Ignite Church Network

The Ignite Church Network is an aggressive church planting, disciple making network. Church planters are trained and encouraged to identify and raise leaders who can plant a network of churches.

Most of us want to look for external solutions and changes to fix our church. We know it’s not what it should be, but we hope that we could just make a slight adjustment or tweak and we would “crack the code.” Is there really such thing as a magical solution that could make everything different? The good news is yes! But it will only come when we can finally learn to change what we care about.

It’s often times frustrating when we read our Bibles and see on every page the story of amazing life transformation and radical growth in the early church. Then we look around at our own experiences and feel the pains of disappointment connected to where we are. Why is what happened in the New Testament not going on in our churches? Perhaps we’ve been too focused on growing a church organization instead of growing Jesus in the lives of people who are far from him.

What if we stop worrying about a roundabout billboard strategy, creative sermon series, or finding the perfect worship leader and start engaging people that walk through our doors in spiritual conversations and sharing the story of what Jesus has done in our lives? And then what if they did the same with their friends and family? What if we cared more about the people in our churches living their lives on the mission of being a disciple than warming our seats, being on our volunteer teams and small groups? What if we could truly care about what Jesus cared about – making disciples who make disciples.

Paul reminds us that life change begins with us. We must change what we care about in order to fulfill our lives and the great commission. He reminds us in 1 Timothy 2:3-4 that “There is a way that our Savior wants us to live. He wants not only us but everyone saved… and everyone to get to know the truth that we have learned…”(The Message). Paul concludes, “And for this purpose I was given my assignment.”

The very nature of church planting requires that the work of God must begin in the church planter: us. That’s why God must first birth the church in the heart of the church planter. The very work of church planting starts with life change. The process of life change begins with making disciples. That’s what Jesus focused on. The only way that life change will happen in your church is for you to be the first to initiate the change process. The answer resides in us, not in some external solution.

We are the ones who will make the greatest impact on the church that we are leading. When we change our mindset to growing and discipling people instead of building the monstrosity called the American church we will find the results that we’ve dreamed of having.

Jesus never asked us to plant churches, he instead asked us to make disciples. He even took the pressure off when he said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). His focus was that he would build the church out of our disciple-making results. What Jesus was saying in effect was, if you make disciples, you always get the church. But if you make a church, you might not get disciples.

Most of us have not seen churches birthed out of a movement of disciples who make disciples. This begs the question, are disciples the only thing that Jesus seems to care about? I would go as far as to say it’s the only thing that Jesus is really counting. While we count our attendance, or budget, or acres of land, Jesus would ask the question, “are you making disciples, who make disciples, who are living transformed Kingdom lives?”

Most of us would have to admit that we are not making disciples, or the disciples that we have made are not making disciples. Further more, most of us are not living lives focused on the Kingdom of God. At best most of us are only focused on doing church. What will it take for us to shift the focus of our churches to making disciples the way that Jesus made disciples?

People desperately need their lives to be transformed by the Holy Spirit. This occurs when you make disciples who make disciples. There is no task that you will undertake that is greater than being a part of launching a disciple-making church in your community.

The purpose of the Ignite network is to help you to build a culture that produces and reproduces disciples. We do this through an initiative called Xcellerate.

We’ve embraced a process of leadership/discipleship development that empowers followers of Christ to live in a fashion that can produce a movement of life change much like the early church witnessed. This is a two year process that includes coaching, training, and application that results in significant life and church transformation.

Xcellerate has 3 parts. Read More

In a practical way, the network offers monthly network coaching either online or within close proximity of the church planter. These network meetings will assist you in creating an environment that produces discipleship multiplication. Read More