Alan Briggs - Guardrails: Six Principles for a Multiplying Church

Its easy to get caught up in the stuff of church and forget our primary call to be disciple-makers. This book is a foundational and profound reminder that the effectiveness of the gospel in our time hinges on our capacity to disciple the nations.

ALAN HIRSCH

Award-winning author on missional Christianity and founder of Forge Mission Training Network

Central to movement is the grassroots work of making disciples. In Guardrails, Alan Briggs calls believers to move from being couch potatoes who accumulate information to being movement makers who intentionally focus on multiplying Kingdom-oriented apprentices of Jesus in the local church. The strength of the book is that he gives us a sticky and SHARRP (Simple, Holistic, Adaptable, Regular, Reproducible, and Positive) way to do this. The most beautiful thing about this book is that Alan embodies the message he shares.

J. R. WOODWARD

National Director of V3 Church Planting Movement and coauthor of The Church as Movement

Maybe you, like me, can feel stuck and tired at times (on the ministry treadmill, as Alan calls it), and yet there is a longing, a desire, to be part of a movement, a movement of the Kingdom of God. I was hungry and eager for a book like this. I needed to read this book, as it met me in all those places of longing and called me into more.

KATIE FOWLER

Associate pastor for Missional Strategies, First Presbyterian Church, Colorado Springs

Missionaries and church planters do not simply appear. They are discovered, developed, and deployed. Within the pages of Guardrails you will uncover not only the foundations for a multiplying church but also the practical application of being a church who raises up and sends out a generation of gospel-centered world changers. Alan Briggs is a leader with a proven track record of making disciples who make disciples. This book is dangerous because it will change the fabric of church, but its a journey worth taking.

DUSTIN WILLIS

Director of the SEND Network, author of Life in Community, and coauthor of Life on Mission

Im a big fan of Alan Briggs. He is not only a thinker. He is also a practitioner and coach. And when you put those realities together, you have something special. Add in Alans infectious passion and intense creativity, and you get something magical. Thats exactly what Guardrails is. Magical. This is a much-needed book, coming at the right time to spark multiplication among Gods people.

DANIEL FUSCO

Lead pastor of Crossroads Community Church, Vancouver, Washington, and author of Honestly: Getting Real about Jesus and Our Messy Lives

Clear. Concise. Thorough. Engaging. Practical. Powerful! Alan Briggs brings it all together in this book. The best part is that, with everything youll read here, Alan has lived it out in real time with real people. He is relentless in his love for people outside the Kingdom of God and is equally invested in making and developing Kingdom disciples and leaders. Add to that his extensive interaction with some of the best thought-leaders and practitioners out there, and you have this amazing work that will absolutely, no doubt, help you take your next steps as a disciple, a disciple-maker, and a disciple leader. Yeah, its that good!

KEVIN COLN

Pastor of Neighboring Way of Life at LifeBridge Christian Church, Longmont, Colorado

Alan Briggs isnt simply a writer sharing ideas; hes the real deal. In one of the most gospel-hostile environments in the country, Alan lives out the six multiplication principles he outlines in Guardrails. The structure he outlines is born out of years of one-on-one discipleship with leaders at every level. If you are serious about creating a multiplying discipleship culture in your church or ministry, I highly recommend this book.

GEOFF SURRATT

Pastor, leadership coach, and author of Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches from Growing

Alan Briggs has produced a book that is eminently practical. You will read his heart in this book. Briggs cares deeply about seeing Christians understand the call to discipleship. The genius of this book is in its simplicity. Briggs intentionally outlines principles designed to be implemented. Theyre clear, straightforward, and ready for use. Embrace these principles and experience fresh discipleship.

CHRIS HORST

Director of Development at HOPE International and coauthor of Mission Drift

This is a great resource that will inspire, strengthen, and equip a wide variety of leaders. Alan writes with the eye of a practitioner who has also reflected well on what he does and why. Whether youre a planter or a leader in an established church, you will benefit from this book!

ALEX ABSALOM

Leader of Missional Innovation, Grace Church, Long Beach, California

Alan Briggs brings passion, creativity, and timeless Kingdom principles to the adventure of church planting. Over the past few years Ive had the privilege of watching Alan live out the great commission lifestyle. In Guardrails he shares his adventure and the lessons hes learning. A great book! Dont miss it.

DAVID GARRISON

International missionary strategist and author of Church Planting Movements and A Wind in the House of Islam

Guardrails is a book for in-the-trenches leaders that is chock-full of great insights on the importance and practice of the discipleship process. Alan is the real thing, and this new book will be a great help to anyone seeking to use his or her one and only life for the King and his Kingdom.

TOM HUGHES

Colead Pastor, Christian Assembly Church, Los Angeles, California, and author of Curious

For those of us who are tired of rigid, simplistic, and lifeless formulas for discipleship, Alans book is a refreshing well. He casts a vision of becoming apprentices of Jesus in a profound, accessible, and winsome manner. His six guardrails provide enough direction for healthy movement, yet enough freedom to embody apprenticeship in our own communal contexts.

DR. DREW MOSER

Dean of Experiential Learning, Taylor University

The secret to a multiplying church is multiplying people. For all the time that people have sat under faithful ministries, theyve not been taught to be the multipliers that Jesus intended. How could we have gotten so far off course? Alan Briggs puts the guardrails up to keep ministry, church, and people back on the road to multiplication.

PEYTON JONES

West Region Director of Multiply Training, NAMB; founder of New Breed Church Planting; author of Church Zero

In its stripped-down and simplest form, church planting is about multiplication multiplying disciples. As person after person responds to the gospel, each of them needs to be nurtured, challenged, and led into a deeper and more robust walk with Christ. Alan Briggs shows us practically how not only to disciple people but also to multiply disciples. He gives us the tools needed to move from addition to multiplication, which is essential for a church-planting movement.

SEAN BENESH

Author of Exegeting the City and Blueprints for a Just City

NavPress is the publishing ministry of The Navigators, an international Christian organization and leader in personal spiritual development. NavPress is committed to helping people grow spiritually and enjoy lives of meaning and hope through personal and group resources that are biblically rooted, culturally relevant, and highly practical.