The Method | Trinity Sermons

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets

and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon called Niger,

Lucius of Cyrene, Manan, who had been brought

up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. While they

were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy

Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul

for the work to which I have called them. So

after they had fasted and prayed, They placed

their hands on them and sent them off. The two

of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit,

went to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.

When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed

the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John

was with them as their helper. They preached

the gospel in the city, won a large number of

disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium,

and Antioch. strengthening the disciples and

encouraging them to remain true to the faith.

We must go through many hardships to enter the

kingdom of God, they said. Paul and Barnabas

appointed elders for each of them in each church

and with prayer and fasting committed them to

the Lord in whom they had put their trust. After

going through Pisidia, they went into Pamphylia

and then they preached the word in Perga. They

went down to... Antalya. From Antalya they sailed

to Antioch, where they had been committed to

the grace of God for the work that they had now

completed. On arriving there, they gathered the

church together and reported that God had done

through them and how he had opened a door of

faith to the Gentiles. They stayed there for

a long time with the disciples. The word of the

Lord. Let's a hypothetical situation. Let's say

that we were going to hire you here at Trinity

for a month to do some work for us. And we gave

you two options of how you could get paid. The

first option would be for us to give you $1 ,000

a day. For 30 days. So 1 ,000 plus 1 ,000 plus

1 ,000. So you could choose that method of being

paid. Or if you wanted, you could also choose

this other method where we would give you one

penny that doubled every single day for 30 days.

Hmm. Interesting. Which would you choose? Door

number one or door number two? Would you choose

addition or would you choose multiplication?

Well, let's do a little bit of the math. If you

chose door number one and you chose addition

and $1 ,000 a day for 30 days, that'd be $1 ,000

plus another $1 ,000 plus another $1 ,000. Well,

of course, the total would be... $30 ,000. And

that is, that's a pretty good chunk of change,

but we're generous like that here at Trinity.

But let's say you chose instead door number two,

and you decided to choose the doubling penny.

That means on the first day, you got one cent.

And on the next day, you got two cents. And on

the next day, you got a whopping four cents.

And then eight cents, and so on. I got to tell

you, it doesn't seem like much is happening.

And even by day 15, all you would have earned

would be like a measly 320 bucks or something

like that. If you kept going, doubling, doubling,

multiplying, multiplying, by the end of the month,

we would owe you over $10 .7 million. We would

have to sell the church just to pay you. And

I would get so fired. That would be the end of

Rob Herkman's. But you see, that is the power

of multiplication. Now, one person who knew a

whole lot about multiplication was the apostle

Paul. We have been looking at Paul's life for

over a month now, how he went from this persecutor

of Jesus. to a preacher of Jesus. And by the

way, if you missed any of the stuff we talked

about over the previous weeks, it's all there

on YouTube. I invite you to kind of catch up.

He's an amazing guy with an amazing life. But

the reason that Paul knows a lot about multiplication

is not because he was a math whiz and it's not

because he was a financial planner. It's because

Paul was a church. planter a church planter and

that might be a strange word for some of you

you never heard that before but i guarantee you

by the end of today you'll have a much better

understanding of what i'm talking about actually

today that's exactly what we're going to focus

on we're going to focus on how paul chose multiplication

over addition and how that actually changed the

world and in fact it even changed the fact that

we're sitting here now today So, let's start

where Paul started. In our reading today, we

find Paul in exactly the same place that you

are, in a church. He's in the city of Antioch,

and there's a great big church in Antioch, and

if you want to know why, I'll tell you why. It's

because in Jerusalem, there was a lot of persecution

going on, and so all the Christians kind of fled

Jerusalem, and they went up to the city in the

north called Antioch, and it got to be, therefore,

a very Big, big church. It got so big, in fact,

that they actually called up Paul and said, hey,

would you like to join the staff team here at

Antioch? And so this became Paul's first church.

Church home, really. And by all accounts, it

was like an amazing, amazing church. It was multicultural.

