At Multiply, we use this Map to describe how we understand God usually working in mission. I’ve modified it a bit so it applies to more than just overseas, cross-cultural contexts.

It starts in Stage 1, with a group of people who have not heard of Jesus, and ends in Stage 9, when they are a family of churches working together to take the gospel to other nations.

The progression generally goes like this: the first three stages are about individuals, the second row is about churches, and the third is about nations.

The point of the Map is to help us keep moving, because as we’ll address in more detail later, it’s so easy to get stuck. The stage a group is in is determined by where they are, not what you are doing to serve them. Our activities often get out of sync with where the people are at.

I’ll walk you through the Stages using examples from each of: mission initiatives, church planting, established churches and disciple making movements.

These are just samples I made up to give you an idea of what these could look like. In practice, there is lots of variety within each of these models and lots of overlap between them. Feel free to pick and choose your approach, or invent a new one.

1. Mobilizing
   • mission: long term missionary training
   • planting: preparing your launch team
   • church: vision casting and evangelism training
   • dmm: disciple making movement training
2. Connecting
   • mission: arrive, learn language and culture
   • planting: go, meet people in the community
   • church: members practically serving the lost
   • dmm: engage in an access ministry
3. Witnessing
   • mission: discovering culturally appropriate ways to convey the gospel
   • planting: inviting people to come to church when it starts
   • church: encourage conversations where they say the name of Jesus
   • dmm: kingdom encounters, looking for a person of peace
4. Gathering
   • mission: the local disciple leads “church” with their friends and family
   • planting: regular Sunday services start with community people
   • church: members use Sunday services to meet and befriend new people
   • dmm: person of peace starts a discovery group with unbelievers
5. Equipping
   • mission: new believers are trained to disciple their friends and family
   • planting: small groups to encourage members in reaching out
   • church: invite new attendees to Bible study groups
   • dmm: invest in the person of peace with more foundational teaching
6. Growing
   • mission: new believers start house churches on their own initiative
   • planting: members initiate groups at e.g. their schools or workplaces
   • church: members run programs like Alpha, befriending the attendees
   • dmm: the discovery group’s members are initiating new discovery groups
7. Multiply
   • mission: churches are starting throughout the region
   • planting: the church plant launches new church plants
   • church: remote satellite campuses start because of new believers
   • dmm: three generations deep, starting over with new networks
8. Partnering
   • mission: pastors form a leadership team to serve the churches
   • planting: events bring the church planters together
   • church: no longer just satellite campuses, the pastors lead together
   • dmm: network leaders working together to put on dmm trainings
9. Extending
   • mission: the churches send out missionaries together
   • planting: the network expands into new countries
   • church: churches together starting churches in new countries
   • dmm: network sends people out to new countries