Church Planting Movements: Global Frontier Missions

Church Planting Movements

Quoting from the IMB's CPM booklet:

"A simple, concise definition of a Church Planting Movement (CPM) is a rapid and multiplicative increase of indigenous churches planting churches within a given people group or population segment .

"There are several key components to this definition. The first is rapid. A Church Planting Movement occurs with rapid increases in new church starts. Saturation church planting over decades and even centuries is good, but doesn't qualify as a Church Planting Movement.

"Secondly, there is a multiplicative increase. This means that the increase in churches is not simply incremental growth-adding a few churches every year or so . Instead, it compounds with two churches becoming four, four churches becoming eight to 10 and so forth. Multiplicative increase is only possible when new churches are being started by the churches themselves-rather than by professional church planters or missionaries.

"Finally, they are indigenous churches. This means they are generated from within rather than from without. This is not to say that the gospel is able to spring up intuitively within a people group. The gospel always enters a people group from the outside; this is the task of the missionary. However, in a Church Planting Movement the momentum quickly becomes indigenous so that the initiative and drive of the movement comes from within the people group rather than from outsiders.

"If this definition isn't enough, we might also clarify what a Church Planting Movement is not . A Church Planting Movement is more than "evangelism that results in churches." Evangelism that results in churches is a part of a Church Planting Movement, but the "end-vision" is less extensive. A church planter might satisfy himself with the goal of planting a single church or even a handful of churches, but fail to see that it will take a movement of churches planting churches to reach an entire nation of people.

"A Church Planting Movement is also more than a revival of pre-existing churches . Revivals are highly desirable, but they're not Church Planting Movements. Evangelistic crusades and witnessing programs may lead thousands to Christ, and that's wonderful, but it isn't the same as a Church Planting Movement. Church Planting Movements feature churches rapidly reproducing themselves.

"Finally, a Church Planting Movement is not an end in itself . The end of all of our efforts is for God to be glorified. This occurs whenever individuals enter into right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. As they do, they are incorporated into churches which enable them to continue to grow in grace with other like-minded believers. Any time people come to new life in Jesus Christ, God is glorified. Any time a church is planted-no matter who does it-there are grounds for celebration.

"So why is a Church Planting Movement so special? Because it seems to hold forth the greatest potential for the largest number of lost individuals glorifying God by coming into new life in Christ and entering into communities of faith.

"However, a Church Planting Movement is not simply an increase in the number of churches, even though this also is positive. A Church Planting Movement occurs when the vision of churches planting churches spreads from the missionary and professional church planter into the churches themselves, so that by their very nature they are winning the lost and reproducing themselves."

10 Universal Elements the IMB found in every CPM that happened under their ministry:

• Prayer (it is usually the first pillar in the master strategy)

• Abundant Gospel Sowing (usually relies heavily on mass media, but always includes personal evangelism with vivid testimonies to the life-changing power of the gospel.)

• Intentional Church Planting (having all the right elements without an intentional strategy did not bring about a CPM, but once the strategy was thrown into the mix it took off)

• Scriptural Authority (even in nonliterate people groups - whether the people group had a written copy of Scripture or passed it along orally, it's authority was always unquestioned)

• Local Leadership (missionaries are disciplers/facilitators, but never the primary leaders/pastors)

• Lay Leadership (CPMs are driven by lay leaders, who are usually bivocational and are of the same general profile of the people being reached (i.e. if the people being reached are lower-middle class farmers, then the lay leaders are lower-middle class farmers) - this ensures the largest possible pool of potential church planters and cell church leaders)

• Cell or House Churches (church buildings do infrequently appear in CPMs, but the vast majority of churches continue to be small, reproducible cell churches of 10-30 members meeting in homes or storefronts)

• Churches Planting Churches (the first church(es) are planted by missionaries or missionary-trained church planters, but as the movement enters the multiplicative phase of reproduction the churches themselves begin to plant other churches - members have to believe that reproduction is natural and no external aids are needed to start a new church)

