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Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

by Ed Stetzer (Author), Warren Bird (Author), Rick Warren (Foreword) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 out of 5 stars 49 ratings

This groundbreaking guide reveals successful strategies for multiplying the impact of new church congregations.

Based on a national, cross-denominational study commissioned by Leadership Network, Viral Churches explores the best practices in church multiplication movements, as well as the common threads among them. A hands-on resource, Viral Churches offers the fresh vision and critical perspectives essential as a catalyst for today's church planting leaders.

Authors Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird draw from their own experiences as well as the insights of numerous church planting leaders. Filled with illustrative success stories, this important book reveals how to plant churches that multiply into a movement. Each chapter highlights a different point on such issues as keeping the focus on evangelism; recruiting, assessing, and deploying planters; increasing the survivability of new churches; using a multisite strategy effectively; funding; overcoming obstacles; facing challenges ahead; and many more.
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  1. ISBN-13
    978-0470590317
  2. Edition
    1st
  3. Publisher
    Wiley
  4. Publication date
    March 10, 2010
  5. Language
    English
  6. File size
    4.3 MB
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Viral Churches

Recent years have seen a clear increase in church planting enthusiasm across the globe. As church leaders look for ways to start multiple new congregations that in turn reproduce virally, they need credible information, healthy examples, and reliable guidance.

Based on a national, cross-denominational study commissioned by Leadership Network, Viral Churches outlines the best practices in church multiplication movements and reveals the common threads among them. A hands-on resource, Viral Churches offers the fresh vision and critical perspectives essential as a catalyst fortoday's church planting leaders.

Authors Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird draw from their own experiences, the insights of numerous pioneering leaders, and what was arguably the nation's largest research project on church multiplication. They show leaders how to plant churches that multiply into a movement, and they offer inspiration for the need to do so. Filled with illustrative stories from successful church planters, this important book outlines practical ideas that are essential to the success of church multiplication networks. Each chapter highlights a different point on such issues as keeping the focus on evangelism; recruiting, assessing, and deploying planters; increasing the survivability of new churches; using a multisite strategy effectively; funding; overcoming obstacles; facing challenges ahead; and many more.

Throughout the book, Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird advocate the core belief that "Church planting is good. A vision for a church multiplication movement is better."

From the Back Cover

Viral Churches

Recent years have seen a clear increase in church planting enthusiasm across the globe. As church leaders look for ways to start multiple new congregations that in turn reproduce virally, they need credible information, healthy examples, and reliable guidance.

Based on a national, cross-denominational study commissioned by Leadership Network, Viral Churches outlines the best practices in church multiplication movements and reveals the common threads among them. A hands-on resource, Viral Churches offers the fresh vision and critical perspectives essential as a catalyst fortoday's church planting leaders.

Authors Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird draw from their own experiences, the insights of numerous pioneering leaders, and what was arguably the nation's largest research project on church multiplication. They show leaders how to plant churches that multiply into a movement, and they offer inspiration for the need to do so. Filled with illustrative stories from successful church planters, this important book outlines practical ideas that are essential to the success of church multiplication networks. Each chapter highlights a different point on such issues as keeping the focus on evangelism; recruiting, assessing, and deploying planters; increasing the survivability of new churches; using a multisite strategy effectively; funding; overcoming obstacles; facing challenges ahead; and many more.

Throughout the book, Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird advocate the core belief that "Church planting is good. A vision for a church multiplication movement is better."

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003D87PEU
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wiley; 1st edition (March 10, 2010)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 10, 2010
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4.3 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 252 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 49 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Ed Stetzer

    Ed Stetzer

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    Ed Stetzer, Ph.D., is the Dean and Professor of Leadership and Christian Ministry at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. He also serves as Distinguish Visiting Scholar at Wycliffe Hall at Oxford University, where he teaches twice a year. Stetzer has planted, revitalized, and pastored churches; trained pastors and church planters on six continents; earned two master’s degrees and two doctorates; and written hundreds of articles and a dozen books. He is Regional Director for Lausanne North America, the Editor-in-Chief of Outreach Magazine, and regularly writes for news outlets such as USA Today and CNN. His national radio show, Ed Stetzer Live, airs Saturdays on Moody Radio and affiliates. Stetzer serves his local church, Mariners Church, as Scholar in Residence & Teaching Pastor.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Warren Bird

    Warren Bird

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    Warren Bird, Ph.D., is Senior VP of Research at ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability). Previously he was Research Director at Leadership Network.

