The Ministry Multiplication Cycle
by Bill Jones
Foreword by Ken Katayama
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
After harmonizing the four Gospels into one unified story, the author examines the ministry of Jesus to see what we can learn today for our own churches and ministries. As the story unfolds, one finds Jesus implementing four strategic ministry tactics, in this order:
-Outsiders becoming new believers through evangelism
-New believers becoming committed disciples through establishing
-Committed disciples becoming effective workers through equipping
-Effective workers becoming world Christians through missions mobilization
Together these four tactics form the "ministry multiplication cycle." To determine whether this strategy is truly a biblical strategy or not, an in-depth look is then taken into the book of Acts. There we find the apostles, the men whom Jesus trained, implementing these same four tactics in the exact same order, with the exact same results--powerful growth through multiplication.
The question remains whether the ministry multiplication cycle can be replicated today in our own culture. The answer is a resounding "yes," when we learn to think in terms of principles and not just practices.
This book is a product of over thirty years of clarifying these principles in the classroom and implementing them around the world, the latter resulting in over two thousand churches being planted among unreached people groups.
For over three decades, Bill Jones has served simultaneously in two distinct yet complementary arenas: the university campus and world missions. At Columbia International University, known for its strong Bible teaching, Jones served as a professor and then president. Currently he serves as the university’s chancellor. At Crossover Global, a church-planting organization he cofounded to provide gospel access among unreached people groups, he served first as president until becoming chairman of the global board.
“If the church is to complete the task of world evangelization, she must multiply. Addition is not enough. The Ministry Multiplication Cycle captures the strategy of multiplication used by Jesus and reproduced by the apostles to reach the entire known world with the gospel in their lifetimes. The book provides not only the biblical basis but also the practical application for us to do the same today.”
—Ed Stetzer, Executive Director, Billy Graham Center of Evangelism
“Church planting and church multiplication are keys to ministry explosion. As you read and study this book on the Great Commission you will find that Christ wanted Christians to be equipped and to maximize their God-given potential for the kingdom.”
—John Maxwell, CEO/President, Equip International
“Bill has been a friend of mine for many years and what exudes from him most is his passion for fulfilling the Great Commission. While many American Evangelicals enjoy the training table, the film room, and the practice sessions, Bill has always gone beyond preparation; he likes being in the game itself. I find that spirit both exemplary and contagious. His latest book reflects that—and perhaps that takeaway is what the American church as a whole can learn most from him and his writings.”
—Ralph Drollinger, Teacher of the White House Cabinet Bible Study; President and Founder, Capitol Ministries
“Bill Jones is a man of the Bible. What I love about Dr. Jones is that he not only knows the Scripture so well but applies it to real life in ministry with amazing results. As he says in this new book, ‘If the Bible teaches us what to believe and how to live, doesn’t it seem reasonable that it just might teach us how to minister?’ The answer is yes! The ministry multiplication strategy of Jesus in this book is a brilliant compilation of New Testament best practices and can work in any culture.”
—Hans Finzel, leadership mentor and author of Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make
“When you stop and pondered Jesus’ parable of the sower, don’t you wonder what it would be like to be the good soil that produces hundredfold? What would it take, how would I need to grow or surrender? Bill Jones’ book The Ministry Multiplication Cycle provides us with a detailed, compelling look at Jesus’ ministry, as a model for our lives to produce one hundred times. Having watched Bill in action and served some of the same leaders together, I see these principles lived out in his daily life. This is not just an interesting study for Bill. It takes time to tell if soil is going to produce a great crop, and I see God multiplying the fruit in Bill’s life.”
—Lloyd Reeb, Founding Partner, Halftime Institute; author of From Success to Significance and Halftime for Couples
“God has used Bill Jones’ work to be a modern fulfillment of Ephesians 4:12. The Ministry Multiplication Cycle will equip a new generation of believers to reach the world for Christ. Grounded in a proper historical view of Scripture, through ingenious exegesis, Bill moves from great detail to the very practical in this work, making many deep concepts accessible to all who have a heart for evangelism. I am so excited to see the impact of this incredible work and heartily endorse it as a must-read for all believers from those focused on rubber-meets-the-road evangelism to the academic. You will not be disappointed; you will be changed!”
