Multiplication: God’s Amazing Method for Church Growth!

Joshua 5:9-12 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Luke 5:1-11

Kate and David Nicol
Fourth Sunday of Lent: Year C

“…from now on you will fish for people,” Jesus said, “So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.” What Jesus did that day along the shores of Lake Gennesaret has a great deal to teach us about church growth. Yes, I said Church Growth this time—We’re on to another Natural Church Development sermon, but today, we’re tackling Multiplication: God’s Amazing Method for Church Growth.

Much of NCD is about Church Health, but this growth force is about Church Growth—healthy church growth, but church growth nonetheless. Harnessing the power of All-By-Itself-Growth in Multiplication isn’t always easy…but usually, that’s because we fail to understand what God is calling us to do! So what is God calling us to do? God is calling us to multiply rather than add; God is calling us to accept the natural life cycle of things when necessary; God is calling us to remember that the true fruit of an apple tree is not an apple, but another apple tree! Multiplication works within nature, much like it ought to operate in the Church. Trees, like any other plants, produce fruit not for the sake of fruit, but to carry the seeds of more trees. In nature, that is what multiplication looks like.

What is God’s form of growth? How does multiplication work in the life of the church? The first thing we need to recognize is that our standards aren’t the same as what we learned in school. When it comes to mathematics, the opposite of multiplication is division—but when we think about the natural processes at work in the church and the plant and animal world, the opposite of multiplication is addition—in fact, division is often a key part of multiplication!

We aren’t called to add to our numbers, but instead, to reproduce ourselves—disciples making disciples, leaders making leaders, and churches making churches… This concept is radically different from the way we think things ought to operate. In most committee meetings, or discussions about Church life we talk about adding to our numbers. But we never really talk about multiplication. Instead, we want to see what we have enlarged, with no end in sight. We worry about where to find another committee member to do some of the work. We obsess over finding a couple more pledgers to make up the gap in our budget. We don’t usually think about making more of ourselves, more disciples, more Christians, who will continuously make more disciples, so that these petty, addition problems won’t really be problems…In essence, it’s all about reproduction. That’s what the early church was like. Jesus called the disciples, who themselves called disciples, and whose disciples even called disciples! In 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Paul reminds the Corinthian church about their real purpose—the ministry of reconciliation, “We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” And so we too “…implore…on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.”

Multiplication today should still look like it did in the early Church. Just like the disciples at Pentecost, and the believers in Corinth, we too have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. As Disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to be ambassadors to a hurting, broken world, offering them new and full life in Christ!

If we are to produce more life for the Kingdom of God, we need to understand the kind of fruit we are called to produce—and this is probably the place where we get it wrong as good church folks most often. The true fruit of an apple tree is not an apple, but another apple tree. So it follows, the true fruit of a leader isn’t a follower, but a leader; the true fruit of a disciple isn’t a seeker, but a disciple; the true fruit of an evangelist isn’t converts, but more evangelists; the true fruit of a small group isn’t more active and committed Christians, but more small groups that can help active and committed Christians reproduce themselves! It also follows, in what might be the most difficult leap NCD will ask any of us to make, that the true fruit of a church isn’t believers, but churches!

Multiplication sounds like a “happy” growth force… But, just as in the natural world, death is a natural part of the process for churches. There is a natural limit to everything, from plant life, to human life, to Church life. What we often fail to see is that when we have been faithful, when we have multiplied our numbers by making more disciples and starting more Churches, it is not about keeping the doors of one single Church open, it is about whether or not we can continue to advance the Kingdom of God where we are. Now that does not mean it is time to close the doors here. It does mean that God has called us to do something other than what we are doing. God is calling us to apply the growth forces in order to produce all-by-itself-growth. We are not just being called to produce more Church people here. We are being called to produce more life for the Kingdom.

“…From now on you will fish for people…” What Jesus did that day along the shores of Lake Gennesaret has a great deal to teach us about church growth. As disciples our job is never done. As disciples, we are called to make disciples who make disciples, so that we don’t fish to add to our project, our ministry, our small group or even our church—we fish to contribute to the growth of God’s Kingdom! God promised us new life in Christ, new life for us that we can share with others! To advance the Kingdom of God we must let go of what we want, and how we want it, and trust that God fulfills promises. God promised that if we shared the love of Christ, we would be transformed and would transform the world around us! Disciples make disciples, and churches plant churches, and leaders make leaders! We are called to fish for people, to be ambassadors for Christ, releasing the power of Multiplication by reproducing ourselves through the ministry of reconciliation. This is the call of all Christians, to make more of ourselves, for the sake of Christ, whose Body we are!