    He's an award-winning author/co-author of 35 books for pastors, church leaders, church boards, and seminary professors. Bird researches cutting-edge churches and works with their leaders to multiply their evangelistic and disciple-making impact.

    He is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading researchers of growing churches, megachurches, multisite churches, large church compensation and high-visibility pastoral succession. He also oversees the world’s only active, sortable list of global megachurches at exponential DOT org SLASH world. Follow him on Linkedin at /wbird or X (Twitter) @warrenbird

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
49 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers appreciate the book's information quality, with one noting it's chock full of hard data. Moreover, the narrative receives positive feedback for its alternative perspective, with one customer highlighting how it strikes a balance by sharing individual planter stories. Additionally, the book receives positive feedback for its approach to church planting, with one customer noting it creates more new ministries than established churches.

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10 customers mention "Information quality"10 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's information quality, noting its good research and hard data, with one customer highlighting its strong factual baseline and another mentioning its helpful look at statistics.

"...This is an important book, chock full of hard data, impressive examples, compelling stories, and a rock-solid argument: plant churches that plant..." Read more

"...This establishes a strong factual baseline from which Stetzer and Bird make many of their claims. They give a really solid lay of the land. 2...." Read more

"...Whether you have planted or not this is a great read to inspire and cultivate church planting...." Read more

"...Not the best for nuts and bolts, but a must read for every American pastor and planter...." Read more

4 customers mention "Narrative quality"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the narrative quality of the book, particularly its ability to tell alternative stories, with one customer noting how it strikes a balance by sharing stories of individual planters.

"...an important book, chock full of hard data, impressive examples, compelling stories, and a rock-solid argument: plant churches that plant churches..." Read more

"Excellent at telling an alternative narrative for the purpose of church planting in North America...." Read more

"...reading a financial statement but it also strikes a balance by telling stories of individual planters" Read more

"...This book is full of valuable, insightful material." Read more

3 customers mention "Church planting"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's approach to church planting, with one customer highlighting its focus on creating more new ministries and baptizing more new believers, while another notes its emphasis on sustainable practices.

"...no doubt that new churches grow faster, reach more people, baptize more new believers, and create more new ministries than established churches...." Read more

"...you have planted or not this is a great read to inspire and cultivate church planting...." Read more

"Stetzer is a leader in the church planting movement, and well-deserved. This book is full of valuable, insightful material." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Chuck Warnock
    5.0 out of 5 stars Two Word Review of Viral Churches: Get It!
    Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird's new book, Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers, packs a punch like no other church planting book I've read. Stetzer and Bird, both experienced church planters turned missional researchers, deliver compelling examples of real churches engaged in church multiplication strategies. These networks of church planters are reshaping the theology, philosophy, and execution of sustainable church planting in ways not seen since the Baptists and Methodists struck out across America in the 1800's planting congregations.

    Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, and Warren Bird, director of the research division of Leadership Network, teamed up to study over 200 church-planting churches, 100-leaders, 45 church planting networks, 84 organic church leaders, 12 church planting experts, 53 colleges and seminaries, 54 doctoral dissertations, 41-journal articles, and 100+ church planting books and manuals -- all with the goal of understanding this new surge of church planting multiplication that is sweeping America.

    The premise of the book is church planting must shift from growth by addition to break-out surges through church multiplication. In other words, Stetzer and Bird contend that churches-planting- churches is the winning strategy to meet the Great Commission challenge in America.

    Chapter titles give clues to the emphases in Viral Churches:

    One: Introduction: National Awakening
    Two: Church Planting
    Three: Growth by Multiplication
    Four: New Players
    Five: KIngdom Cooperation
    Six: Predictors of Success
    Seven: Thriving
    Eight: House Churches
    Nine: Multi-Site Strategy
    Ten: Rapid Growth
    Eleven: Funding
    Twelve: The New Scorecard
    Thirteen: Obstacles to Missional Replication
    Fourteen: Conclusion: We Need to Take Another Approach

    I particularly like the emphasis that Stetzer and Bird give to the concept of "small." Here's what they say -

    "In reality a church grows bigger by doing small better."
    "Simple, small replicable units are how the kingdom is best advanced."
    `"Big" produces more consumers in church, but small produces more contributors.'
    "Small is often the place of the kingdom's agenda, the place to plant the mustard seed and permeate the yeast."
    "Movements occur through small units that are readily reproducible."

