What’s New at Asbury Church Planting?
The Center for Church Multiplication supports church planters throughout the US. We asked our grant recipients about their love for church planing, and how they connect with their communities. HERE is what they said.
GLOBAL VOICES: PRINCIPLES FROM PLANTERS
Each month we highlight church multiplication principles gleaned from Global Gatherings of church planters around the world. Here is a principle shared by a church planter in Brazil:
Never Work Alone.
God is fundamentally relational. God isn’t an isolated, independent person. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit model relational intimacy characterized by mutual commitment, communication, cooperation, enjoyment, mutual respect, and honor. God is fundamentally inter-dependent. Each member of the Trinity has a distinct role that complements the others. Within their relationship, power and honor are willingly shared. We are made in God’s image which means we are fundamentally relational and inter-dependent. Following God’s example, we embrace relationships, willingly share power, and humbly rely on the unique contribution of each member to God’s family. If God has never worked alone, can we? Jefferson, a church planter in Pinhais, Brazil shares, “No one does anything alone. Each person on the team and in the church has their value within the work.”
CCM RESOURCE RECOMMENDATION: THE STARFISH AND THE SPIRIT
“Is your church a spider or a starfish?”
If you cut the head off a spider, you kill the entire organism. But if you cut a starfish in half and fling each half to opposite ends of the world, you get two starfish. A starfish has in each of its cells all that it needs to completely regenerate a whole new starfish.
In their book, The Starfish and the Spirit, Lance Ford, Rob Wegner, and Alan Hirsch leverage this metaphor to show how the distributed structures of starfish networks will prepare today’s churches for the challenges of tomorrow.
The Starfish and the Spirit is about creating a culture where church leaders view themselves as curators of a community on mission, not as the source of certainty for every question and project. Imagine a church led by a team whose gifts and talents are completely unleashed, enabling everyone to show up and step up with all they are.
What would it be like to see this kind of healthy leadership reproduced for generations?”
Find The Starfish and the Spirit and other CCM recommended books here.
EXPONENTIAL GLOBAL CONFERENCE 2026
Exponential Global still has spots left in their overflow site and digital access passes.
Dates for Exponential Global Conference in Orlando, FL:
16 March 2026 – Pre-conference
17-19 March 2026 – Main conference
CCM SOCIALS
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