—Larry Griffith, CEO, Corporate Chaplains of America
“I respect Bill Jones’ intellect. As an educator and leader, he has reached the apex of success in Christian higher education. But what I truly love about Bill is his passion for the gospel and the church. It’s a zeal that has been tested and tried over the decades on the mission field as well as in the pulpit and the classroom. Who better than a true practitioner to write about multiplication and church planting than a man who has put his feet and his hand to the plow, gotten his hands dirty in the fields, and has the callouses to prove his love for the work of the gospel? I commend this book to you with great enthusiasm for the message it contains and great admiration for the man who is the vessel God is using to shape the future of the church and missions.”
—Clayton King, Teaching Pastor, NewSpring Church; evangelist and author
“In The Ministry Multiplication Cycle Bill Jones gives a biblical, practical, and comprehensive process for advancing the kingdom. I’ve been privileged to spend time with leaders of Crossover Global and affirm they are authentically putting this strategy into practice and seeing fruit. Bill has been teaching this for years, but it isn’t academic theory. It’s a proven model of a Jesus approach to unleashing the church.”
—Steve Moore, President, Nexleader; author of The Top 10 Leadership Conversations in the Bible
“This new book combines Bill Jones’ passions—deep biblical reflection and practical field ministry. An approach that has been used to plant over two thousand churches among unreached peoples over the last twenty-five years, this work will be a great practical help to twenty-first-century global church planters.”
—Ed Smither, President, Evangelical Missiological Society
“The enormity of the task ahead requires us to think and act with multiplication as an expectation. Multiplication was what the first-century church experienced. Straightforward and easy to understand, Dr. Bill Jones captures simple yet profound steps toward multiplication.”
—Ted Esler, President, Missio Nexus
“The book is an easy-to-read resource that will help you catch a biblically guided process for reaching, mentoring, and multiplying Jesus-followers globally. Bill Jones will make you think, and rethink, your assumptions about Jesus—both the how and why he did what he did. He will give you tools you can use and pass on as you teach and train others. If you choose not to follow what’s here, I hope you have a better plan than this.”
—Greg Parsons, Director of Global Connections, Frontier Ventures (formerly U.S. Center for World Mission)
“Missionaries and Christian workers often fail to comprehend what God is doing in the world today because they fail to grasp the nuances of how Jesus was working in the all-too-familiar biblical narrative. As one who has had the unique privilege of being in a position to have an overview of how God is working in unprecedented ways to fulfill his mission to redeem a lost world, I was thrilled to read Bill Jones’ book on ministry multiplication. There are others who are both biblical scholars and missiologists, but few would combine these callings and disciplines into the unique leadership of Columbia International University and Crossover Global as did Bill Jones. We have always known we should multiply witnesses and multiply disciples but have failed to see that this is only a part of the equation. That multiplication of extended witness to the nations was, indeed, the ultimate objective of Jesus’ call to follow him and his life-on-life mentoring of the twelve. This book will inspire you to emulate that pattern.”
—Jerry Rankin, President Emeritus, International Mission Board, Southern Baptist Convention
“In times of tectonic change and a ripening global harvest, Bill Jones unpacks an enduring biblical paradigm for how we should view our mission—and how you can impact the world!”
—Steve Richardson, President, Pioneers-USA
“The Ministry Multiplication Cycle was introduced to me when I was one of Dr. Jones’ students nearly twenty years ago. Today, after using its principles on three continents, I can confidently say this book is a must-read for church planters around the globe. Dr. Jones is a gifted missions strategist who practices what he teaches.”
—Brent McHugh, Director, Christar International Network
“The ministry multiplication cycle class that I took twenty years ago under Dr. Bill Jones was a turning point in my missional education. It has been not only my personal philosophy of ministry since then, but also the core of my teaching curriculum across the French-speaking world. The concept is thoroughly biblical, theological, missiological, and practical. I am deeply thankful that his teaching is now available in book format. A must-read for every reflective practitioner!”
—Raphael Anzenberger, President, Global Evangelists Forum
“The challenge presented in the book is as big as the world. It has to be accomplished among different cultures, languages, histories, and ethnicities. Bill has researched and prepared a theologically sound, practical, and culturally sensitive book to enable church planters to present the gospel and plant churches. The book expresses twenty-five years of leading a ministry that has planted over two thousand churches among unreached people groups. Bill has highlighted the eternal biblical principles and in his missionary experience in a brilliant way has ‘seen Eastern Europeans plant churches in Central Asia and the Central Asians reached then plant churches in China.’ The future has arrived! Formerly unreached groups are now taking an active role in fulfilling the Great Commission.”
