The Level Three Magnet: Why Growing Churches Stop Short of Multiplying with Dave Ferguson
Summary:
"How do I grow my church?" Dave Ferguson calls it a good question. It's just not a great one.
Dave was lead pastor of COMMUNITY Christian Church in Chicago for thirty years and now leads Exponential, the organization behind the 16% Mission. In this episode of Dare to Multiply, he explains the Level Three magnet that keeps growing churches from reproducing. He also shares RPMs, the four-minute daily check that keeps leaders from drifting, and the reason you will always reproduce who you are and what you do. We compare how Dave defines a multiplier with how those of us in Disciple Making Movements use the word. He closes with two shifts any leader can make right away, starting with always having an apprentice.
Whether you lead a growing congregation in the suburbs or train movement leaders in Africa and Asia, this conversation will help you check your own gauges and start asking the kingdom question: How do we reproduce and multiply God's kingdom?
Watch the Episode
Key Points
The five levels of church capacity. Level 1 is subtracting, Level 2 plateauing, Level 3 adding (growing), Level 4 reproducing (the church has planted a church in the last three years), and Level 5 multiplying (four generations of reproduction, the 2 Timothy 2:2 pattern). In the US, reproducing churches have grown from about 4% to 7%. Level 5 churches are still close to none.
The Level Three magnet. Declining and plateaued churches pull hard toward growth. The surprise is that once a church is growing, the same pull keeps it there: the building campaign, the youth program, the junior high pastor, and the feeling that you can't afford to send anyone out because you need every volunteer. Dave says the pull is strongest in the West, where the church growth movement has shaped how we think about church.
"How do I grow my church?" is a good question. It's just not a great one. It isn't a kingdom-building question. The great question is How do we reproduce or multiply God's kingdom?
You will reproduce who you are and what you do, including the bad stuff. Dave's small example: he took his daughter on a daddy-daughter coffee date before school every week, posted about it occasionally, and soon other dads in the church were doing the same thing.
Leaders drift. Dave once met five times a year with some of the most influential pastors in Chicagoland. If that group gathered today, about half the seats would be empty. He has never heard a young church planter say, "Fifteen years from now, I hope I end up divorced, overweight, and compromising my core convictions." It happens anyway, one day, one month, one year at a time.
RPMs: four minutes, four gauges. Each day, take one minute for each of four areas: Relational, Physical, Mental, and Spiritual. The tool comes from Luke 2:52 (Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man). The gauge or number is optional. What matters is the prayerful reflection and one small change each day. Cynthia has been practicing it herself and is teaching it to movement leaders in Africa.
What is a multiplier? Dave defines a multiplier as "a healthy, disciple-making leader who champions reproduction." In Disciple Making Movements, the word usually means someone whose disciples are making disciples. Dave and Cynthia agree that the best champions are personally doing it, not just talking about it.
The 16% Mission. It draws on Everett Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations: change happens when the innovators (2.5%) and early adopters (13.5%), about 16% together, make something feel normal to the other 84%. Exponential is aiming for 10% of US churches reproducing within five years and 16% within a decade. Warren Bird's research found that 43% of churches planted in the last five years include a multiplying network in their vision. Exponential is also convening "16% Meetups" with denominations, networks, and nonprofits.
Two shifts for any leader. First, always have an apprentice. Dave prefers apprenticeship to discipleship because in the West discipleship has too often meant cramming in more content. Second, as your influence grows, keep apprenticing at both the smallest level and the largest level, and train and trust others to lead everything in between. Nicky Gumbel still leads an Alpha course every semester, because that is what shapes the culture. In Dave's words, "When we quit doing the smaller things, we kinda kill the culture we're trying to create." Cynthia's version: she pours into her top five movement leaders and also starts her own Discovery Bible Study with seekers.
Resources Mentioned
Multiplier: How Healthy Leaders Create Lasting Impact by Dave Ferguson — multiplierbook.com or Amazon
Exponential and the 16% Mission — exponential.org
Diffusion of Innovations by Everett Rogers
Alpha (the course Nicky Gumbel still leads every semester)
Coming soon: Dave's 12-video companion series for Multiplier (see flag below)
Our earlier episode with researcher Justin Long on the 200-million movement data (Diving Deeper reference)
Key Question
What would it take for a healthy, growing church to stop asking "How do I grow my church?" and start asking "How do we reproduce and multiply God's kingdom?"
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Dave Ferguson: Exponential
Read further articles: Dare To Multiply Blog Page
Join our Membership for more great content: Dare To Multiply Memberships
Order Cynthia’s Book: The Multiplier's Mindset Book
Connect with Cynthia Anderson
