Every Church Planting Churches Theme of MULTIPLY
“Every Church Planting Churches” was the theme of our fall MULTIPLY Conference held in Madrid, Spain, on 1 November, following the IBC Annual Convention Meeting. Fifty-four leaders from 21 of our churches joined the “multiplication conversation.”
The energy was high! The excitement is growing! More and more IBC leaders and churches are embracing the heart of God for church multiplication. Conference attendees heard exciting stories about how God is opening doors and providing resources to plant new churches. We heard news about our young churches in Panama City and Rome and about our brand-new churches in Paris, Bonn, London, and Vicenza. We also heard from several of our churches that are being stirred by God to plant new churches in their cities.
During the conference we worked to unpack the concept of just what a church multiplication movement is — what it might look like, what is God’s part, and what is ours. There was tremendous insight and great ideas exchanged. Every attendee from every church brought something to the table. There was a huge amount of enthusiasm as we considered such a movement of God in and through our churches. We believe that a church multiplication movement is on the horizon.
We have seen success (God’s blessings) in recent years with our collaborative strategies employed by our LEAD teams. Our LEAD teams (teams of leaders from several churches in a geographic area) have worked together to find the right planter and the right place and bring them together to see a new church started. We are now adding to that strategy a new supportive strategy where our LEAD teams will come along side an IBC church to support that church in planting a new church. We believe that this is where we will see churches planting churches that plant churches. We believe that this is where we will see us move from “adding” churches to “multiplying” churches.
During the conference we celebrated what God has done and is doing. The following new IBC churches were started in the past seven years.
- Converge International Fellowship in Darmstadt, Germany
- Lifebridge International Church in Panama City, Panama
- Tamarindo Church in Tamarindo, Costa Rica
- Rome International Church in Rome, Italy
- Waypoint Christian Fellowship in Kaiserslautern, Germany
- GLACE Community Church in Vicenza, Italy
- International Baptist Church in Bonn, Germany
- Emmanuel International Church in Paris (Ternes), France
- Multination Church in London, England
Praise God for nine new churches in seven years! Nine new churches is a great start!
We want…we need every IBC church engaged in planting churches and the churches they plant planting churches…then we will have joined God in a movement reaching the nations around the world.
We are moving into 2019 with the following strategic objectives:
- Invite every IBC church into church multiplication.
- Support every IBC church with their multiplication goals.
- Celebrate all multiplication efforts.
- Trust and follow the Spirit.
Darryl Evetts, Multiplying Churches Strategy Director