City Movement

Building Blocks to Unlocking the

3rd Dimension of Your City

Chris Lagerlof with John Blue

City Movement: Building Blocks to Unlocking the 3rd Dimension of Your City

Copyright (c) 2014 by Chris Lagerlof with John Blue

Distributed via Exponential Resources

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churches. Exponential Resources spotlights and spreads actionable principles, ideas and solutions for the
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Credits
Cover and Interior Design: Karen Pheasant and Story.GS
Editor: Lindy Lowry
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
WITH THANKS TO…
This eBook is free to download thanks to the very generous support of some wonderful sponsor
organizations:

Mission Orange County

Slingshot Group

LAUNCH

Watermark OC Church

Christ Together

Exponential

Thank you Todd Wilson and Dave Ferguson for your vision and leadership to accelerate the multiplication
of healthy, reproducing churches. You are catalysts and movement makers for the Great Commission. Your
impact and influence is Exponential!
Special thanks to Lindy Lowry, Terri Saliba, Karen Gilley and the Exponential team for all your servant-
hearted support, encouragement and practical wisdom in the evolution of this eBook. This content is so
much better due to your insight, editing and help! Your encouragement and belief in this project has been
a joy to experience.

It is an honor to help serve Exponential’s vision of equipping leaders who are committed to becoming
fruitful and multiplying. Your heart for the Kingdom and the Church is appreciated.

AND FINALLY…

John Blue, it is an honor to share this journey with you. Thanks for your partnership, passion and vision to
transform our county by pushing the mission of Mission Orange County forward.

Thank you to our wonderful friends and partner churches here in Orange County. Our story is wrapped
up in your work and persistence to be Kingdom-minded and impact your city. A special thanks to Friends
Church Yorba Linda, Calvary Church Santa Ana, Templo Calvario and Rock Harbor. We love your heart to
see the Church mobilized and multiplied to impact every man, woman and child in Orange County.

A special thanks to the many other churches, pastors and church planters we get to serve on a regular
basis. You inspire us and teach us more than you know. This eBook is written because of you and your
heart to see the Church impact lives and cities. It is a joy and privilege to work together.
 INSIDE

INTRODUCTION
Heartache
Why Would They Be Here?

Cities Matter
Fight Bravely for the Cities of Our God

Building Block #1
Build an Identity

Building Block #2
Build the Right Team

Building Block #3
Build a Playground

Building Block #4
Build on the Third Dimension of Your City

Building Block #5
Build Deep and Wide

Building Block #6
Build a Factory

Building Block #7
Build With the Kingdom in Mind
 INTRODUCTION
Heartache
Why would they be here?

“They told me, ‘The exile survivors who are left there in the province are in bad shape. Conditions are
appalling. The wall of Jerusalem is still rubble; the city gates are still cinders.’ When I heard this, I sat down
and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God-of-Heaven.” –Nehemiah 2:2-3

My heart longs to see our cities reconciled by the gospel of Jesus Christ. I often revisit the very moment
when God ignited my passion for cities.

It was 2011 and my friend, Blake, had invited me to the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce annual gala.
Every year more than a thousand business and city leaders gather to honor those making an impact in the
city. In Long Beach (California), the gala is a really big deal, and the city is known for having one of the
best large- city Chamber of Commerce’s in the United States. Blake is not only a friend but was very
involved in helping lead a ministry I was once involved with to plant churches focused on transforming
the city of Long Beach. So, when he asked, I “willingly” accepted his invitation.

I’ll never forget that night. It was top-notch and class through and through. Individuals and business were
celebrated for their commitment to the city and making Long Beach better. It was insightful, and I was
impacted by how many people love their city. I also learned that Blake was a legend in Long Beach, not
only for his contributions and leadership in the city, but because in the past he served as president of the
Chamber of Commerce. Everybody knew Blake, and he introduced me to many influential people in the
city, including the mayor, chief of police, school superintendent, etc. To top it all off, Blake introduced me
to an icon to many of us who grew up in Southern California—the one and only Cal Worthington. We all
grew up watching Cal and his dog, Spot, on TV on Saturday mornings as he did ridiculous stunts to sell
cars.

Towards the end of the evening, I leaned over and asked Blake, “Besides me, are there any other pastors
here?” It wasn’t what he said that broke my heart but how he said it. Blake paused and said, “I doubt there
are any other pastors here, Chris. Why would they be here?” I wanted to say because this is their city and
they should care, or because this room is full of the individuals and gatekeepers focused on seeing Long
Beach thrive. Later that night as I drove home, I thought more about what Blake said and unexpectedly
began to weep—not because there were no pastors present, but because one of the most influential men
in the city doesn’t see the Church or its spiritual leaders interested in their city. Blake’s response was
telling. In just a few words, he acknowledged the thoughts and feelings many have about the Church.