Sustainability: Roses and Kumquat

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Philippians 3:17-4:1

(This sermon was a joint effort by Kate Nicol at Clark Memorial UMC, and David Nicol at Buxton and Elm Street UMCs)

There’s a significant difference between Roses and Kumquat. Roses are sweet smelling, and kumquats are a small, oval citrus from East Asia. While both roses and kumquats are often edible, and both have thorny stems, there is a major difference—Roses are flowers, beautiful, but not self-reproducing as such; kumquats are seed-bearing fruit.

Most folks cultivate rose-bushes for their beautiful flowers, but most folks cultivate kumquat bushes for the fruit. Roses are beautiful, but require constant maintenance and outside energy to maintain; kumquats are often cultivated like other citrus, but within each and every kumquat are seeds…seeds that can, and given the right environment, will grow, producing more kumquats!

Fruit produces seeds, and seeds produce fruit in a continually self-reproducing cycle. If we are to unleash the power of all by itself growth we need to produce sustainable ministries. Sustainable ministries are ministries that produce fruit not flowers. Flowers like the Roses need outside care, but once they die there is nothing left. Fruit contains the source of its own reproduction the seeds. When we look at the ministries of our Church we must ask ourselves: Does this ministry produce Kumquats or Roses, Fruit or Flowers? If all a ministry produces are flowers it’s time to change what we’re doing, or abandon it all together, because that ministry is life draining, and not life sustaining.

When we develop ministries, we need to be sure they produce fruit, not just flowers. According to Natural Church Development theory, we need to do three main things to assess whether our ministries are bearing fruit. First, we need to check every fruit for seeds. Second, we need to use every opportunity to train others. Third, leaders need to remember not to solve people’s problems, but to help people solve their problems on their own… All of these are vital to sustainable ministry!

Christian Schwarz, the theological mind behind Natural Church Development has this to say about checking fruit for seeds: “The less you follow the natural dynamics [of Natural Church Development], the greater the likelihood that the ‘fruit’ that you produce won’t have any bearing on the maintenance of your ministry. You might produce wonderful flowers, but when they begin to wilt you will be unable to find seeds in them.”1 In Churches we to often spend time pushing to sustain ministries that are life draining. Sometimes this happens because we are stuck in a rut and we cannot find our way out. Talking about doing something new is scary, it might not produce the results we have come to expect. This type of thinking most often occurs around fundraisers. We would rather go with the tried and true, rather than seek out new ways to create life sustaining ministries that produce all by itself growth, rather then life draining, but institutional maintaining ministries that provide more comfort then anything else.

Along with checking every fruit for seeds, we need to become adept at using every opportunity to train others. When the church is healthy, and functioning as it should, disciples beget disciples, teachers beget leaders, financial whizzes beget financial whizzes, leaders beget leaders, and so on. Training leaders by inviting people into leadership seems almost radical, especially when we take a close look at how we operate as a church. Only those who are willing to sacrifice life and limb, and the possibility of being expected to do everything are brave enough to volunteer, and only those who do it as it has always been done are really let into the inner power structure. But that is not the way God intended us to operate!

It is no wonder that few of us are as bold as the Apostle Paul to encourage others to follow our example! But, that is what God calls us to do. We are called to set an example in by how we live within the church, and in our personal lives. Our citizenship is in heaven. It is not of this world, let alone this country. If we have come to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the world’s redeemer, our lives are to be examples of what God can do when we cease resisting His love and grace. When this happens we become better disciple-makers. We make disciples by living as disciples, and we make leaders within the church by inviting people into leadership, asking them to share leadership with us, and so producing fruit that contains the seeds that will make for more fruit!

Paul also gives us an example of how “not to solve other people’s problems.” Paul could easily have given the church in Philippi detailed instructions on how to live as Christians. Instead, he did something radical. In Philippians 3:17, Paul writes, “Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your yes on those who live as we do.” Paul set up a system that was both sustainable and natural! Disciple-making didn’t happen by sending people to a disciple training course, but in everyday life. Leader-making didn’t happen by sending folks to seminary or lay-speaking classes (as good as those things are), but by earning how to follow the example of other leaders!

We, in this place, are called to follow the example of Christ, and the example of those Christians who have gone before us, just as Paul called the church in Philippi to do! We are called to live lives so transformed by the Spirit that others want to know what makes the difference in our lives. We are called to empower others to join us in our ministries, showing them how to be teachers, trustees, shut-in visitors, peacemakers, caretakers, nursery workers, leaders…disciples of Jesus Christ! We are called to bear fruit that contains seeds that will produce more fruit! We are called to be kumquats and not roses, and to produce fruit with seeds, and not just flowers that wither! Will the kumquats please stand up?

