Because I spent many of the formative years of my childhood living in Muleshoe, Texas, I have a fondness for the mule. After all, that was our school mascot. I've cheered for mules at pep rallies and rooted for mules at many ballgames. "Kick-em, Mules, Kick-em!"

Farmers and trekkers traversing challenging paths also have a great fondness for mules. If you go down the trails of the Grand Canyon, you'll be on a mule, not a horse. Mules are stronger and more sure-footed than horses of similar size, and they are less fearful. Horses are emotional and prone to spook easily. Mules may not win many races with horses, but their endurance and strength can make them superior for many work roles.

But mules have one major weakness: they can't reproduce. They are hybrid offspring from a male donkey and a female horse. While they inherit many strengths from both parents, making them powerful creatures, they are sterile, one-generation creatures.

I know many mule churches and mule ministries around the world. They are stable, strong, and useful kingdom agents, but they are hybrids that mix the cultures of American partners and national partners. While they can do much good work that blesses people, they can't reproduce themselves. The DNA they carry has gone sterile because it is not indigenous enough. The church or ministry only lasts one generation or as long as the foreigners stay deeply engaged to maintain it.

Mule ministries and churches are appealing because they can be stable and strong. But they are often awkward-looking creatures and, as single-generation entities, can't spread out and impact people in large numbers. Each one must be planted by addition. They can't multiply. And we can't reach the vast numbers of people in all nations with exponential population growth by doing church planting by addition. We must be able to use God's built-in power of multiplication to reach exponential impact.

What does that mean for us? If we want to see exponential kingdom growth through multiplication, as seen in Acts and the church's first three centuries, every church and ministry needs to be indigenously designed and led from the beginning. Americans or other outside partners can be involved but can't be the fathers and mothers who plan, direct, and pay for everything for years. Outside partners need to stay in their outsider roles, and leadership needs to be provided by insiders from the start. Cultural insiders must be empowered to be designers as the churches and ministries are formed. Instead of foreigners telling insiders what to do, they need to direct insiders to the scriptures and ask them, "How would you live this out in your context?" This may feel risky because it is. But it also has the power to replicate and even achieve rapid replication at times.

That makes outsiders feel insecure. If the baby doesn't look like momma (the church back home), they sometimes will refuse to nurse the baby even if it looks like daddy (Jesus). We must remember that God's mission is not about exporting our culture but our faith. That faith must take on an indigenous form to expand and endure. That is what we call incarnational ministry. Just as Jesus came in the form of a particular people and place, he still seeks to show up as a local insider everywhere he goes.

For ideas on moving from mule missions to multiplication missions, feel free to reach out to us at MRN.

Mule Ministries