5 Key Barriers to Multiplying Churches
Ever wonder why more churches aren’t ready to multiply or to plant something new?
For the advocates for church multiplication and church planting, the benefits can seem abundantly obvious. Yet, in many parishes and churches there are numerous reasons why we find it incredibly difficult to start something new.
Sixty one years ago, Donald McGavran called out three ideas as major ‘obstructions’ to churches multiplying:
that growth happens slowly (because God works slowly),
that we shouldn’t gather whole people groups and,
that we need model or ‘better’ Christians, not more of them.
For the last two years I have been supporting, equipping and resourcing teams in the Diocese of York to plant lay-led new worshipping communities (NWCs) through Multiply. Figuring out the obstacles to multiplication has been vital in helping leaders and teams imagine new possibilities and grasp the available opportunities. Amidst lots of exciting potential and some fast growing NWCs, there seems to be five new key barriers to multiplication that can limit imagination. Many have faint echoes of McGavran’s from the 1950s…
Barrier one: ‘we can’t do more than monthly’
In monthly church, discipleship happens all too slowly and many people get stuck without deeper discipleship. To stop at monthly gatherings and never imagine more is a blockage in our growth.
The problem is that it is hard enough building community with an hour or two a week, without limiting our connections to once a month alone. Moreover, when an individual or family misses a couple of the monthly meet ups they sometimes engage only 7 or 8 times with church over a year. It is just too slow to actually invest fully in faith building relationships.
We have to be more ambitious - maybe not in terms of numbers, but definitely with depth and frequency. Monthly can be a great start to effective mission and discipleship, but to multiply we have to be thinking weekly.
Barrier two: ‘we have no missional lay leaders’
Not investing in lay leaders, not putting time in the diary each week to equip, listen to and coach lay people into leadership roles stymies the hopes for multiplication in many churches.
Often lay people aren’t given permission to try out leading in small ways, so they never develop the ability or confidence for larger challenges.
Without lay leaders, multiplication can’t happen unless there is huge financial investment for full-time paid ordained staff. Without facilitating the full body of Christ, multiplication is difficult, if not impossible. We need to be asking ourselves each week: what can I do to show an emerging leader that they have my support and with which emerging leaders am I spending time?
Barrier three: ‘it is the vicar’s job to do everything’
An internal sense of responsibility or pressure from PCC members and the congregation can force ordained ministers to do everything, simply because it is perceived to be their ‘job’ to lead all aspects of church life.
In other cases, lay leaders are limited to very basic responsibilities because, without the right qualifications, they are not trusted to lead missionally.
Sometime there is a sense that because an ordained leader is ‘the paid one’ or because they have years of training, their expertise means that they should manage everything. Similarly to Barrier Two, the value of mentoring, equipping and inspiring laity gets lost amidst the mounting workload of the minister as supposedly omni-competent leader.
Barrier four: ‘there’s no room in rural life’
Rural parishes have their own specific challenges and joys. One of those is that because of the large geographic spread of rural benefices and because ordained leaders are already trying to accommodate multiple congregations, starting a NWC is difficult to envisage.
There are often only a couple of lay people in a benefice or across a whole deanery who could actually begin a NWC and they can easily be sucked into maintaining existing structures alone. There is not much room for manoeuvre in rural church life – partly because of structures, partly because of how long things can take to grow and, finally, partly because every opportunity there is has to be grasped fully because another one probably will not come along.
Yet, with reasonable expectations and seeing beyond our inherited boundaries, successful rural mission and planting can happen. It often needs only a few passionate Christians reaching only a handful of new people. . There are exciting examples emerging, notably Lightwave in Suffolk.
Barrier five: ‘we have to grow what we’ve got’
This barrier exists in some of the most vibrant and lively churches, as well as in some of least confident and anxious communities. Sometimes it is expressed as a need to upkeep a comfortable community, in other cases it is the reality of having to keep a wonderful but exhausting show on the road.
Because we have something established, a congregation or structure that needs a lot of work, we don’t consider reaching those beyond it with something new. The focus is on drawing individuals into the existing community through attractional outreach, rather than transforming specific cultures.
In all these cases, but perhaps especially for this barrier, imagining a future of multiplication requires challenging, Jesus-focused risks for churches. Ministry might be working in many ways in its current form but there are even more exciting adventures possible.
Watch this space for Part 2 – ‘How to overcome the 5 barriers to multiplying churches’ - coming soon…
Ben Walker
Dr Ben Walker is the Associate Team Leader for Multiply, which inspires and equips leaders and teams to pioneer new worshipping communities in the Diocese of York. Ben completed his PhD on the history of mission, development and global health at the University of York (UK) in 2018.