1 Christian Schwarz, Color Your World with Natural Church Development: Experiencing all that God has designed you to be (St. Charles, IL: ChurchSmart Resources, 2005), 98.

Energy Transformation: God’s Aikido

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 Luke 4:1-14

(This sermon was a joint effort by Kate Nicol at Clark Memorial UMC, and David Nicol at Buxton and Elm Street UMCs)

I first heard about Aikido, which is a Japanese martial art, when I was a freshman in High School. This peculiar form of fighting seemed oddly “non-violent” and intrigued me. The practitioner of Aikido never aggressively punches, kicks, or attacks, but rather re-directs an assailant’s energy. In this way, a master of Aikido can both find safety from harm and use the violent energy against an assailant. Today, we return to our series on Natural Church Development, tackling the issue of Energy Transformation. Energy Transformation, as a growth force, is God’s Aikido…

Now you might find yourself needing a refresher on what was already covered, because it has been a few weeks since we talked about NCD, symbiosis, and interdependence. Natural Church Development is a system developed to assess the overall health of a congregation. When the six growth forces of NCD are applied a Church becomes healthier, and “all by itself” growth occurs. We have already covered two growth forces, symbiosis and interdependence. Simply put, symbiosis is a mutually beneficial relationship between two different organisms. And Interdependence looks at the big picture—asking how do different things affect one another. Today we will tackle a third growth force: Energy Transformation—turning hostile energy into holy energy, by consistently asking the question “How can we best use this situation to advance God’s Kingdom?” “How can we best use this situation to advance God’s Kingdom?” is a remarkably simple question. If we are living holy transformed lives, we should be asking this question of everything we do. Too often, we allow the energy in our surrounding environment to impact us in such a way that we are unaware how what we say and do impacts the advance of God’s Kingdom. In some sense, it is the furthest thing from our mind! The truth is, this concept of Energy Transformation can be applied throughout our lives, not just in the Church. Imagine how different things could be if we all applied the principle of Energy Transformation to the everyday experience of waiting in line. By transforming hostile or negative energy into opportunities to build the Kingdom of God, no moment is wasted, we are no longer infuriated by the experience, and instead of wasted time we find an opportunity to share our joy, peace, patience, and the good news of the Gospel with those around us in line!

As we enter the season of Lent, we read in Luke’s Gospel how the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for forty days where he was temped by the devil. What greater example of negative or opposing energy in his environment could we imagine than the work of the Great Adversary tempting and testing Jesus?

Jesus shows us how this Growth Force should work in his responses to the Devil. Instead of opposing the Devil directly, Jesus redirected his questions, taking attacks and turning them into opportunities to show us how to live Holy lives. When tempted to turn stones to bread, Jesus responds that bread alone isn’t enough to sustain life. When tempted with power, authority and splendor, in exchange for putting something other than God first, Jesus responds that only God is deserving of worship and service. When tempted with the opportunity to prove God’s power and love for him, by leaping from the pinnacle of the Temple, Jesus responds, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test!” Hostile energy was transformed into Holy energy…the devil left him…and “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside!”

If we are to unleash the power of all by itself growth, and utilize the principle of energy transformation, we must stop fighting the opposing forces for the advance of God’s Kingdom. It is a waste of energy! In the church, we can be weighed down so easily by conflicts over how to use money, how to worship God best, or what kind of leadership we need in different parts of church life. When we do this we are allowing the adversary to take hold of the Church, so that we cannot be the Body of Christ—God’s hand and feet of love—at work in the world! Instead, we need to turn the negative energy into Holy energy. We need to turn the fighting among us into a conversation—bringing all of our passions to bear to solve the problems underneath our disagreements! We need to turn the problems that bog us down in the world around us, into opportunities for ministry! When we can get beyond the problems in the Church we truly become the Body of Christ at work in the world.

The needs of non-Christians should drive what we do and can drive what we do in ministry to the world. Even if those needs are not spiritually based, the energy behind those needs should be used to propel us into action! Meeting people at their needs is the most powerful form of evangelism. It offers God’s love in a tangible and practical way, and when we focus on others needs and not on Church growth we unleash “All-by-itself Growth!” If we faithfully act as God has called us to act, not fighting negative energy, but transforming it into holy energy, God’s overwhelming love will use that, and growth will occur ALL BY ITSELF!

