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Shrinking the Megachurch

By Wayne Cordeiro


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Early on every leader must answer one question:

Will I be an empire builder or a Kingdom builder?

This one answer will determine whether there is a centrifugal

or centripetal force behind everything we do.


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Shrinking the Megachurch

By Wayne Cordeiro

Copyright 2013 Wayne Cordeiro

ISBN: 1-929351-21-6

Distributed via Exponential Resources

Exponential is a growing movement of leaders committed to the multiplication of healthynew churches. Exponential Resources spotlights and spreads actionable principles, ideas andsolutions for the accelerated multiplication of healthy, reproducing faith communities. Formore information, visit exponential.org

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever

without prior written permission from the publisher, except where noted in the text and inthe case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is manufactured in the United States.

Credits Edited by Lindy LowryCover design by Karen Pheasant and Story.GS


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Introduction:

Itdidntstartoutthatway.Itneverdoes.

Ourgoal,likeanyotherchurch,wastoreachasmanypeopleaswecouldwiththeGospel.

Thatwasonthespiritualside.Onthecorporateside,ourtargetwastohaveadequate

financestosupporttheministrywithalittlemore,andifeverythingwereideal,wedliketo

growintobeingoneofthelargerchurchesinthearea.Itbeganasamixofaltruisticideals

withanentrepreneurialdriveofblood,sweatandtears.

AfterpastoringinthesleepytownofHilo,Hawaii,(population30,000)ontheBigIsland,I

movedmywifeandchildren250milessouthtothecapitalcityofthestate,Honolulu,witha

populationof1milliontotheislandofOahu.Idevelopedasmall,focusedteam,andwe

startedwithzealtoreachthecity.

WithGodsgrace,weembarkedintoafavoredseasonfromthefirstservice.Webeganwith

720inattendanceandgrewto1,500thefirstyear.Weadded1,000peopleannuallyforthe

nextconsecutive10years.Irealizedthatwecouldntsustainthatgrowthpattern

indefinitely.Especiallywhenweservedoutofrentedorleasedbuildings.Andthecorpsof

volunteersthatwereneededeachweekendtosetupforserviceswasunheardof.Wepurchasedlargetrucks,trailersandmovingcontainerstotransportourequipmentto

preparefor14,000peopleeachweekend.Thiswasnotonlyadauntingtaskbutalsoavery

expensivewaytodoministry.Everythinghadtobeportable.Evenouroverflow6-by-9foot

LEDscreenhadtobemountedtoatrailersoitcouldbehauledfromourofficewarehouse

totheschoolwewererenting.

ItwasonapersonalretreatthatIdecidedtopondermycapacityasapastorandthe

sustainabilityofourmobilecongregation.IwonderedhowmanypeopleIcouldreasonably

addtotheBodyofChristwithGodscallingmatchedwithmygifting,skillset,andthe

locationinHawaiiwherewewerelandlockedandsurroundedbythePacificOcean.Itwas

aninnocentquery.NothingthatmighthaveresembledDavidsnumberinghistroopsin1

Chronicles21thatbroughtGodsangst.IsimplywantedtoknowhowlargeIshouldbuild,

orwhetherornotIshouldbuildatall.Iwonderedaboutallsortsoflogisticssuchashow


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manyleadersIwouldneedtogather,shouldwekeeprentingfacilities,andhowmanyoffice

spaceswewouldrequireforthegrowingstaff.

Imnotcertainiftheanswercameduetoscientificextrapolationorjustplainguesswork

orevenifitwasaccurate,butIfiguredthatbycombiningmytalents,callingandabilitywith

alittlehelp-from-my-friends,Icouldmanagesomewherebetween15,000and20,000

beforeIself-detonated.

Granted,forsome,thatmightseemoutrageous,andforothers,itmightbeshort-sighted,

butforme,thatseemedaboutright.Bythattime,wewereat14,000insevenservices,andI

knewthatIhadalreadypulledthepinfromthegrenade.Ihadtomakesomedecisions,and

Ihadtomakethosequickly.

Oneofthemostimportantwas:WillIbeanempirebuilderorakingdombuilder?Bothcan

lookverymuchthesamefromtheoutside,buttheanswertothatonequestionwillformthe

underlyingmotivebehindeverythingIwoulddofromthenon.

Necessitywillplayapart,butmotiveandintentionalitywillplaytheleadrole.