—Roberto Silvado, Vice President, Baptist World Alliance
“Simple. Memorable. Practical. Profound. These words describe the steps by which Bill Jones guides us from a fresh framing of the story of Jesus to the multiplication of disciples and churches both locally and cross-culturally. With refreshing candor, warmth, and humor he recounts his own journey of lifelong discovery, uncovering timeless principles to guide fruitful ministry in every context.”
—David W. Bennett, Global Associate Director for Collaboration and Content, Lausanne Movement
“In The Ministry Multiplication Cycle, Bill Jones communicates a compelling, practical, biblical strategy for those who desire to be a catalyst for multiplication. This book provides a tested approach—one used by Jesus—that transcends cultures for the purpose of fulfilling the Great Commission. I hope you will read this book and more importantly, implement its steps.”
—Frank Harrison, Chairman and CEO, Coca Cola Consolidated; Founder, With Open Eyes
“Those that know Bill Jones will immediately recognize his ‘voice’ in this book. If you close your eyes for a moment you can hear the evangelist speaking urgency. As you read the book you will see the process thinker he is. For me, the shining values of the book are Bill’s passion for lost people everywhere; his strong commitment to the understanding, explanation, and obedience to the Bible; and the systematic way he develops his ideas. I hope that the many who read his book will also pick up the grand opportunity of our day, to see the prayers of generations of Jesus’ servants from all over the world fulfilled: world evangelization and the return of our Lord!”
—Dwight Smith, Founder, Saturation Church Planting International and the Global Fellowship
“Several books have been published on the topic of multiplication over the past few years. It is trendy to write about this topic. You may even be feeling multiplication-fatigue. However, before writing off this matter and moving on: Stop! Read this book! In a unique way, Jones takes readers on a journey to understand biblical principles and consider contextualized practices related to multiplication strategy. The ministry multiplication cycle advocated here is simple, solid, and highly reproducible among the peoples of this world. As a mission leader, Jones develops this material from a quarter-of-a-century of experience in forty countries and among seventy unreached people groups. He knows what he is talking about! We would be wise to listen and learn!”
—J. D. Payne, author of Discovering Church Planting and Missional House Churches
“As a church planter and ministry leader in Azerbaijan we had the desire to extend the kingdom of God by planting sustainable churches, but we did not really know what to do. This book answered our questions. We learned how to evangelize in our own cultural context, how to establish new believers, how to equip church leaders, and how to send people to multiply new church plants. We applied every step in this book and we have seen the results with almost 150 new churches planted.”
—Idris Mammadov, Founder and Director, ALOV Church Planting Network, Azerbaijan
“I met Bill for the first time many years ago in a gathering of ministers from Central Asia and the Middle East. I was very impressed by his knowledge of Jesus’ way of raising the Twelve to be world-changers. When I heard that he was writing this book, I celebrated. I had been waiting for it. Bill addresses an issue that we as pastors, leaders, missionaries, and teachers of the word have been searching and praying to discover: the secret of Jesus’ success. If you are desiring to find out how Jesus trained his disciples, this book is exactly for you.”
—Ali Kalkandelen, President, Turkish Protestant Churches Association
“I am very grateful to Dr. Bill Jones because of his books and teaching, which have enabled us to plant 1,280 churches among unreached people groups in India. Because of The Ministry Multiplication Cycle we are planting multiplying churches in north India and beyond.”
—Soloman Ghosh, Founder and General Secretary, Servants of the Nations Church Planting Network, India
“The teachings from this book, The Ministry Multiplication Cycle, gave our leaders a vision for multiplying new churches among Muslims in every city and village in our country. Now our vision has grown to multiply new churches throughout Central Asia.”
—Mansur Atoev, Founder and Director, USHMAH Church Planting Network, Uzbekistan
“Bill Jones is the real deal. I’ve watched him be fruitful and multiply evangelistically for decades. He has consistently won people to Christ personally, started and grown evangelistic growth ministries, and equipped evangelistic growth church planters globally. This book gives you practical insights into valuable scriptural principles for fulfilling the Great Commission. It will help you prioritize our primary earthly task: making disciples of the unsaved.”
