By Steve Pike- National Director, Church Multiplication Network 

I don’t have a research based answer to that question, but the story of Jay Covert and Urban Outreach in East Saint Louis gives us an idea of how small a parent church can be when they successfully plant a daughter church. You can watch a video summary here that describes the “pre-launch” work that Jay did for several years to prepare for the first ESL church plant- Urban Outreach Worship Center. Since the video was shot in the summer of 2006, the first ESL church plant has launched and averages about 58 at their weekly meeting. They’ve already given birth to their first daughter church- Washington Park Church where Tommy Smith is pastor. And they are not finished yet!

Today, I received the following update from Pastor Jay:

“Tomorrow I will hook up with two Hispanic brothers to see a building in Fairmount City we can purchase for about $40,000 to launch church #3 here in ESL. Church Plant #4 here is in the conception mode right now targeting Venice, Brookyln and Madison one church to reach three cities Northeast of ESL. 

The Vision must reproduce itself here. Discipleship and Prayer is huge for UO Church in ESL broad, large, deep foundation being poured for the health of the future churches here, these are the two keys to structure this.”

All this is happening as a result of a parent church of 58 people. I’ve heard leaders say things like, “We will plant our first church when we have at least a thousand attending our main campus.” When I ask them why “a thousand” they usually say something about critical mass and the parent church being strong enough to vigorously plant. I think one of the lessons of the Urban Outreach story is that the “critical mass” for optimum parenting might be a lot less than we’ve been led to believe.

The moral of the story is this: Jesus is building His Church. He’s called us to co-labor with Him in that endeavor. Our part of the co-laboring is to do what He says. Quite often, when we do what He says, He takes us places we’d never even dream we could go. So just maybe, instead of counting how many noses and nickels we have to work with and letting those numbers determine when we multiply, maybe we just need to do what the Master Church Builder says to do.

Starting a new church is a journey of faith every step of the way. Once you are confident that God has called you to plant, you must begin to discover how He will supply the resources you will need to start a new church. Most importantly, you’ll need prayer partners and launch team members. You’ll need strategic connections in the community. And of course, you’ll need financial resources. That’s where the Church Multiplication Network Matching Fund can be a blessing to you. The Matching Fund is based on a simple idea: we can do more together than we can by ourselves. The Matching Fund provides a strategic way to make the most of your fund raising efforts.
Here’s how it works…Every approved Assemblies of God church planting project may apply for the Matching Fund one time during the planting process. A maximum of $30,000 per project is available. The funds must be used in a manner that maximizes the “start-up” and therefore, the funds are only available for planting projects that have not yet had their public launch event.
Does it work? Here’s what’s happened so far as we’ve worked together to multiply the Kingdom!

Church planting projects that have received CMN Matching Funds: 47

Personal contacts with unchurched individuals: 74,501

Persons baptized in water: 207

Persons who have made a confession of faith: 1122

Average Number of people per church attending weekly: 72

Amount given to missions by Matching Funds Churches: $203,877.79

Amount paid-forward by Matching Fund Churches to start new churches: $95,985.19

Visit us online to see if you qualify for matching funds.