How close is my church to being a multiplying church? What markers to I need to aim for if I desire for my church or network to multiply? Jimmy Scroggins and Steve Wright share a great list of 10 markers or characteristics of a Multiplying Movement in their great book Turning Everyday Conversations into Gospel Conversations. Here’s the list in the form of 10 questions to Gauge multiplication:

1. How are we expanding the vision to share the gospel for our people?
2. How are we encouraging focused prayer for evangelism?
3. Are we providing simple and reproducible gospeling tools?
4. Is there an abundance of gospel seed sowing?
5. Are we training our people to share the gospel frequently and regulary?
6. Are new believers rapid to obey and go make disciples in their networks?
7. Are we seeing generational growth patterned after 2 Timothy 2:2?
8. How are we holding each other accountable to sharing the gospel?
9. How are we celebrating stories of obedience in gospel sharing?
10. How are we multiplying churches through our new disciples?

Challenging list, but some simple starting points for any church.

>> Expand the vision. The authors give the challenge of considering “how many new disciples would you need to turn back the lostness in your immediate area by just 1 percent?” In my community, The Association of Religious Data Archives says there are 116,018 unaffiliated individuals, that are not part of any church or religious body. So to just focus on these would mean, we’d need to reach 1,160 people! Need big vision to accomplish this!

>> Begin to Pray. “Prayer aligns our hearts with God’s heart for the lost.” Great tools like BlessEveryHome.com can be used for strategic prayer across your community. Also, devising a way for people to write down their lost friends pray for regularly.

>> Provide tools and training. “A commitment to frequent, intentional training is the key factor that distinguishes a multiplying movement from one of fast addition.” How are you training people to share the gospel? Lots of tools available like One on One: Evangelism Made Simple through the Louisiana Baptist Convention, the 3 Circles Life Conversation Guide through the North American Mission Board. Books like Turning Everyday Conversations into Gospel Conversations, Sharing Jesus Without Freaking Out by Alvin Reid, and Tell Someone by Greg Laurie. Lot’s of simple ways to provide training.

Turning Everyday Conversations Into Gospel Conversations is also a good How To book for Christians, presenting the 3-Circles method of sharing the Gospel. Check it out and maybe buy a box for your small group or church resource center.

Here’s a few other great quotes from the book:

• The North American church needs more believers actively engaging their neighbors and coworkers in gospel conversations.
• It’s not enough to preach the gospel only on Sunday. It’s not enough for a handful of seminary trained individuals to tell several hundred people the good news once a week.
• every follower of Jesus should be intentionally discipling at least one person.
• How do we know when someone is ready to hear and genuinely respond to the gospel? The fact is we really never know what God is doing in someone’s heart. We need to have frequent, intentional gospel conversations and then allow the gospel to be the filter.
• What fueled the exponential and explosive growth of Christianity in the first century was how ordinary people spoke of the gospel to everyone they knew.
• Christ followers are lifelong repenters who need to rehearse the gospel daily.
• If our golf swing is worth practicing, then certainly our gospel sharing is as well.
• Multiplying movements ignite when new believers are immediately trained, discipled, and released to win and disciple those who far from God.