At Mercy’s Door,
We believe that healthy things multiply.

Jesus says in John 12:24 regarding His own sacrificial death and resurrection, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

The ransomed Church of God is the fruit that Jesus spoke of. He bore the sins of His people and took them into the grave by His sacrificial death. And being joined to Him in His death, Christians are united with Him in His resurrection life! Every Christian is a result of the life-giving, multiplying work of Jesus Christ.

A theology of fruit-bearing life

Jesus taught us repeatedly that an evidence of this new life is multiplication.

Jesus Himself poured spiritual new life into the men and women who walked with Him for three years on earth, and released them in the power of the Holy Spirit to multiply the church.

In the book of Acts, we see that the early church is described as a multiplying church!

• In just two years, they had “filled Jerusalem with their teaching,” (Acts 5:28).

• In less than five years, the churches were multiplying rapidly (Acts 9:31).

• In less than twenty years, they had “turned the world upside down.” (Acts 17:6).

• And in less than thirty years, the Gospel had spread all over the world (Colossians 1:56).

Multiplication is a big deal to Jesus. Healthy things multiply.

A THEOLOGY OF FRUITLESS DEATH

While healthy things multiply, dead things don’t.

Every time Jesus addresses a person or a group of people who refuse to multiply, His tone is stern.

In Matthew, Jesus said, “…Every healthy tree bears good fruit…” (Matthew 7:17). But then Jesus adds,”Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 7:19). It’s worthless. It’s only good for kindling.

The same theme is found in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus tells a parable about a barren fig tree. The owner walks through his orchard, carefully examining the fruit of every tree when he notices that one tree is not bearing fruit. He quickly orders it to be cut down. The gardener begs the master to give the tree one more year. So the master reluctantly agrees, but with this warning, “If there is no fruit after a year, you can cut it down.” (Luke 13:9).

In the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25, Jesus tells the story of three servants who receive a certain amount of money to invest during their master’s absence. Most were rewarded for their shrewd use of the master’s money, but the one who did nothing with it was severely punished. Everything he had was taken away.

Again in Mark 11:12-14, Jesus is traveling into Jerusalem during His last week on earth. He passes by a barren fig tree, and He curses the tree because it had no fruit.

It’s a serious thing to not bear fruit. It’s a serious thing to not multiply. Bearing fruit is a sign of life. An absence of fruit is a sign of death.

AT MERCY’S DOOR,
WE TAKE MULTIPLICATION SERIOUSLY.

A.) WE ARE A CHURCH PLANT

Mercy’s Door was herself planted in 2017.

B.) FROM A LEGACY OF CHURCH PLANTS

But we, like every church plant, were planted as part of a legacy of multiplication. In 2000, Legacy Bible Church was planted in rural Texas. In 2009, the lead pastor departed to plant another church, The Source Church in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. In 2016, The Source Church sent out families to plant a new church together in the Metro East of St. Louis, Mercy’s Door.

C.) WHO HAS CO-PLANTED ANOTHER CHURCH

In 2022, Mercy’s Door and our sending church partnered up again to send families and resources to plant another church north of Austin, called Redeemer Georgetown.

D.) AND FINANCIALLY SUPPORTS OTHER missionaries & CHURCH PLANTS

Meanwhile, we commit a large portion of our church’s budget to supporting young church plants. In addition to the church we helped plant in Georgetown, Mercy’s Door currently supports two additional church plants: New City Church in Champaign-Urbana, and Purposed Church, one of our sister churches here in Mascoutah. We also give a portion of our income to Acts 29 and the Send Network, each of which are doing phenomenal work to plant churches.

E.) AND TRAINs UP FUTURE missionaries & CHURCH PLANTERS

Mercy’s Door is in partnership with the Servant Leader Institute in St. Louis, where future church leaders and planters are being developed for multiplying labor. We also grant church-planting residents opportunities to preach and train in our church. We ourselves develop our own church members, that perhaps one day they may become the next church planter from Mercy’s Door.

CHURCH PLANTS & MISSIONARIES WE SUPPORT