A Hybrid Strategy for Building, Training, and Multiplying
This proposal is written in love and with deep respect for the men and women who have faithfully served the Church of God General Conference for generations. It is not a critique of intentions. It is an invitation to consider a broader strategy.
The board is currently moving forward with an estimated $5 million investment to relocate and rebuild the Bible college and headquarters. Approximately $400,000 has already been committed to land acquisition and architectural planning. The goal is admirable: to train the next generation of leaders and provide the network with a central home.
We affirm the need for a headquarters. A network needs a home base for coordination, administration, and identity. What we want to propose is a way to build that headquarters while simultaneously investing in the network’s churches, leaders, and future—rather than concentrating the full $5 million into a single campus.
The network is at a crossroads. A majority of our churches now average 25 to 30 people. Many are aging. Some are closing. The network has only recently begun engaging with the digital realm. The staff-to-student ratio at the current college is nearly one-to-one. These realities demand that we steward our resources with both vision and precision.
The broader landscape of American Christianity is shifting. Church attendance is declining. Young people are leaving institutional churches at historic rates. This is not cause for despair—it is an invitation to adapt with wisdom while holding fast to what is eternal.
What if the $5 million could accomplish more than one thing? What if we could build the headquarters the network needs and invest directly in the health, growth, and multiplication of our churches?
This proposal retains the headquarters construction—which serves a legitimate and necessary function—while redirecting the funds originally earmarked for the Bible college campus toward strengthening the network from within.
The strategy rests on four pillars.
Complete the headquarters build. The network needs a central facility for administrative operations, board meetings, resource storage, and a gathering point for network-wide events. By separating the headquarters from the full Bible college campus plan, we dramatically reduce construction scope and ongoing operational costs.
Dedicate $1 million to clearing debts and repairing infrastructure across the network’s churches. A “jubilee year”—modeled on the biblical pattern of Leviticus 25—would release churches from financial burden and free them to focus on mission.
Replace the classroom model with a biblical apprenticeship model. New leaders are identified within the network, paired with an experienced pastor, and trained in the field over two to three years.
A living fund to finance the network’s future: new church plants, ministry initiatives within existing churches, digital resource development, emergency support for struggling congregations, and marriage and family ministry resources.
The headquarters figure is an estimate. If the actual construction cost is higher or lower, the Church Planting and Ministry Fund absorbs the difference.
The training infrastructure to replace the classroom college model is not a single course. It is a complete, interconnected ecosystem built on a simple biblical conviction: leaders are formed through relationship, not curriculum.
The Apprenticeship Path is the driving force of the entire ecosystem. It is the framework a mentor uses to walk an emerging leader through every stage of development—from first encounter through personal formation, into the field, and into multiplying. Everything else—the book, the formation phases, the launch tracks, the ongoing resources—lives inside this relationship. The mentor holds the path. The apprentice walks it.
This mirrors how Jesus trained the Twelve: He showed them, walked with them, sent them, and entrusted them. It is slower than a classroom. It is also the only method that consistently produces leaders who can reproduce themselves.
Humble Church Dynamics is the entry point for every potential leader. It casts the biblical vision for participatory, Spirit-led community rooted in the New Testament pattern. It covers what we inherited and how the drift happened, the gospel of the kingdom, the home as the natural habitat of the church, the three expressions (Open Table, Inner Circle, Family Table), servant leadership, and the practical patterns of gathered life.
The book is designed to be offered freely as a digital resource, removing financial barriers for any believer who is searching. It serves as both a standalone read and the theological foundation for everything that follows.
When a mentor identifies a potential leader—or when someone reads the book and says “this is what I’ve been looking for”—the apprenticeship begins.
The mentor walks the apprentice through four phases of personal formation, following the biblical sequence Paul gave us in 1 Timothy 3: Self → Household → Community. Only then do they receive the vision and learn the practices.
There are no week numbers, no deadlines, and no graduation dates. Formation happens at the pace of the Spirit. Movement between phases is governed by gates—not time elapsed, but demonstrated readiness.