    The authors point out that they are advocating churches that produce a "50% conversion rate (new believers) at a 50% reproduction rate (new churches) through three generations." In their chapter on "The New Scorecard" the authors advocate counting "sending capacity" rather than "seating capacity." But even seating capacity comes into play, as they demonstrate that mathematically over 94-million Americans would be turned away from church if all 310-million of us decided to attend on any given Sunday.

    Another dramatic chart illustrates that a church that adds 20 members a year will have 400 members at the end of 20 years. But through multiplication a church that plants 1 church of 20 people, which the next year plants another church of 20 people, and so on for 20-years, will have reached over 10-million in the same period of time! Of course, this kind of church Ponzi-scheme is a theoretical example, but there is no doubt that new churches grow faster, reach more people, baptize more new believers, and create more new ministries than established churches.

    The book is not without its faults, like the definition of missional is to "act like a missionary." Missional encompasses far more than that, but the book succeeds in giving the view from 10,000 feet of the whats, whys, and hows of the viral church movement. Other books can provide the detail, but Stetzer and Bird draw the big picture.

    In short, get this book, read it, study it, look at the endnotes and the bibliography, take it to heart, and see if God isn't saying something to us about how to reach our nation with the gospel. You can get the Kindle edition now (which is the version I downloaded for this review), and the print edition will come out on April 26. This is an important book, chock full of hard data, impressive examples, compelling stories, and a rock-solid argument: plant churches that plant churches that plant churches to reach America.

    Disclaimer: I purchased my own copy of the Kindle edition, and received no inducement to purchase or review this book.
    10 people found this helpful
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  • Mike F.
    4.0 out of 5 stars Helfpul, but not very Instructive
    Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    I'll start with what I liked about this book:

    1. It's riddled with names, facts, and figures from modern-day North American church planting. This establishes a strong factual baseline from which Stetzer and Bird make many of their claims. They give a really solid lay of the land.
    2. Their passion to see church multiplication happen in North America and to keep pace with and even exceed population growth is palpable. Their aim is clear, and they pound it home.
    3. They give a simple-yet-robust definition of "viral": 50% annual reproduction rate with 50% conversion growth to the third generation. This gives a very clear picture of what they mean by "viral" and "multiplication movement" and helps hold up a standard for the reader.

    What I didn't like:
    1. I found the title of the book quite misleading. I was expecting a number of case studies for churches they considered to have achieved "viral" status and a close look under the hood as to what these churches did. Though they highlighted a number of churches, they never clearly stated whether these were "viral" or not. This is particularly important because throughout the book they kept hammering home "We must multiply and not just add", and yet it remained unclear whether the churches they named were just adding more effectively than others, or were multiplying in a "viral" way. Oddly, I left the book asking "So wait...are there any viral churches in North America or not?" It seems like the book should more clearly answer this question. Perhaps a truer title would have been " Viral" or "Approaching Viral".
    2. Some of the churches they profiled seemed like they maybe really did fit the definition of "viral" (in particular, Hope Chapel or Church Multiplication Associates). But rather than diving deeply into what these churches were doing that were radically different to make "viral" happen, they spent more time surveying churches that were simply planting more than other churches, regardless of whether or not these profiled churches actually were set up to ever achieve legitimately viral status. In other words, they held up the abstract standard of "viral" but gave examples of churches that maybe could never actually get there given their methods.
    3. Many of the statistics they gave were instructive for how to "grow faster" or "not die", but they did not have much in the way of statistics and practices that they could confirm truly produced multiplication movements.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Jeremy A. Green
    5.0 out of 5 stars The hope of the future Church!!
    Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    This book gets at the heart of what a missional movement should look like. Ed is clear about the reality we are in, but is optimistic about a new approach. Whether you have planted or not this is a great read to inspire and cultivate church planting. We all need leaders who can speak truth into our lives and this book does that. I was reminded throughout this book that the Holy Spirit is the catalyst for this movement.

    I recommend you read it with someone and share your thoughts. It does not matter what kind of church plant you are in this book covers it all.
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  • Dusticon
    5.0 out of 5 stars An Alternative Narrative
    Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Excellent at telling an alternative narrative for the purpose of church planting in North America. Not the best for nuts and bolts, but a must read for every American pastor and planter. Will get you thinking differently about infusing a DNA and culture of multiplication in your church regardless of its age.
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