A growing church realized growth wasn’t the same as multiplication.
Family Church had grown across three campuses, developed leaders from within, and built a strong ministry culture. But Lead Pastor Ed Wilgus began asking a harder question: Were they simply gathering more people—or actually developing disciples who could make disciples?
He wasn’t looking for church. Then someone invited him personally.
Dutch McMasters was unchurched and carried a spiritual background he associated with “fire and brimstone.” He was not particularly interested in church.
Then someone already participating in Followers Made invited him into the group—even though it had already started.
After completing Followers Made, Dutch went on to co-lead another disciple-making environment. He later completed Leaders Made.
Today, he participates in church, shares Jesus with his family, and is preparing to lead a group himself.
Dutch’s story captures what Family Church was trying to build: not simply another person attending church, but a person learning to follow Jesus, help others follow Him, and eventually take responsibility for developing someone else.
The breakthrough was realizing that making disciples could not be accomplished by programs alone. Disciples make disciples.
Family Church was growing—and doing many things well.
From 2006 through 2015, Family Church’s average attendance increased every year.
The church had developed a Spiritual Pathway to help people understand where they were in their spiritual journey and identify their next step. Small-group leaders were trained to use it. New ministry leaders and pastors were being raised up from within the congregation.
Growth eventually required expansion. Family Church became a multi-site church, opening a Winston campus in 2013 and a South Umpqua campus in 2018. Combined weekend attendance eventually reached approximately 950.
The church knew how to gather people, organize ministry, launch initiatives, build teams, and develop leaders.
Yet Ed Wilgus, then Family Church’s Lead Pastor, was increasingly dissatisfied with one result: disciple-making multiplication.
One picture exposed the gap.
Ed had been following Exponential and reading resources about church multiplication when he encountered a framework describing five levels of churches: declining, plateaued, growing, reproducing, and multiplying.
Family Church could legitimately call itself a growing church, with some reproduction happening. But Ed could see that the church remained far from the multiplying culture he believed Jesus was inviting them toward.
Growth was no longer a sufficient definition of success.
The question became: How do we mobilize ordinary people to make disciples beyond our church programs?
Success had to move from gathering people to multiplying people.
Through Integration Coaching and the Multiplication Cohort, Family Church began developing clearer language, intentional environments, and rhythms designed to help disciples eventually become disciple-makers.
The church began putting multiplication into practice.
The shift did not happen through one initiative. Family Church began introducing several connected practices that helped move disciple-making from aspiration toward a reproducible culture.
Define the Disciple
Character and Calling gave the leadership team language for defining the kind of disciple they actually wanted to develop.
Experience Discipleship
Followers Made environments gave people a place to experience intentional, relational disciple-making rather than merely hear about it.
Develop Leaders
Participants began taking responsibility for leading new environments themselves instead of leaving disciple-making primarily to staff.
Normalize Everyday Mission
The BLESS rhythm became recurring language that encouraged people to engage their families, neighbors, workplaces, and everyday relationships.
The numbers matter because they represent people taking ownership.
Family Church’s story is still developing. But tangible evidence began appearing as disciples experienced intentional environments and then stepped forward to lead others.
Leaders Became Disciple-Makers
Nine of the thirteen leaders who have led an intentional disciple-making environment stepped into leadership after completing Followers Made or Leaders Made themselves.
Multiplication Became Visible
Family Church experienced three generations of leaders being prepared through Followers Made and then helping develop the next generation.
Everyday Mission Became Normal
Leaders began hearing more stories of people sharing Jesus within their families, neighborhoods, and workplaces.
Disciple-making started moving into everyday life.
In 2022, Family Church began regularly teaching the BLESS rhythm during weekend services.
The language helped give people simple, repeatable ways to engage the people already around them rather than assuming ministry only happened through an official church activity.
Over time, leaders began hearing more stories of people having spiritual conversations and sharing Jesus with family members, neighbors, and coworkers.
“Before Disciples Made we were committed to becoming a disciple-making multiplication movement but did not know how. Now we are becoming a disciple-making multiplication movement.”
Movements can gain momentum—and they can stall.
Family Church’s story is not a straight line of uninterrupted growth.
The church experienced major leadership transitions. Campus pastors changed roles, new leaders stepped into senior responsibility, and Ed eventually retired as Lead Pastor.
That transition slowed some of the disciple-making momentum. Family Church also continued wrestling with strategic clarity even during Integration Coaching.
That matters because sustainable multiplication cannot depend on one passionate leader carrying the vision.
The encouraging sign is that the work did not disappear. Pastors who stepped into new leadership roles have continued incorporating the church’s vision work and disciple-making rhythms into the life of the congregation. Leaders developed through previous environments are preparing to launch new ones.
A growing church can still ask a multiplication question.
Discover your church’s current capacity for disciple multiplication and identify the clearest next step toward developing ordinary disciples who can help others follow Jesus.