Mark 7:6-9
And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! "
The fourth universal element found in CPMs according to David Garrison is Scriptural Authority. Church Planting Movements have a culture where the singular authority is the Word of God and nothing else. We must allow the Holy Spirit to work directly in the hearts of the local people to determine how the Bible is applied in their lives and in their culture.
Those of us who have been believers for a long time often have a first reaction of 'Oh no, what if they get it wrong!' And to this I would say ... what makes us think that we have it entirely right?! The big question here is 'Do we believe the Holy Spirit is sufficient to allow a person to interpret and follow scripture or do they need us too?' Yes, they likely will get some things wrong, but if the Bible is their authority they will grow and change with time ... just like we all have. If we are their authority, that brings a whole host of problems ... including what happens once we leave. If we have been the authority, then often they will look to another person as an authority after we leave and who knows what they will be teaching!!
Of course, I realize that God uses us to teach other people. What I am describing is that our teaching as much as possible should refer directly to scripture and point people directly to scripture. If we don't do it that way, we are bound to bring some of our own traditions into the mix that have potential to stifle a local church planting movement.
It is so tempting for a missionary to say 'This is the way we do it back home'. However, when we do this we often unintentionally set aside the commands of God to observe our own traditions. If we want to keep from passing on our own traditions, the best way to do this is to point people directly to the Word of God.
If they have a question about church leadership, point them to the Bible and let them figure it out. If they have a question about structuring a church meeting, point them to the Bible. If they have a question about their marriage or family relationships, point them to the Bible. If they have questions about money, point them to the Bible. If they have theological questions, point them to the Bible. I think you get the point. :)
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Summary thought for the day
I thought I'd break out of the monotony of the CPM universal elements to make a short post about CPM as a whole. I read this concept in Alan Hirsch in his book "The Forgotten Ways", and I think it is right on the money.
When you look at broad CPMs like the first century church or the Chinese church of the last several decades, two truths emerge from these movements. First, following Jesus was very hard even to the point of requiring your life. Second, 'doing' church was very simple.
I think the Bible backs this up. Jesus never made following him easy. In fact, he asks very hard things such as requesting that the rich young ruler sell all he owns. The Bible does not make church difficult. In fact, it spends very little time at all describing the organizational specifics of the church. When the church structure is brought up, it is normally reactionary - reacting to something happening within a local church at that time. The Bible spends very little time telling us how to organize a church from scratch.
Here is where things get troubling to me. What do we generally do today? We do the opposite. We make following Jesus very easy, often reducing it to simply praying a prayer. And we make church very complicated. We have denominations, and leadership structures, and positions of authority, and big budgets, and programs, and committees. You almost need an MBA just to start a church these days.
So ... why do you think the number of people actively involved in church has not grown (as a percentage of population) in the US over the last several decades? Maybe this is a part of it.
When you look at broad CPMs like the first century church or the Chinese church of the last several decades, two truths emerge from these movements. First, following Jesus was very hard even to the point of requiring your life. Second, 'doing' church was very simple.
I think the Bible backs this up. Jesus never made following him easy. In fact, he asks very hard things such as requesting that the rich young ruler sell all he owns. The Bible does not make church difficult. In fact, it spends very little time at all describing the organizational specifics of the church. When the church structure is brought up, it is normally reactionary - reacting to something happening within a local church at that time. The Bible spends very little time telling us how to organize a church from scratch.
Here is where things get troubling to me. What do we generally do today? We do the opposite. We make following Jesus very easy, often reducing it to simply praying a prayer. And we make church very complicated. We have denominations, and leadership structures, and positions of authority, and big budgets, and programs, and committees. You almost need an MBA just to start a church these days.
So ... why do you think the number of people actively involved in church has not grown (as a percentage of population) in the US over the last several decades? Maybe this is a part of it.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Intentional Church Planting
The third universal element found in CPMs is intentional church planting. This may appear to be an overly obvious point given that Church Planting Movement is our goal, but it is amazing how quickly we forget that we must have an intentional plan for church. It is insufficient to only do evangelism. A new believer doesn't know what to do next. This idea of church (the coming together of believers to be the visible and physical Christ in the world) is not automatically understood. Meeting together, baptism, communion, giving, outreach, service and other functions of the church all must be taught through the scripture.
What we teach here is very important because it will determine how easy or difficult it will be for churches to multiply. We must be careful not to substitute our tradition for the commands of God, (Mark 7:8) and not to impose extra-biblical requirements on what a church requires. I have read stories of early South American missionary churches floating pipe organs down the Amazon because they were necessary for church!! Imagine the effort required if a second church was needed!! This may seem ridiculous to us today, until we think about all the things we associate with church that we may bring to another culture (keyboards, guitar, large gatherings, buildings, committees, policies and procedures, one speaker/teacher, etc.). None of these traits are bad in and of themselves just like a pipe organ isn't bad, but these characteristics are not necessary and are not scripturally required for church.
