Host Ed Stetzer teams back up with pastor and planter Dean Fulks to discuss the relational highs and lows of sending out your best people to plant new churches. Discover the impact of grace-fueled, vision-driven leadership on your congregation as you multiply your church’s DNA for the purpose of the Great Commission.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

How to count the cost of sending out core teams from among your own people
The joys of leading God’s people to follow His plans for His church
Ways to address the cultural, social, and theological issues that arise with church multiplication in the modern age
Why unity and collaboration are essential for the work of planting healthy churches in your community
How to process the pain of loss—personally and corporately—when it comes to the work of multiplication

Helpful Resources:

Are you part of a new church plant? Learn more about our new church offer here.
Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer.

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Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches):

When you send a large group, you can plant a pastor and a church at the same time, and it is statistically far more effective than “parachute drop” church planting. — Ed Stetzer

Sometimes, it’s hard to convince established churches to plant new churches because it’s less costly to send money and let some entrepreneurial young couple go out and plant the new church than it is to send some of their own people away. — Ed Stetzer

If our church is sending, we try and multiply out 10% of our congregational number on Sundays. I talk about it like it’s an injury. It takes time to heal. — Dean Fulks

The cost of the mission is offset by the vision of the mission. — Dean Fulks

When you invite a friend to go to church 10, 15, or even 20 miles away, they’re like, “Why do I have to drive there? Why can’t I just go to church in my own community?” You answer so many of those culture community questions by sending into that community. — Dean Fulks

I have supported church plants of other denominations, and I’d love to see more of them. But when a plant is “birthed” from our own church, it tends to be more theologically aligned. By raising people up, you have fewer of those differences. — Ed Stetzer

The post The Joy/Tensions in Church Multiplication appeared first on New Churches.

The Patrick Madrid Show: August 12, 2025 - Hour 1