I’m compelled to write this eBook because I believe the Church is failing our cities. They are in decay,
they’re broken, and many churches are ignoring the places and spaces that lack spiritual presence in the
cities and communities where God has placed them—not just “placed” them but given them spiritual
responsibility for. To be cliché, it seems we live in a time when the Church needs the city and its resources
more than the city needs the Church and its resources. Think about that. Ask yourself what would happen
to our city if our church were no longer here? My passion is to see the Church multiplied and mobilized to
impact and transform our cities and communities. City movement is a result of the Church going deep
(the Church mobilized) and wide (the Church multiplied) with a strategy to engage and transform the
city!

Collaborate to accelerate the transformation of your city.

I wrote this eBook to inspire you to collaborate with others in your city and geography for greater impact.
Much of what is expressed here is from the Mission Orange County story. We wanted to share what we’ve
learned and are learning in our journey to mobilize and multiply churches in Orange County to collaborate
within their cities to impact every man, woman and child with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
 Cities Matter
Fight Bravely for the Cities of our God
Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what is good in
His sight." – I Chronicles 19:13

Too often pastors and churches ask the question, “How do I grow my church?” instead of, “How do we
transform our city?” I Chronicles 19:13 encourages us, “to fight bravely for our people and the cities of our
God.” Paul writes letters to the Church in cities—not a specific church, but the Church at large. Jesus sends
out 72 to focus on towns and cities. Scripture clearly tells us that cities matter to God, and, in turn, they
should matter to us.

The world is undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in history. In 2008, for the first time in history,
more than half of the world’s population lived in towns and cities. By 2030, this number will swell to
nearly 5 billion. U.S. cities are growing and becoming younger, urban and more ethnic. Because of this
shifting, as church leaders we have to look for more innovative ways to engage the city and regularly ask
the question: How’s my city doing? If we don’t, churches will decrease in size and impact while cities will
increase and populate. For the Church to be successful, it must think more and more like a missionary to
our cities because missionaries simply focus on place and people. To engage and transform our cities, we
must understand the following:

1. How cities are structured and how they work. Most Christian leaders don’t understand how a
city works. In fact, many of us see the city as a place of overcrowding, danger, even evil. This
perception is flat-out wrong. Our cities are an expression of God and what man builds. Cities have
already structured themselves in ways that allow the Church to make an impact. But often we ignore
the opportunities presented to us. The Church will only impact cities when the Church operates on the
grid of society. Unless this negative perception changes, a church’s impact on its city will be limited.

2. How to engage the city with an effective strategy for impact. The Church can’t change the power
structures and infrastructure of any city, but it can release followers of Christ to go deep in the city
and transform it. The Church has specialized in making disciples for the Church but struggles to make
disciples for the city and the world. When we make disciples for the church, they show up to church.
When we make disciples for the city and the world, we release them to change it. We must focus on
developing strategies that mobilize the body of Christ to engage our cities.

3. How to “church” the city, not just seek to be the biggest church in the city. God hasn’t called
people to the Church; He has called the Church to the city. Cities are vital to seeing the gospel spread,
and this doesn’t happen through great preaching, relevant worship services and great events and
activities. The only way this will happen is when we “church” the city by releasing the army of people
that God has entrusted to us to reach.

4. How to collaborate with other churches, nonprofits and city leaders. Movements aren’t led by a
singular church or leader; they’re collaborative and disciple-driven. Movements spread through the
structures and domains of the city. No one singular church, nonprofit or leader can transform a city,
but when we share our dreams, resources and strategies, a city and the people in it can be changed.

Soon, 90 percent of the U.S. population will live in cities, which means we should begin aligning our
strategies and resources to make a greater impact in our cities and geographies. So, let’s explore some
building blocks to city transformation.
 Building Block #1
Build an Identity
“The value of identity, of course, is that so often with it comes purpose.” –Richard R. Grant

Identity is critical to anyone and everything. Our identity will determine who we are and who we want to
become. I’ve had a few friends (okay, me) struggle with an identity crisis. It feels like everything you’ve
lived for and focused on is meaningless and a waste of time. Even worse, it feels like all you’ve invested in
has little value in the future. Our identity will determine how we live our life. Fortunately, I had help and
received great counsel. After a lot of soul searching, I discovered my call and focus for the rest of my life. I
can boil it down to this sentence: ”I’m relentlessly focused on helping Kingdom-minded leaders and
organizations thrive.” That’s why I exist and my filter for determining what I give my life to.

Identity is more than who we are … It’s the dreams and vision that God is calling us to build our life
and ministry around.

Too many ministries and churches are having an identity crisis. They want to be and do all things but
can’t. For example, there is a significant difference between being city-centric and church-plant centric.
What you decide will determine your strategy, focus and outcomes. If you want to plant a bunch of
churches, then your identity must be immersed in that. If you want to see your city transformed, then
your identity must be immersed in that. Both will lead to planting churches, but how you arrive there will
look completely different. Not just that, the kind of churches you plant will have a different focus and
strategy.

Clarity is critical to your vision and identity.

