Last month I shared with you how the task before us is to recover the multiplying DNA of our historic Methodist movement - a movement fueled by a zeal for the Gospel. As we look forward to 2030, a time where it is my hope that we are a Conference where that zeal is actively being rediscovered, I think it is important that we also look back. To be a Conference where Every Church Plants is not a new idea, it is deeply woven into our Wesleyan DNA.
Laity Leading as Lead Followers
American Methodism did not begin with large institutions or ordained clergy - it began with the unwavering commitment of ordinary, yet profoundly spiritual, faithful witness of laypeople. In 1766, Barbara Heck encouraged her cousin Philip Embury, a lay preacher, to begin meeting with a handful of Methodists in his New York home. Around the same time, Robert Strawbridge, another layman, organized societies and built preaching houses in Maryland. Add to these pioneers individuals such as Captain Thomas Webb, a soldier-preacher whose zeal helped spread the movement, and you begin to see the pattern: the Methodist movement grew because laypeople were abandoned to the Gospel, living on mission, and were empowered to fulfill the Great Commission.
Systems for Multiplying, Not Structures propping up Institutions
John Wesley knew that discipleship required a certain amount of organization. He warned that “preaching like an apostle, without joining together those that are awakened and training them up in the ways of God, is only begetting children for the murderer” (Wesley’s Journal, Aug., 1763). To ensure ongoing growth, Methodists organized class meetings and bands - small groups of believers who met weekly for accountability, encouragement, and holiness. These weren’t just for personal edification; they were seedbeds for multiplication: disciples making disciples and teaching them to obey all Christ commanded, leaders raising up leaders. And the result? People being led closer to the heart of God, a God who put on human flesh and stepped into His creation; closer to a Savior who said, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” The result was churches sending out believers to plant and multiply churches.
Under leaders like Francis Asbury, the Methodist movement kept pace with America’s westward expansion, multiplying communities of faith wherever people settled. By 1820, Methodism had grown in America from just over 1,000 members in 1773 to more than 273,000 - an exponential expansion fueled by apostolic, sending leaders (Bevins, Marks of A Movement). The Christmas Conference of 1784, where Asbury and Thomas Coke were appointed superintendents, gave organizational form to this multiplying movement in America. Yet the real strength of Methodism remained its commitment to discipling and sending. Societies became churches, leaders raised up leaders, and disciples made disciples. Alongside active, deep discipleship, Methodists invested in education, literature, and care for the poor - transformation not only of the soul but for the whole of the person and community.
Our Legacy, Our Calling
The legacy is clear: multiplication is our heritage. Methodism thrived not by settling, but by sending.
Friends, our Conference and the Global Methodist Church can reclaim this legacy. If we, like Wesley, have the faith to recover primitive Christianity then we might reawaken our multiplying DNA. If our multiplying DNA comes alive again, then ‘That is the way it has always been’ (TITWIHAB) will not be the tired sigh of a complacent church but the battle cry of a movement: souls saved, disciples sent, and holiness spreading like fire - not a stagnant faith trying to delay decay… What is the Holy Spirit prompting you to do today so TITWIHAB might become a word of blessing on the lips of the next generation?
“Yes, our church leadership gathers regularly for prayer and discernment retreats, TITWIHAB.”
“Yes, we raise up lay preachers from within our congregation, TITWIHAB.”
“Yes, our home groups launch new home groups, TITWIHAB.”
“Yes, we networked with area GMCs to start a new church, TITWIHAB”
The vision of Every Church Plants is simply a modern expression of our Methodist DNA. Just as our forebears, we are called to multiply disciples, raise up new leaders, and plant new faith communities across the Upper Midwest. It isn’t about large budgets or the number of people gathered on a Sunday morning, it is about our commitment to the Great Commission given to us by our Savior.
Scripture is clear and our history points us forward. If early Methodists could spread scriptural holiness across a continent with limited resources but great courage and conviction, what might God do through us if we embrace the same multiplying vision?
Lord, for your sake and glory, and for the generations that follow after us, may we become a Conference where Every Church Plants.
📨 Reach out to us at multiplicationteam@uppermidwestgmc.org for tools, coaching, and support as we move together toward becoming a conference where Every Church Plants.
