What Model does Evergreen Network use in Establishing a New Church?
July 18, 2024
One of the most frequent questions I receive as Executive Director is, “What model does Evergreen Network use in establishing a new church?”
In the last decade there has been quite a bit of contention around this topic. Often the thinking is binary – churches should either be started in homes through a very organic process OR should be Sunday centric and started by a larger core group of people that is developed over time. For some, there is no debate about it. The “other” model is wrong.
Evergreen Network’s approach is a little more nuanced. We recognize that not all church planters and communities are the same and therefore how a church is established can, and should be, contextualized. Each church planter needs to be a missionary with eyes to discern what is happening in this cultural moment, creatively embodying and expressing the good news of Jesus Christ in their context. Because of this belief, Evergreen Network has many different approaches.
In Portland, Kainos Church is using a micro-church approach. They meet in homes each week all around the Portland area in what they refer to as Kainos Communities. Once a month the communities come together for a shared worship time they call Kainos Collective. Their goal is to multiply communities with each passing year. This approach has worked best with the Nagy’s leadership style and for the people they are discipling.
Generations Church in Eugene started by using what we refer to as a prevailing model. They built a core group of people over the course of a year and once they had critical mass, they began gathering each Sunday for a large worship service led by a talented and authentic team. This is the approach that worked best for Sol Rexius’ leadership gifts and the people they are discipling. And while the Sunday service is a weekly, central experience they also engage people in real and genuine discipleship in smaller more intimate ways. Their core team is highly relational and committed to multiplication with plans to launch a daughter church in Corvallis within the next year and a half.
We believe that the culture and health of a church matters far more than its modality. The following excerpt from John Mark Comer’s new book, Practicing The Way explains this well:
“Serious Christians often argue about the best form of community: Is it a megachurch or a house church? But the older I get, the less concerned I am with form and tradition; they each have pros and cons. The key is to be aware of those pros and cons, and do the best we can to develop genuine disciples. I’m much more concerned with the culture of a church. Whether there are thousands of people around a stage or ten or fifteen around a table, whether they are worshipping with a full band or quietly reading ancient prayers, I’m interested in this question: Does the community call people up to a higher level of apprenticeship? Or does it devolve to the lowest common denominator of immaturity?”
At Evergreen, we are passionate about connecting the unconnected to Jesus and we place a high priority on discipleship and multiplication (both core Evergreen values). How the connection, discipleship and multiplication occurs is of less importance to us. In fact, a third value we hold is innovation and experimentation.
This value led to the establishment of Everyone Village in Eugene, OR that holistically ministers to the houseless community in Eugene. They have built 70 tiny homes that provide real community and empowerment to a demographic of society often neglected by more traditional churches. What they are doing looks nothing like a traditional church in our day, but it may be the most like the church we see in the New Testament than anything else we have done! It certainly works with Gabe Piechowicz’s leadership style and the people they are discipling.
Healthy is probably the best word to describe what we want to see in the churches we establish. Healthy churches led by high character and healthy leaders. We are certain there are ways of establishing a new church we haven’t even thought of yet, but we will continue to funnel the prospects through our core values and mission— and allow God to direct us from there.
Thank you for your partnership as we strive to cover the entire PNW with Healthy, Multiplying Churches!
.
Would you help us with our new initiatives this summer by making a “double-play” between the months of July and August?
We are inviting all of you who partner with Evergreen Network to consider making an extra matching contribution to your monthly gift in either July or August OR consider finding a friend or church willing to match what you give in one of those months… creating a double-play!
We are doubling our efforts in Seattle this next year with TWO new churches launching in the metro area! Our hope is that we will be able to bring in an additional $25,000 this summer to help us launch some new planter care/training initiatives. All of your double play resources will be directly used to serve our planters in process! If you regularly give, simply double-up in either July or August in the regular way you give.
Single contributions are also appreciated if you do not regularly contribute! You can visit the giving page on our website and select “Summer Double Play” in the drop down menu or send a check to the address in the footer. Don’t forget to make checks out to our new name!