Inthefollowingpages,letmeunfoldtheprocessandreasoningbehindaveryunusual

churchgrowthconcept:theshrinkingofthemegachurchtoreachacity.

ACounter-IntuitiveMethod

TheBibleisfullofopposites.

Doyouwanttoincrease?Thenyouneedtodecrease.

Wanttobeexalted?Humbleyourself.

Wantmore?Thengivemore.

Wanttoreap?Seedwillneedtobethrownaway.

Wanttolive?Thenyoumustdie.


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Jesuswasnoforeignertothisconcept.HeknewthatfortheChurchtolive,Hewouldhaveto

die.JohntheBaptistagreed.HesaidthatforJesustoincrease,hewouldhavetodecrease.

AtNewHope,ourassignmenthadalwaysbeentoreachcities,countriesandnations.Ithad

neverbeentocentralizeaministrybutrather goandmakedisciplesofnations.Itwas

nevertobeasoloactbutrathertodevelopapluralityofleaderswhowouldbesentout to

teachothersalso.

Withthisassignmentinmind,morethanadecadeago,NewHopebegananintentional

shrinkageprogramthatwouldprovetobeadifficultthing buthopefullythemostlasting .

Onewriterwouldrefertousas TheLargestShrinkingMegachurchintheUSA.

Nearly20yearshavegoneby,andtheres138churchesplanted,21ofwhichareinourcity

ofHonolulu,eachoneinitiallypopulatedwithaclusterofservantsandleadersfromthe

motherchurch.

However,wewereabouttodiscoverthatoneoftheconsequencesofhavingsomany

childrenisnotonlystretchmarks,butthateverythingelsewouldbestretchedaswell.

Thisisthestoryofourpersonaljourneyforthelast19years.WhatGodassignedtousmay

notbethesameassignmentasyours,butmyprayeristhatyouwilldiscoverprinciples

fromourstorytoaddtoyourown.


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Chapter One

The Genesis

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Looking back over these

19 years, in part, I believe it.

The most successful ministries and companies seldom start off with the

intention of making a big splash or with the target to develop a cash cow. From

Apple to Microsoft or from McDonalds to Nordstroms, each one began with

someones passion to build a better mousetrap. Its genesis was sourced in a

simple vision and passion to see it come to reality. It started with one person

being pregnant with an idea, and giving birth was not to an option. It was a

necessity.

You do or you die.

New Hope started that way. I was 31 years old. After 11 years in Hilo, we had

planted nine churches. Now the tenth would find my family relocating to the

island of Oahu where you find the capital city of Honolulu. I yearned to build

leaders and change the history of Christianity in Hawaii.

The line of missions blurs over Hawaii with its eclectic mix of nationalitiesand cultures. I loved the people I grew up with. I was raised in a single-walled

house deep in a tropical valley outside of Honolulu. Now after many years, I was

retuning to my roots.

New Hope Oahu grew quickly. It was like spontaneous combustion. We

started in humble surroundings. We didnt have much, but one thing we did

have: a passion to reach people with the Gospel in creative ways. We used 28

locations the first year we began the church. We kept outgrowing our rented

spaces and for six months, we settled into the auditorium at the University of

Hawaii. For lack of interior space, people sat outside and would receive Christ

from the lobby. Each service would end with an invitation and hundreds began

responding to the Good News weekly, and by that Easter of the first year, we had

grown to 1,500.


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But there was so much more to do and thousands more to reach.

You never measure the size of your church by how many are inside of it. You

measure the size of a church byhow many are still outside of it. Even though we

had grown quickly, we were still a very small church compared to the potential

reach we still had before us. So early on, we decided to be a harvest church rather

than a big church. You see, the harvest will not self reap, but it willself-destruct

if not reaped. So we decided to give everything we had to evangelismnot to

bricks and mortar.

What Are You Giving Yourself To?

Mark 2 reveals a telling principle that we would do well to catch.

many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and Hisdisciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. When the

scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with sinners and tax collectors,

they said to His disciples, Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and

sinners? And upon hearing this, Jesus said to them, It is not the healthy who

need a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous but

the sinners. Mark 2:15

In the end, we will not be measured by what we have separated ourselves

from as much as we will be measured by what we have given ourselves to.And

heres the simple yet profound truth:Jesus gave Himself to those He wanted to

reach. He gave Himself to the things He was to be about. If it was to reach the

lost, He gave Himself to the lost. If it was to build disciples who would go into the

world and carry on His ministry, He would give Himself to building them.