Jesus modeled energy transformation in the wilderness…and Luke tells us that “…when the devil had finished all this tempting, he left Jesus until an opportune time.” God’s greatest act of energy transformation was yet to come but continues to empower us to this day. When the devil tempted broken humanity to cast all its anger and wrath against Jesus, God turned negative energy into Holy energy! God’s abundant grace took the sin of the world, inflicted on God-come-in-the-flesh, and instead of returning wrath, turned it into the greatest gift of love imaginable! By the power of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection, God took the power of sin and death and transformed them into the promise of new and everlasting life in Christ! We have great Good News to share, thanks to God’s Aikido at Calvary…

Interdependence: The Connected Body: Sermon 1/28/2007

Pastor David Nicol

Nehemiah 8:1-3 5-6 8-10 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a Luke 4:14-21

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ…” Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:12. When we see one Christian working alone, we see part of what the Body of Christ is, but we don’t see the BIG PICTURE. Interdependence is a big-picture matter.

According to Natural Church Development, Interdependence is a key growth force to keep in mind. Interdependence is the principle that describes how seemingly dissimilar and distinct things have significant impact with one another. While it might be difficult to see the relationship between water cooler conversation at work and our Christian faith, or a side-conversation during worship time and whether the visitors sitting behind you will be back next week, what happens in one part of life, or one part of the ministry of the church can have a significant effect on other parts. When we think about interdependence in the life of the church, we need to remember the following three issues: We need to be skeptical about short-term success and seeming miracle solutions; we need to become aware of possible side-effects of our actions; and we need to keep the whole picture in mind—in terms of the NCD process, that means keeping the whole NCD package in mind, not just focusing on one component of the system and hoping that will lead to improved church health.

Now, we can agree we all want a healthy church, though we may not agree what a healthy church looks like. But, the research done by the Institute for Natural Church Development has discovered that there are six growth forces (including interdependence). When we unleash these six growth forces, we unleash the power of “All-By-Itself” growth.

As Christians we have been given different gifts, all of which have a place in the ministry of the body of Christ. As Paul says, each of us is a part of the body of Christ—Alone, we each only have a few gifts; together, we have been given all the gifts needed to be the body of Christ and to reach the world with God’s love. The key is recognizing that we cannot do it alone, that we need one another and one anther’s gifts to grow a healthy church filled with healthy Christians.

No church is perfectly healthy, and at least in this congregation, we all want to see a few more members, a few more givers, a few more workers, and a few more people committed to Jesus Christ. But the risk for those of us who want to see increased numbers is the promise of a miracle cure. God performs miracles, but God also works through the institutions that exist in spite of the institutions’ shortcomings. We need a real solution to the issues we face. Interdependence reminds us to be skeptical of short-term success. Health tends to come more slowly than we’d like, and short-term successes may come at the expense of the overall health of the body of Christ. Just like using steroids might offer a shortcut to rigorous strength-training, but can disease the human body, so too quick success can come at the expense of the long-term health of the church which is Christ’s body. Just as steroids are a poor solution for the long-term well-being of athletes, as a Church we do not need the latest fad or newest Church growth gimmick. We need a healthy Church, a sustainable Church, that has become Christ’s hands and feet at work in the world.

Healthy athletes are aware of the side-effects of their choices, so are healthy congregations. We need to develop an awareness of how our actions might effect other ministries and other parts of the congregation. As the Body of Christ we too often think the pastor is the most important part. As Paul reminds us, no part of the body is unnecessary. “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable…the parts that are unpresentable we treat with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment.” None of us is indispensable, but the relationships we assume must be significant are not always the one’s we should be considering. Instead of running a United Methodist Church in the typical way—with too few people, too many committees, and overburdened ministries—if we remember the significance of interdependence, we will focus on the relationships between our structure and our ministries, and the relationships between our ministries and our people, and work to prevent negative results of conflict, burnout and limited resources.

As we grow in health and numbers, things will change. No matter what, with growth comes change, and side effects come with that change. Everything we do in Church affects some other aspect of Church life. We need to be aware that there are no quick fixes, and sometimes what we do produces unexpected results. We need to be aware of these “side-effects” in every area of ministry. IF the Church budget shows a reduced amount of money available for custodial supplies, will the way we clean the church change? IF we start a ministry that actually reaches new people, and they enter the sanctuary for the first time, how do we tell them were things are located and what is expected of them? Whatever we do, we need to keep the BIG PICTURE in mind because “Just as a body, though one, has many parts…so it is with Christ!”

