5. Church Multiplication
The title “fastest-shrinking megachurch” may go to New Hope Christian Fellowship O’ahu in Honolulu, Hawaii (enewhope.org), led by Wayne Cordeiro. Attendance is dropping like a rock. But Cordeiro seems pretty happy about it. On the surface, going from 12,000 weekend attendees to 9,200 may seem like decline. But by planting 83 new churches, New Hope continues to reseed itself by multiplying churches rather than adding to its own numbers. Cordeiro plans to plant New Hope’s 100th church by 2010.
In recent years, church planting has gained tremendous traction. And many megachurches are now embracing a missional vision for church multiplication. Notice I did not say church planting—these churches are not interested in simply planting one church at a time, but are leveraging their resources to multiply or plant several churches on an annual basis.
A prime example of a megachurch that engages in church multiplication is New York-based Redeemer Presbyterian (redeemer.com) led by Tim Keller. With an average weekly attendance of 4,800, it has participated in more than 100 church plants and sets aside $2 million annually for the Redeemer Church Planting Center. Redeemer is a model of local church leaders assuming significant responsibility for planting churches, not leaving the burden to their denominations.
By making church planting a priority, megachurches are discovering that growth is experienced on both sides—not only do daughter churches see new growth, but involved mother churches are also seeing their members strengthened to reach more unchurched members of their community.
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