Here is one simple model for church that has been effective around the world. There are others, but this does a great job of boiling church down to its simplest form. It uses the acronym POUCH.
P- Participative Bible Study - No prepared sermons, just everyone studying the Bible and bringing their gifts (Ephesians 4:11) to the group.
O - Obedience based - the church is based on action and obedience rather than knowledge and information intake.
U - Unpaid lay leadership - a necessary requirement (and Biblical) in places where church must expand rapidly.
C - Cell (or)
H - House churches - no buildings required here. Again, very similar to the New Testament.
Of course, there are many issues that will come up just as they did with the early church in the book of Acts. When they do, the pattern should be for the local church to go to the scriptures and determine how to handle it.
We could spend an eternity getting into theological discussions of church, leadership, and doctrine, but that's not the point here. The point is to boil church down to it's simplest form and then have a strategy to show new believers how to do it. It won't happen by itself.
What we teach here is very important because it will determine how easy or difficult it will be for churches to multiply. We must be careful not to substitute our tradition for the commands of God, (Mark 7:8) and not to impose extra-biblical requirements on what a church requires. I have read stories of early South American missionary churches floating pipe organs down the Amazon because they were necessary for church!! Imagine the effort required if a second church was needed!! This may seem ridiculous to us today, until we think about all the things we associate with church that we may bring to another culture (keyboards, guitar, large gatherings, buildings, committees, policies and procedures, one speaker/teacher, etc.). None of these traits are bad in and of themselves just like a pipe organ isn't bad, but these characteristics are not necessary and are not scripturally required for church.
Here is one simple model for church that has been effective around the world. There are others, but this does a great job of boiling church down to its simplest form. It uses the acronym POUCH.
P- Participative Bible Study - No prepared sermons, just everyone studying the Bible and bringing their gifts (Ephesians 4:11) to the group.
O - Obedience based - the church is based on action and obedience rather than knowledge and information intake.
U - Unpaid lay leadership - a necessary requirement (and Biblical) in places where church must expand rapidly.
C - Cell (or)
H - House churches - no buildings required here. Again, very similar to the New Testament.
Of course, there are many issues that will come up just as they did with the early church in the book of Acts. When they do, the pattern should be for the local church to go to the scriptures and determine how to handle it.
We could spend an eternity getting into theological discussions of church, leadership, and doctrine, but that's not the point here. The point is to boil church down to it's simplest form and then have a strategy to show new believers how to do it. It won't happen by itself.
Friday, April 17, 2009
CPM Essentials #2 - Broad Seed Sowing
The 2nd CPM element observed in every case study was that the Good News of Jesus was carelessly and broadly shared. Jesus illustrates this for us in the parable of the sower. I put the text of that parable at the bottom of this post if you need a refresher. In my opinion, this parable has more to tell us about spreading the Gospel than any other.
The first thing we see in the parable is a bit counter intuitive. The farmer is spreading seed carelessly - he is spreading it on a path, in thorn bushes, in rocky soil, and in good soil. Why would any farmer do that? A farmer would know not to waste good seed by throwing it on a path! The only reason he might do it is if he was blind and couldn't tell the difference between the path, the thorns, the shallow soil, and the good soil. And this is the point! Jesus is telling us that we need to spread the Gospel carelessly because we aren't able to discern which people are the path, which are the thorns, which are the rocky soil, and which are good soil.
We generally have a hard time with this principle. We tend to pick out a handful of people we think will be good soil and then we invest in them. When they do not grow, we get frustrated and feel like we failed. Notice that in this story the effectiveness of the seed was not based on the farmer, it was based on the soil. In too many cases, we have simply chosen people who aren't ready to grow, and then seen no results. What would happen if we broadened our sample size from 2 people to 20, and then chose the people to invest in by what we saw happening in their lives? We need to remember that it is not our great planting that makes the plants grow. It is God and the condition of the soil. CPM comes from sharing the story of Jesus broadly, with everyone - not just those who we think might be 'good soil'.
The second thing the parable shows us is that in good soil the seed greatly multiplies itself. In fact, it is natural result for the good soil, and it should be expected. Similarly, it should be the natural result of the Gospel as well. We will get to this more in a later principle. For now, I just want to say that multiplication should be the norm, not the exception.
We must carelessly and broadly share the Gospel and then invest our time in the people who are multiplying. This is the 2nd principle.
