Why you should give your church away
May 3, 2026
A sower went out to sow. But first he needed some seeds.
So he went to Home Depot and bought a bag of seeds. When he opened the bag, he saw that they were very nice seeds. So he wanted some more.
Checking on Google Maps, he found a Garden Center on the outskirts of the city. So he drove there and bought several more bags of seeds. Soon he had a whole wheelbarrow full of seeds. But it wasn’t enough – he wanted more.
He asked ChatGTP where he could purchase large volumes of high-quality seeds at wholesale prices. ChatGPT happily recommended some agri-suppliers in his county, and soon his whole barn was full of seeds.
He continued building up his store of seeds in this manner until harvest time came. But he had no harvest that year, because he had been hoarding seeds instead of planting them!
Hear what I’m sayin’?
A good example of how this parable applies to the church is housegroups. Many pastors see housegroups as having a supportive role for their Sunday services. They reason that by getting visitors involved in housegroups (small weekday evening fellowship gatherings in people’s homes) they will feel “connected” and will be more likely to become full members of the congregation. And by centering housegroup activity on discussion of the previous Sunday’s sermon, pastors try to utilize their housegroups to reinforce their preaching and teaching.
But they’ve got it backwards! As we explain in our book Simple Kingdom: Home Fellowships, it’s in home fellowships, not in Sunday morning services, where church really happens. Home fellowships are the perfect training ground for believers to learn how to worship, minister, serve, help, love, forgive, move in spiritual gifts, reach out to others, walk in holiness, and more. And they’re also the place where new leadership can arise and be nurtured in ministry areas like teaching, healing, evangelism, the prophetic, pastoral care and helping the poor.
In other words, home fellowships are the seeds from which new churches can be planted. And by giving your church’s home fellowships the freedom to be led by the Holy Spirit and then letting them go when the Spirit imparts vision and authority to their leaders, you’re going to end up reaping a big harvest at the close of the age.
So if you’re a pastor and you’re using your home fellowships to try and make your church grow, you’re doing it wrong. Yes, your church probably will grow if you do it this way, but the goal isn’t to make your church grow, is it? The goal is to make the church — God’s church — grow.
So give your church away so that God’s church can grow. If you do that, you’ll be rewarded (Luke 6:38).
Cheers,
Mitch
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Ingrid recently had a strange dream and I think it was prophetic. She often has dreams from the Lord, and they’re usually to guide us. Sometimes they’re dreams for specific individuals, or for the church. And on occasion they’ve been dreams about coming world events, and time has proved them accurate. While the spiritual gift of having prophetic dreams is available to all of us who ask for it (see Acts 2:17 and 1 Cor 14:1) such gracelets (occasional manifestations of a gift as ordained by the Lord) can become ministries for those who pursue God diligently. Wimber talks about this in his series on spiritual gifts. I’ve also had significant dreams myself from the Lord that have guided us in life, business and ministry. But I don’t get them in the degree and number that Ingrid does. Anyways, in this particular dream Ingrid saw the number “1867” strongly highlighted. That’s it, the whole dream. She said she had no idea what it might mean. But I knew immediately what it meant. Much has been made in the media about Mark Carney, who became Prime Minister of Canada just over a year ago. Carney’s motto is “Canada Strong” which means strengthening Canada’s sovereignty by lessening our dependence on the United States in areas like defense and the economy. On the Liberal Party’s website it says: “Our sovereignty is under threat. America’s unjustified trade war is an attempt to weaken us. We will not let that happen. It’s time to build a future that makes Canada strong... To unite this country, a Mark Carney-led government will build one economy where Canadians can work wherever they want. Where goods can move freely from coast to coast to coast...” etc. The “trade war” being referred to here is Trump’s threat to withdraw the U.S. from the CUSMA free trade agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Well, guess what? That’s exactly what the U.S. did in 1866 when protectionist elements cancelled the Elgin-Marcy Treaty, which was a trade agreement between the U.S. and the U.K. that applied to British North America, an umbrella term for the U.K. colonies in North America. Worries about the economic impact of the cancelled trade agreement on Canada’s economy, together with lingering fears about the U.S. idea of “manifest