It’s About Multiplication and Not Addition

The below content taken from The Present Future By Reggie McNeal.

Shifting from Church Growth to Kingdom Growth

The church growth movement introduced a concern for growth and a missiological approach to church.
Unfortunately, it fell victim to the belief that we are the architects of the work of God.
As a result, we have the best churches men can build, but are still waiting for the church that only God can get credit for.
Wrong question:
How do we grow the church? (How do we get them to come to us?)
Missional question:
How do we transform our community? (How do we hit the streets with the gospel?)
A shift from church activity to community transformation.
What the people in our communities need is God in their lives.
The North American Church is not spiritual enough to reach our culture with their greatest need.
Missional spirituality requires that God’s people be captured by His heart for people, that our hearts be broken for what breaks His, and that we rejoice in what brings Him joy. (See the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin and the lost son in Luke 15).

Kingdom Thinking

Kingdom theology requires that we reexamine our strategy for penetrating the culture with the presence of the church.
In the church age, cultural presence largely depended on church real estate.
Jesus’ strategy was to go where the people were already hanging out: weddings, parties, feast day celebrations, etc.
We need churches where people are already hanging out – inside of every Wal-Mart, Barnes and Nobles, Starbucks, etc.
McDonalds is leading the way – placing its new stores where people already are.
Bottom line: we’ve got to take the gospel to the streets – incarnating the gospel throughout the community.