W. Edwards Deming once said, “If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what
you’re doing.” This is so true. Too often I hear people share great vision that makes absolutely no sense.
Vision is the big picture, a conception of an image indicating where you want to go and what you’re trying
to become. Clarity is the filter for our vision and identity. Clarity helps us to know our stuff and how
everything we dream and think about will become reality. I get pretty fired up when I hear a church
planter share their vision, ideas and dreams. It’s compelling and exciting. At the same time, I get
frustrated when planters can’t support their vision with strategy and tactics. Vision always needs a
strategy and plan attached to it. Of course, Nehemiah is the great visionary. I love how when King
Artaxerxes asked what Nehemiah needed to accomplish his vision, he just about literally pulled a piece of
paper out of his back pocket with a list of resources and plan needed to be successful. In the same way, we
must have clarity on where we’re going and what’s needed to get there!

Apologies for my tangent, but our identity and vision are connected and extremely important to our
strategies and outcomes. The first building block is about avoiding an identity crisis. Too often, the Church
and ministry suffer because we aren’t certain of who we are. Before you launch anything, you must get to
the core of your identity. Before you enlist others, you must have clarity on who you are and where you’re
going. Before you focus on transforming your city, your mission and strategy must answer the “why” of
your very existence and identity for being.
 Building Block #2
Build the Right Team
“At that time, the city was large and spacious, but the population was small, and none of the houses had been
rebuilt. So my God gave me the idea to call together all the nobles and leaders of the city, along with the
ordinary citizens, for registration.” –Nehemiah 7:4-5

If you want to know what your city looks like, then visit the fourth-grade classroom nearest your home.
Last year my fourth-grade daughter invited me to join her for a presentation she had to deliver to her
class on the missions in California, something all fourth-graders in California are required to do. I arrived
early and observed some of the students who gave their report before my daughter did. I observed the
class and the students and was amazed by the diversity in the room. I later found out that in my
daughter’s class, there are 32 students of 19 different nationalities. This classroom makeup simply
reflects what cites are becoming. If you want to see a movement in your city, then focus on putting
together a team that reflects its diversity and personality. If you ignore this, then any attempt at a
movement will fail. Let me say it again: The leadership and focus of your movement must mirror and reflect
your city. Building the right team is critical to your church’s short- and long-term success. Knowing what
the right team looks like may be as simple as observing a classroom full of fourth-graders.

Successful ministry rises and falls on leadership. What you build on and whom you build with will
determine your success. Based on my experience and the insights of other leaders, I offer six non-
negotiables to building a successful team that reflects and understands the needs of its city.

1. Build with Kingdom-minded leaders. You want leaders who understand that the Kingdom is far
bigger than any local church or organization. Kingdom-minded leaders have a big picture of their city.
These people often talk more about their city than their church or ministry. They naturally want to
work with others and find ways to share resources and implement collective strategies that bring
greater impact than they could bring on their own. The litmus test for a Kingdom-minded leader is
looking at his or her body of work. Has he focused on his own empire or what God is trying to build?
Does she have a track record of sharing resources and collaborating with others? Is this leader
territorial or open-handed with whom they partner and spend time? Is he apostolic? Apostolic leaders
have influence beyond a single local church or ministry. It’s critical to build your team with those who
have a Kingdom framework and understand that the Kingdom is God’s sovereignty over everything,
beginning with them.

2. Build with diversity. I should say, start with diversity. Too often we work with others like us—
people who look like us, think like us, and act like us. I call this building a team with low- hanging fruit.
When we do this, we ignore the beauty and diversity of our city and alienate those who represent a
significant voice and relationship to our city. When we launched Mission Orange County, we
intentionally invited a few Latino and Asian leaders to join our movement knowing that these
ethnicities represent a little over 50 percent of our county’s population. As I said earlier, our mission
statement is to mobilize and multiply churches in Orange County to collaborate within their cities to
impact every man, woman and child with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We knew if we didn’t build a team
that reflects our county, then we would miss over half of our county’s population and lose the ability
to accomplish our mission.

3. Build with ministry professionals, city and domain leaders. To transform any city, you must
involve more than pastors and faith leaders. Involving only the Church limits your own missiology and
understanding of how cities work. A city’s gatekeepers and conveners don’t work in churches; they
office in the different sectors or domains of society. The most influential and often credible voices in
the city are in business, education, governance, art, etc.

Too often the Church mistakes participation for transformation.

I believe one of the Church’s biggest mistakes is thinking that our fancy programs, high-tech facilities
and great preaching will change our cities. They won’t. They may grow our churches, but they will
have minimal impact on our city. The reality is that our cities are already saturated with the Church.
We just must think differently about what it looks like to transform. As my good friend, Dr. Bob
Roberts says, ”What if the Church were the missionary?” In other words, neighborhoods, domains and
different communities that exist in our cities are filled with everyday Christ-followers who are called
to make an impact where they work, live and play. In this reality, the Church is everywhere in the city.
So it’s our responsibility as leaders to equip and release 21 st-century missionaries to impact their
communities and city. When we learn to seek where God is already at work and develop effective
strategies that mobilize an army of disciples, our cities will be transformed.

Domain leaders: the leaders in the sectors of society that all cities are built on.

