In this post, I want to draw your attention to the recently published book Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers by Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird. Stetzer is the president of LifeWay Research and Bird directs the research division at Leadership Network and teaches at Alliance Theological Seminary. Both of these men have written numerous books and have many years of church planting experience.
We need to hear what they have stated in this book. So, today, I want to give you an opportunity to hear from one of the authors regarding the work.
While I do not know Warren (but hope to meet him in the future), Ed and I have been friends for many years. I first met him when he was a professor at Southern Seminary, and served as his Garrett Fellow there. Now, I know many of you are probably eager for me to share stories, but I will not. However, while Ed was very gracious in promoting my book on his blog last fall, he did use a terrible picture of me. I was thinking of returning the favor, but decided to keep those photos locked in the vault. Maybe when he runs for government…. 🙂
I appreciate that these men are challenging us to think beyond church planting to church multiplication. Ed recently shared some of this thoughts about the book.
Ed, tell us about your book and your purpose behind this project.
Viral Churches is result a research project commissioned by Leadership Network (where Warren directs the research division), and Lifeway Research (which I lead). The data collection and analysis took place in 2007 with relevant information updated in the fall of 2009 for this book. This book takes findings from the original project and reframes it to inform, guide, and even catalyze church planting leaders, especially those heading church planting networks. I hope this book inspires and helps to develop a church multiplication movement.
What makes this book different from others on church planting?
It’s different because, though this book is research-based, we also take an advocacy perspective. We advocate the need for an alternative to inward-focused or addition based church planting. Viral Churches contains enough stories for participants in church planting at every level to find inspiration and specific help but we want to see a new breed of planters. Our country needs planters to shift from church planting to church multiplication movements. The message put simply: Church planting needs to go viral.
Why is this book important for church planters?
I think this book will help church planters see the next big picture of what God is doing. The guidance offered will help 
planters expand their vision for how churches can be part of a replicating movement.
Now, some church planters already have the vision for a multiplying movement. They can use this book to see the practices and characteristics necessary to move from vision to action.
Also, each chapter in the book will introduce the reader to at least one network, coalition, or denomination that is placing a major emphasis on church planting, and the Appendix in the book lists all the entities that have been described.
Many of our readers are familiar with the term church planting movement. How do church multiplication movements differ from church planting movements?
A church planting movement, as defined by David Garrison is “a rapid and multiplicative increase of indigenous churches planting churches within a given people group or population segment.” Garrison’s study was descriptive; it is based on his study of actual events. The term church multiplication movement is not really different, but the concept is intentionally hypothetical. It must be so because there are not church planting movements to analyze in North America. A church multiplication movement is a rapid reproduction of churches planting churches, measured by a reproduction rate of 50 percent through the third generation of churches, with new churches having 50 percent new converts.
Leadership training is mentioned throughout this book. How important is leadership training for the future of church multiplication?
Aristotle has been quoted as saying, “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” I do not think we will see church multiplication movements ramp up in North America and continue their increase in the rest of the world unless “training and habituation” become non-negotiables for church planters. Leaders must be developed early and often in a church plant. There are several models of training for church planters in chapter 6 of the book.
You address partnerships. How do we cooperate without compromise?
If you have read history, you know that interdenominational partnerships don’t have a good track record—and interdenominational church planting efforts have a checkered past (for more information, read the history of the International Missionary Council). These efforts have tended to cooperate on the basis of the “lowest common denominator.” And eventually, the greater focus was on “unity” and not “mission.”
The reality is that there are many ways that we can cooperate together in church planting: prayer, research, training, and even some mutual planning. However, church planting is one of the areas where most denominations need to “tend their own garden.” In other words, Presbyterians (who believe in infant baptism) would have a hard time planting a Baptist church. And, Pentecostals would have a hard time planting either since they would want all to experience the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Yet, I believe in partnership and working together. There are ways to do both. We have to remember that no mission organization has maintained its focus on the gospel without a strong doctrinal foundation. We must cooperate without compromising the truth of the gospel. But, it can be done. In chapter 5 we discuss different types of partnerships that are happening today.
You talk about “changing the scorecard” today. What do you mean by this phrase?
A change of the scorecard is needed to see a multiplication movement occur where you lead. Warren and I contend that if you change the scorecard in the church that eventually you will be able to change the scorecard in the community. Rather than seeking to be the next big thing – the church version of “America’s Got Talent” – let’s become the next transformative thing. Instead of our neighbors saying, “Wow, you’ve got a big church,” let’s create a movement where they say, “Wow, your church makes a difference in our community, and around the country.”
Thank you, Ed, for sharing with us today.
Now make sure you get a copy of the book! If you are interested in following Ed and Warren, you can find Ed’s blog HERE and Warren’s site HERE.