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Summary:
What if church wasn’t a place—but everyday obedience to Jesus lived out by ordinary people? In this episode, we interview Lucas Pulley, the executive director of the Underground Network. we explore the Underground movement, a global network of 100+ microchurches—worshiping communities sent to obey God’s calling, multiply disciples, and pursue justice among the poor and oppressed. We challenge the idea that speed and impact come from gathering bigger crowds, and instead show how lasting multiplication happens when every believer faithfully obeys their calling over time and the whole network bears fruit together. We also discuss how a simple, minimum definition of church empowers ordinary people to take bold risks for Jesus, how justice and antiracism are woven into the DNA of microchurch life, and how networked microchurches help one another persevere through shared leadership, encouragement, and mutual support—along with practical best practices for getting started.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Disciple-making and ministry are not confined to Sunday gatherings; they happen through everyday obedience to Jesus in all of life.
- By keeping the definition of church simple, ordinary believers gain confidence that God can use them to live out their calling and participate in planting churches.
- Churches are not built by volunteers filling roles, but by disciples who are sent out, responding to a clear vision and calling from God.
- Faithful multiplication often feels slow and incremental. We are invited to surrender our desire for fast, big, or exciting results and trust God’s work in the aggregate.
- From the beginning, churches should carry Kingdom mission DNA—where evangelism and justice are not competing priorities, but work together to reflect and take action in line with God’s heart for the poor and oppressed.
- Injustice always carries racial and cultural dimensions. Addressing these realities requires contextualized, love-centered dialogue and embodied practices of reconciliation.
- A single microchurch is sufficient, but it thrives best as part of a larger network that offers shared learning, encouragement, accountability, and perseverance.
- Healthy networks create intentional spaces for microchurch leaders to peer-coach, receive training, rest, and be spiritually renewed.
- The Underground exists to serve microchurches—not the other way around—functioning as a deacon ministry where the big serves the small. When the small exists to serve the big, the system drifts back toward a megachurch model.
- Jesus has a calling for every disciple and a people He is sending them to. The invitation is to listen, respond, and obey faithfully.
- Whether something becomes a microchurch is ultimately up to God. The goal is not the multiplication of microchurches, but the multiplication of disciples who faithfully follow the calling God has given them.
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Links Mentioned in This Episode
Getting Started in Disciple Making Movements Course