—John Worcester, President, Church Planting Leadership
“Vintage Bill Jones. Birthed out of the crucible of ministry and biblical studies, Bill offers Gospels-based principles practiced in Acts that work globally when adapted culturally. There’s nothing like learning from a self-reflective veteran with a servant’s heart. A great read on church multiplication!”
—Tom Steffen, Professor of Intercultural Studies, Biola University; author of Passing the Baton: Church Planting that Empowers
“Bill Jones is one of my heroes of the faith—because he embraces the Great Commission and has lived it faithfully for years. This book is deeply biblical and has been field-tested in many countries and contexts around the world. Church planting is the macro-vision that is fleshed out through the micro-strategy of making disciples. Bill links these two concepts together beautifully for the reader and practitioner. I wish I had read this book before planting twenty years ago!”
—Jeff Shipman, Directional Team Member, Christ Together Network
“Dr. Bill Jones introduced me to the ministry multiplication cycle as a student under his leadership many years ago. My takeaway was, and still is, that we are here on the earth for the purpose of multiplying the good news of Jesus around the world. Some fifteen years later, the staff and church planting team of Barefoot Church is still learning from that same message. The ministry multiplication cycle gives us traction as a church family and is our church-wide growth process. If you are seeking to make a difference with your life, I recommend adopting this biblical strategy for multiplication.”
—Clay NeSmith, Senior Pastor, Barefoot Church
“Dr. Bill Jones is one of the great leaders of twenty-first-century missions and church planting. He has started and led an organization that practically planted many churches. Only heaven will reveal the impact of Dr. Bill Jones’ life on the kingdom. As colleague and friend, I wholeheartedly endorse this book and his heart for unreached peoples.”
—Mark A. Smith, President, Columbia International University
“Bill Jones has written an excellent, highly practical, and pragmatic workbook about leading a movement of multiplication. The principles he articulates are applicable to both individuals and churches, forming the basis of a church multiplication movement. I strongly recommend this book not only to church planters, missionaries, and church leaders who wish to develop a multiplication tactical plan, but also to faculty colleagues who teach practical theology to include this book in courses on spiritual formation and discipleship, church planting and multiplication, and Jesus’ approach to ministry.”
—Junias Venugopal, Associate Dean, School of Mission, Ministry, and Leadership, Wheaton College
“Bill Jones possesses an uncanny capacity to confront and confound our tragically self-centered and benign understanding of the Bible’s message and methodological assumptions. In The Ministry Multiplication Cycle, Jones sets out systematically to deconstruct much of conventional understanding and help the reader to see patterns that most of us simply miss. He demonstrates from incisive scriptural analysis and then illustrates from church history how ministry multiplication is clearly the pattern our Lord modeled and his followers have replicated from the time of the church’s birth to the present moment. If you read this book, you will not escape the challenge to get with the master’s ministry multiplication program.”
—Ralph Enlow, President, Association for Biblical Higher Education
“It is my great privilege to call Dr. Bill Jones both colleague and friend. As a gifted biblicist with literally decades of preparation in study and practice and the leader of an iconic higher education institution synonymous with the modern missions movement, Bill hones in on the realities and biblical moorings of the why and how that drive the very purpose of missions. The Ministry Multiplication Cycle will encourage your heart and challenge your steps as it weaves deep biblical insights with everyday pragmatism.”
—Peter W. Teague, President Emeritus, Lancaster Bible College and Capital Seminary & Graduate School
“Dr. Bill Jones is uniquely gifted as an educator, communicator, and missionary. I have known Bill for several years and this book is the epitome of his commitment to the Great Commission. This distinctive blend paves the way for a biblical missions model that is forward-thinking and especially relevant in today’s turbulent times. This book is a must-read for all Christians wanting to maximize their impact for Christ.”
—William Blocker, President, College of Biblical Studies, Houston and Indianapolis
“If the body of Christ is going to fulfill the mandate given to us by the Father and exert massive influence in this unchurched society, it must be intentional in its efforts to multiply itself. Now, more than ever before, it is imperative for the ministries of evangelism and discipleship to push forward by expanding the biblical pathway that will challenge and enrich the kingdom of God. Dr. Bill Jones has provided an epistle that will unleash the plus sign of eternity into our world and communities that will give the twenty-first-century church a practical path for kingdom multiplication.”
—James Dixon, President, Antioch Experience Bible College & Seminary