Thinking Multiplication

By Noah Oldham

In Matthew 28, Jesus commissioned His disciples to a worldwide disciple-making project: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Then, in Acts 1, He promised to give them the power to make it possible: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” That day arrived, the Holy Spirit came, and the Church was birthed.

God shows us in the book of Acts, and the rest of the New Testament, that His plan for His global mission of expanding His Kingdom in cities and nations all over the world is not in a random scattering of individuals or families. At the center of His plan is a tool. In fact, the only tool established by Jesus for the expansion of His Kingdom is the local church. These communities of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord gather regularly for preaching and worship. And these same communities, unified by the Spirit, scatter to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Yet, if we’re not careful, that is where our definition of the local church can end. Maybe not in official definitions, but in the real practices and rhythms of our churches. We feel responsible for “right here.” This neighborhood. This town. This city. This county. This region. This is our area of responsibility. This is where we focus our time, attention, and resources to be disciples and make disciples. As we should!

But then we’re reminded of Acts 1:8. And it’s then that the mission trips get planned and the youth pastors start making phone calls. Where can we take a group? We begin to partner up with a newer church or a church reaching a different culture within driving distance and we call it “Samaria.” We connect with a foreign missionary, and we call it “the end of the earth.” But is this all that Jesus had in mind?

Jesus said the nations are His inheritance. God promises to bring people from every corner of the globe, every tribe, language, people, and nation, to worship at His throne. Therefore, the mission demands that we think multiplication. Every church in the New Testament was planted by another church. The Apostle Paul wrote many of his letters to ask churches to participate in the mission or to thank them for the role they’ve already played. There is a clear synergistic thread all throughout the first century church. This model of Kingdom collaboration resulted in a movement of multiplication that led to today. The mission Jesus had (and has) in mind is vast and immense. And no single church can accomplish the mission by itself.

To say it plainly: according to Scripture, networks don’t plant churches. Denominations don’t plant churches. Even individuals don’t plant churches. Churches plant churches. And if we are going to see a true movement of the gospel spread across the United States, North America, and around the globe—a movement I hope that we are believing God for—we must see thousands of churches and church leaders commit to think multiplication at every level: multiplying disciples, multiplying leaders, and multiplying churches.

But stated like that, we might let ourselves off the hook. If thousands are required, then I don’t matter. But you do. You matter. Your church matters. Your obedience to the Great Commission matters. And your leadership to lead others into that same obedience matters.

In 2009, I led a team of five to plant August Gate Church just south of downtown St. Louis. Our desire, as our name alludes, was to be a church that sought God for a harvest in St. Louis. So, we planted pregnant. No, we weren’t ready to send out a team (we could barely gather enough people that first six months to keep the nagging thoughts of “did we miss this?” at bay!). But we were pregnant with vision: “By God’s grace we will see disciples made, churches planted, and St. Louis littered with gospelcentered, missional churches.” And then we got to work.

And over the past 14 years, I’ve learned that there are four non-negotiables in the harvest field of the Lord Jesus: a willingness to multiply and send leaders, a willingness to expand the vision, a willingness to multiply and send congregations, and a willingness to multiply the vision.

A Willingness to Multiply and Send Leaders

From the outset, we had the desire to plant a church that would reach the diverse context of south St. Louis City. We knew that we’d need a diverse team to make this happen. We prayed. And as we prayed, God brought a young man into our lives. He was a young disciple of Jesus, newly married with raw skills on instruments and singing. God heard and answered!

Over the next several months, our pastors poured into him, discipling him in life, marriage, and worship leading skills. He was ready to begin leading and we were going to take our next steps in reaching this community. And then we got the call. A few months prior, we had committed to help plant a church on the other side of the city. We committed prayer, coaching, finances, and a blank check of “anything you might need.” Well, it just so happened that they needed a worship leader. Up to this point, it was one of the hardest “yes” answers we had to make. In a culture of multiplication and sending, the disciples belong to Jesus. He will move them and use them where He sees fit. Our job is to faithfully multiply and send.

A Willingness to Expand the Vision

Within two years we were growing, reaching people from a 25-mile radius. This meant that some of our members lived an hour away from each other. Then one of our core families spoke up. They understood the mission and vision of being disciples and making disciples— gathering, growing, and going together. They were all in. But they couldn’t convince the neighbors they were reaching to make the drive to be a part of August Gate. Did they have to leave? We committed to praying.

And after a season of prayer, it was clear that God was moving us to plant another congregation of August Gate Church. God was moving our focus from a smaller, focused geographic area in South City to a larger, regional area that included the south part of St. Louis Metro East. On our third anniversary as a church, we celebrated the launch of August Gate Metro East, and the transition to an expanded vision of one church in multiple locations.

A Willingness to Multiply and Send Congregations

Sending out members and leaders to expand the vision and mission of the church is one thing. But sending out members and leaders to start something autonomous and new is different altogether. Well, a culture of multiplication and sending is contagious, and in short order we were faced with that decision.

One of our original five, one of our first ordained pastors, began to sense God’s call to an area of our city: both the geography and the people. It was an area that hadn’t seen church planting activity in quite some time. If you’ll indulge my anthropomorphism: the area was hungry for the harvest. Yet we were just barely a year beyond planting a second gathering. We had sent leaders, resources, energy, and attention elsewhere. It was a season where we could have justified saying no to what’s next. You see, we were concerned with growth. But God was calling us to multiply. So, we did. One of our pastors and his entire small group were sent (before we turned five!) to plant a new church on the northwest side of the city.

A Willingness to Multiply the Vision

Over the next several years, the mission and the vision kept moving forward. We served as the sending church for a handful of other churches in the St. Louis metro region. We partnered as supporting churches for another couple handfuls around the country, and even in Canada. And in some very miracleladen ways, we were able to be a part of Kingdom-expanding works among the nations. Disciples were made, developed, and ended up in lots of other churches around the city. Decisions to multiply and send were still hard, but they got easier each time. Until we were hit with the hardest one of all.

In the fall of 2019, just after celebrating our 10-year anniversary, our elders were faced with the question: Is it time for something new? Specifically, as our church matured, our congregations and contexts both changed. We were at a crossroads. Do we fight to keep this thing together? Or do we make the decisions necessary to keep the multiplication of disciples and churches at the forefront. We knew we had to multiply the vision.

In January 2020, we began the process of moving from one church in two locations to two autonomous churches laser-focused on our individual contexts with the nations in mind. As I look back, I see God’s sovereign power and kindness to move us in the direction He did when He did.

Three years later, these two churches continue to multiply disciples. We both work to reach our neighborhoods so that the nations might know Him. We’re working to plant churches and send missionaries. The vision is still the same. It’s just bigger, broader, and some might say, more beautiful. This is our multiplication story. What will yours be?

NOAH OLDHAM | Lead Pastor, August Gate Church; Senior Director of Church Planting Deployment, Send Network