MAY 10 , 2005
High-Yield Church Planting Begins with Radical Shifts

"You've planted one or two churches. Now what would it take to plant 10? And after you plant 10 churches, what would it take to plant 40?"

Five years ago, Bob Buford, founder of Leadership Network, posed these questions to a group of pastors gathered for discussions on new approaches to church planting. Momentary silence was followed by broad smiles and animated dialog that continued throughout the day as the group dreamed big and brainstormed ideas. This conversation resulted in a five-year pilot project that included partnering with and supporting local churches with proven track records in church planting.

The Burning Bush Project, as the pilot came to be called, would be about finding ways to enhance and accelerate successful planting initiatives, and also about moving to the next level by creating church multiplication movements here in the United States. By design, each participating leadership team had a unique approach and methodology to planting. Each leader's vision for planting would be embedded into a strategic plan complete with action steps, budgets, timelines, measurable outcomes and accountability.

Churches participating in the Burning Bush Project came to identify shifts in context, finances and priorities as necessary to experience a multiplication effect.
The selected local church leaders were already planting at least four or more new congregations each year. How could they significantly increase the number of new plants launched each year without compromising the viability and long-term health of the plants?

The challenge to move beyond church planting to church multiplication would require making a radical shift in heart, mind and bottom lines. Most of the churches represented began with one new plant at a time but soon realized the pace was too slow. They needed to make the following significant philosophical and practical shifts in their approach and methodology. . .

Shift #1-Context
For these leaders, God's call to plant new churches overwhelmed old tendencies to focus on growing their own churches and gaining notoriety among their peers. For example, Bob Roberts, senior pastor of Northwood Church in Keller, Texas says, "Our church died a long time ago to being the biggest church in the area. We want to help church our area and beyond. We aren't starting churches for Keller or Denver or St. Louis. We are starting churches for the world. That's our context."

Shift #2-Finances
Significant resources were also shifted from the planting church to the new plants. Church planting comes at a high price both personally for the leader and for the body as they invest in Kingdom expansion.

"It was a defining moment for me when I had to do a self-examination and humble myself," says Wayne Cordeiro, senior pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu, Hawaii. "You have to decide, 'Am I going to build a big church or build big people?' If you have a heart to build big people, you don't have trouble watching 1,500 people and $1.2 million walk out the door to become a church plant."
In 2004, the 10 church planting churches of the Burning Bush Project planted 466 new churches in the U.S. and 266 internationally.

Shift #3-Priorities
Leadership Network observed over the five-year period of the Burning Bush Project that these local churches allocate anywhere from 20 - 100% of their annual budgets to church planting. The amount depends on whether the planting initiative exists as one budget area within the larger church budget or whether a separate nonprofit church planting organization exists alongside the local church.

"You have to decide whether you believe planting new churches is a significant and valued priority," says Bill Wellons of Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Arkansas which has its own church planting leadership residency program. "There are a lot of other ways our church could spend that money. But we believe it is the best way to share the Gospel and raise up new leaders."

Making a radical shift in heart, mind and bottom lines is only one part of the story of creating a church multiplication movement. In January 2005, the church planting leaders of the Burning Bush Project came together at a Leadership Network Briefing to share what they've learned along the way in creating and sustaining church multiplication movements in the U.S. Their observations have been captured by Andy Williams in the concept paper "Church Multiplication Centers: Best Practices from Churches that Do High-Yield Church Planting." We've summarized the first of four key learnings -- a radical shift in philosophy and methodology -- in this article. Future excerpts and summaries will address the remaining three -- creating a leader farm system and readiness assessment, leader training, and coaching and support.

If you don't want to wait for the future installments, download the entire concept paper free at Leadership Network's Online Store.

Andy Williams authored "Church Multiplication Centers" from which Linda Stanley drew this summary.