We were about winning the lost, building them into strong disciples, and

then equipping those disciples to send them out and reach more. So that is what

we decided to give ourselves to. We chose to forego building structures and

instead build people and leaders.


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Building with the End in Mind

Discipleship is not an end in itself. It is a means, and one of the most

important decisions we had to make was to identify what the end was. We found

it in Matthew 28: the Great Commission.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name

of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I

have commanded you, and lo, I will be with you even to the end of the age.

Did you see it? You probably missed it. It was the first word, GO! They

needed places to be sent to where they could serve, to test their wings and learn.

Each leader needed a place where they could discover what it meant to depend on

the Holy Spirit.

But first, they would require a place to rise and fall, and to rise again withoutsuccumbing to failure or ridicule. They needed a place where they could make

mistakes and learn from them rather than being defeated by them. They needed

a loving environment that would allow them to learn through error and if they

were willing, they could gain lessons that could save them from a cataclysmic

defeat later on.

I called it controlled detonation.

Tires and Dynamite

When we were building our ministry site in Hilo, we unearthed an area of

solid blue rock that would require removal.

The only way was with dynamite.

The company we hired set the sticks in place and ran the wires. But before

they pushed the handle, they covered the entire area with old tires. Over a

hundred rubber donuts mounded the area, each one connected to the other by

cables like a massive fish net.

I made sure I cleared my schedule to witness the spectacle. From behind a

protected area, the engineer pressed the plunger, and instantly, the entire

mountain heaved upward with a muffled roar. It hesitated for a moment in mid-

motion, then it settled right back into place, leaving me questioning whether

anything had really occurred at all. The engineer assured me that the rock was


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now in pieces beneath the rubber-gripped hill and ready to be removed. The tires

had controlled the blast so that the neighboring homes would not get riddled with

a stream of blue-rock shrapnel.

The major difference between young leaders and veterans is that within every

young leader are hundreds of mistakes waiting to be made.

On their own and without covering, the collateral damage from inexperienced

or immature leaders could be fatal to a marriage or ministry. One of the major

problems in tomorrows Church will not be the lack of leaders. It will be an

overabundance of under-developed leaders who left their protective covering too

soon, and they leave in their wake, wounded churches, marriages, children and

ministries.

I knew that I needed a place of practicum for these aspiring pastors andleaders, and the New Hope environment would be the tires that controlled any

collateral damage. Soon enough, theyd be on their own and any explosion could

end a ministry. Knowing when they are ready and when they are yet green

requires humility, discernment and patience.


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Chapter Two

Working the Plan

You may recall the catchy phrase heard often in theMission Impossible

series: I love it when a plan comes together.

Nice phrase, but it seldom comes together exactly the way we plan it. You

always need Plan B, and without it, we set ourselves up for a frustrating ride.

Nevertheless, we still need a plan.

The wisest man of that day exhorts us with this injunction: The mind of a

man plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps. In other words, if the mind

of the man doesnt plan, what does the Lord have to direct? We plan and then

trust God to either guide it to fulfillment or veto it into a lesson well learned.

People have asked me: Have you made any huge mistakes?

Well, the way I figure it, a mistake is a mistake! Yet its not the error whats

most important. Its what you do with it. Some blunders come with much

greater consequence than others, but they all have consequences.

I call that the tuition cost.

Some slip-ups have cost me dearly, but heres whats worse than paying a

high price. Its paying the tuition and stillnot getting anything out of the class!

The blunder may have been dumb, but missing the lesson is what makes you

stupid.

I garner whatever wisdom I can from it; vow to never make that mistake

again if I can help it; reflect on the lesson; and write it down if necessary. Then I

toss the carcass of that mistake over my shoulder and try never to think about it

again.

So here was my simple plan: My plan was to raise up young leaders and

develop a fishing pond of young Timothys (and Tamaras or whatever the

feminine counterpart would be). From this fishing pond, I would choose those

who were called and fit for ministry leadership. I would train them in a culture

where servanthood was a daily occurrence, impart to them a deep love for the


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Word and for the lost, and eventually release them into ministry. This would

require a season to discover their gifts and callings, a time to develop them under

the mentorship of others, and a place to deploy their ministry heart and skills.

