What Are Generations of Churches?
Not how big one church gets, but how many generations deep it goes. Churches starting churches starting churches is the real measure of multiplication.
Generations of churches simply means churches starting churches that start churches. It is the difference between a ministry that adds and a movement that multiplies. One church reaching people is a first generation. That church starting a second is generational growth. The real test is whether the second starts a third, and the third a fourth, without you in the room. This is how the gospel has always spread fastest, and it is the outcome Jesus was aiming at all along.
If you spend any time around disciple-making movements, you will hear people talk about generations. They will say a work has reached the third or fourth generation, and they will get excited about it. If you have wondered what that means and why it matters so much, here it is in plain terms. Generations of churches is the clearest picture we have of whether something is actually multiplying or just adding.
Generations means churches starting churches
A generation is one link in a reproducing chain. It is easiest to see with churches.
Counting generations of churches
First generation. A church you help start reaches people and gathers them.
Second generation. That first church starts a new church, usually by sending a disciple into a new pocket of lostness.
Third generation. The second church, not you, starts a church of its own.
Fourth generation. The third church starts a fourth, now several steps removed from where you began.
The same idea works with disciples: you disciple someone (second generation), they disciple someone else (third), and that person disciples another (fourth). Generations are simply how you trace whether the life you handed off keeps getting handed off, on down a line you can no longer personally reach.
Why the fourth generation is the real test
Paul packed generational thinking into one sentence, and it is worth counting carefully.
2 Timothy 2:2And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.
Count them: Paul (first), Timothy (second), reliable people (third), and others they will teach (fourth). Paul was not content with Timothy being well-taught. He was aiming at a fourth generation he would never meet. There is a reason the fourth generation is the real test. Almost anyone can produce a second generation while they are standing right there helping. The question is whether the DNA is strong enough to keep reproducing once the founder is out of the picture. A second generation can lean on you. A fourth generation proves the pattern reproduces on its own.
Why generations matter more than size
This reframes how you measure a work. The usual question is “how big?” The multiplication question is “how many generations deep?”
A single church of a thousand is addition. Four generations of churches of ten is a movement.
A large church is a wonderful thing, but by itself it is one generation, no matter how many people it holds. Four generations of small, reproducing churches, on the other hand, is a living chain that can keep going indefinitely, into places and people you will never see. That is why those who long to see the great commission finished count generations, not just crowds. Size can be impressive and still stop with itself. Generations keep going.
How to keep generations coming
Generations do not continue by accident. They continue because each new church or disciple is taught to reproduce from the very beginning, not just to exist. The most common place a work dies is the second generation: someone starts one new church, that church settles in, no one ever teaches it to have a child, and the chain ends at two.
So the way you keep generations coming is to build reproduction into the DNA every single time, the way a simple church starts another. From the first gathering, every new church knows it exists to reproduce. Every new disciple is asked, “who will you do this with?” You keep the tools simple enough to pass on, and you count generations honestly so you can see exactly where reproduction is stopping and go help it start again.
TAKE THE NEXT STEP
Most churches that start one other church stop there, because no one ever taught the new church to reproduce, only to exist.
A lab is where you learn to build reproduction into the DNA of a church from the start, so generations keep coming rather than stopping at two.
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Count your generations
One of the most useful things a disciple-maker can do is actually trace the generations. Map out who reached whom, and which churches started which. The moment you draw it, you can see where the chain is alive and where it stopped, usually at a spot where someone was discipled or a church was started but never expected to reproduce. That is not discouraging. It is a map of exactly where to go help next.
Practice This Week
Sketch your own generations on paper. Start with yourself, then draw a line to each person you have discipled, and from them to anyone they have discipled. Do the same for any churches. Where does the chain stop? Pick the newest generation and take one step this week to help it reproduce: coach a disciple to disciple someone, or help a young church begin reaching a new oikos.
Frequently asked questions
What are generations of churches?
Generations of churches means churches starting churches that start churches. A church you help start is the first generation; when it starts a new church, that is the second generation; when that church starts one of its own, that is the third, and so on. The same idea applies to disciples who disciple others who disciple others. Generations are simply how you trace whether the gospel and the patterns of ministry keep getting handed off down a reproducing chain, beyond the people you can personally reach.
Why do generations matter more than size?
Because size measures one generation while generations measure reproduction. A large church, however many people it holds, is still one generation unless it is starting other churches. Four generations of small, reproducing churches form a living chain that can keep spreading into places you will never go, which is how the gospel has always traveled fastest. Counting generations rather than crowds keeps the focus on whether the work can keep multiplying without you, which is the real goal of the Great Commission.
What is a fourth-generation church?
A fourth-generation church is a church that was started by a church that was started by a church that you helped start, four links down the chain. It matters because it is the real proof of multiplication. Almost anyone can help start a second-generation church while they are present to help, but a fourth generation appears only when the DNA of reproduction is strong enough to keep going without the original founder. Paul was aiming at exactly this when he described four generations in 2 Timothy 2:2.
Where to go next
Thinking in generations is at the heart of multiplying disciples and churches. Get clear on the underlying distinction in addition vs. multiplication in ministry, learn the mechanics of how a simple church starts another church, and see the bigger picture in the power of multiplication. Then sketch your own generations and find the next place to help the chain continue.