A few years back, I met Pastor L in a parking lot at Newport Beach. What started as small talk turned into a deep conversation about something that haunts me: Why aren’t churches working together?
He’d come for a conference at Saddleback Church with leaders from 12 of America’s largest megachurches to address that problem.
Over dinner, where real talk happens, Pastor L hit me with his perspective on it:
“Baby Boomers built megachurches, but they’ve left it to the Millennials to figure out how to get these big churches working together.”
He’s right. Too often, churches are silos – islands, hoarding playbooks, too rigid to adapt, too slow to sync up.
Sure, they fund missionaries and outreaches. But true collaboration? The kind that can build movements that move mountains? It barely happens.
Jesus prayed that we would be one (John 17), but we’re divided – not necessarily by doctrine, but by institutional barriers. It’s a structural problem, more than a theological one.
The result? A fragmented church, losing ground while the culture reshapes hearts and minds.
In a post-Christian environment, this lack of unity is costing us. Big time.
Canopy: The Web We’ve Been Missing
The church isn’t broken—it’s just disconnected. What’s missing isn’t more programs or better marketing. What’s missing is the thread that ties us together. That’s Canopy – the third pillar of The Communion Revolution.
Not a church-plant, but a church-web. The early church wasn’t an institution – it was a movement. A decentralized network of agape feasts, knit together by a shared spiritual vision.
Canopy is reviving that now.
We’re uniting churches to reach cities and work together, in discipleship and mission.
The goal: spark a ‘missionary encounter’ with a post-Christian culture through hospitality.
But first, let’s unpack why we need it – the rise of the megachurch.
The Rise of the Megachurch
If you step into one of America’s largest megachurches today – Willow Creek, Saddleback, North Point – you’re entering a church-model born in the 1980s and 1990s.
Baby Boomers like Bill Hybels (Willow Creek) and Rick Warren (Saddleback) turned churches into brands: seeker-sensitive, purpose-driven, attractional.
They took the techniques of corporate America and applied them to church growth. They build auditoriums, not steeples; bands, not hymnals.
And it worked – thousands of people found Jesus!
But they built isolated empires, not integrated networks – as Pastor L mentioned.
Now Millennials are inheriting these institutions, but the old playbook isn’t working. Digital is king. Institutional trust is low. Brand-management doesn’t sparkle anymore.
So what’s next? It’s time to weave a church-web.
We need a Canopy to connect us.
Canopy: Three Ways It Works
The Canopy doesn’t try to reinvent church – it aims to activate what’s already here.
Connecting believers through agape feasts, mobilizing them for local mission, and amplifying their stories of God’s work in our lives.
1️⃣ Planting New Agape Feasts
Imagine this: It’s a Thursday night. A dozen people gather in a home—plates stacked, candles lit, prayers spoken between bites of fresh bread. Faith isn’t a sermon here. It’s a shared meal, a spiritual family, a movement beginning with nothing but an open door.
This is an agape feast. And all you need to start one is a table, food, and a generous heart.
Compare this to a traditional church-plant, which costs a fortune – $250k+ for staff, facilities, tech.
That’s why Canopy aspires to be an ‘agape feast planting’ organization.
We equip leaders with best-practice manuals and host regional conferences, empowering agape feasts to sprout up and roll missions forward.
Canopy is not a ‘house church’ movement – these agape feasts are different, nested inside local churches, complementing rather than replacing them.
As they multiply across cities, a wave of grassroots discipleship will rise, tied to local congregations.
Picture this: Believers gather in homes, weekly. But once a month, something bigger happens.
Nearby groups come together, uniting in prayer for God to show them practical ways that they can serve their neighbors.
Then, opportunities emerge – a mechanic in your group fixes a single mom’s car, a few members pitch in at the food bank, and a business owner mentors struggling kids.
This ministry isn’t a ‘top-down’ church-initiative – it’s an organic, relational response to the needs of your community.
True mission flows from your love for the people who live next door. Not because you’re assigned to do it, but because the Holy Spirit is calling, and you’re listening.
It takes vision, training, and support to grow a movement like this – that’s what Canopy provides.
2️⃣ Linking Up Churches & Ministries
America’s churches are powerhouses – massive resources, vibrant talent, fierce passion – but they’re adrift, each a lone kingdom with no roadmap to team up.
Pastors crave it. They know the Kingdom’s mission dwarfs their small turf, and they ache for real unity. But making it happen? It’s a tough slog.
Imagine a pastor, fired up for a city-wide outreach. He rallies five or six others, all buzzing with excitement. They kick off with email chains, Zoom calls, maybe a breakfast meet-up.
