At two major junctures you can multiply the efforts of your ministry.

The first place, which will be discussed more specifically under the question How can we recruit resources to multiply ministry?, is prior to the launch of the ministry on the field. As you begin to cast vision for the ministry, explain why and how many human and financial resources will be needed to complete the ministry.

The second critical juncture at which to multiply the efforts of your ministry is in the early stages. What you spend your time doing, even on mundane days, has tremendous long-term effect on long-term results. David Garrison puts it this way:

“The word ‘ministry’ literally means ‘doing the little things’. Ministry occurs naturally wherever Christians exist, but ministry is no substitute for planting multiplying churches. A missionary must never limit himself to his own personal ministry but must instead look beyond that ministry to see how it contributes to a CPM [church planting movement].

“Part of the missionary vocation is working yourself out of a job. If missionaries satisfy themselves year in and year out with filling a ministry rather than mentoring, multiplying, and replacing themselves, they fall short of their vision and their missionary role. To resist the temptation of ministry consumption, missionaries must continually ask the strategic question,
‘What’s it going to take to see a CPM among this people group?’ This question stand in sharp contrast to the personal question, ‘What can I do?’[1]

Missionaries intent on a ministry of multiplication will tend to gravitate toward the following activities (though there may be appropriate exceptions):

• Working to tap into networks of people to reach rather than individuals on the fringe
• Discipling people with expectation of their simultaneously or immediately discipling others around them
• Equipping others to do the ministry rather than doing it themselves
• Planting churches that plan to multiply earlier rather than later

[1] Garrison, David, Church Planting Movements, p. 250-1