Church growth is a wonderful thing. There are more voices in prayer, more hands in service, more talents utilized, and minds engaged, and more hearts in love with Christ Jesus the Lord. But growth also brings its own unique challenges which traditionally include:

  • Finding more room for everyone to meet and park
  • Finding a way to continue in the loving service, evangelism, and discipleship that led to the growth in the first place

Tragically, the first option to find more space most often trumps the second option of Christian mission. I’m sure you’ve seen it before - big churches that move into big buildings only to become very small churches in big buildings due to backwards priorities.

We at Seattle Metro Church are attempting to avoid such a course. The traditional model of “doing church” typically conceives costly, building-focused, clergy-led organizations. We, however, are striving for a more organic and biblical pattern which we hope produces a low-overhead, mission-centered, Christ-led family of God.

About a month ago SMC grew to 20 people which was very crowded for a single living room, especially with five young children. After a month of prayer and contemplation, we decided it was best to multiply our church by dividing into two smaller groups for meeting on Sundays. One church, two groups.

This differs fundementally from the small group programs of most churches that typically add them on as extensions of the church, much like you add clothing to a body. Our church, however, consists of small groups just as a body consists of cells.

We also made some important supporting decisions.

  • We will meet on the first Sunday of every month as a whole
  • Our other ministries (such as Contxt and Film Nite) will also continue to be shared
  • We will appoint liaisons to facilitate coordination and communication between the groups

This approach has several advantages and disadvantages that I will not go into now but hope to soon. This plan is not perfect and it’s not a silver bullet, but I think it’s a great start. Feel free to ask any questions or offer any suggestions.