It was evangelistic. It had lots of people, lots

of resources. They probably had smoke machines

and digital screens. They probably had all of

that stuff. And they had a boatload of really,

really great leaders. Of course, they had Paul.

They had Barnabas. And I'm sure you've heard

of these other great leaders that Charlene read.

People like Simeon and Lucius. I've never heard

of them, but apparently great, great leaders.

And this was a growing church. It was growing

by addition. Right? Look, the Lord's hand was

with them, and a great number of people believed

and turned to the Lord. They had a good thing

going there in Antioch. And they probably could

have kept going like that for a good long while.

And, you know, Paul probably also thought, you

know, I could be pretty comfortable here. This

would be a pretty good place just to, like, live

out my ministry career. Just adding and adding

and adding and adding. But that is not what they

did. What they did instead was they took two

of their best leaders, which is crazy, two of

their very best leaders, what? Paul and Barnabas,

and they sent them off. They sent them off to

Cyprus, to Paphos, to Perga, to Pisidia, to Iconium,

to Lystra, to Derbe. All the way back, they swung

by Italia. They went back again through Cyprus.

And finally, they got back to Antioch in the

end. And you might say, well, why were they going

on that crazy trip? Was it just like some amazing

Mediterranean vacation? That would actually be

a great vacation. But no, that's not what they

were doing. Over those two years, and it was

just over two years, Paul and Barnabas planted

new churches and new Christian communities in

many, if not all, of those cities. And it seems

absolutely crazy to consider because for us it

would take two years just to get a building permit

to build a new church, right? You would take

two years to get a parking lot done, two years

to run a financial campaign, about two years

using a multiplication model, right? They traveled

2 ,200 kilometers and planted multiple vibrant

cross -cultural churches. And what they left

behind was this energized, self -sustaining Christian

movement. And this would become Paul's model,

Paul's method. from henceforth going forward

not to stay in one place and grow by addition

but actually to go out and to create new churches

and grow through multiplication now if paul let's

say paul had stayed in antioch i am sure first

of all that many people would have been blessed

by a church like that big growing church it would

have become like a a powerhouse of early christianity

like a mega church a first century mega church

if you will but The growth would have been linear,

and yes, it would have reached people, but its

reach would have been localized. It would have

been limited by the geography of Antioch itself

and those who would come into contact with it.

The leadership would have been highly centralized.

They had a whole bunch of great leaders, but

they all would have been in one place, and it

probably would have eventually created a bit

of a bottleneck in leadership, which wouldn't

have been good. The cultural impact would also

have been limited if they had stayed there. Christianity

may have turned into just this Eastern Mediterranean,

you know, movement. And to be honest, I think

the whole situation would have been highly vulnerable,

been very, very risky to put all your eggs in

one basket, all your eggs in one congregation,

all your eggs in just a few leaders. All it takes

is one screw up, one mess up, one crisis, one

persecution. And now the whole movement has been

crushed, right? But that's not what happened.

What happened was the church in Antioch, led

by God's Spirit, chose multiplication over addition.

They sacrificed resources. They sent their best

leaders away in order to plant and support new

churches. And the result was that growth was

exponential, not linear. As new churches... planted

new churches, which planted new churches, and

so on and so forth. The reach, as a result of

that, was global and not localized, right? Eventually,

it spread, of course, all across Asia Minor to

Rome, to beyond, even to us sitting here today.

The leadership... was decentralized. It didn't

depend on a few leaders in some headquarters

somewhere. In every place they went, they raised

up new leaders, new leaders, new leaders, new

leaders. And as a result, the cultural impact

of this approach was highly, highly multicultural.

The gospel ended up adapting to Greek and Roman

and Jewish and ultimately every culture on earth

ultimately has been able to hear the gospel.