City and domain leaders actually love their city sometimes (okay usually more), than many of the
pastors and faith leaders who minister in our cities. These leaders know their city, spend time in it and
have multiple influential relationships in the city. Inviting leaders like this into your conversations and
plans is critical. Any attempt at city transformation and movement will fail if only the local church
leads it.

4. Build with people who have convening power. Remember my friend Blake? A couple years ago,
we hosted a gathering in Long Beach and invited several churches, faith leaders and leaders in the city.
We invited Christians and non-Christians, pretty much anyone who had influence and a concern for
Long Beach. Our conversation wasn’t about the Church but about the city. There were a few key people
in the city we really wanted there—the mayor, city council and the chief of police. We asked some
pastors if they had any open doors to make those invites, and none really did. Then Blake spoke up
and said he would invite them. They all came. It took a businessman to make it happen because he had
the relationships and credibility with these leaders in the power structures of the city. Successful city
movement is dependent on convening power. It is vital that you build a team of pastors and leaders
who have the ability to call a meeting and know the people they invite will show up.

5. Build with youth. Movement always surges from the young. There has never been a movement
where young people weren’t on the front lines of it. Cites are becoming younger, so it’s even more
critical to build a team where young people have a voice and lead. That’s why I believe it’s so
important to work with church planters. They tend to be young, entrepreneurial and hold a lot of
influence. They’ll also define what the Church looks like in the future of our cities.

Mission Orange County longs to see multiple churches focused on making disciples and creating
strategies that engage and impact our county’s cities. For this reason, we gather with church planters
every month at a roundtable to dive into this conversation and connect relationally and missionally
around Orange County. Regardless of where you live, as leaders we have to invest and invite our youth
to be a part what we’re doing. If we don’t, I can guarantee you that our cities will be growing in the
future, but our churches won’t be.

6. Build with a city catalyst. That’s my role. I wake up every day asking what needs to be done today
to make sure Mission Orange County is moving forward and accomplishing its goals. I think about our
mission all day long; it’s my calling. Many of our partners and board members have full-time jobs.
 Their capacity is limited, and it’s critical to keep them focused at a high level with the amount of time
they can provide us. It’s critical to have someone on the ground doing the detail work, keeping others
accountable and moving the ball down the field. It’s also important to keep your best leaders focused
on what they can contribute best. City movement won’t happen without a city catalyst role; it just
won’t. Identifying someone who can get the job done in your city is critical.

When it comes to building your team, these are non-negotiables I often get asked how I identify leaders
who meet our criteria for successful leadership. It’s really simple. First, I ask the leaders we’re already
working with to introduce their friends to us. Kingdom-minded leaders spend time with Kingdom-
minded leaders, and friends want to do ministry with friends. Second, I have a list of standards and
metrics for what kind of leaders we can work with, and I use that as my filter for recruiting leaders. It’s
like traveling into a town you’ve never been to late at night. You’re hungry, so what do you do? You head to
the front desk and say something like, “It’s late, I’m hungry. I don’t have a car. I’m in jeans and a T-shirt,
and I want Mexican food and I want it now. If they have great chips and salsa, even better!” The person at
the front desk responds with something this, “Well, there are about 50 Mexican restaurants in town, but
since it’s getting late most are closed. And since you don’t have a car, I can think of only two that will work
for you.” That’s it! We need filters to help as identify and recruit leaders that will bring great leadership to
our movement.

One of our initiatives is to see more Latino churches planted in Orange County. Because of this, we
intentionally recruited someone to our team who could be a catalyst to helping us accomplish this. Here is
the filter we used to invite a leader like this to our team:

• A pastor who can convene other Kingdom-minded leaders

• Latino
• Someone who is Investing in second- and third-generation Latino leaders
• Experience with planting churches
• Bilingual

The filter worked, and in our first year we were able to assess and train four church planters that are
planting churches focused on reaching Latino communities. To build the right team, you most have filters
in place that move your leadership and strategy forward.
 Building Block #3
Build a Playground

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting
together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the
Day approaching.” –Hebrews 10:24-25

In the middle of our neighborhood, there is a well-maintained park that serves the families in our
community. There is a sandbox filled with slides, swings and stuff for the kids to jump, climb and play on.
It’s fun to watch kids play with their friends and kids they don’t even know yet. The moment they step
into the sandbox, something magical happens. The rules change and kids play together regardless if they
know each other or not. The sandbox is designed to remove barriers and create safety for kids to play
together. The only problem is that while a sandbox on its own might bring kids together, it won’t keep
them together for very long. This is why you need a playground.

With city movement, the playground is more than a “neutral convener”; it's where churches, city leaders
and faith leaders can play together relationally and missionally. The playground is the place where tools
and resources can be developed and shared to help accelerate and execute the mission and vision you
have for your city.

We quickly realized that in our context, leaders get excited about the vision Mission Orange County has
for the transformation of our cities. But to be successful, they need effective tools and resources to help
them with their own independent and collective strategies to transform their cities. We realized we
needed more than great ideas; we also needed to tee up those we work with to win. So, we built more
than a sandbox; we built a playground, an ecosystem with nine tools and resources to help move our
vision and mission forward and serve the Church in Orange County: To that end, below I share the list of
the tools and resources we’ve designed:

LAUNCH: A local, onsite church planter assessment and equipping center that provides best practices and
support to churches to inspire and equip next-generation church planters to lead strong.