Once a leader has completed formation, their mentor guides them into one of two launch paths based on their context.
The mentor and apprentice determine together which path fits the apprentice’s context. Both tracks are fully developed and ready for deployment.
For leaders planting a new home-based, meal-centered, participatory fellowship from the ground up. No building. No budget. No staff. Just a table, a Bible, bread and wine, and the willingness to open your home.
For pastors and elders in existing churches who want to lead their congregation toward a more biblical, participatory model without destroying the trust their people have placed in them.
Key insight for the board: Track B is directly relevant to existing churches in the Church of God network. Any pastor currently leading a traditional congregation can use this guide to begin reshaping toward participatory community without leaving the network or abandoning their congregation.
The mentor relationship does not end when the apprentice launches. Additional resources deploy when the fellowship is ready—not on a fixed timeline, but when the Spirit surfaces the need. And the cycle repeats: the leader who was apprenticed now becomes the mentor who apprentices the next.
Mission and evangelism guide for launching Open Tables as an evangelistic front door. Deployed when the fellowship is stable enough to turn outward.
Multiplication guide for planting a second table. When to plant, how to release, how to stay connected without institutionalizing.
Marriage coaching, curriculum, and support available at any point in the journey for leaders and the couples in their fellowships.
Every component is written, doctrinally aligned with the Church of God’s statement of faith, and ready for board review.
| Full College + HQ | Hybrid: HQ + Network | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $5M concentrated in one campus | $1.5M headquarters + $3.5M into the network |
| Ongoing Costs | High: staff, facility, operations, maintenance | Low: HQ operations only; training is field-based |
| Training Model | Classroom-based, location-dependent | Field-based, embedded in real ministry |
| Leader Output | Graduates who may or may not plant | Apprentices trained to lead and multiply |
| Network Impact | Benefits students who attend | Benefits every church in the network |
| Scalability | Limited by building capacity | Unlimited: multiplies through relationships |
| Debt Relief | None | $1M jubilee fund for existing churches |
| Church Planting | Indirect, hoped-for outcome | $2M fund dedicated to new plants |
| Headquarters | Included in campus | Standalone — lower cost, same function |
| Biblical Pattern | Institutional (modern) | Apprenticeship (apostolic) |
They did—based on the information available at the time. New information warrants reconsideration. Presenting a refined plan for a revote is not a failure of leadership; it is an exercise of it.
Much of that investment—particularly land acquisition—can serve the headquarters build directly. The question is whether spending $4.6 million more on the full college campus is the best use of the network’s resources when a leaner headquarters frees millions for the churches.
And we honor that history. But honoring the past does not mean replicating its forms. The network’s mission has never been to preserve an institution. It has been to preach the gospel of the kingdom and make disciples.
That instinct is exactly right—and this proposal takes it further. The field-based model places each apprentice directly inside a church from day one. The integration the college hopes to achieve in a new location, the apprenticeship model achieves by design.
Believers within the Church of God tradition who share our theology, our convictions, and our love for this network. The materials are doctrinally aligned with our statement of faith and ready for board review.
The foundational book and training pathway overview are available for every board member. We ask that each member read prayerfully and with an open heart.
Not cancel—rescope. Proceed with the headquarters at a reduced footprint while the board evaluates the hybrid model over 90 days.
Identify a small cohort—even six people—who are ready to be trained. Pair them with experienced pastors. Let the fruit speak for itself.
If the board is persuaded, bring the refined plan back to the network with full transparency. Let the body decide with all the information before them.
We recognize this is a significant conversation. Refining a plan that has institutional momentum, financial investment, and emotional weight takes courage from everyone involved.
But we believe this network is worth the effort. The Church of God has something rare: a theological heritage rooted in the gospel of the kingdom, a relational culture built on brotherhood rather than hierarchy, and a history of raising up faithful leaders from within its own ranks.
This proposal does not ask the board to abandon the building project. It asks the board to build smarter—to construct the headquarters we need while simultaneously investing in the churches, leaders, and mission that are the network’s true foundation.