gospel Tenacity while verse 2 speaks to Gospel Fluency and Gospel Legacy. When we put all of these together we see how the Gospel transforms and strengthens planters as they entrust the Gospel to others who can replicate the process.

10 Commitments

We hold 10 commitments for multiplication that have been adapted from a number of missiologists such as Ed Stetzer, David Garrison, and Scott Thomas. These commitments drove every decision in the design of the residency programs and it is our hope that they will contribute to the rapid multiplication of many churches for the glory of God.

1. Passion For God’s Glory

The chief end of church planting is the glory of God. We are not passionate about church planting, we are passionate about Jesus and His glory and we express that passion through church planting.

2. Prayerful Dependence

We are humbled by the prayer lives of brothers and sisters around the globe as well as the historical legacies left by places like Herrnhut. In the book of Acts we see prayer as the atmosphere of the multiplying church and we believe we are called to nurture that same culture.

3. Supernatural Progression

By God’s grace we are pushing for multiplication and yet we know we can plant and water but only God can give growth. We confess that unless God gives growth nothing will happen. We also know that if God chooses to multiply amazing things can happen. We hold firm to the truth that is it not by might, nor by power, but by God’s Spirit, and so we pray and posture ourselves to respond to God’s loving and leading with the desire for multiplication fully dependent on Him.

4. Courage To Pursue The Mission

The Gospel frees us to pursue the mission without fear. In Christ, we have everything and therefore can risk anything for the sake of His name among the nations. God’s sovereignty doesn’t make us careless but can make us fearless and so we hide ourselves in Him as we pursue the mission to make disciples by multiplying churches.

5. Theological Unity In Distinctives

We are committed to Gospel Centrality, Reformed Soteriology, Spirit-Filled Churches, Missional Ecclesiology, and Complementarian relationships in the home and church. We love brothers and sisters in the universal church who do not hold to the same distinctives that we do but do teach and train in light of our theological distinctives.

6. Multiplying Disciples (Generational Legacy)

We are committed to multiplication and are working hard for a Gospel Legacy. We long to see a thousand generations of people saved, trained, sent, and multiplying. We seek the multiplication of Gospel Leaders, Church Planters, and training sites.

7. Simple, Scalable, Reproducible Systems For Multiplication

The residency programs have integrated Gospel-centered, missional, and theologically rich content in such a way that once a student takes a course they can teach a course. Additionally, the programs have been designed with flexibility so depending on the culture of a local church, the context of a city, and the needs of emerging planters, parts can be added, removed, or modified as wanted. This makes everything we do simple, scalable and reproducible.

8. Decentralized, Empowering

The Gospel allows us to give up power and the illusion of control and to empower regenerate believers to multiply churches in the power of the Spirit. As much as we are able we want to see a ‘disencultured’ approach to leadership development and encourage every resident to not simply replicate their experience but to alter, adapt, and change for their context and church culture. Furthermore, we are not committed to one methodology for church and believe it is more effective to use as many means as possible to reach as many people as possible.

9. Intentional Means To Equip, Coach, Shepherd Leaders

We have designed our programs in reverse from the Acts 29 application and assessment process. What this means is we have structured a program that builds Church Planters that are trained and tested according to the 10 characteristics and 60 micro skills needed to plant. We have integrated the Acts 29 application and assessment material in order to identity strengths already evident in the emerging planters, but more importantly, to target growth areas and set out to specifically address them prior to planting. This allows us to be strategic as well as customized in developing each potential planter as we assess them throughout the residency. Additionally, we have built a system for church multiplication that includes not just preparation, but also integrates ongoing coaching, shepherding, resourcing and networking as residents are sent to plant.

10. The Local Church Of And On Mission

The local church is God’s chosen vehicle for the evangelization of the world. In other words, God’s mission has a church. We believe that church planters can, and often should, be made in the local church. We also believe that the local church is uniquely structured for rapid multiplication and leadership development. This in no way discounts more traditional theological training, rather, we hope to compliment what is already being offered in many cities with an alternative for leader development in the local church that is theologically rich, missiologically focused and ecclesiologically grounded.