MULTIPLY: A two-day intensive focused on equipping churches to become multiplication churches by

learning proven disciple-making principles and planting strategies that lead to accelerated church
multiplication and city impact.

CHURCH PLANTER ROUNDTABLES: A monthly gathering to encourage, inspire, equip and connect with
church planters and church planting churches in Orange County.

ENVISION: A 99-minute journey aimed at catalyzing a movement in a city or geography by beginning a

conversation with other churches and city leaders to design a collaborative strategy that will lead to
actionable next steps for city transformation.

COLLABORATION COMMUNITIES: A two-year adventure that creates rich dialogue, rapid learning and
immediate application by using a process designed to help churches in the same city or geography
collaborate to accelerate the transformation of their city.

MISSION LINK: A way to connect churches in Orange County to transformational projects and plants in
local areas with the greatest need.
CHURCH HEALTH ASSESSMENT: An evaluation that provides a clear picture of a church’s evangelistic
impact and missional health—assessing their missional behaviors, patterns of growth, discipleship and
effectiveness and impact in their geography.

CONSULTING AND STRATEGIC PLANNING: Experienced help with planting churches, developing teams,
launching multiple sites and navigating transitions. We work side by side with a team to align and
advance vision with clarity.

OC YOUTH: Expert support to leverage Mission Orange County’s strategies and tools to serve youth
pastors and youth ministries focused on impacting their schools and city.

A full-page menu of our tools and resources can be viewed HERE

Great relationships trump mission over time, every time.

Your mission must be clear, and your strategies must support what you’re calling others to participate in
and focus on. At the same time, you must build good relationships with those focused on the same thing.
What we’ve learned is that great vision and ideas will bring people to the table, but over time great
relationships keep them there. To be successful at building a thriving city movement, you must build a
culture of great relationships.
Playgrounds serve as a third-party neutral convener—an ecosystem that supports the mission and helps
deepen relationships. Here are 10 other benefits of building a playground for city transformation.
 1. Mission and vision are accelerated.
2. Playgrounds leverage resources, assets and strengths for the collective good.
3. Playgrounds produce greater accountability.
4. Playgrounds make the task more fun.
5. Playgrounds create unexpected opportunities and develop projects.
6. Playgrounds provide a Kingdom framework (not a church framework) for your city and
geography.
7. Playgrounds produce a different kind of leader and disciple.
8. Playgrounds become powerful testimonies to a lost world!
9. Playgrounds change the individual and church involved and those they influence.
10.Playgrounds allow a place for the Church, nonprofit leaders and city leaders to collaborate
and play.

The bottom line is that churches don’t naturally work well together. We should, but we don’t. I think we
want to, but we simply don’t know how. The Church needs help. We need a neutral convener and a
playground to play in. That’s why it’s so important to not only build a sandbox but also a playground for
those in the same city. Jesus sums this up pretty well when He prays:

“I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just
as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me,
I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and You in me
—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that You sent Me and have loved
them even as you have loved Me.”

Pretty powerful words and a reminder of what Jesus wants to see in our cities!
 Building Block #4
Build on the Third Dimension of Your City
“It takes a movement to reach a city ... Is God reaching that city? If a few churches are growing, for instance,
but the overall number of Christians is flat, is that city being reached for God?” –Tim Keller

This quote from Tim Keller is a geographical statement. At Mission OC, it has to led us to some key
questions. The first, and most important, one is, “What does God want for my city?” Now that may seem
like a very basic question, one that all pastors ask themselves when planting a church! Most pastors talk
about their churches in the context of their cities, but they never really understand or even truly dive into
—or even take the God-given responsibility for—the geography of their city. When I say “geography,” I
don't mean demographics. Those statistics are one-dimensional; geography is three-dimensional. Where
the demographics give you numbers, the geography gives you people. Demographics show you ethnicity,
and geography gives you stories! Demographics provide data for pie charts, statistics and spread sheets.
Geography points you to every man, woman and child that your church has the ability to influence in the
land God has given you.

Why should we as pastors have a geographical mindset? Because God does! Starting in Genesis:

“And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not
eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’" – Genesis
2:16-17

Geographical statement: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden … .”

Geographical boundaries: “But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil … .”

The geographical why: “… It was pleasing to the eye and good for food” and “… you will surely die."

God directs Abram in Genesis 12:

“The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the
land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great
and you will be a blessing.’” – Genesis 12:1-2

Geographical statement: “Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land
I will show you … .”

Geographical boundaries: “… The land I will show you … .”

The geographical why: “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name
great, and you will be a blessing.”

Jesus is very specific with the disciples in Matthew 10:

“These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town
of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.’” – Matthew 10:5-6

Geographical statement: “Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.”

Geographical boundaries: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.”

The geographical why: “… On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to
them and to the Gentiles.”

