This is a game changing talk from Dave Ferguson, so excited to have him come and bring this kind of stuff to LAUNCH in a few weeks. I have a front row seat here at Exponential now, why not join us in Manchester so you can get in at the beginning of what I believe really is the kind of shift the church in Europe desperately needs – a different way to count and a different set of practices, so the Jesus mission is best accomplished!
Becoming a Kingdom Builder is practice 5 to becoming a hero maker- one who multiplies leaders who multiply leaders. It is a shift in what you count.
This video shows one star forward who lost the game, when he shot in the wrong basket.
What do we measure as churches? Is keeping attendance and offering enough?And how do we measure community transformation anyway? Discipleship?
Dave is coauthoring a book on this with Warren Bird of Leadership Network. He found from interviews that leaders are looking for a new scoreboard.
Dave visited a church that had ‘Register of attendance and offering’ on the wall. If the numbers are going up, we’re winning.We do it with spreadsheets now. But cash and crowds is not necessarily a good indicator.
Because you can have a church that’s growing, but less kingdom impact.
You think you’re winning but we’re losing. The community isn’t being impacted.
And who do we know those people coming are growing spiritually?
So we’re not saying don’t count.
There’s precedent in the NT for counting.
BUT – seek first – the Kingdom of God.
Because faithful is not always equated to successful.
Pastors wake up in the morning asking ‘How do I grow my church?’ – which is not a hero maker question.
There are problems when you ask that question..
How do I?
What about ‘How do WE?’ do this together
How do I grow?
What about ‘How do we multiply’ – so we don’t just get seating capacity but sending capacity!
How do I grow MY?
Really?
How about ‘How do WE multiply GOD’S…’
‘Church?’
Well we love the church, it is the hope of the world, but really what if the passion and pursuit to be faithful to would be….
‘HOW DO WE MULTIPLY GOD’S KINGDOM?’
Dave then talked about meeting Sam Stephens, whose Dad planted 200 churches in India. Since then he took over and they asked that they always have an apprentice leader. To reproduce a brand new church every year, and now they have planted… 70,000 churches. Aiming to plant 100,000 to reach 5 million.
That’s the India Gospel Mission.
They have discovered the secret of waking up in the morning thinking, ‘HOW DO WE MULTIPLY GOD’S KINGDOM?’
And they see people everywhere who will go on and do even greater things – so rather than aim to be a hero, I am going to be a hero maker now. To pour into them, so they pour into others, hero makers who become hero makers.