Any person could be a potential seed of new church, whether they are believers or not. Many people have a whole network that they’re connected to and influential within. When they experience gospel transformation, you never know what other fruit may begin appearing. Out of their network, a new gathering of disciples can form. Instead of by default bringing in new believers to an existing faith community, why not leverage their network into a new community of Jesus followers?
We see this happening in the scriptures as people embrace the message of Jesus. Lydia in Acts. Cornelius. The demoniac. When Jesus later returned to the area where the demoniac came to faith, there were a whole group of people ready to respond to Jesus because of the demoniac’s experience and testimony. The woman at the well was a woman of bad reputation—an outcast of sorts—yet she opened the door to major change in her community.
How many leaders of movements are not yet Christians right now?