Then reality hits. Schedules get clogged with Sunday prep. Each church sticks to its own playbook – approvals, rules, and red-tape piling up.
There’s no shared space across institutional lines. Everything drags… and then stalls. Months later? Just ashes – good intentions that got nowhere.
It’s not a lack of talent or passion – it’s a lack of structures to pull them together, on the ground, in local communities, with a shared mission.
Those networks don’t exist right now. But what if they did?
Tim Keller argued that church renewal will require collaborative networks – faith-work initiatives, justice projects, and mission-driven partnerships.
That’s going to be the key for launching a successful movement.
Pastor L knows this better than anyone. At Saddleback, he gathered with 12 megachurch leaders to plan a mission in Poland. It was a ‘test case’ for joint ministry.
They held strategy sessions. They asked: “Who would manage the money and handle the details?” They had detailed talks about big ideas and plans.
But the real glue of their team? Dinner.
After hours, they’d hit up the local taco shop, head out to Dana Point for whale-watching, and swap stories over hearty laughs. Dinner bonded them as friends.
Pastor L put it this way: “The conference set the stage, but the meals sealed it. Getting to know each other, trusting each other–that’s why Poland came together so beautifully.”
The table turned the slog into a win – a shared space most churches miss.
That’s exactly what Canopy is building.
Beyond planting agape feasts inside churches for neighborhood missions, it’s hosting lively regional conferences where pastors can step out of their silos to share meals and build plans.
Imagine: church leaders digging into a potluck or hashing out ideas over a morning coffee. That’s where trust grows, plans click, and collaboration takes off.
Canopy is setting a table where pastors and leaders can connect, dream, and work as one.
And those agape feasts? They become a cross-denominational network across local neighborhoods, mobilized to reach their cities together, united in Christ.
3️⃣ Casting the Vision: The Canopy Podcast
The Canopy isn’t just planting agape feasts or linking churches – it’s starting a conversation to fuel a movement of renewal.
That’s where the Canopy Podcast comes in. The heartbeat of this movement is a shared vision.
This podcast is a place where vision catches fire, ideas sharpen us, and stories of real-life discipleship leap off the table.
This isn’t a pie-in-the-sky talk show – it’s real people, doing real ministry, sharing real insights on table-driven discipleship at the agape feast.
Launching in September 2025, the podcast is your front-row seat to follow the movement as it plays out.
1 Conversations with Experts
We’ll talk with theologians, pastors, and thinkers–folks deep in spiritual formation, church leadership, and mission – unpacking how they’re forging lasting discipleship networks. Expect bold ideas and practical wisdom to fuel your own table.
2️ Voices of Agape Feast Hosts
No ivory towers here – just real people like you, who are opening their homes and breaking bread. They’ll spill what works, what flops, and how God’s shown up in the mess.
3️ Big Picture: A Conversation on Church History
The Communion Revolution is part of a much larger story.
Through historian Christopher Dawson’s work, we’ll trace the history of Christian civilization across centuries – how we got here, where we’re headed.
It’s a perspective that will shift how you see the world and your place in it.
🔥 Why This Matters
The Canopy Podcast equips you with tools, inspires you with vision, and connects you to a movement of believers who are hungry for renewal.
This is where it all takes shape – where we learn from each other, where the table talk begins. Pull up a chair, and let’s talk.
It’s coming Fall of 2025. Sign up for email updates so you don’t miss out.
Join A Canopy to Connect Churches & Local Missions
Canopy is a necessary part of church renewal – not breaking away from the church but weaving it back together.
By planting agape feasts, fostering collaboration, and casting vision, Canopy is inviting believers into a movement of discipleship, mission, and unity.
Mission begins – not in a boardroom, but at the table. Not in isolation, but through real relationships.
We don’t need more isolated church plants. We need a church-web – an interconnected movement of believers and churches working together for the Kingdom.
God has already given us everything we need. The resources, the people, the calling – it’s all here. Now is the time to step into it. Together.
Want to Go Deeper? Start With The Communion Revolution
Reunification is the church’s future, and you can be part of the story.
🍽️ Host an agape feast.
👥 Unite with others in mission.
🎙️ Tune into the podcast and be part of the conversation.
Grab your FREE copy of The Communion Revolution and see how Jesus’ table can reshape your faith and community.
📣 Share the Vision: Use the hashtag #CommunionRevolution to join the conversation.
Next Up
We’ll look at “Why Prayer is the Foundation of The Communion Revolution.”