Written by: Mary Sullivan Trent
“Rev. Mary Sullivan-Trent, pastor of Bethany Global Methodist Church in Hampton, Virginia, recently shared the following devotion with the Church Multiplication Team of the Virginia Conference of the Global Methodist Church. As chair of the Team, I believe it should be shared with every Global Methodist, prayed over, and then implemented in each of our contexts.” ~ Rev. Keith Boyette – VA GMC Church Multiplication Team Chair
It is a gift to share with you today and reflect on our shared calling as Global Methodists—especially as it pertains to the vital, Gospel-driven work of church planting.
Let’s begin by grounding ourselves in Matthew 4:18–22, a passage full of urgency and transformation:
“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, repairing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”
This passage is charged with divine disruption. Peter and Andrew were fishing—actively at work—when Jesus called. James and John were mending their nets, deep in the work of preserving what they had, ensuring the systems were stable, the holes patched, the next day ready.
And then Jesus called.
He called them not away from something bad, but from something good—into something greater. He called them from maintenance into mission. From preservation into multiplication.
The story echoes the experience of so many in ministry. We understand what it means to mend nets—to maintain programs, shepherd congregations, track attendance, manage budgets. It is honorable work. It is necessary work.
But Jesus still calls.
He walks along the shoreline of our routines and says, “Follow me.” And when He does, the call is clear: let go of the net.
James and John left their nets. They left the boat. They even left their father. In doing so, they embraced a mission they could not fully comprehend—but they trusted the One who called them.
They didn’t follow a five-year strategic plan. They followed Jesus. And He turned them into disciple-makers, movement-leaders, and eventually, church planters in the truest sense. Their obedience helped ignite a movement that changed the world.
Author and missiologist Alan Hirsch reminds us that the Church is designed to multiply. In The Forgotten Ways, he speaks of the “M-Factor”—the movement DNA embedded in the Church by the Spirit of God. The early Church didn’t simply gather; it sent. It didn’t just survive; it spread.
Church planting is not a side project for the elite few—it is the primary means by which the Kingdom of God advances on earth. Jesus didn’t just gather followers; He formed them and sent them. Multiplication was not optional—it was expected.
To follow Jesus in this way requires a new mindset—one that stretches us out of maintenance mode and into movement living:
This mindset means embracing the Gospel beyond addition (more people in the pews) and leaning into multiplication. As pastors, it means sending out our most gifted leaders to start something new. As laypeople, it means relinquishing our grip on “my church” to join in building THE Church.
If we are serious about advancing God’s Kingdom, we must shift from comfort to calling. We must partner—clergy and laity alike—not to build personal empires, but to extend God’s reign.
James and John didn’t leave their nets because they were bad. They left them because Jesus was better. They left familiarity behind to follow a Savior into a future they could not yet see.
You may be faithfully mending nets today—doing good, important work. But perhaps Jesus is calling you to something more. He is still walking the shoreline, still calling disciples into the risky, Spirit-empowered, generative work of planting churches and expanding His Kingdom.
Church planting is not optional—it’s the Gospel shaped life. From the beginning, God has always designed His people for fruitfulness and multiplication. So let us, as Global Methodists, be a people who respond with a bold and faithful yes.
Let every church become a sending church.
Let every pastor become a planter.
Let every net be laid down in faith.
Lord Jesus, we thank You for calling us—not just to comfort and care, but to courage and commissioning. You interrupted James and John in the faithful work of mending nets and called them into something far greater. Do the same with us. Give us boldness to follow You into the unknown, into new communities, into new Kingdom expressions. Stir our hearts to multiply. He-lp us trust that You are better than anything we leave behind. In Your name we pray, Amen.