Matthew 13:3-9; 18-23
3Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9He who has ears, let him hear."
18"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
The first thing we see in the parable is a bit counter intuitive. The farmer is spreading seed carelessly - he is spreading it on a path, in thorn bushes, in rocky soil, and in good soil. Why would any farmer do that? A farmer would know not to waste good seed by throwing it on a path! The only reason he might do it is if he was blind and couldn't tell the difference between the path, the thorns, the shallow soil, and the good soil. And this is the point! Jesus is telling us that we need to spread the Gospel carelessly because we aren't able to discern which people are the path, which are the thorns, which are the rocky soil, and which are good soil.
We generally have a hard time with this principle. We tend to pick out a handful of people we think will be good soil and then we invest in them. When they do not grow, we get frustrated and feel like we failed. Notice that in this story the effectiveness of the seed was not based on the farmer, it was based on the soil. In too many cases, we have simply chosen people who aren't ready to grow, and then seen no results. What would happen if we broadened our sample size from 2 people to 20, and then chose the people to invest in by what we saw happening in their lives? We need to remember that it is not our great planting that makes the plants grow. It is God and the condition of the soil. CPM comes from sharing the story of Jesus broadly, with everyone - not just those who we think might be 'good soil'.
The second thing the parable shows us is that in good soil the seed greatly multiplies itself. In fact, it is natural result for the good soil, and it should be expected. Similarly, it should be the natural result of the Gospel as well. We will get to this more in a later principle. For now, I just want to say that multiplication should be the norm, not the exception.
We must carelessly and broadly share the Gospel and then invest our time in the people who are multiplying. This is the 2nd principle.
Matthew 13:3-9; 18-23
3Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9He who has ears, let him hear."
18"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
CPM Essentials - #1 Prayer
The first of the CPM Universal Elements is prayer. Prayer is a strange thing and I won't try to claim to understand it. How my prayers can affect the God of the Universe is beyond my understanding. The fact that prayer was found to be an universal element to CPM is not surprising. After all, what missionary would not pray for their work? Of course it was present in every case!! However, the fact that it is not surprising, does not mean that it is not important. If the very Son of God took time here on earth to pray, what makes us think we don't need to?
Several years ago, I was sitting in Thailand eating pineapple and speaking with a man who has dedicated the last 10 years of his life to reaching a people group located in the mountains of western China. There are no known Christians in this group, and nobody outside of the group speaks the language. It was and is a rough job!! He told me that he had recently met with several people who had been involved in a CPM. His main observation was interesting to me. He told me that the common component he observed was not in what each person did, but in the character each person had. He said that these people were all deeply committed to prayer, and that their relationship with God radiated from them. He was struck by the fact that not a single one of them was following a CPM formula; instead, they were following their God.
Prayer doesn't fit nicely into a formula for effectiveness, but it is likely the most important thing we do. Our relationship with God impacts our effectiveness! And prayer directly impacts our relationship with God. We must not forget this. Jesus tells a crazy parable to illustrate prayer - basically insinuating that you can annoy God with your persistence to the point that He gives you what you ask! (As an aside, James reminds us in another passage that we must ask with the correct motives for this to be true ... sorry their won't be a Mercedes for everyone.) Check out what Jesus says:
Luke 11: 5-10
5Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'
7"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness[c] he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Several years ago, I was sitting in Thailand eating pineapple and speaking with a man who has dedicated the last 10 years of his life to reaching a people group located in the mountains of western China. There are no known Christians in this group, and nobody outside of the group speaks the language. It was and is a rough job!! He told me that he had recently met with several people who had been involved in a CPM. His main observation was interesting to me. He told me that the common component he observed was not in what each person did, but in the character each person had. He said that these people were all deeply committed to prayer, and that their relationship with God radiated from them. He was struck by the fact that not a single one of them was following a CPM formula; instead, they were following their God.
Prayer doesn't fit nicely into a formula for effectiveness, but it is likely the most important thing we do. Our relationship with God impacts our effectiveness! And prayer directly impacts our relationship with God. We must not forget this. Jesus tells a crazy parable to illustrate prayer - basically insinuating that you can annoy God with your persistence to the point that He gives you what you ask! (As an aside, James reminds us in another passage that we must ask with the correct motives for this to be true ... sorry their won't be a Mercedes for everyone.) Check out what Jesus says:
Luke 11: 5-10
5Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'
7"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness[c] he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
CPM Universal Elements
First, a prayer request - two of our local friends in India are planning to come for a visit. We have been planning on using this visit to connect, and develop a common vision. Right now there are some visa issues with them coming to the States. Please pray that these would be worked out!
