Our Kingdom Multiplication Strategy

Step 1: Start An Abbey

When Saint Patrick attempted to reach Ireland, he did not do so by starting churches right away. Rather, he began by establishing Abbeys as the foundational step in his kingdom multiplication strategy.

An Abbey is an apostolic team led by a dedicated presbyter (called an Abbot) to reach a new area with the gospel. These act as lead missioners who equip and train others for ministry work. Their task is to form an apostolic team of “sent ones” to provide oversight and leadership in a given region. They send people from the table of the Eucharist intending to bring new disciples back to the table.

The Abbot is the “chief evangelization officer” and so models for members of the Abbey the work of the ministry. The goal is to form an apostolic team within an existing church body, in a home, or wherever God has placed the presbyter. As a missiological work, an abbey is ultimately not a place, it’s a mindset—one of equipping the saints for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:12).

Step 2: Send Commissioned Ministers

Commissioned ministers are lay or ordained ministers who are called, equipped, and sent from the Abbey to evangelize and make disciples in their communities. Their work flows from the communion table—just as Christ feeds us with his body and blood, so we are empowered holistically to bring spiritual life to those around us.

Their work is a liturgy, and continues in the “work of the people” (the word “liturgy” means “work of the people”). They take the bread of life with them into various spheres of life in which God places them. Since all work is God’s work, and there is no distinction between sacred and secular, commissioned ministers bring the aroma of heaven wherever the Lord sends them.

Step 3: Go to The Oak Trees

In the Celtic tradition, oak trees represent people gathering in ordinary spheres of life—business, commerce, education, healthcare, etc. Just as our forefathers use to meet under the oak trees to socialize, trade, and do business, so there are spaces in our society where people gather together.

It is in these very spaces that commissioned ministers are called to proclaim the Kingdom of God and bring healing to the people. They call people to become citizens of the Kingdom and citizens of Jesus and invite them into alternative communities that serve as colonies of heaven.

In this way, Abbey worship is worked out under the Oak Trees. Worship, if done correctly, should flow from the Table to the Trees as a natural outpouring of our joy in Him.

Step 4: Cultivate Missional Communities

The purpose of the Abbey is NOT to to bring people to the Abbey itself. Rather, once discipleship begins taking place, the commissioned ministers invite their newly formed disciples into missional communities. These missional communities are colonies of heaven, an alternative to the worldly communities that they have always known.

As the discipleship process continues, more and more people learn what it means to be a citizen of heaven, and as a result, more and more people are invited to become disciples and join in the newly formed community. The goal is to form a feedback loop between 3 and 4 that leads to the multiplication of many groups.

Step 5: Plant Abbey Churches

When multiple communities are formed from the same area, new Abbey Churches may be started in these communities to launch endeavors to new locations and geographies.

The goal of the Abbey church is to plant congregations of people dedicated to seeing new Apostolic Teams launch out of the existing Abbey. The goal is not to build out the existing Abbey but to launch new ones.

Observation: House Churches do not build cathedrals. Church Houses build cathedrals. But Church Houses cannot exist without House Churches.