Always Part of Two Churches

Jesus instructed His followers that they should be continuously starting new spiritual families, growing them to be more like Jesus, and helping them learn how to start new spiritual families, too.

So how do these two things come together - how can we be a part of a church and be in the process of starting new churches - all at the same time?

In God's Word, we learn that His perfect plan is for us to live as a spiritual family. The Bible talks about this family as a church in three forms:

• The universal church -- the gathering of all the believers who were, who are and who will be.
• The regional or city church -- the gathering of all the believers in a city or a part of a country.
• The simple church -- the gathering of believers who meet in a small group like in a building or a home.

Imagine a simple church of four families. This basic church is who these families do life with - the brothers and sisters who encourage them in love and good works. Now imagine each of the four couples work to start a new spiritual family. They’re not participating in the same way they do with their own small group family, but they are helping to MODEL and ASSIST as a new spiritual family gets started and grows. Out of one simple church four new churches start at the exact same time. This is an example of how fast God can grow His family. This is how the church can increase its pace.

So what happens to all these churches as they grow and start new churches that start new churches that start new churches? How do they stay connected? How do they live life as an extended spiritual family? The answer is that all of these simple churches are just like the cells in a growing body and they connect together and network into a city or regional church. The churches are related. They share the same spiritual DNA. They are all connected out of the same first multiplying family. And now -- with some guidance - they come together as a larger body to do even more.