Back to CPM ...
In the late 1990s a group of missionaries who had been a part of CPMs gathered together to see if they could find any patterns in the way God was working. That meeting produced a number of insights that are summarized in a booklet which you can download at http://churchplantingmovements.com/download.php. The entire booklet is a great read and I highly recommend it.
One of the items discovered, was a list of 10 elements that were common to all CPMs. I would like to spend time writing about each of these universal elements as I believe they are incredibly important to use as guidelines for church planting. For now, I will simply list them:
Back to CPM ...
In the late 1990s a group of missionaries who had been a part of CPMs gathered together to see if they could find any patterns in the way God was working. That meeting produced a number of insights that are summarized in a booklet which you can download at http://churchplantingmovements.com/download.php. The entire booklet is a great read and I highly recommend it.
One of the items discovered, was a list of 10 elements that were common to all CPMs. I would like to spend time writing about each of these universal elements as I believe they are incredibly important to use as guidelines for church planting. For now, I will simply list them:
- Prayer - In the end, a CPM is a work of God, and as with all works of God, it is greatly influenced and propelled by prayer. Prayer works!
- Abundant gospel sowing - the gospel must be shared with large numbers of people without picking or choosing who gets to hear. The story of Jesus must be told.
- Intentional church planting - church is God's plan for this age, but it doesn't happen on it's own. People must be taught how to do church and we must be intentional about starting churches.
- Scriptural authority - The Bible is sufficient as an authoritative guide. The culture of these movements must be one where people look to the Bible for answers - not to missionaries or other resources.
- Local leadership - This seems evident, but if a movement is to exist, it must have local leadership at it's core.
- Lay leadership - This may not seem so intuitive. In a rapidly growing movement, there is not time or resources to formally train and pay leadership. Lay leadership is required or their will be a leadership deficit that will stop all momentum.
- Cell or house churches - This removes the resource constraints of building buildings. There is always a house to meet in - and it's free of charge.
- Churches planting churches - the churches themselves must be the instigators of new churches in order for multiplication to happen. If they are not, then growth will always be linear.
- Rapid reproduction - Americans have a hard time with this. Churches must reproduce rapidly. There is nothing that says it takes years to start a church that multiplies. In reality it can be done in weeks or months. Look at Paul's missionary journeys if you disagree. :)
- Healthy churches - we must have concern for what it is that is multiplying. Healthy churches balance all the purposes and function of the body of Christ. If it is not healthy, it will not last.
I'm planning on diving into these one at a time for the next few weeks. Should be fun. (For me anyway ... may be putting you to sleep!)
Monday, April 6, 2009
Missions and The Kingdom
For a long time in my life, I glossed over the many, many verses in the Bible that refer to the Kingdom of God. I guess I thought that it was always referring to Heaven or some distant place in the future, and as long as I was going there it really didn't matter to me at this point what it was like. 'The kingdom of God is near' never made a lot of sense to me. Why was Jesus saying it was near when it's been 2000 years and it still isn't here?
Then I came across a book titled 'The Divine Conspiracy" by Dallas Willard and the idea of the Kingdom began to come alive to me. I realized that the Kingdom is a present reality just as much as a future one. This new way of looking at things became very important in the way I thought about missions. I came to realize that at it's core, missions is about the present time expansion of the kingdom of God.
So what is a kingdom ...
Very simply, a kingdom is a place where a king rules. The extent of the rule determines the size of the kingdom. Anywhere the king's will is followed is part of the kingdom; anywhere the king's will is not followed, is not part of the kingdom.
Translating this into Christian terms ... the kingdom of God exists where the will of God is done. When Jesus teaches us to pray 'thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven', He is telling us what 'thy kingdom come means.' The second phrase is simply a clarification or restatement of the first. This is the 'missions' portion of the Lord's prayer.
If you think about it, there are really only two ways for the kingdom to come to earth or to expand. First, it can expand in our lives as we become more and more people who do what God wants us to do. Second, it can expand as it enters into the lives of more and more people. This internal and external kingdom expansion is why we are here. This is the good news. It is why Jesus came.
The Significance to Missions ...
I had always felt that the sole purpose of missions was to glorify God. I still believe this to be true, but I had to reconcile it with this idea of missions being defined as Kingdom expansion. John Piper says that missions exists because perfect worship does not. He views missions as the path to extend the worship of the one true God (for the joy of all peoples). If we couple this with the definition of worship given to us by Paul in Romans 12:1 (being a living sacrifice), Piper's statement becomes 'missions exists because perfect, living sacrifice does not'. A living sacrifice is nothing more than a person submitting his or her will to God's will. So I was able to reconcile the two ideas - Romans 12:1 showed me that the goal of worship (or glorifying God) is really one in the same as the goal of God's will being done on earth (or Kingdom expansion).