Then one day when they were ready, the baton would be passed to another

generation that would take the ministry even further than we could. The goal was

that my ceiling would become their floor, and the end of my reach would be the

beginning of theirs.

School of Church Planters

New Hope developed a leadership program called the School of Church

Planters. I gave it that name so no one would misinterpret the motive or goal of

this program. Discipleship would be a means to an end, and church plantingwould be our goal. This was our first attempt to build what I call fish ponds

from which we would draw the best out for leadership roles. Here we would

nurture and develop their skills, hearts and understanding of what it meant to

serve.

Remember the congregation capacity of 15,000 to 20,000 I mentioned

earlier?

I began pondering this and realized that I could have this amount under one

roof or under 20 roofs. It really didnt matter. Of course it would bring much

more attention under one roof. However after researching past ministries, unless

an equally creative and gifted leader follows, historically the ministry decreases

after the founding pastor resigns, retires or goes home to heaven.

I had to think trans-generationally. The School of Church Planters was

populated by those showing potential to shepherd others or showed a desire to be

part of that team. This proved to be very effective and most of our current

leaders came from that fish pond.

By the way, if you are a senior leader older than 50, remember this: For the

most part, no one will compete with you if you decide to take another lap and

hold onto the baton. The passing of it must be an intentional, voluntary act by

the leader to a Timothy, a Joshua or an Elisha.

Can you see them?


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Five times in Numbers chapter 4, we find this phrase: from thirty and

upward, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the

tent of the meeting. Im sure this is not an exclusive group, but it does leave an

example for us to ponder. Heres my view. Any runner with a baton who is 50 or

over is in the exchange zone. It might yet be a few years in passing that baton,

but he needs to be cognizant that the time is limited. No, not for ministry, per se.

He or she will be in ministry until Jesus takes them home. But its nearing time

to pass the baton of the heavy-lifting. The tent of the meeting would require the

sacrifices of bulls and goats that were to be offered on the Day of Atonement. It

may be in the hundreds of sacrifices that needed to be given, and these would

require energy, strength and endurance.

Numbers leaves us no doubt in this exhortation to 50-somethings. but at the age of fifty years, they shall retire from service in the work

and not work anymore. They may however, assist their brothers in the tent of

the meeting to keep an obligation, but they themselves shall do no work. --

Numbers 8:23-25

For leaders over 50, may I offer this? Your greatest ministry from this point

onwill be to the next generation.We become mentors and disciplers, coaches

and overseers for those coming behind us.

The Baton Pass

It takes only a moment to pass a baton, but it can take years to pass the heart

and character of that baton. That can only be passed from person to person and

from generation to generation.

In the parlance of a relay event, the race is won or lost in the passing of the

baton.

and there arose another generation after them who did not know the

Lord, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel. Judges 2:10

The whole Old Testament can be summarized in one sentence: the successful

passing of the baton of faith from one generation to another.


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In the last four Olympic games, the U.S. teams dropped batons and were

disqualified. One of the most disheartening sounds a relay runner can experience

is the ping of the baton hitting the track.

In the 4-by-100 relay, the exchange zone extends 30 meters around the oval.

Ten meters that precedes the exchange zone is called the acceleration zone. This

allows the outgoing runner (the one receiving the baton) to get up to speed with

the incoming runner. The baton must be transferred within the exchange zone,

or the team is disqualified.

In ministry, there is an acceleration zone and an exchange zone, and the

incoming (the one passing the baton) must have a very clear and concise picture

of that firmly in his mind.

The baton is passed at the top of the runners stride, not at the low end. Andregardless of how he or she feels at the zone, they pass the baton! No incoming

runner of a previous leg would ever sprint by his partner in the exchange zone

and yell, I think Im OK! I feel good enough that I can run another leg. Just

caught my second wind!

That team is destined to lose.

But so often in our churches, we do that, forgetting that the best baton pass is

done before, not after, the senior leader is fatigued. The best place is at the height

of his stride. For a moment, they run together. But he also knows where the end

of the exchange zone is, and like it or not, the baton is passed. And more often

than not, after the baton is passed, the incoming teammate runs with the one to

whom he passed the baton cheering and encouraging him onward.

I love that picture! Thats what I would like my last leg to be cheering

others onward.

Applauding.

Shouting!

Atta boys!

Encouraging.

Believing.


