How to discover the keys to multiplication today is a question that many Christian leaders are grappling with. In grappling with this issue, it’s been common to hear how many leaders are searching for that elusive “new wineskin” that Jesus spoke about in Luke 5:37-39.
Perhaps discovering this will unlock the keys needed for movements and multiplication to thrive?
The discussion frequently ends up revolving around what a new wineskin might look like.
Some will say that the new wineskin will be house churches or micro churches. Others that it will be entrepreneurial churches that use business to connect with people, and yet others will say churches that have campuses or perhaps a new model of church entirely.
But I don’t know that this was really what Jesus was alluding to. Peyton Jones in his new book “Discipology: The Art and Science of Making Disciples” makes the comments that:
“He [Jesus] knew that mobilization must precede multiplication—just as the Gospels come before the book of Acts. The Gospels chronicle how Jesus mobilized people through disciple-making, showing it as the cause, with the multiplication in Acts as the effect.”
and
“Whereas previous movements often required churches to restructure or reinvent themselves, the mobilization movement affirms that mobilizing disciples doesn’t require changing your church’s model—it starts with changing your mindset. You don’t have to tear it down and start over. You can begin right where you are, with what you have. Mobilization doesn’t replace your model; it releases your people.”
Back to what Jesus was saying about the wineskins, perhaps this parable isn’t about different kinds of churches but about what would happen after Jesus ascended? Perhaps the parable is talking about the New Covenant and the Old Covenant and not about the model of church that we use. Instead, the consequence of new wine and new wineskins will be mobilised disciples who follow Jesus.
That’s worth reflecting on. Bringing in the new will actually be going back to the old in Acts and rediscovering this.
Peyton Jones writes about John Wesley who founded a movement that “exploded to 1.46 million by the 1851 census in Britain, and over 1.66 million in the States by 1860, nearly a thirtyfold increase in the seventy years after his death.” saying that:
”He wasn’t trying to invent something new—he was recovering something ancient—something from Acts. “In religion, I am for as few innovations as possible,” Wesley once said. “I love the old wine best…Wesley’s innovation wasn’t invention but implementation. He simply rediscovered and reactivated Jesus’s model by scouring the pages of the New Testament.”
If we ask the question as to what model of church is required? The answer is that it doesn’t matter. In the New Testament we see mega churches like the church in Acts 2 as well as house churches. The thing that they had in common was that they made disciples.
Peyton Jones draws attention to the fact that the multiplication movement that exploded through the time that Luke recorded in Acts came after Jesus had spent three years discipling the leaders who the Holy Spirit empowered at Pentecost. And Jesus mobilised them by giving them the Great Commission.
The lesson here is simple but profound. A multiplication movement will be launched from making disciples and activating those disciples, not the other way around.
Peyton Jones writes that:
“Discipology teaches us not to replace or abandon existing or established churches but to empower them where they are. Discipology does not present a new model of church. It’s model neutral. Jesus’ Discipology rhythms are intended to activate believers beyond the walls, regardless of what happens within them. Here’s the good news: If how the church gathers doesn’t matter, then mobilization can happen in any church, regardless of the model or liturgy.”
He makes the point that disciple making and mobilisation are the keys that underpin multiplication and says that if you “Aim at multiplication and you likely get neither. But aim at mobilization and you get both. If you focus on the result (multiplication), you’ll ignore the cause (mobilization).”
Just perhaps, the new wineskin may be about making disciples and mobilising them as was recorded in Acts. If this is the case, we have to look seriously at how we are doing this in whatever model of church we have. Disciple making in accordance with the teachings of Jesus and the Great Commission must be at the core of our churches and not just a program.
Three resources that will help you:
- Discipology: The Art and Science of Making Disciples by Peyton Jones
- The 10 Shifts to Birth Disciple Making Multiplication ebook available free from Exponential Australia, and
- Multiplier by Dave Ferguson, a great book that will help you to Make Disciple Makers, Establish Spiritual Communities, Mobilise Leaders and Launch Church Expressions.
When we focus on movements and multiplication before we focus on disciple making and mobilisation, we miss the steps to discovering the keys to multiplication today.
