Wildesign Group Architects Inc.

I just finished reading through Dave Gibbons newest masterpiece, The Monkey and the Fish. The book is an amazing call to “liquid leadership for a third culture church,” as well as beginners guide for how.

One chapter caught my particular attention: “Three Questions that Become the Answers.” Gibbons writes,

“These questions can point you in a direction that is tailored to how God has made you and to how you and your organization can make a difference in the world.”

The very thing so many of us are looking for! I turned his three questions over and over again in my head,

1. Where is Nazareth? Which neighborhood in your city is the one that no one wants to drive through? Which part of town do people ask, “Can anything good come from ________ ?” Go there. Minister there.
2. What is my pain? People will be able to connect to your pain, your weaknesses, better than your perceived perfection. Who has secrets you already know? What evil or misfortune is in your past that God can turn to good? Minister from there.
3. What is in my hand? Don’t waste time focusing on what you don’t have. What do you have? What has God already blessed you with that you can use to reach people? Start now.

It’s a revealing set of questions. As I moved from a personal application to a ministry application, however, I started to head in a very familiar direction.

Then I realized that Ed Bahler, and our partners at Aspen Group, have been asking these same questions of the local churches we work with for years. The language is different, but the insight is the same.

Ed’s three questions – that he asks to get to the “compelling call” of a ministry – are these:

1. What are the pastor/leadership’s passions? (“What is my pain?”)
2. What are the congregations’ passions and talents? (“What is in my hand?”)
3. What does the community need? (“Where is Nazareth?”)

It’s difficult to ask, “What is my pain?” of a small group of senior leaders, but as we talk about people’s passions, similarities come to the surface. It’s difficult to ask a local church, “What is in your hand?” When you consider the congregation as a whole, however, the strengths of the body can become clear.

Different language, same questions. Use the language that works best for you and your ministry, but make sure you answer!

Calvary Bible Church in Lacon, Illinois is ready to jump start their new building project!

In 2001 Calvary Bible Church completed part one of a new facility that consisted of a fellowship area, kitchen, classrooms, and restrooms. The fellowship area could also function as a worship center and multi-purpose use area. Just as that first part completed construction, senior pastor Maynard Mathewson was diagnosed with cancer and in 2002 went home to be with our Lord. Over

In 2007, leaks in the roof prompted the church to reengage with God’s plans for the facility—leaks that seem providentially allowed. As a result, we partnered with Calvary Bible Church to draw up a new Master Plan that will help them achieve their ministry goals and continue to grow in three new stages!

Lacon is a rural community about 45 minutes north of Peoria. The newly proposed spaces will allow Calvary to blossom as a lighthouse of community impact.

You can see the final drawings, and the three phases highlighted in a floor plan, in the Design Gallery.

Warren Bird is the research director for Leadership Network, author, and a former pastor. He recently contributed an article to Pastor Rick Warren’s MinistryToolBox titled, “Leading a church that’s ‘always don’t it this way’ to a multi-site model.”

The article is thorough, and written primarily for church leaders who are moving their churches into a multi-site model for the first time. He starts by suggesting some “initial steps.”

• Link to history and scripture. “In some ways, the multi-site approach is not new.”

• Give your leadership team a firsthand taste. “Why not give your leaders and congregation an opportunity to experience a multi-site church so that they’re part of the story?”

• Emphasize what you’re missing. “As people become aware that the present reality is inadequate, they will want and should receive an understanding of the why.”

• Keep focus on the fruit. Show people what God is doing in multi-site models you have explored.

• Listen well to trustworthy critics - and pray for discernment. Be open to the idea that you’re wrong, and pray with your critics.

• Review your church’s risk tolerance. Some churches throw themselves into multi-site and hope to figure it out as they go. “Others don’t want to launch without a well-mapped plan.” Bird offers six sets of questions to help determine your church’s risk tolerance.

Finally, Bird shares three questions that, according to research for a book he co-authored titled Multi-Site Church Revolution, “often determine the success or failure of a church that is launching a new location.”

• How healthy is your church? “Launching a second site will not bring health to an ailing congregation.”

• Is there a driving impetus behind your desire to go multi-site? “Starting a second site without a compelling drive behind it is like trying to give birth without being pregnant.”

• Are key leaders behind the decision? “While it is difficult to get 100 percent buy-in when moving in a new direction, if the senior leadership is not sold on the concept of being a church with multiple locations, it should be a major warning light.”

You can read Bird’s whole article here.

Is your church in the first stages of going multi-site? Share some of your strategy in the comments!