One thing that has been helpful for me as we seek to lay the foundation for an obedience-based faith movement (a.k.a. Church Planting Movement) is acknowledging the myth of “rapid” reproduction.

My mind is blown by the exponential growth of church planting movements around the globe.  David Watson reminds onlookers that it took 2 to 4 years in India, for example, to get to the point where existing social units surrendered to Christ and began multiplying disciples, leaders, groups and churches.  I think it will take longer in the U.S. given other obstacles we face here.  (David Watson has written a brief article on the myth of rapid reproduction on his blog.  To read it, click here.)

The church planting movements around the world give the appearance of rapid growth because of the exponential growth, not the reproduction.  Laying a foundation for such a movement means years of investment in the training of leaders.  Reproduction therefore is slow.  With the exception of divine accelerations, it is always slow.

Categories: the how
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The participants of the training event I attended this week were asked to watch the “CPM Awareness”* videos at www.cpmtr.org prior to coming.  However, some participants didn’t watch them, so they’re going to go do that when they get home.  If you haven’t seen this 4-part video series, you can view it here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.  Warning: This CPM Awareness series is 6 hours long yet well worth it.  My advice from experience is that it is better to watch a little at a time (45 to 90 minute increments) and discuss it as you go with a spouse, teammate, or small group of friends who share your interest. 

If you are interested in reaching your community for Christ, go start watching some of those videos!  And if you start trying out this stuff in your own community, write to me through the Contacts Page.  I’ll be interested to know what you tried out, how it’s going, and what you’re learning.  We can learn from each other.

(*) “CPM” = church planting movement (I like to call it gospel planting movement).

Categories: the how, the why
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Here’s are two thoughts I keep having as I attend a Church Planting Movements training in Dallas this week: 

1.  We’ve had false starts in our ministry.  We make mistakes and continue to learn from them (the best way).  One thing that stands out to me is this: God plants churches, not us.  We plant the gospel and train people in obedience-based discipleship. But the Holy Spirit convicts hearts and transforms a group into a church. 

2. Another is this: Can the CPM approach be done in the West?  At the CPM training event they said to do no more “extraction evangelism.”  Don’t extract people from their existing communities by pulling pull individuals who don’t know each other together to form a new social unit and call it church.  Rather go to their existing social units (households/affinity groups) to plant the gospel among them and they will become the new churches as they discover who God is and learn to listen and obey him.  To read a story about how this CPM approach being done in a communal culture, read here.

I can see the wisdom in working with natural/existing communities.  This way they aren’t dependent on me/an outsider to get things started.  Natural communities already have long-standing relationships that can withstand the stresses of learning to obey Christ and live out costly discipleship.  Groups learn better than individuals – they have group memory and accountability.  Existing communities already have some form of group accountability (however dysfunctional) and leadership in place, and these structures can be redeemed as groups learn to follow Christ together. 

What other advantages can you see to working with natural communities (vs pulling individuals out of their relationships to come “worship with us”)? 

But I’m yet to see it working well in the U.S.  Has anyone had experience with this in less communal cultures?  Can it be done in a fractured, individualistic Western society like the U.S?

Any concerns or potential disadvantages you see with this approach? 

What questions does it raise for you?

Categories: the how
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