MULTIPLYING MULTIPLIERS: HOW TO DEVELOP CHURCH PLANTERS WHO MULTIPLY THROUGH EVANGELICAL CHURCH-BASED PLANTING

The Evangelical Church of America is declining, while the population of the United States is growing. Though the church has a biblical mandate to multiply and fulfill the Great Commission, the church-planter pipelines within church-planting churches and organizations are shrinking, and only a fraction of churches are multiplying by developing church planters and releasing them to plant new generations of churches. The challenge of generational church multiplication is captured in the research question: How can church-planting churches and church-based church-planting networks prepare church planters to multiply? This study provides a biblical foundation for a practical theology of church multiplication and generational leadership training that guides the missional ecclesiopraxis for developing church planters who multiply. The qualitative studies for this project utilized mixed methods research through surveying and interviewing. The cross-sectional surveying of over 100 church planters revealed the qualities of church planters who multiply in contrast to those who do not. The triad interviews of multiplying leaders within six church-based church-planting networks provide insight into how Multiplying Pastors develop and transfer multiplicative efforts into new generations of church planters. Integrating the theological findings, insights from contemporary literature resources, and the results of the qualitative research provide a developmental framework for cultivating potential church planters toward generational church multiplication.