Our ministries need to be intentionally interdependent! To unleash the power of “all by itself growth,” we must ask ourselves how our ministries and other activities connect and affect one another. “All by itself growth” can only happen when we operate the way God intends, by getting out of God’s way, and allowing God to work through us in God’s way. “Now you are the Body of Christ, and individually members of it,” Paul writes. So, rejoice with those who rejoice, suffer with those who suffer, discover your gifts for the building of God’s Kingdom—All our gifts are equally important, and equally necessary for the Body of Christ to be healthy enough to reach the least, lonely and lost souls in the world around us! In Christ, we have all we need if we live holy, faithful lives! Thanks be to God!

Symbiosis: Cooperating for the Common Good: Sermon 1/21/2007

Pastor David Nicol

Isaiah 62: 1-5 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 John 2:1-11

I’m not going to preach on the Wedding at Cana text today—I want to preach a sermon on Jesus’ first miracle, but I’ve committed to preach a sermon series, between now and Easter, on the Growth Forces, or Life Giving Principles assumed to be at work in the process of Natural Church Development, so I’ll be focusing on Symbiosis, Cooperating, especially in light of 1 Corinthians 12:1-11.

Some of you might be asking the question—what is Natural Church Development? Natural Church Development, or NCD, is a process of assessing church health, and responding to the places where the church is less healthy than it should be. The Institute for Natural Church Development has undertaken substantial research and seen significant success in improving the health of churches that faithfully participate in the NCD process. As of 2006, the Institute has surveyed over 45,000 congregations in 70 countries worldwide, including over 23,000 in the United States. I’d be glad to help folks find more information about NCD, but its too much for one sermon or even one sermon series. So, over six sermons, I’ll be talking about one of the most significant insights in NCD—that when we understand God’s natural Growth Forces, which work in nature as well as the church, we can work to apply these Growth Forces to ministry in the Church.

What you do need to know, is that when we apply God’s natural Growth Forces to the life of the Church, in combination with the 8 Quality Characteristics of Healthy Churches, we can release God’s “All By Itself Growth” in our congregations. In nature we see “All By Itself Growth” most easily in plants—in scripture, we see this in two key verses: Jesus’ parable of the Growing Seed in Mark 4:26-28 where Jesus “…said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head” and 1 Corinthians 3:6 where Paul says “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.” The Good News here is that the Church grows as if all by itself, because as Paul realized, it is God who makes it grow!

For this to happen, we need to learn to plant, water, fertilize, weed, graft, and get out of the way when necessary, which often times is a hard to do. What usually occurs in churches is that various committees, individuals, or ministry groups decide on the best way of doing things without consulting other groups within the Church. When we do this, our ministries do not exist in a symbiotic relationship. They are unable to live as different entities in mutually beneficial relationships. As we think about ministries in the local church, we need to recognize that each ministry within the life of any church is unique. But we also need to ask the question of all our ministries, are they living in a symbiotic relationship with the rest of the life of the Church?

As Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 12, God gives all believers gifts for the building of the Kingdom. Though not all Christians receive the same measure of all gifts, if you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit has equipped you with spiritual gifts for the building of God’s Kingdom. There are many gifts, including those Paul lists, but all gifts come from the Holy Spirit, and are gifts for ministry. Not all believers receive equal measure of wisdom or knowledge, or gifts of healing, or miraculous powers, or prophecy, or discernment of spirits, or speaking in tongues, or interpretation of tongues, or gifts of administration, evangelism, preaching, teaching, or the ability to operate electronic equipment or cook beans—but all believers have been given faith in sufficient measure to seek God and God’s plan for our lives!

As we look at our God-given gifts, we need to ask ourselves, what is my place in God’s plan for this congregation? How can I use my gifts for ministry? Sometimes we need help discovering what those gifts are, and God provides a way to let us know, but just like getting out of the way of Church growth, we must get our fallen, sinful selves out of God’s way, letting the Holy Spirit work through us and use us to strengthen the Body of Christ and further the cause of the Kingdom of God in the world around us. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:7 “…to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”

The Holy Spirit has given us the gifts and talents necessary to reach the lost, the lonely, the least—all those who need to know that God loves them and wants to help them find a new and transformed life in Christ. If this congregation is going to be healthy, living according to God’s natural Growth Forces, we must start by examining the ministry programs we have, and what we have asked people to do. We must determine whether or not our life together is symbiotic or chaotic. By thinking about how our programs, ministries, and personal spiritual life can be more symbiotic with other people and ministries in this congregation, we can begin to unleash the forces of “all by itself growth.”

Are you ready to get out of God’s way? Are you ready to unleash the power of God in this place? Then begin by asking God to work within you to show you your spiritual gifts. Next, find where God is calling you to serve, and make sure your ministry works in a symbiotic relationship with other ministries, so that this congregation can become Christ’s hands and feet at work in this community.