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The Great Exit

Varying reports tell us that 1,500 pastors are leaving the ministry each month

for various reasons, many of them due to retirement or health. Extrapolated, we

find the startling number of 18,000 leaders that are leaving each year.

Now just for the sake of conversation, what if they became mentors, incoming

runners passing a baton to another outgoing runner? No, not dropping a baton

nor dropping in a heap of fatigue, but taking the time to successfully pass batons?

We could realistically have 18,000 new mentors each year.

That gives such hope, and it makes the future of the Church wonderfully

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Chapter Three

Satellites and Farms

The next step in our shrinkage plan was to develop a new kind of satellite, or

farm system.

I found that for the most part, the young leader who possesses an acute

pioneer giftis a rare bird. Taking something from scratch requires a full tool belt

consisting of an entrepreneurial gift along with at least a modicum of

administrative expertise, shepherding and leadership competencies. It would

also help if he or she were a visionary while maintaining the ability to manage

what he inaugurates. This would require an inordinate amount of energy, and

should the ministry become wildly successful, the indispensible character quality

humility would save the fledgling from exploding with pride.

Apastoralor shepherding gift is more prevalent among aspiring trainees, so

I needed to discover a way to jumpstart these pastors by priming their pumps and

helping them move beyond the pioneer stage and into the shepherding stage.

Therefore, to coach them outside of the classroom and in the trenches, we

decided to launch several satellites. For us, the satellites would be like priming

the pump in the formation of new stand-alone churches. But allow me to

reiterate, there are many reasons and models for the multi-site philosophy:

Some establish multi-sites to develop a one-church-in-many-locations

type of ministry. In this model, all the varying sites act as one. The finances are

processed in a central location, the leadership and management decisions are

centralized, and they all are numerically counted as one location. They are

usually videodriven. The senior pastor is the main teacher and the other leaders

manage the locations, logistics and growth.

Others are overflow sites to relieve the congestion in the main auditorium.

These sites are added locations that enlarge the sanctuary in a different

location.


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A third type is thevideo venues model, which pipes the same sermon into

differing frameworks that appeal to different age groups of cultures that exist

within the same church. It may include more traditional music, or maybe a

coffee shop environment, or an edgy feel.

We chose a different model. We chose to use the satellite as a

pioneering model, to cluster out a group of seasoned saints to prime the pump

of a new church plant. I realized that sooner or later when the senior leader

either retires or expires, that site would need to be on its own. So we made our

goal that within two to five years, depending on the caliber and capacity of the

leader, the church would get chartered off .

During the first year, the pioneer plant simulcasts the main service three

weeks a month, and the final week, the lead pastor would preach. In thesucceeding year, the lead campus pastor would speak two or three times a month

with one or two times by video from the mother church. Throughout this season,

each campus would develop bookkeepers, worship leaders, administrators and

teachers that would train at the mother church. Each site would establish a

Ministry Council of men and women who would oversee the campus. This

would later become their board of directors.

Initially, their salary would be covered by the sponsoring church so the

campus pastor could focus on ministry matters rather than financial ones. They

could concentrate on building leaders, developing teams, nurturing new

believers, teaching the Word and prayer. During the formation stage, each new

leader would be given fishing rights from the mother church from which to

build a leadership team. They could ask anyone to help except where it came to

those currently serving in leadership. The new campus pastors were to build

teams from those who were not yet in any leadership capacity.

The Farm System

The young leaders had a place to test their wings and lead without the fear of

causing a total meltdown if they made a mistake. It also gave the congregants

who went with the new leader the assurance that if anything went sideways, there


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would be an overseer who would step in and rectify things that had gotten out of

sorts.

In one case, a new leader decided after six months that he wanted to be on his

own. I was able to put another young leader in his place, and the church kept

right on growing without a hiccup.

My hope was that one day when I was ready to hand off the baton, we would

have several leaders with first-hand experience to choose from. However, I found

that these wonderful leaders had invested themselves into their communities and

congregations. Leaving one for another would surface more problems than

necessary. Those in that community had bonded to that one pastor and moving

him back to the main site would only cause more commuting for those who had

deep connections.So we were back to looking for sources for new leaders, and thats when we

decided to start a Bible college. We were looking for avid students hungry to

learn about the things of God. We needed new wine for new wineskins. Our

initial class of leaders had been sent out, churches planted, and now we had

empty shelves. We needed fresh potential, forward-leaning hearts and hungry

learners for this new season.

