Incubation: Multiplication by Addition (Part 1)

I love Ed Stetzer and my dear ministry partner, Ray Chang. Lots of gold nuggets in this article in Christianity Today. It’s something I strive to do with our church Saddleback Church Irvine South.

Was there anything you gleaned from this short read?

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Several months ago, we launched our first church planter cohort.[1] Seven church planters sat around tables, each one sharing his vision for launching a new church. As each planter shared his background and story, I began to hear a common theme around these church planters. Out of the seven, five had already planted a church, but the church was unable to sustain and flourish. Each story was filled with pain, frustration and helplessness.

One planter was given orders from his senior pastor to plant a church in two weeks. He could ask anyone in the two week time frame and was given a two months salary to launch a church. Another planter left a large mega-church where he served on staff as the youth and college ministry pastor. After expressing his desire to plant a church, the senior pastor let him go without support or help. The next planter shared the story of starting off at a local college campus, where they started reaching the campus, but they soon realized that without a financial base of families, the church began to shrink and resources ran dry. The fourth planter shared how he had departed from an immigrant church with a co-planter and began to wander aimlessly for six years with a core of 30 people. There was little outreach and all the core members lived 20 miles away.

Finally, the most heart-breaking story came from the last planter, who shared his vision of planting in one of the most difficult parts of the city… READ MORE HERE