Simply put, God gives us a church to steward that comes with a geography He calls us to steward! I have
found that the best way to look at geographic intentionality is to think of it as circles of accountability!
Circles of accountability are the circles we worship in, live in, work in and play in. The first circle is a two-
to three-mile radius we draw around our church. When God sets you in a certain geography, He expects
you to take an account for every man, woman and child in those circles. That also includes every other
church in your circle that you are called to work with, every apartment building, housing community,
school and business in your first circle. The second circle you and I have to account for is the circle around
our neighborhood. As disciples, we have a responsibility to reach out to our neighbors. The third circle is
your work environment. God has given you your job and has strategically placed you in that work
environment. The last circle we must look at is the place where we play! Our sports, entertainment and
the places where we laugh.

Recently, I sat down with a church planter in my city. Like most planters, he was pretty fired up. He shared
a little about his church planting strategy and the vision he has for the church and the community. Then
he did what all church planters learn to do: He shared the latest demographics and census numbers with
me. I then asked him where in the city was he planning to plant the church. He told me the exact location.
In fact, it’s not too far from my house, so I know the area well. I then asked him if he knows about the
neighborhood directly across the street from where he’s planting. He said, “I think there are a lot of
apartments there.”

What he shared broke my heart because his stated mission is to live on mission to impact our city with the
gospel of Jesus Christ, but what he didn’t realize is the 6,000 people across the street that live in homes
built for low-income families. A lot of problems are there, and a lot of young kids live in these apartments
with a single parent. At one point, our police department put a substation in this community to develop
better relationships with the community and rebuild the negative perception the police have with those
who live in that area.

What I really wanted to tell this church planter is that our police have a better understanding of how to
plant a church than you do. A police substation isn’t designed for greater police presence in a specific
area. The police set up substations to build better relationships with a broken and hurting community. It’s
as incarnational as any ministry I’ve experienced. The police play with kids, meet families and host
community events to build deeper relationships and trust with the community they’re focused on. It’s a
pretty good church planting strategy if you ask me. It’s how a church should see its city and what’s around
them. If we want to see our city transformed, we must build on the third dimension of our city and take
geographical intentionality for it.
 Building Block #5
Build Deep and Wide
“If your primary focus is the church, your impact will be limited.” –Bob Roberts Jr.

We launched our ministry in Orange County to help churches go deep and wide in their city. You see, just
planting churches can cover the geography of your city yet have limited impact. That’s what I call going
wide. To go deep, churches focused on engaging the city and mobilizing disciples to impact their city must
be planted. This is going deep. We must do both!

This “matrix” is really simple math: deep + wide = city transformation

Over the last year, we’ve been working with several churches in the city Santa Ana in a collaboration
community. It’s a two-year commitment for churches in the same city to learn and collaborate around
principles that lead to city transformation. Seeing these churches take greater responsibility for their city
has been an amazing adventure and experience. At one of our gatherings, we sent teams of five into areas
of the city that are most difficult and seem to lack spiritual presence. These teams were put in different
scenarios, and we provided observation questions and instructions for their city tour. When they
returned, they were asked to present their observations and the strategy they developed for the scenario
they were given. It was a fun exercise, and there was a lot to learn. Here are a few “aha” moments that
every group had and presented to the other groups.

• When you dive deep into the “lostness” of your city, the need to plant churches or start
missional communities naturally emerges.
• In every city and geography, there are areas where little to no spiritual presence exists.
• Plant the gospel before you plant the church.
• There aren’t enough churches in the city to transform it, but there are more than enough
disciples.

As we discussed this in more depth with the churches in the room, we decided to capture their thoughts.
(See the image below.) From this, we created a list (left side) of how most churches tend to think they can
best impact a community or city. We call this focused on service. Then we created a list (right side) that
describes what they learned and experienced as we looked at the city from a different perspective. We call
this a missional focus. Their observations were alarming, and each church walked out with a new
perspective and strategy for city transformation.
Let’s not get stuck on words. Missional is the new (okay, aging) buzzword in the Church. It has everything
to do with going deep and wide in your city. I simply define missional as living with a missionary mindset
to engage others with the gospel message. This is how the Church becomes the missionary to the city. It’s
our best strategy to go deep and wide in the geography of our cities.
 Building Block #6
Build a Factory
I love this definition of a factory: “the source of prolific production.” Isn’t that what we all want in ministry?
Don’t we all want to create an environment where disciples, small groups, ministry and even the Church
are produced at a prolific rate? In Genesis, God instructs us to “be fruitful and multiply.”

Recently, I was with a group of pastors and business leaders from Southern California. Our discussion
focused on how to most effectively and efficiently multiply churches. To get the conversation rolling, I
simply wrote, “Build a car vs. build a factory” on the whiteboard and said, “Discuss.” It was fun to sit back
and watch them share their thoughts and reflections. The reality is that there is a huge difference between
building a car and a factory, even though the final product or deliverables are similar.