And as a... of these decisions, the church was

actually far less vulnerable. They were resilient,

in fact, because let's say even one church did

fail or one church was persecuted to death. The

others survived and they thrived elsewhere and

kept multiplying. Now, one historical model suggests

that during the first few centuries of the life

of the church, the growth was about three to

four percent per year. Now, that might not sound

like very much to you, right? But neither does

one penny turning into two pennies, turning into

four pennies, turning into eight pennies. Over

the centuries, that tiny movement turned into

millions of believers across the Roman world,

reaching places that the Apostle Paul could never

have imagined. And it's all because Paul had

a vision of multiplication. not simply addition.

Now, where did he get this idea of multiplication?

Well, maybe he got it from Genesis chapter 1,

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

where God says, be fruitful and multiply and

fill the whole earth. God had this vision of

the whole earth being filled with his image -bearing

creatures. Or maybe he got the idea from Genesis

chapter, that's not the right reference, Genesis

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

chapter 22. Where God tells Abraham, hey, I'm

going to bless you and I'm going to multiply

your descendants and they will be more than the

stars in the sky and more than all the sand and

all the seashores on earth. Maybe that's where

he got it from. Or maybe he got it from like

the exilic period, the exilic period where God

was promising through Abraham that he would gather

his people all back together. And when they did,

they would be fruitful and they would multiply.

Or maybe, frankly, he got it from Jesus. Jesus

was always using this language of multiplication

when he spoke about the growth of the kingdom

of God. Jesus, for example, said the kingdom

of God is like someone who plants a seed and

it grows and it produces a crop 30, 60, or 100

times what was planted. Or Jesus said, you know,

the kingdom of God is like yeast that grows through

a ball of dough. It's just this exponential,

unstoppable growth that happens. Or maybe even

Paul got this idea from the very last words that

Jesus spoke before he ascended into heaven. We

call it the Great Commission. But Jesus says,

go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing

them in the name of the Father and the Son and

the Holy Spirit. Now here Jesus isn't talking

about the multiplication of seeds or the multiplication

of yeast. He's not even actually talking here

about the multiplication of people. Because if

you look closely, he says, go and baptize them.

And baptism. was the means by which someone was

incorporated into a local community, into a local

church community. And so really, what Jesus'

great commission is all about is go and plant

churches that plant churches that plant churches

that plant churches. So maybe this is where Paul

got his idea of multiplication in the first place.

But I still think it leaves us with a pretty

big question, and that is, like, how did he do

it? Like, what did this actually look like on

the ground when Paul went around from city to

city? Well, scholars have looked through the

book of Acts and looked through Paul's letters,

and it's not surprising, but they've been able

to figure out, you know, about six steps that

seem to form Paul's strategy around planting

churches. And let me just show you what his multiplication

method kind of looked like. Step one. Step one

was always to discern where and how and if God

was even leading Paul and the others to plant

a church. Paul didn't make his decisions based

on his gut feeling. He didn't make a decision

based on market research. He didn't make his

decisions based on his own kind of personal ambition.

I want to be a church planter. No, his entire

itinerary was dictated by the Holy Spirit. And

I want you to just look at this great piece of

scripture here. While they were worshiping the

Lord and while they were fasting, the Holy Spirit

said, set apart Paul and Barnabas. This church

was actively fasting and actively praying before

making. any moves, before making any decisions.

And when they fasted and prayed and listened

to the Spirit, yes, sometimes the Spirit said,

yes, I want you to go and I want you to send

some people. But sometimes the Spirit said something

else. Like, for example, one time Paul wanted

to go into Asia, but we're told that the Holy

Spirit prevented him. And would not allow him

to go into Asia. I don't know what that looked

like. But ultimately, the Spirit then led them

somewhere else. Led them to Macedonia. The point

is that Paul was just really, really sensitive

to the Spirit's cues. And spiritual discernment

was the very first step of his multiplication

strategy. Okay. But once they knew where the

Spirit was leading, Paul's next step was to go

into that city. And yes, it usually was a city.

