Simple Church or Developed Church Structure in Disciple Making Movements: 9 Statements
In the last blog post, we started talking about Simple Church structure or Developed (Traditional) Church structure in Disciple Making Movements. Here are 9 Statements for you to consider in determining what kind of local church development should be pursued in a DMM.
1. In Disciple Making Movements, all churches begin as simple churches.
2. Multiplication of groups/churches happens easiest with simple churches.
3. Simple churches, with less formal structure, may not be as sustainable as developed churches.
4. Church Planting/Multiplication is NOT the same as Church Development. Church Development has to do with how the resulting churches will be structured and organized.
5. In Disciple Making Movements, we see ourselves as Catalysts or Facilitators of the movement. Thus we don't insist on any one form of church (simple or developed) or of government (episcopal, presbyterian, congregational) or of meeting place (house, riverbank, church building, or cathedral).
6. In a DMM, individual churches can develop in different ways.
7. The "All things are yours" principle. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23. Different ways for church development are available to you as a church planter/mentor.
8. Ways of Developing churches: 5 options
Here are 5 ways that are used to develop churches from DBS groups. These are just some ways...there may be 500 ways...but I'm listing these 5 to illustrate.
a. Stays Simple/Organic Development: The group remains simple and functions as a house church.
b. Starts Simple/Organized Development: The group starts as a house church, but focuses on developing traditional church services, buildings, leadership structures etc. T4T by Steve Smith has a chapter on church development that I can recommend along these lines.
c. Inside/Outside Development: The DBS group becomes a temporary cell of an established church and the new believers are trained and mentored in the church, then replanted out as a new church.
d. Outside/Inside Development: The External Church planting team sends in an elder/pastor/leader to shepherd the new group of believers and help transition them as a functioning church.
e. Merging Groups Development: If there are multiple DBS groups in a village or community, they can merge together to form a larger church group. These groups will continue to meet as DBS cells of the larger new church. The whole church can meet together either weekly, bi weekly, or monthly, but the DBS groups remain weekly and continue to be the multiplication function as the church develops and grows.
9. Disciple Making Movement strategy can be used as a tool in the hand for an already existing developed church. In this application, the DBS groups are multiplying cell groups and are used as a church growth strategy.
Hopefully these 9 statements can help you see the wide variety in terms of church development that is available to those who are working in Disciple Making Movements. Whether you are a pastor interested in your church's impact in your city and church growth, or are leading a church planting movement project, the DMM strategy can work with the Vision that God has given you!
1. In Disciple Making Movements, all churches begin as simple churches.
2. Multiplication of groups/churches happens easiest with simple churches.
3. Simple churches, with less formal structure, may not be as sustainable as developed churches.
4. Church Planting/Multiplication is NOT the same as Church Development. Church Development has to do with how the resulting churches will be structured and organized.
5. In Disciple Making Movements, we see ourselves as Catalysts or Facilitators of the movement. Thus we don't insist on any one form of church (simple or developed) or of government (episcopal, presbyterian, congregational) or of meeting place (house, riverbank, church building, or cathedral).
6. In a DMM, individual churches can develop in different ways.
7. The "All things are yours" principle. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23. Different ways for church development are available to you as a church planter/mentor.
8. Ways of Developing churches: 5 options
Here are 5 ways that are used to develop churches from DBS groups. These are just some ways...there may be 500 ways...but I'm listing these 5 to illustrate.
a. Stays Simple/Organic Development: The group remains simple and functions as a house church.
b. Starts Simple/Organized Development: The group starts as a house church, but focuses on developing traditional church services, buildings, leadership structures etc. T4T by Steve Smith has a chapter on church development that I can recommend along these lines.
c. Inside/Outside Development: The DBS group becomes a temporary cell of an established church and the new believers are trained and mentored in the church, then replanted out as a new church.
d. Outside/Inside Development: The External Church planting team sends in an elder/pastor/leader to shepherd the new group of believers and help transition them as a functioning church.
e. Merging Groups Development: If there are multiple DBS groups in a village or community, they can merge together to form a larger church group. These groups will continue to meet as DBS cells of the larger new church. The whole church can meet together either weekly, bi weekly, or monthly, but the DBS groups remain weekly and continue to be the multiplication function as the church develops and grows.
9. Disciple Making Movement strategy can be used as a tool in the hand for an already existing developed church. In this application, the DBS groups are multiplying cell groups and are used as a church growth strategy.
Hopefully these 9 statements can help you see the wide variety in terms of church development that is available to those who are working in Disciple Making Movements. Whether you are a pastor interested in your church's impact in your city and church growth, or are leading a church planting movement project, the DMM strategy can work with the Vision that God has given you!
Comments