Here is a summary of some of their observations:

Building a Factory:
• Is about economy of scale
• Puts emphasis on the process (clear beginning and end)
• Reduces costs
• Is about long-term strategies and vision
• Increases productivity
• Is more sustainable
• Focuses on a specialized skill
• Produces a more reliable product
• Requires bigger vision
• Is less resilient to change and transition
• Has more flexibility and adaptability
• Involves many specialists and experts
• Involves increased accountability
• Is focused on goals and metrics
• Is easier to export
• Requires leadership

Building a Car:
• Dependent on skill of labor
• The process tends to move slowly
• Is difficult to reproduce
• Can be more costly than expected
• Requires resources that are difficult to find
• Creates a less reliable product
• The builder determines the process
• Only needs small vision
• Has less risk

The conversation really focused on these questions:

1. How much time, energy and resources do churches spend launching one church plant as opposed to
spending the same amount of time, energy and resources to “build” a factory that will plant many
churches?
2. What is the most effective way to multiply and reproduce what we do best?
3. What ecosystems and infrastructure must to be in place to best support numerous church plants, as
well as church planters?
4. What is the most effective and efficient way to launch high-impact, sustainable churches that transform
communities and cities?

In my opinion, there were some great observations and insights. Here are some of my conclusions
from our conversation.

• Building a “factory” to plant churches may actually take less effort and reproduce at a much faster, more
efficient rate than just planting one church.
• The guys in the room were vision guys, builders and entrepreneurs. When talking about building a
factory, they seemed way more energized about how it could impact the Church and new communities.
• One pastor noted that planting a church doesn’t change much of how we operate. But when building a
factory that rapidly produces churches, everything about the current state of the Church must change.
There was energy around that thought!
• It’s easy to stop after planting one church, but building a factory keeps you focused, accountable and
productive. Therefore, the results are greater.
• It’s difficult to plant more than one church at a time without a system in place to multiply rapidly.
Factories produce a more sustainable product. They can endure change and in the end they are far more
cost-efficient.
• Factories have way more resources to get the job done.

On my street, there are two houses with custom cars in the garage and one house with a kit airplane. We
have lived on our street for over 10 years, and in that time the cars and airplane have never left the
garage. I know the owners and at one time they had dreams of what they might produce and someday
drive or fly. Their dreams have become places to store boxes and barriers to walk around in the garage.
Years ago, I asked one of my neighbors when and why he decided to give up. He said, “It was hard work,
I’m not a specialist and I don’t have all the resources I need to finish the project. I thought it would be
easy, and it wasn’t. I keep it because someday I plan to finish what I started.” Interesting perspective from
a guy who thought he could build a car but hasn’t.

Sure, our conversation surrounded church planting but in anything we do with scale, we must focus on
building a factory. To serve churches and cities we must have a factory mindset to build an ecosystem that
can easily mobilize and multiply numerous churches at the same time.
 Building Block #7
Build with the Kingdom in Mind
“He told them another parable: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and
planted in his field.’” – Matthew 13:31

If your primary focus is the church, your impact will be limited. This is probably the most important
building block. There’s a huge difference between how you see your community and city when you look
through a Kingdom lens as opposed to the lens of a church. A church lens is small thinking and tends to be
focused just on the gospel of salvation as opposed to the gospel of the Kingdom, which is way bigger. A
church lens focuses on producing people who attend church but not necessarily disciples. When you look
at anything through a Kingdom lens, it’s going to look differently.

I think the global Church has much to teach the Church in the West. Today the church is expanding and
movement is happening in places like China, Africa, India and South America. By looking at, and to, the
global Church, we learn about the parallels between movement and watch through a Kingdom lens versus
a church lens.

Missiologist Dr. Dwight Smith paints a vivid picture of the growth of the Chinese Church:

“When the doors to China first closed to the ‘normal’ missionary ministry of the gospel, we counted no more
than 1 million followers of Jesus. That growth had taken thousands of missionaries and at least 150 years to
accomplish! When the political tundra of relationships between China and the West first began to thaw in
the early 1970s, some told us that there were as many as 50 million followers of Jesus. When we hit the year
2010, we saw approximately 100 million followers of Jesus in China. And, what little we can see through the
veil of government tells us that we are witnessing the fullness of the story of Acts in that land. Indeed, if the
number of 1 million is added to the millions of Chinese Christians in diaspora all over the world, we have the
largest ethnic Church in the world, and it is not American, or English, or Dutch. It is Chinese. What we have
prayed for has come to pass!”

In a 40-year period we see exponential growth in China like never before. These are mind-blowing stats!
How did this happen? Lets peel back the veil a bit and see. What we discover is that during this 40-year
period a great transition took place. The missionaries to China were replaced with indigenous people
who had taken responsibility for their country, their regions, their cities, their neighborhoods and their
families! Geographic responsibility! We have talked about it in previous chapters and we now have to
finish with one of the greatest principles in Scriptures, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed.”

We all know and love this parable. We quote it, teach it in Sunday school, put it on nice plaques and hang
it around our churches and homes. But this is where most pastors’ understanding of the parable stops.
Few of us truly apply this principle to the Kingdom of God. We love to use it when talking about our
church plants. It's a great parable to rally the troops when envisioning our core groups or engaging a
potential investor. But the reality is that Jesus never spoke these words in that context. When talking
about city transformation and looking at this key verse, we have to look it for what it is: a “Kingdom”
verse.