He almost always chose like big populated urban

areas and began to proclaim the good news of

Jesus. And sometimes this looked like him preaching

in a setting not unlike this. Other times he

met with people one -on -one. He formed relationships

with locals. He developed connections sometimes

with local leaders. And he would always adapt

the message to the context that he was in. But

definitely, definitely the message was the same.

He always proclaimed Jesus Christ, you know,

who died and rose again on the third day. And

the reason Paul preached that message was because

that was the gospel. We talked about this a few

weeks ago. And that message itself had a power

all of its own. In fact, many times when Paul

went around preaching this message, it was accompanied

by miracles. It was accompanied by healings,

which only serve to grow interest. And that's

why we read that they made many disciples through

this kind of preaching. But again, Paul did not

want to just leave these loose converts floating

all over these cities. No, that wasn't the goal.

So this next step was to gather them into little

churches, little groups. And these churches did

not meet in awesome buildings like we have. They

met in homes. And there in these tiny little

homes, sitting around a table, there were Jews

and Gentiles. There were slaves and free. There

were rich people and poor people. And they were

learning how to love each other. And it was in

that setting that they learned how to read the

Bible, that they learned how to pray, that they

learned how to be generous, that they learned

how to live in the way of Jesus, to live their

lives differently because of who Jesus was. That's

how it happened in these little gatherings. And

then after that, Paul had to start making some

decisions as he prepared his exit strategy. He

knew eventually that he was going to be moving

on. And so therefore, he needed to make sure

that the ministry did not rest on him and him

alone. So ultimately, you know what Paul had

to do? He had to work himself out of a job by

developing and by equipping other leaders. and

entrusting them with this ministry. So he, again,

he was not an egomaniac. He did not keep all

the authority to himself, but rather he identified

potential leaders. He mentored new elders. He

would say, let me show you how you teach. Let

me show you how you preach. Let me show you how

you lead a study. Let me show you how to pray.

Let me show you how to care for the congregation.

Let me show you how to solve conflicts and resolve

difficulties and all this stuff. And maybe Paul

used that old strategy that we still use today.

Hey, first I'll do it while you watch, and then

we'll do it together. And then you'll do it while

I watch, and then you can do it all on your own,

right? In a multiplying church, there is lots

to do. And there was no shortage of need for

leaders. There were jobs for everyone. And so

Paul equipped and trained and equipped and trained

the local leadership. And then came the most

radical part, probably the hardest part, I think,

if I were Paul, this strategy, is he moved on.

He would release these new churches so they could

take on a life of their own. You see, a lot of

church plants, even today, have a very heavy

dependency on some like founding pastor. Even

Anglicans, let's be honest, we're very hierarchical

at times. There are bishops and whatever the

bishop says is what we do. And there's a, you

know, a diocese and a structure and everything

depends on the hierarchy. But not with Paul,

right? He moved on. to new places after what

we would consider was like a really short period

of time. Like we're talking like months in a

place and then he's gone. But he had a confidence

in the local leadership that he had just trained.

And he believed that the Holy Spirit. Was actually

the one in charge. Notice this final line. He

entrusted them as he left. Not to a planning

committee. He didn't entrust them to a hierarchy.

He didn't entrust them to some rule book that

he had written. He committed them to the Lord.

To the Lord Jesus. Because Paul knew this was

actually Jesus' church. Not his. It was Jesus

who saved these people. And it was Jesus. who

was going to lead them without Paul being there.

But now finally, I don't want to give you the

wrong idea. And that's why the sixth step is

so important. It's not just that Paul released

these churches, but he did stay deeply connected

with them and supported them as they grew. It's

kind of like parenting, right? I think he loved

them so much, but you have to release them. at

some point but even when you've released them

goodness you think about them you wonder about

them you write letters to them you call them

you check in on them and that's what Paul did.

He wrote letters to encourage them, to strengthen

them, to answer questions they may have, to solve

problems, you know, even sometimes to correct

them. And he did visit them. We read that he

made that trip all the way out, but then on the

way back, he stopped in to visit many of those

churches again. And when he couldn't visit, he

would often send somebody else to help them if

they were in trouble. Releasing the new church,

therefore, never meant abandoning the new church.

