How Your Church Can Plant a Church (feat. Renew Movement)

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Today’s episode will help us understand how churches can move beyond growth to true multiplication by embracing disciple-making, overcoming common barriers, and leveraging collaborative church planting strategies.

Understanding the Renew Movement: Church Planting and Multiplication

Join Todd Wilson and Brett Andrews in an in-depth discussion about the Renew Movement and its mission to address issues in church planting and disciple making. Discover crucial findings from national studies showing less than 7% of U.S. churches are involved in church planting, and understand the five-level framework used to measure church multiplication. Learn about the six distinctives of Renew Movement, focusing on sound theology, disciple making, healthy support, accountability, reproduction, and collaboration. Understand the practical pathways for church planting and how churches can affiliate with Renew Movement to make immediate and impactful decisions. The session also introduces new opportunities for church planters and churches through multipliers' journey and MSO cohorts, aiming for robust disciple making and church multiplication.

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Key Takeaways 

00:00 Introduction and Overview

01:36 Current State of Church Planting

04:09 Framework for Measuring Church Growth

07:49 Challenges in Church Reproduction

10:13 Importance of Multiplication

27:38 Renew Movement's Mission and Distinctives

29:30 Renew Faith Statement: A Theological Distinctive

31:04 Reproduction: Planting Churches that Plant Churches

32:38 Immediate Involvement in Church Planting

35:50 Pathways for Planting: Collaborative, Parent, Pioneer, and Affiliate

38:32 Affiliation with Renew Movement

44:49 Legacy Churches: Revitalization and Rebirth

48:03 Multipliers Journey and MOS Cohorts

 

Renew Movement – Workshop Episode

In this episode, Todd Wilson, Brett Andrews, Patrick Bradley, and Dave Putman break down the Renew Movement’s approach to church planting and affiliation. They explore key strategies, current challenges, and how churches can shift from growth to true multiplication.

Todd Wilson kicks things off by outlining the session’s focus: understanding today’s church planting landscape, how to affiliate with Renew Movement, and tackling common obstacles. He notes that their audience includes both new church planters and existing churches seeking affiliation. A Q&A session follows, with lunch providing an opportunity for extended discussions.

The State of Church Planting

The team examines two national studies revealing troubling trends: fewer than 5% of U.S. churches actively make disciples, and only 7% are engaged in reproducing or planting new churches. Wilson stresses the connection between disciple-making and church planting—strong discipleship fuels sustainable church growth.

They introduce a five-level framework for church growth:

• Level 1: Declining churches (35%)
• Level 2: Plateaued churches
• Level 3: Growing churches
• Level 4: Reproducing churches
• Level 5: Multiplying churches 

The challenge? Most churches never move beyond growth to reproduction, and true multiplication is rare.

Addition vs. Reproduction

Wilson clarifies a crucial distinction: adding services or campuses isn’t the same as planting new, self-sustaining churches. Many multisite models expand attendance but don’t create independent church-planting movements.

Brett Andrews tackles the biggest barriers to church reproduction—fear of scarcity (lack of resources) and fear of inadequacy (lack of wisdom). He encourages leaders to trust God’s provision and lean on collaborative church networks.

Six Core Distinctives of Renew Movement

1. Sound Theology – Ensuring doctrinal integrity in church planting.
2. Disciple-Making – Making disciples the foundation of church growth.
3. Healthy Support Systems – Offering coaching, training, and assessment.
4. Reproduction DNA – Embedding multiplication into new churches.
5. Accountability – Maintaining mission alignment and integrity.
6. Collaboration – Encouraging churches to work together in planting efforts.

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