Renewing vision and imagining the possible...
Every once in a while a book comes along that reinforces some of the things you believed but allowed to fall by the wayside as you "did" church. Exponential by Jon and Dave Ferguson is one of those books. It's not tons of new ideas and information, but it's the reminder that those models you looked at in college/seminary and thought would work, then never implemented, really work and are a far better way to do things than what you are currently doing!
The key to Exponential is simple: ever single member of the church is responsible for reproducing another (or many, many more) Christ-follower. Moreover, it is the number one job of the church to reproduce leaders who can reproduce themselves. I would go so far as to say that a church that grows by ones and twos (like our church, which gained 7 members last year yet was in the top three in our Presbytery...) is NOT healthy. The Fergusons are very clear in their definitions and details, perhaps because the book isn't a theoretical "how-to" but a down and dirty "these are the details of our experiences" kind of book. Not only that, they were kind enough to include many life stories of people who have come through the process and are doing the things they're talking about!
Probably the most groundbreaking thing for me became their use of terminology. Apprenticeship holds a lot of meaning, as I was an apprentice electrician! I understand intuitively that the process of apprenticeship leads to their taking on the mantle of authority that comes from having been doing what they are now set free to do, but the idea of doing so in a church setting sounds so opposite from what is actually done! Instead of equipping and empowering people to go and be, the church tends to draw people in to spectate and stay. Spectating and staying, is so opposite to the way of thinking in Exponential that it grates! Their focus is on "helping people find their way back to God" and to do so it requires a movement of people who are outside of the church's four walls.
Instead of growing a church by building and changing things when numbers merit, they advocate starting new churches and new locations so that every person possible can find their way back to God. That idea isn't new, looking at a simple example in Norman, OK, essentially everyone of the Baptist churches in Norman owes its existence to First Baptist and its Pastor Hallock who continually sent people out into new parts of the community to start another church and fund that church until it was self sufficient. In so doing, his legacy is multiplied into the millions because of the growth Bethel, First, Trinity, Immanuel and Northeast. That kind of focus has decreased as most instead looked to growing their church to humongous numbers, not to growing multiple churches (just a note, this isn't a slam on the mega-church just a commentary on what could be if there is a shift in focus). The very idea that I've seen in action, albeit as multiple campuses, here in Kansas at Westbrook Baptist Church (now Cross Point Church) has done immensely more because of the lack of a building focus. If they had been stuck on their building and making it big enough to work, there wouldn't have been the various venue locations that have turned into the six plus Cross Point Churches across Kansas from Hutchinson to Hays to Salina and on.
But, perhaps the most important part of the book to read is their constant reminder that YOU are the key to a movement like this happening where you are! This is a practical manual in building a relationally driven church that reproduces and fulfills all of Acts 1.8 (which Dave says sums up the Bible according to Jon). Reading this book rekindled the flame in me as I wrote in college about the cell church movement in Korea and how to reproduce that in the US. Before the school year begins, there are going to be some sweeping changes in how we do things in our student ministry for the better!
All said and done, this book is a must read for anyone interested in ministry of any capacity, but particularly for those currently in ministry! Particularly the sections on coaching made me rethink a lot of what I do in terms of leader development. Regardless of one's position or current vocation/avocation, the ideas contained in this book ought to awaken anyone to do more and be more so that they live the life Jesus Christ intended!
The key to Exponential is simple: ever single member of the church is responsible for reproducing another (or many, many more) Christ-follower. Moreover, it is the number one job of the church to reproduce leaders who can reproduce themselves. I would go so far as to say that a church that grows by ones and twos (like our church, which gained 7 members last year yet was in the top three in our Presbytery...) is NOT healthy. The Fergusons are very clear in their definitions and details, perhaps because the book isn't a theoretical "how-to" but a down and dirty "these are the details of our experiences" kind of book. Not only that, they were kind enough to include many life stories of people who have come through the process and are doing the things they're talking about!
Probably the most groundbreaking thing for me became their use of terminology. Apprenticeship holds a lot of meaning, as I was an apprentice electrician! I understand intuitively that the process of apprenticeship leads to their taking on the mantle of authority that comes from having been doing what they are now set free to do, but the idea of doing so in a church setting sounds so opposite from what is actually done! Instead of equipping and empowering people to go and be, the church tends to draw people in to spectate and stay. Spectating and staying, is so opposite to the way of thinking in Exponential that it grates! Their focus is on "helping people find their way back to God" and to do so it requires a movement of people who are outside of the church's four walls.
Instead of growing a church by building and changing things when numbers merit, they advocate starting new churches and new locations so that every person possible can find their way back to God. That idea isn't new, looking at a simple example in Norman, OK, essentially everyone of the Baptist churches in Norman owes its existence to First Baptist and its Pastor Hallock who continually sent people out into new parts of the community to start another church and fund that church until it was self sufficient. In so doing, his legacy is multiplied into the millions because of the growth Bethel, First, Trinity, Immanuel and Northeast. That kind of focus has decreased as most instead looked to growing their church to humongous numbers, not to growing multiple churches (just a note, this isn't a slam on the mega-church just a commentary on what could be if there is a shift in focus). The very idea that I've seen in action, albeit as multiple campuses, here in Kansas at Westbrook Baptist Church (now Cross Point Church) has done immensely more because of the lack of a building focus. If they had been stuck on their building and making it big enough to work, there wouldn't have been the various venue locations that have turned into the six plus Cross Point Churches across Kansas from Hutchinson to Hays to Salina and on.
But, perhaps the most important part of the book to read is their constant reminder that YOU are the key to a movement like this happening where you are! This is a practical manual in building a relationally driven church that reproduces and fulfills all of Acts 1.8 (which Dave says sums up the Bible according to Jon). Reading this book rekindled the flame in me as I wrote in college about the cell church movement in Korea and how to reproduce that in the US. Before the school year begins, there are going to be some sweeping changes in how we do things in our student ministry for the better!
All said and done, this book is a must read for anyone interested in ministry of any capacity, but particularly for those currently in ministry! Particularly the sections on coaching made me rethink a lot of what I do in terms of leader development. Regardless of one's position or current vocation/avocation, the ideas contained in this book ought to awaken anyone to do more and be more so that they live the life Jesus Christ intended!
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