So those were the kind of six steps that Paul

took as he planted churches across the Mediterranean.

Now, it's important to note one thing, though.

In every single one of those churches, in every

single one of them, Part of what he injected

into them was the multiplication DNA. So that

every church that started never saw themselves

as the end point. But they always saw themselves

as just another launching pad for the next destination.

Take, for example, Ephesus. Paul spent two years

on another trip in Ephesus. preaching, teaching,

planting a church, creating a community. And

then later we're told that actually all the Jews

and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia

heard the word of the Lord. Now, Paul did not

personally travel to every town and village in

the province of Asia. He didn't have to, right?

Because as the gospel took root in Ephesus and

as Christian communities were formed, It began

to spread outward to other believers and other

communities. And one church became a launching

pad for the next church and the next and the

next. So you see, here's the thing. While traditional

churches, most churches focus on adding people.

Kingdom math emphasizes. multiplication, exponential

growth through reproductions. Disciples that

make disciples that make disciples that make

disciples. Churches that plant churches that

plant churches that plant churches. Like a penny

doubling every day, it leads to significantly

larger outcomes over time. Now, as I kind of

wrap this up, I want to move from the Mediterranean

to Mississauga. It is no secret that in Canada,

we are facing a generational decline within churches.

StatsCan says, you know, that religious affiliation

is way down. Monthly attendance at churches has

plummeted, just absolutely bottomed out over

the last few decades. And in the midst of this,

praise be to God, thanks be to God, there are

churches who are being successful with addition,

right? But mostly what we're seeing out there,

and mostly what's being reported, is subtraction.

Hundreds of churches closing their doors every

single year. So while some invest in addition,

and while the result is mostly subtraction, what

about multiplication? What if that was the answer?

And you know, Mississauga itself has become a

pretty great mission field. If you think about

it, just like the cities Paul visited, Mississauga

is a large, densely populated kind of urban area.

It is very multicultural. And it is also, like

Antioch, at a crossroads of a whole bunch of

migrating people. And just like Paul, we don't

find ourselves in a particularly Christian culture

anymore. And so maybe like Paul, Trinity also

has a bit of a choice to make. Addition. or multiplication.

Should we continue to devote our resources and

our leaders to growing this particular church

here at 69 Queen Street South? There's nothing

wrong with that. Many people, I'm sure, would

be blessed by a growing church like Trinity Streetsville.

Or is it time for us to begin discerning whether

the Holy Spirit is sending us out? Is it possible

that the gifts and the resources and the leaders

that we have been given were not meant just for

us, but as something to share? Things are good

at Trinity. Things were good in the church in

Antioch. The question's not whether things were

good. The question is whether God is calling

us to do something with the good that he has

given us. Hey, some fast facts for you here.

Do you guys know that new churches are six to

eight times more likely to reach unchurched or

non -Christian people than established church?

I don't know what it is, but when an unchurched

person walks into a church plant, it just seems

to communicate better. Hey, there's room for

me here. And did you know that young adults are

disproportionately represented in church plants?

And again, it could just be because they want

to be part of building something. And when you

walk into an established church, there's already

some historical baggage there. And like, oh,

why fight against that? And did you know that

churches, new churches, have a way higher rate

of involvement? than established church it's

really it's really easy to sit on the sidelines

of a big established church and not get too involved

but in a church plant it's all hands on deck

and for people who want to be involved in people

who want their life to count for something that's

where they gravitate toward so while many established

churches and even healthy ones tend to plateau

over time new churches can reach new people they

can reach younger people, and they can provide

places to lead right away. For all these reasons

and more that I can't get to today, about a year

ago, Trinity began thinking about a project that

we're calling the RISE Project. We call it Rise

because ultimately this is about resurrection.

