5) Why Now?

The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength. I Samuel 2:4

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

Are we ready as a church to do this? Even if we're convinced about the need and the call to move forward, we still have to recognize that committing to expanding the Kingdom of God is a challenge.

In one sense, it is tempting to list the ways that may make our church seem unprepared. In the midst of conversations about multi-site some descriptions might be brought out: "We're not strong enough or mature enough." "We don't have stable finances or long-term relationships." "We're pretty good at communicating the gospel and bringing up new leaders, but we could a lot better." "We long to be agents of mercy and compassion, but we talk about it more than we act."

From a practical standpoint, those are important elements in declaring any church 'not ready'. On the other hand, that's the perfect place to be at. It forces us to ask other questions and see beneath the surface.

There are deeper things to discern that show God's work inside his church. We need to lead from a place of dependence on Christ, rather than our human strength. We need to discern our motives and abilities to be God's Kingdom agents. We need to gather the new gifts that God gives his church through people that have not served before.

What we look for as evidence of God's work among us?

• More prayer happening spontaneously.
  
• A hunger to grow and serve at the same time.
  
• Greater personal and community boldness.
  
• New people plugged into the community
  
• New people coming to faith as followers of Jesus
  

As we look to those deeper questions, we can see God at work. Each of these five things are happening. More people are praying in groups for mission, many new people are using their gifts to serve God's kingdom, a boldness in the gospel is building, people are plugging into community in greater numbers and we're seeing an increase in new commitments of faith.

Are these evidences of fruit happening enough to say "launch!" Perhaps not yet, but the process of preparation is one of the means that God is using to build these fruit in our midst. We grow in maturity as we move closer toward this dream.

Next, we'll look at some of the key stages (and decision points) of becominge a multi-site church.

As always, we welcome your response, questions and feedback. Discuss below, or contact any pastor or elder directly.