What began as our School of Church Planters segued into a Bible college.

Theology, hermeneutics and a basic understanding of the biblical languages

would serve them well in the pulpit. They needed to learn not only from practical

experience but also from investing academic rigor into their study of Gods Word

to solve problems, communicate clearly, and organize adequately.

We began the Bible college in Honolulu, and eight years later, we started our

second school in Eugene, Oregon. Both colleges are accredited with ABHE

(Association of Biblical Higher Education) with more than 300 full-time students

studying for ministry.

The Result

Within the first eight years, we had completed 10 church plants, and in each

case, anywhere between 150 and 1,400 would migrate from the mother church to


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populate each campus. All of our sites are within a radius of 30 miles of the

mother church. Did this model work?

I found that the Lord is faithful and so true. We would send out 250 and

within two months, 250 to 500 would be added through evangelism. When we

sent our leaders, new ones arrived. When we had to prune, it only yielded more

fruitfulness. And to top it all off, we now have 300 students in our two colleges

preparing for full-time ministry.


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Chapter Four

Planting Our Future

A star falls from the sky and into your hands. Then it seeps through your

veins and swims inside your blood and becomes every part of you. And

then you have to put it back into the sky. And its the most painful thing

you'll ever have to do and that you've ever done. But what's yours is

yours. Whether its up in the sky or here in your hands.

--C. Joybell C.

We celebrated our 18th anniversary recently with 21 chartered church plants,

six of which were planted in our last year. We bid adieu to 1,500 more saints asthey took the challenge to reach our city with the Gospel through one of our

daughter churches.

However, as altruistic as it all seems, planting churches that are populated

from many of the ones who came to faith under your ministry is a mixture of pain

and joy. Like seeing your child leave home for college or another takes a spouse

and moves to a different city, the parent smiles on the outside but wrestles back

emotions on the inside. We were feeling not only the empty nest, but we began

seeing stretch marks from birthing 21 children. As thrilled as we were, we were

now faced with other attention-grabbing realties. Our finances dipped

precipitously by 50 percent, and we had to move to a financial contingency plan

until we could gain back fiscal strength. Over 18 years, we have sent out more

than 6,000 members to help begin our churches in Honolulu. We also began two

non-profit ministries: Camp Agape (a ministry to the children of incarcerated

parents) and the New Hope Counseling Centers.

One person asked me, If you had to do it all over again, would you do the

same thing?


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Look at the fruit:

One church that began with 1,000 people that is 15 miles away is now more than

4,200 in membership. That is a 350 percent increase.

Another that is 20 miles away that began with 100 is now at 600.

Two church plants that began with 250 are at 1,250, a 500 percent increase.

One church plant that began with 200 is now at 600 and now has planted two

others in their outlying community.

There are many more stories of fruitfulness and increase from shrinking the

megachurch into clusters that will in their own rights, become great churches.

Not all of them have grown exponentially, but they all are being used by God in

great ways to reach their community.

The Challenge

I was unprepared for several collateral results. None of these would be right

or wrong. They just were. Knowing these realities in advance would have

helped me assuage my ambivalent emotions, fears and internal struggles:

1. The need for immediate financial restructuring that would include the

necessity of letting staff go due to the reduction of tithes.

2. The many volunteer leaders who would feel called to join the pioneer team,

constantly leaving the mother church with the task of building new leaders. This

would require immediate recruitment efforts that had spotty results, especially in

the areas of musicians, computer / video technicians, or any other areas that

would require technical acuity.

3. I was unprepared for the competitive tendency between our church start-ups

developing their own identity from the mother church.


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4. The fledgling churches give little or no return financially.

These were realities that I needed to be aware of and joyfully accept. I

remember in my early years saying, If after many years the Lord asked us to

defunct the Mother church and leave behind 20 other churches, I would be

happy.

This proved to be easier said than done.

But like God asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the Lord seemed to be testing

our commitment to the original assignment of staying lean and investing in

young leaders. He was challenging our commitment to love these young leaders

regardless of their responses.

I had to constantly remind myself that we started with the goal of training

young leaders who would plant churches and become their own singular

ministries. Each one would be attended with experiences that could be seen from

differing perspectives. Like the returning spies in Numbers, we could see only

giants or we could seewith a different spirita land flowing with milk and

honey.