This is about, as Paul knew, the death and resurrection

of Jesus Christ, the good news of the gospel.

But Rise also stands for something. It stands

for our reaching our city with the gospel. I,

investing in the wider church. S, sending leaders

and teams. and therefore, E, extending Trinity's

mission into new places. At its heart, rise is

about multiplication, not addition. It's not

just about adding more people here at Trinity

Streetsville, but goodness, you know, more people

will, of course, always be joining and part of

Trinity Streetsville, but it's actually about

working with our diocese to either plant or replant

mission -minded communities in our area. Because

you see, often there are beautiful and strategically

located buildings right now, Anglican buildings,

that are sitting empty or just struggling to

survive. So last week we brought this, not last

week, last spring, we brought this idea to the

bishops of Toronto. And I have to tell you, the

response was like super, super encouraging, right?

They thought this was an exciting vision. They

thought it was a spirit -led strategy. They had

been having conversations about this kind of

thing. And they invited us, keep thinking about

it. Keep praying about it. We're here for you.

We want to partner with you in this. They actually

saw Trinity's mission and Trinity's focus on

discipleship and Trinity's willingness to experiment,

which is kind of what people see in us. All as

good reasons why something like this might well

have positioned us like perfectly to be part

of an initiative like this. In fact, our bishop,

the Bishop of Toronto, Andrew Asbell, some of

you met him. He was here about, I don't know,

a year ago. He said, I think this is really exciting.

There's so much merit in being able to help us

understand how we're going to plant new communities.

There are going to be other parishes in the diocese

that will want to do this similar thing. Now,

I don't know about you, but when I hear that,

that sounds like the beginning of a multiplication

mindset. And since then... We've had more conversations

than we've only begun. And I stress only begun

to explore models or locations or what staffing

might look like or what finances might look like.

No decisions have been made. A future project

might look like a brand new worshiping community.

It might look like a reboot of an existing worship

community. It might look like something we haven't

even thought of yet. We are praying about it.

And we have even asked a group of you to be kind

of prayer partners in this with us. And we've

asked you specifically to be praying and listening

to what God is saying about this. We've also

begun to put together a steering committee for

the RISE project to help us lead wider discernment.

Now, of course, it would be way easier not to

do this. Right? And right, addition is always

easier than multiplication. I mean, ask any third

grader, right? And even Paul told those new leaders

that he was commissioning, listen, we got to

go through many hardships, he said, to enter

the kingdom of God. But that is the point, the

kingdom of God. And kingdom math is multiplication

math more than addition. So I'm just going to

end it there for today. But as I end, I'm deeply

aware that I have just talked a whole lot about,

you know, strategies and churches and diocese.

And you may be sitting there saying, well, what

does this have to do with me? Right? Like, I'm

not interested in grand strategies. I want you

to hear me on this. This is not just an invitation

for you to support a project. It's an invitation

for all of us to become a different kind of disciple,

to become a multiplying disciple ourselves. You

do not need to participate in a church plant

to participate in God's mission. You can rise

wherever you are. You can reach and invest and

send yourself and extend wherever you are. You

can stop living as someone who just comes to

church and start living as someone who is sent

into the world. You can stop viewing yourself

just as a resident of Mississauga or wherever,

but as a missionary to your city. You can stop

viewing your neighborhood as just a postal code.

Start understanding that's your mission field.

Rise wherever you are. Multiplication looks like

a parent teaching their child. To pray, rise.

It looks like a mature Christian mentoring a

younger Christian. It looks like a teenager helping

a friend explore faith. It looks like training

new people on your ministry team. It looks like

mentoring new leaders in your life group. It

looks like, frankly, multiplying your life group.

The world doesn't change because we, oh, we discovered

an effective strategy. by the Holy Spirit, and

they rise wherever they are. And it may not seem

like much, but one penny turns into two, which

becomes four, which becomes eight. And before

you know it, the impact reaches far beyond anything

we could ask or imagine. So thanks be to God.

Amen.