By Brooke Helder, GACX Content Creator
Once we graduated college, my best friend, Heidi, and I decided to start a two-person book club. Every week, we would meet somewhere new in downtown Grand Rapids and dive into a book that addressed issues that challenged us to grow in areas of our life that we rarely evaluated or preferred not to evaluate.
One of the first books we read was Scary Close by Donald Miller, which focused on diving deeper into relationships by loving and not acting. As two people who deeply struggle with vulnerability, this book challenged us to grow in areas that we naturally avoided. However, by the end of the book, Heidi and I were healthier friends than ever, talking through deep hurts, traumas, and joys that we had never shared in our fourteen years of friendship. This book was a catalyst for growth as friends and as individuals.
Similarly, Multiplication Network is a GACX member organization that utilizes books to help churches grow through healthy relationships, reconciliation, and vision. In 2014, the organization published a book as a tool for church planters entitled, Take Your Church’s Pulse. Through the book, Multiplication Network has developed twelve modules so pastors can identify characteristics of a healthy church with their leadership.
Multiplication Network and GACX member organization DOOR International currently operate out of the same ministry center and collaborated on writing the book, A World of Gods, about planting churches in a pluralistic world. DOOR International contributed a chapter discussing church planting in the deaf culture. Jeff Stam, director, and founder of Set Free Ministries, also contributed a chapter covering the realities of spiritual warfare. Last year, Gary Teja delivered lectures on their new book to Global Church Movements (GCM) team. Looking forward, Multiplication Network has started conversations with GACX member, Our Daily Bread, to collaborate for future projects in the book publishing sphere.
In addition to their writing, Multiplication Network works in 70 countries and has national leadership in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Eurasia, and Europe. When Multiplication Network began church planting in East Africa, they partnered with GACX member e3 Partners Ministry to start over a thousand churches annually. This year, Multiplication Network began working in India through its long-standing relationship with yet another GACX member organization, Mission India. Through this partnership, Multiplication Network started developing VR presentations after discussing how VR has helped Mission India over the years.
Multiplication Network (MN) works with the Coalition of the Willing, in partnership with The Timothy Initiative and other GACX member organizations, to map churches in Tanzania, Cuba, Spain, and Nepal. In those countries, MN coordinates with national leadership to designate what denomination wants to take what non-churched area to start planting churches.
Additionally, Multiplication Network collaborates with Jesus Film Project through their country directors in Ecuador, Peru, and Nepal. Multiplication Network provides their directors with backpacks from Jesus Film while spreading the news of Jesus Film’s and Renew World Outreach’s LightStream device. This WiFi hotspot sends Bible media to phones in areas with no internet.
As I discovered while researching this article, Multiplication Network is deeply invested in partnerships with numerous GACX members to further the vision of one church for every one thousand people. The fruit of the collaboration is evident in all of their efforts and the books they provide. I encourage you to read Take Your Church’s Pulse and A World of Gods. Just as Scary Close was a catalyst for growth in my life years ago, perhaps these books will be a catalyst for growth in your organization or church and maybe even in one of your deepest friendships.