Looking at the Kingdom verses in Matthew, we learn one main thing: The Kingdom of God is so valuable
that we are willing to lose everything we have to get it—and it is a happy trade off! What does that mean
to me as a local pastor? It means is that the Kingdom is greater than my church.

Let me be clear. This is not to diminish the importance of the “my” local church but rather to prioritize it.
These Kingdom verses underscore that contrary to many pastors’ and leaders’ beliefs, your church is not
“the Church.” Your church is one small piece of the body of Christ. In other words, there is one Church, and
you are a part of something so much bigger. If pastors would attempt to wrestle through this one
principle, we would see another great transformation in our cities. If we just began asking, “How is my
city is doing?” instead of “How is my church doing?”

What does that practically mean to you and me? The American Church needs a Kingdom mindset or
framework. If we want to see any significant city movement, we will have to think differently as a pastor.
Allow me to paint a clearer picture of what I’m talking about.

In 2013, Chris Lagerlof and I found ourselves in a pastors gathering together in Orange County. The
meeting was not unlike thousands and thousands of others that take place all over this nation regularly.
As we started to talk, we both realized that we were frustrated with these meetings and how there was
very little impact going on.

Now let me clarify, I think these were great meetings for pastors to tell stories, to not feel alone, to
encourage one another and to pray together. All of these outcomes are good, but they rarely seem to move
beyond another meeting. In other words, we felt like we were missing something: Kingdom
transformation. As we continued in our conversation, we soon realized that the heart of God was so much
bigger than these 20 or 30 pastors in this one room. We both had this great burden for Orange County;
the problem is that Orange County has 3.1 million people! How would two men—one a pastor of a small
church in Costa Mesa, and another who just left his job—make any difference with 3.1 million people?
Simple!

Let me share five principles that we believe are necessary and vital to seeing city transformation!

1. God has to break your heart for the people where you minister.
• How did China experience such exponential growth? Because of this first principle. Missionaries were
replaced with real people who were in love with their culture, country, city and neighborhoods. At our
church, we constantly go back to the “why.” The “why” is the gospel. Apart from a relationship with Jesus,
people are dying and going to hell. The gospel is the answer.

You and your church must take ownership and geographic responsibility.

Matthew 25 (the parable of the talents) very clearly speaks to what God has entrusted to us as pastors.
The geography God has placed your church in is your responsibility! The church has to feel the weight of
the gospel in their city. We have to feel it in our circles of influence. Our church clearly understands that
there are at least four very important circles (home, work, play and church) that God has called them to
walk in and influence.

You and your church need to be open handed with everything God has given you.

The offering you take up weekly is not your offering! The people that God has brought you are not your
people. The building that God has blessed you with is not your building. See a pattern here? You and your
church must have a completely different mindset when it comes to people and resources. You must be
willing to send out money and people. A releasing mindset is Kingdom-focused. We regularly bring church
planters into our church, stand them in front of our congregation, and tell our people that some of you
need to go and help them plant this church—and they do.

You and your church must work with other churches in your geography.
Your church is not the answer for your community; you are a part of the answer. You can never
accomplish your calling alone, nor did God mean for us to do it alone. The largest churches in America
cannot reach an entire city by themselves; they must work with other churches God has placed in the
same geography.

One of the biggest misconceptions in the Church today is that megachurches are changing the city!
Believing that widespread propaganda, the megachurch gets lulled into thinking their influence is for the
city and for the world, and it is! Here’s the problem: Few megachurches use their influence in the city to
gather other churches together to reach every man, woman and child in their cities. Thus, they miss an
opportunity to partner in a city movement.

Most megachurches don't realize that the influence God has given them is a two-sided coin. One side is to
be used in their cities to get movement with the homeless, after-school programs, single moms, etc.
Moreover, the other side of the coin is about using their influence to unite the Church, to be used to
strategically partner with other churches to reach their city!

Consider these verses:

John 17:21 “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.”
Psalm 133:1-3 “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil
poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his
robes. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows His blessing,
even life forevermore.”

You will need to be strategic in your approach.

Mission Orange County has broken out Orange County into 34 cities. We have asked God for the men and
women who hold the heart of God for each of those cities. As we have found these men and women, we
have asked them to take geographic responsibility for the circle God has called their church to. As we
talked about earlier, when working towards city transformation, we initiate the practical exercise of
asking churches to draw a two-mile radius around their church and tell us everything in that circle—
every school, business, municipality, apartment, housing track and every other church in that circle.

Then we have them put together a plan to work with other churches to reach every man, women and
child in each one of these areas. When 34 cities do this, we will see a repeated opportunity for people to
accept or reject the gospel in Orange County!

City transformation! It sounds so sexy to pastors, and we love to talk about it. But few dare to venture into
the very heart of our God to do the work it takes to see this happen. What about you? Are you willing to
lay down, “your Church” for His? When you do, buckle up and get ready for an incredible ride, the ride of
your life, a godly adventure into the third dimension of your city!