• Rapid Reproduction (rapid reproduction is evident in every CPM - most church planters involved in the movements contend that rapid reproduction is vital to the movement - when reproduction rates slow, the movement falters - rapid reproduction communicates the urgency and importance of coming to faith in Christ and assures that churches are unencumbered by nonessential elements and the laity are fully empowered to participate in this work of God)

• Healthy Churches - they carry out the following five purposes: 1) worship, 2) evangelistic and missionary outreach, 3) education and discipleship, 4) ministry, and 5) fellowship. "The most significant one, from a missionary vantage point, is the church's missionary outreach. This impulse within these CPM-oriented churches is extending the gospel into remote people groups and overcoming barriers that have long resisted Western missionary efforts.")

Ten Common Characteristics (these things were found frequently, though not universally):

• Worship in the heart language

• Evangelism has communal implications (instead of an individualistic mindset, new converts are urged to follow their web of family relationships to draw more people to faith, and often this happens)

• Rapid incorporation of new believers into the life and ministry of the church (discipleship begins before salvation, baptism is rarely delayed by lengthy discipleship requirements, and even when baptisms are delayed the new converts become witnesses immediately)

• Passion and fearlessness (a spirit of timidity and fear quenches a CPM)

• A price to pay to become a Christian (CPMs often emerge in difficult settings where conversion to Jesus Christ is not the popular or socially advantageous thing to do - converts often face severe persecution and even death)

• Perceived leadership crisis or spiritual vacuum in society (countries/areas in turmoil and the instability it causes in people's lives cause them to consider eternal matters)

• On-the-job training for church leadership (effective leadership training is critical; church leaders having to leave the church for lengthy periods of theological training squelches the movement; most beneficial training brings education as close to the action as possible (it's hands-on); ongoing leadership training is important to the continued growth and strong development of a CPM.

• Leadership authority is decentralized ("Denominations and church structures that impose a hierarchy of authority or require bureaucratic decision-making are ill-suited to handle the dynamism of a Church Planting Movement. It is important that every cell or house church leader has all the authority required to do whatever needs to be done in terms of evangelism, ministry and new church planting without seeking approval from a church hierarchy.")

• Outsiders keep a low profile (missionaries draw indigenous people into leadership roles through participative Bible studies and mentor them from behind the scenes, rather than refusing to give them responsibility until they prove themselves)

• Missionaries suffer (whatever the reasons, missionaries involved in CPMs have seen more than their share of hard times when compared with other missionaries)

Obstacles to CPMs - things that have been shown to hinder or prohibit a CPM:

• Imposing extra-biblical requirements for being a church (i.e. you have to have land, a building, seminary-trained leadership, paid clergy, etc. before you gain full church status)

• Loss of a valued cultural identity (Western culture and ways of doing things can't be imported; the church must develop their own ways of doing things that fit with their culture and location)

• Overcoming bad examples of Christianity (these examples are often by older, already-established churches in the area who give a bad testimony by living in sin, having no heart for evangelism, etc.)

• Non-reproducible church models (for example, building a cinderblock church building, having a sound system, or using folding chairs when those things are not the norm for the area - the church models must be able to be reproduced by the indigenous church even when there is no outside support available)

• Subsidies creating dependency (using outside funds to give a pastor a salary, build church buildings, etc. causes the new church to believe it can't exist on its own without outside help)

• Extra-biblical leadership requirements (requiring pastors to have formal theological training in a seminary, for example)

• Linear, sequential thought and practice (thinking in terms of one step after another, such as "first learn language, then witness, then disciple, then form a congregation, then raise up leaders, then church plant" - instead, successful missionaries witness from day one before they even know the language very well, they disciple people before they're even saved, etc.)

• Planting "frog" rather than "lizard" churches (Frogs sit fat and happy on their lily pads and wait for the lost to come to them. Lizards move quickly, search out every crack and crevice and get into every home looking for the lost, adapt to their situation, expend a lot of energy, and are even willing to lose their tails in the cause.)

• Prescriptive strategies (missionaries coming in with a pocket full of answers, rather than with a humble heart hungry to learn where and how God is already at work)