I thought this excerpt from the book The Rabbit and The Elephant by Tony and Felicity Dale was helpful when addressing the question of, “When and how should our simple church multiply?” I think it also speaks to how someone (I’d recommend a couple of believing families) might possibly start a simple church…
How do we multiply our church?
The first church we started grew to more than fifty before we split it down the middle into two groups. For a year after that, people told us that the split felt like a divorce. Because of this, we no longer multiply by dividing a church into two. From the start we encourage those who find a person of peace to seek to start new churches/groups within that person’s sphere of influence. If, in spite of this, your numbers are reaching a maximum point, rather than include a new family who wants to join in the existing church, try to start a new church around them. Draw on one of the families from the existing church to help. Then it becomes an exciting church plant that the original group takes ownership of and will support. And by doing things this way, you typically have the advantage of moving into a new neighborhood, with a new set of people getting involved. (excerpted from “The Rabbit and The Elephant”)