destiny” being applied to all of North America — like Trump threatening to annex Canada — led the colonies to unite in a confederation and become a sovereign state — the Dominion of Canada — in the year 1867. And that’s where Ingrid’s dream comes in. I think what the Lord is showing us is that Carney’s move towards divorcing Canada, both economically and with regard to national security, from the United States is not just a short-term gimmick to gain leverage over the U.S. to favorably renegotiate the CUSMA. I think it means we’ve permanently shifted course here in Canada, taking us out of the U.S. orbit onto the world stage as a sovereign state. Permanent as for a generation at least, just as things panned out for Canada in the decades that followed Confederation in 1867. What does that mean for the average Canadian? Well, it’s the world, right? Jesus warned us in Mark 13:8 that “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines.” So it’s all just par for the course. And how did Confederation turn out for us here in Canada after 1867? Some good things happened, like building a transcontinental railway, the promise of which brought the U.K. colony of British Columbia into Confederation as Canada’s most western province. And in the long run this strengthened Canada’s economy, though the country was still impacted negatively by events like the stock market crash in Vienna in 1873 which resulted in an international downturn and a “post-Confederation slump” in Canada. And one might say that Carney is engaging in something similar to transcontinental railway building as he negotiates with our provincial and territorial premiers to try and reduce or eliminate trade barriers that exist between different parts of our own country. I didn’t want to make this post a history lesson, but simply point out that I think the Lord is showing us here in Canada that the direction our federal government has taken under Mark Carney is not something that is going change in the coming years. It’s permanent — probably for a generation or more. And it will impact different Canadians in different ways, some positively, some negatively. And as someone once said somewhere, reality isn't the way you want things to be, or how they seem to be, but how they actually are. So you either need to acknowledge reality and use it for your benefit, or it’s gonna work against you. And the ultimate reality is God. Anyways, I *think* that’s what Ingrid’s “seer” dream means. And I think too that I have the Spirit of God (1 Cor 7:40). Cheers, Mitch
I imagine that even angels can get frustrated trying to learn some worship songs... This morning Ingrid was listening to an old Vineyard worship CD titled " Holy And Anointed One " and was trying to memorize the words of the songs. One song in particular was giving her difficulty. The song is called "Redeemer" and the words go like this: Redeemer, Mighty One King of kings above all the earth Father of light, Healer of lives Lord God Most High And yet You call me loved one You even call me chosen You cherish me, calling me friend (repeat) Messiah, Holy One Name above all other names Song of Songs, Word of Life Lord God Most High And yet You call me loved one You even call me chosen You cherish me, calling me friend (repeat) Ingrid said to me, "The chorus is great, it's powerful. But I can never remember the verses, the words don't seem to follow one another. I think the best worship songs are ones that are easy to remember, like "Blessed Be The Name Of The Lord." The words of that song are simple but express truth, and the use of repetition emphasizes this. The music is also very powerful." I replied that I thought she was absolutely correct, and that the weakness with the song "Redeemer" is that the verses are a kind of "word salad" meaning that there's no logical reason behind the order of the words. Redeemer, King, Father, Healer, Lord Messiah, Holy One, Song of Songs, Word of Life — all true of course, but there's no simple pattern to help one remember the order of the words. As I mention in Chapter 4: Writing Worship Songs of my book Simple Kingdom: Worship , I've sometimes been guilty myself of using the "word salad" appoach when writing worship songs. For example the following song, which a dear friend of ours once told us was her "most favorite worship song ever," has words that are so hard to memorize that I can't even get them straight myself when I try to sing it: Because You Are Beautiful © 2016 by Mitch Tulloch (listen on SoundCloud ) Because you are beautiful, I will seek your face. Because you are wonderful, I will stand in awe. Because you are marvelous, I will lift my hands. Because you are glorious, I will praise your name. I'm not saying that "Redeemer" is a bad song. It's actually a good song. But it's not that easy to learn. And as Carol Wimber reminded us in her book "The Way It Was," her husband John especially loved musicians who could write simple worship songs that were easy to sing and play, songs that even novice guitarists could use when they led worship times in home fellowships. So if you are a worshipper and an aspiring songwriter, try laying down your talents and ambitions at the feet of the Lord and write worship songs that anyone can learn, songs one can sing while washing the car, preparing meals, walking the dog or cutting the grass. Hear what I'm sayin'? Cheers, Mitch (Image: Angel playing the lute by Rosso Fiorentino, 1495 – 1540)
