Micro-Church Multiplication
Summary: We intentionally plan for entire households to turn to Christ! Stories from the New Testament guide our expectations.
Note: This post is the fourth in our “Discipleship DNA” series that covers what we consider core values for discipleship. Our fourth core value at Pattern is “Micro-Church Multiplication”
The term “micro-church” is quite foreign to our American, modern day understanding of churches as large buildings. But it’s good to remember that, ultimately, a church is a gathering of believers…regardless of what the location looks like.
In order to multiply other disciples of Jesus, we must be intentional about core practices, including: sharing the gospel, finding “persons of peace,” allowing new believers to remain in their social context, and passing on a vision of making disciples to others. We believe the multiplication of disciples can be very effective with the use of a micro-church model. Micro-churches are small gatherings of believers that take place right in homes or workplaces or coffee shops, within the very context of the people we are trying to reach. Globally, the Church is thriving in micro-church environments!
So how does the process of multiplying micro-churches even begin?
First, when sharing the gospel we intentionally look for a “person of peace.” A person of peace is one who receives the gospel with joy and eagerly invites friends and family to hear the message with them. A person of peace will display this behavior even before they have become a follower of Jesus. When they do begin to follow Jesus, they are vibrant sharers of the gospel. If we want to see multiplication, it is a good practice to look for persons of peace whom the Holy Spirit has already prepared to receive!
Then we encourage persons of peace to remain in their social context to reach their friends and family. That means we don’t just want them “coming to us,” we want them to stay in their social context to share the gospel with their friends and family. Too often the spiritually hungry person is removed from their social context (friends and family) and their new life is wholly focused around an already established church.
We understand there are situations where a new believer needs to separate from unhealthy connections, but for those new believers in “normal” life situations, we want them to learn to share Jesus with their friends and family, even as they grow in their faith. We intentionally plan for entire households to turn to Christ! Stories from the New Testament guide our expectations: Cornelius (Acts 10), Lydia (Acts 16), and the Philippian jailor (Acts 16).
Lastly, we disciple the new believers into the vision and patterns of becoming a health micro-church. We do this first by modeling a heart for others. Ask, “What five lost friends or family can we pray for together?” Then, we equip them with a simple model for doing church. “Micro-Church Model” is our last core value – so we’ll talk about that soon!
