Celebrating The 'Multiplication Effect'

No doubt, Easter Weekend is the highest attendance weekend of the year at most churches across the USA.  So we pastors like to talk about high water mark moments in terms of attendance.  What I also like to track on an Easter Weekend is the 'multiplication effect' that comes with church planting.

Back in 1996, before we began planting churches out of APC, our highest attendance number was somewhere right around 1200 people on an Easter Weekend.  Since that time we have planted eight churches (with several more on the way in 2010).

Combined attendance this past Easter Weekend, in the churches planted, was just over 1500 people.  That means that there are more people in the churches that we planted than there were total people at APC back in 1996. Even more importantly than just the attendance numbers is the fact that each of these churches has an ongoing presence in their communities 365 days a year.

But just for the sake of the sense of momentum that the numbers create, I enjoy tracking them.  And if you add the almost 2000 (1963) who were at APC, during one of our four Easter Services...there was over 3500 total people involved at Allison Park or one of these eight churches.

Next Easter I am confident that we will break the 4000 number - due to the fact that most of these churches are growing and that three new churches will have been started by then.

One of my dreams is to see the day when we will have 10,000 people total on an Easter weekend.

What's amazing about the 'multiplication effect' is several things:  First, the growth of these churches is no longer dependent on the leadership or effectiveness of Allison Park Church.  Second, as they grow, and as some of these churches multiply (which is happening this year), there is the potential for exponential impact.

Remember, its not so much what you do that counts.  It's what you set in motion.  I absolutely love what we have set in motion through the church planting process.

Comments

[Lois Janke]

IS THIS NOT THE COMMISSION OF GOD???...TO GO, TO MULTIPLY, TO SHARE THE GOSPEL, TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER...FOR THIS IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO!!!..SPREADING THE JOY OF CHRIST WITH WHAT HE HAS SET BEFORE US!!! OH, THAT WE MIGHT HEAR AND OBEY THIS GREAT COMMISSION!!! TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER!! AS EPHESIANS 4 SAYS...THERE IS ONE BODY AND ONE SPIRIT, JUST AS YOU WERE CALLED TO ONE HOPE WHEN YOU WERE CALLED, ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM; ONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL, WHO IS OVER ALL AND THROUGH ALL AND IN ALL..VERSES 4-6...YOUR PLANTING, WATCHING THE GROWTH AND SEEING THE HARVEST!! WHAT GREATER JOY THAN THIS CAN BE GIVEN!!...

[BradLeach]

Awesome! So glad to be a part of this.

[Jane Abbate]

Thanks to you, your staff, the church planters and those who support you, God has proven himself as the master mathematician! "The good soil represents the hearts of those who truly accept God's message and produce a huge harvest--30, 60, even 100 times as much as had been planted." (Matthew 13-23 NLT)