A few years ago an old friend of Ingrid’s who lives in BC had a word from the Lord for us. The word was Psalm 92:13-15 and in the Jerusalem Bible it reads like this: Planted in the house of Yahweh, they will flourish in the courts of our God, still bearing fruit in old age, still remaining fresh and green, to proclaim that Yahweh is righteous, my rock in whom no fault is to be found! The important part — the part that struck us with prophetic forcefulness — was this: still bearing fruit in old age This encouraged us tremendously because at the time we were feeling our age. And even though the desire to serve the Lord was still there, the energy just wasn’t there anymore. We were growing old. For over four decades Ingrid and I have been building and planting God’s kingdom. We’ve started home fellowships and house churches, helped establish church plants, trained and led ministry teams, led Bible Studies, delivered food hampers to the poor and and done all kinds of other kingdom stuff. But we’ve reached a point in our lives — I’m in my 70s now — where there are some things that we just can’t do anymore. Like starting another home fellowship. We see the need for one, a place where we can invite those we’ve been trying to draw into the kingdom. But the reality is we can’t do it anymore. We’re just too old. In earlier times our midweek homegroup meetings often ran until midnight as we counselled and ministered to people. Now however we head to bed around 9 pm so we can get enough sleep to function the following day. But if we’re too old now to start something — and if you start something then you’re also going to have to lead it, right? Because otherwise it’ll fall apart. So then, if you’re too old to start and lead something, what can you still do? My friend Martin, who is in a similar season of life, says what we can do is to resource those leading the front end of the battle. And that’s exactly what Ingrid and I have been trying to do with our BuildPlant.org website: to provided resources, based on our decades of experience, for those who are young and bold (and maybe crazy) enough to want to build and plant fellowships, equip and lead ministry teams, train worship leaders and songwriters, and so on. But there’s also something else you can do for God’s kingdom when you’re old like we are. And that’s to pray. And guess what? Jesus even tells us what we should be praying for. Because the problem is that there are few who are willing to commit the time, energy and money— and deal with all the attendant difficulties and problems and frustrations and disappointments and pushback and flak — involved in building and planting fellowships, equipping and leading ministry teams, training worship leaders and songwriters, and such kinds of stuff. So then, considering this situation what should we as old leaders who can no longer lead be praying for? The answer lies in what Jesus said as recorded in Luke 10:2: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” In chapter 2 of our book Simple Kingdom: Discipleship I explain what Jesus is actually saying in this verse. Here's an excerpt: There's a double note of urgency in what Jesus said here. First, he says pray earnestly—earnestly! The underlying Greek word used here expresses the idea of begging for something that is very much needed, as in "Please, sir!" And the Greek verb translated above as "send out" isn't the same as the word used earlier in Luke 9:2 where Jesus "sent out" the Twelve. Luke 10:2 instead uses a word found elsewhere in the Gospels when referring to driving out demons. So what Jesus is actually saying here is something like this: “There aren't enough of my followers who know what it really means to be a disciple. So I beg you, please pray earnestly that God will push more Christians out of their comfort zones, out of the pews and into the streets, so they can gather more people into my Father's kingdom.” Because the meat is in the street, as Wimber used to say. And the time is short, too. But we'll talk about that later. So to conclude then, I may be too old to start and lead another home fellowship or organize evening equipping workshops. But I can still try to create resources like the ones you find on this website to help others do the heavy lifting in building and planting. And I can also pray what Jesus says we should all be praying. And I’m going to pray this. Earnestly. Cheers, Mitch (Image: L'homme à la houe (Man With a Hoe) by Jean-François Millet, ca. 1860, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles)