Please login to continue
Having Trouble Logging In?
Reset your password
Don't have an account?
Sign Up Now!
Sign Up for Free
Name
Email
Choose Password
Confirm Password

Thank you for registering with us.

Stage 9: Extending

Churches together send workers

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

  • Outcome: Reaching beyond their culture

  • Key Person: Cross-cultural worker

  • How to Give: Give toward missions infrastructure and initiatives

  • How to Pray: Pray for vision and opportunities to move into new geographies and people groups

  • How to Go: Go teach missiology, establish joint initiatives, pray together for the nations

  • How to Partner: Partner by coaching them on missiology and how to set up a missions agency, using the mission strategy map to help them think about how they’ll lead through each stage; work under Multiply regional leadership

Description:

Healthy families of churches grow. The increased numbers bring complexity that requires more clarity. And as the gospel is planted, they will naturally move outside their geography and culture. This means formalizing things that used to be informal, and creating structures or "wineskins" to receive what God is doing. This stage is complete when the family of churches has their own contextualized system for reproducing all 9 stages of the Map.

Biblical Foundation:

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he promised to send the Holy Spirit who would then send his disciples as witnesses to the ends of the earth. After Pentecost, the emerging church remained in Jerusalem, and while many were added to their number, they exhibited little impetus to go beyond their own borders (Acts 6:7). The persecution that followed Stephen’s martyrdom scattered believers, who now proclaimed the gospel wherever they went, including Philip who went to Samaria (Acts 8:4). The Spirit of God now began to send the church into new territory – Philip is sent to the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-27), Peter is sent to the Gentiles (Acts 10:19), others travel to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch (Acts 11:19). It is the Spirit who set apart Barnabas and Saul and sent them out on the first missionary journey (Acts 13:2-4) and it is the Spirit who continued to direct their expanding vision to share the good news of Jesus in new places (Acts 16:6-10; Rom. 15:19-24).

The story of the early church highlights the challenge of seeing the bigger mission of God, who seeks to reach all people with the gospel of Jesus. What is also evident is that it is the Spirit of God who gives the church the vision for moving beyond the comfort of its own borders and it is he who sends the church out into new territory. All along, the Spirit of God leads the church to participate in God’s mission by calling and sending out new workers.

<<Mission Strategy Map

Stage 9: Extending

Churches together send workers

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

  • Outcome: Reaching beyond their culture

  • Key Person: Cross-cultural worker

  • How to Give: Give toward missions infrastructure and initiatives

  • How to Pray: Pray for vision and opportunities to move into new geographies and people groups

  • How to Go: Go teach missiology, establish joint initiatives, pray together for the nations

  • How to Partner: Partner by coaching them on missiology and how to set up a missions agency, using the mission strategy map to help them think about how they’ll lead through each stage; work under Multiply regional leadership

Description:

Healthy families of churches grow. The increased numbers bring complexity that requires more clarity. And as the gospel is planted, they will naturally move outside their geography and culture. This means formalizing things that used to be informal, and creating structures or "wineskins" to receive what God is doing. This stage is complete when the family of churches has their own contextualized system for reproducing all 9 stages of the Map.

Biblical Foundation:

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he promised to send the Holy Spirit who would then send his disciples as witnesses to the ends of the earth. After Pentecost, the emerging church remained in Jerusalem, and while many were added to their number, they exhibited little impetus to go beyond their own borders (Acts 6:7). The persecution that followed Stephen’s martyrdom scattered believers, who now proclaimed the gospel wherever they went, including Philip who went to Samaria (Acts 8:4). The Spirit of God now began to send the church into new territory – Philip is sent to the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-27), Peter is sent to the Gentiles (Acts 10:19), others travel to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch (Acts 11:19). It is the Spirit who set apart Barnabas and Saul and sent them out on the first missionary journey (Acts 13:2-4) and it is the Spirit who continued to direct their expanding vision to share the good news of Jesus in new places (Acts 16:6-10; Rom. 15:19-24).

The story of the early church highlights the challenge of seeing the bigger mission of God, who seeks to reach all people with the gospel of Jesus. What is also evident is that it is the Spirit of God who gives the church the vision for moving beyond the comfort of its own borders and it is he who sends the church out into new territory. All along, the Spirit of God leads the church to participate in God’s mission by calling and sending out new workers.

<<Mission Strategy Map