Word of Hope Blog
Read the latest thoughts from Ralph Moore, a veteran practitioner in disciple making and church multiplication.
Church Multiplication Critic, or Critical Thinker?
Church multiplication requires labor for the harvest. We can pray for it and Jesus will do his best. But, are you doing your best? Are you a critic or a critical thinker? A judge or a heromaker? Critical thinking and criticism are two vastly different areas of thought. The one looks for something good then…
Church Multiplication: Gardening in the Ruins of Babel by David LeMonnier
Church multiplication is more like gardening than construction. “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” The command is repeated twice in Genesis. In Genesis1:28 at the beginning of humanity God says this to Adam and Eve. He commands it again, in Genesis 9:1 when he reboots humanity with Noah’s family after the flood. God…
Hero or Hero Maker–Which are You?
Church multiplication leadership requires hero making. If we don’t make heroes of others, we’re not partnering with Jesus in the prayer to send labor into the harvest. God supplies, we shape. I had a great recent conversation with one of my friends who is also one of my heroes. His massive accomplishments as a leader…
Church Multiplication Skunkworks
I’m writing on a flight home from Exponential West—a conference for leaders targeting church multiplication. This piece is a response to a question I was repeatedly asked as I taught… “How can I plant churches if our church members resist it?” The answer is as simple as partitioning your hard drive. I first did it…
The 4 Cs of Collaborative Church Planting by Nathan Hawkins
Collaboration is a buzz word. Cooperation is all the rage, especially among millennials. It’s most important in church planting. It can be fun, it is necessary to get certain things done, especially in church planting. Rarely is this exciting and complex method considered as a process or on a scale. Here are what I share…
Church Planting vs Cultural Extinction
Church planting is becoming crucial to the survival of Christianity in America. Let’s stop gazing at the crop in the barns. We need to look at the fields yet unharvested. To pastor the biggest church possible is noble, but still doesn’t answer to the greatest impact. No one benefitted by having the biggest office in…
Planting Churches Bivocationally: Priscilla & Aquila by Phil Claycomb (2 of 2)
Biases, both positive and negative, are part of everyone’s life. So what’s behind my aversion to bivocational pastoring and self-funding strategies? I’m not certain I can answer that… but as I confront my bias I am finding that a close look at Paul and his friends, Priscilla and Aquila, helps me rethink this strange aversion.…
Paul: Planting Churches Bivocationally by Phil Claycomb (1 of 2)
I’ve not given bivocational church planting the respect it deserves. I’ve thought of it as an unsavory and occasionally unavoidable method-of-last-resort. I’ve seen it as a strategy to be employed only when absolutely necessary, or once all other methods have failed. I don’t think I’m alone in my aversion to bivocational… most of us think…
Planting Churches Bivocationally–On Purpose!
My wife and I just returned from vacation throughout the British Isles (along with 52 friends from Hawaii). She and I arrived a few days early to teach a seminar with a small but growing group of church planters. Most of these folks are immigrants from Sri Lanka and several nations from the north…
Our Church Planting Model Is Broken
Our model is broken. For decades we’ve planted mid-size to large Hope Chapels in Hawaii. Mostly shooting for 150 at start, some grew beyond it. Most stabilized around the original size. Some shrank then stabilized. And a couple failed. No More Public Schools But we almost always planted in public schools. Two factors pretty much…