If you are a pastor of a large church, let me encourage you to see the latter.

Both options are present, but its what you focus on that will capture you.

See children growing into great leaders.

See fledgling churches becoming apostolic centers of revival.

See young Hudson Taylors, Billy Grahams, D.L. Moodys and David

Livingstones.

See the beginnings of other great churches that God will use to transform

communities.

This past week, we planted our 21st church plant in our city. It began with

more than 350 at their first service. I had the privilege of being present to bless

their beginnings. Next week, they come out of the blocks with two services each

Sunday. This makes our sixth church plant in the last 12 months. This plant


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began with a tough young man who came to New Hope on drugs many years ago,

but underneath were all the makings of a pastor. You just had to see it.

Houses in the Forest

Some years ago, a church leader said to me, You can plant many churches

because theres lots of leaders in your church.

I answered, You have them in yours as well.

He replied, No, we have a small church. You have a big church so you have

lots to choose from.

I reiterated, You have the same ones in yours as well.

As he began to rehearse his lines to me a third time, I stopped him and said,

When you look at a forest, what do you see?Why, trees of course! he replied.

I said, Thats your problem; all you see are trees.

He replied, Well, what do you see when you look at a forest?

I see houses. I see desks, guitars, benches, rocking chairs, chest of drawers,

dining tables

He stopped me short and said, Well, your trees in Hawaii must be a lot

different than ours!

No, I explained. They might not be there in finished form, but theyre all

there! But if you dont see houses in the forest, you wont muster up the energy to

harvest the wood and build the houses.

It all starts with seeing houses in the forest.

It has been a wonderful run with more than 138 churches spreading the Good

News.

So, heres the final question.

If I had I the chance to do it all again, would I do the same?

I would. But I would read this small book first.

I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth

--3 John 1:4


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An Afterword

The greatest challenge we face with tomorrows Church will not

be a lack of leaders. It will be an overabundance of

underdeveloped leaders.

I still have dreams of raising up new leaders. No, not bigger churches.

Nothing wrong with that, but the giftedness required to launch and sustain

megachurches is rare. However, God has raised up an exponential amount of

men and women who are capable of leading in outstanding ways, churches

between 100 and 700.

These are the churches that will make up the fabric of Americas churches in

the future. They are the churches who can change the world.

I still have a dream to plant 100 more churches on the West Coast and more

to the East off our patriotic shores. But we will never raise these leaders by

celebrating only megachurches. We will not succeed by announcing the grim

statistics of the diminishing Church, nor by inciting them by recalling their duty

to evangelize the lost.

I learned long ago that if you want to build a ship, one way to get it done is by

organizing teams of volunteers. The other way is by moving people with

adventures on the open seas, the quests of journeying to distant lands and the

magic of discovering new civilizations.

Then you not only have a ship. You have a ready crew that will launch again

and again.


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About the Author

Wayne Cordeiro is the founding pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu,

Hawaii with over 6,000 in weekend attendance. New Hope is also listed as one of the

top ten most innovative churches in America with Outreach Magazine listing them as

one of the top five churches to learn from. New Hope is known for redeeming the arts

and technology. Over 3,000 attending services each week via the Internet. New Hope

has seen over 73,000 first time decisions in Hawaii since its inception 29 years ago.

Wayne is a church planter at heart with over 124 churches planted in the Pacific Rim

countries of the Philippines, Japan, Australia and Myanmar. Nationally, he has planted

churches in Hawaii, California, Washington, and Nevada.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors of New Hope Christian College. NHCC is

now part of a consortium of New Hope Christian Colleges with locations in Hawaii,

Oregon, Myanmar, and Tokyo.

He has authored twelve books, including such classics as Doing Church as a Team,

Dream Releasers,Seven Rules of Success, Attitudes That Attract Success, The Divine

Mentor, Leading on Empty, The Irresistible Church, Siftedand his latest, Jesus, Pure

and Simple. Wayne is also the author of the Life Journal, which is being used by

thousands of churches worldwide, is bringing people back to the Word of God.

Wayne and his wife, Anna, have three married children and six grandchildren. His

hobbies include music, reading, water sports, and riding his Harley Davidson. Wayne

and Anna now split their time between Hawaii and Eugene, Oregon where they have a

family farm. There he writes, and enjoys spending time with his grandchildren.

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