So when Jesus tells a story and says 'the kingdom of God is like ...', he is often talking missions. When strategizing about missions, we must use a kingdom view, and our main goal must be Kingdom expansion. If we think of any other structure or goal other than the Kingdom of God, we will get bogged down by organizations, rules, and human limitations. If we think in terms of kingdom expansion we can see it expand like yeast through bread or like a mustard seed as it turns into a tree. CPM strategies (which I will describe in future posts) take a Kingdom expansion view and that is why they work.
And I just happened to be reading ...
I just happened to read Luke 11:20 this morning so I'll throw it in free of charge. :) Jesus says "If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you." There is the 'Kingdom' word again. Jesus is saying here that if God's will is entering a person's life and a demon is being driven out, it means the Kingdom has come. He is once again clarifying for us what it means for the Kingdom to come! I'm telling you - once you grasp this concept you will see it everywhere.
Then I came across a book titled 'The Divine Conspiracy" by Dallas Willard and the idea of the Kingdom began to come alive to me. I realized that the Kingdom is a present reality just as much as a future one. This new way of looking at things became very important in the way I thought about missions. I came to realize that at it's core, missions is about the present time expansion of the kingdom of God.
So what is a kingdom ...
Very simply, a kingdom is a place where a king rules. The extent of the rule determines the size of the kingdom. Anywhere the king's will is followed is part of the kingdom; anywhere the king's will is not followed, is not part of the kingdom.
Translating this into Christian terms ... the kingdom of God exists where the will of God is done. When Jesus teaches us to pray 'thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven', He is telling us what 'thy kingdom come means.' The second phrase is simply a clarification or restatement of the first. This is the 'missions' portion of the Lord's prayer.
If you think about it, there are really only two ways for the kingdom to come to earth or to expand. First, it can expand in our lives as we become more and more people who do what God wants us to do. Second, it can expand as it enters into the lives of more and more people. This internal and external kingdom expansion is why we are here. This is the good news. It is why Jesus came.
The Significance to Missions ...
I had always felt that the sole purpose of missions was to glorify God. I still believe this to be true, but I had to reconcile it with this idea of missions being defined as Kingdom expansion. John Piper says that missions exists because perfect worship does not. He views missions as the path to extend the worship of the one true God (for the joy of all peoples). If we couple this with the definition of worship given to us by Paul in Romans 12:1 (being a living sacrifice), Piper's statement becomes 'missions exists because perfect, living sacrifice does not'. A living sacrifice is nothing more than a person submitting his or her will to God's will. So I was able to reconcile the two ideas - Romans 12:1 showed me that the goal of worship (or glorifying God) is really one in the same as the goal of God's will being done on earth (or Kingdom expansion).
So when Jesus tells a story and says 'the kingdom of God is like ...', he is often talking missions. When strategizing about missions, we must use a kingdom view, and our main goal must be Kingdom expansion. If we think of any other structure or goal other than the Kingdom of God, we will get bogged down by organizations, rules, and human limitations. If we think in terms of kingdom expansion we can see it expand like yeast through bread or like a mustard seed as it turns into a tree. CPM strategies (which I will describe in future posts) take a Kingdom expansion view and that is why they work.
And I just happened to be reading ...
I just happened to read Luke 11:20 this morning so I'll throw it in free of charge. :) Jesus says "If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you." There is the 'Kingdom' word again. Jesus is saying here that if God's will is entering a person's life and a demon is being driven out, it means the Kingdom has come. He is once again clarifying for us what it means for the Kingdom to come! I'm telling you - once you grasp this concept you will see it everywhere.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
CPM - What is it?
OK, so I used an abbreviation in the title of my previous post that I didn't define - CPM. It stands for Church Planting Movements and will be the focus of our strategy in India. A CPM is a phenomena that missiologists began taking note of in the 1990s. It has resulted in a complete paradigm shift over the last decade in the way most missions organizations approach church planting around the world.
At its simplest, a CPM is a movement of rapidly multiplying churches. David Garrison says it this way - "A Church Planting Movement is a rapid multiplication of indigenous churches planting churches that sweeps through a people group or population segment."
How we (the church) stumbled upon this ...
In the 1990s, several segments of population around the world (within China, India, Cuba, North Africa, etc.) began experiencing explosive growth in the number of churches and believers. God was up to something big! He was also up to something quite different than had been seen in recent time. This explosive growth showed some unusual characteristics. The growth was occurring in persecuted population segments. It was not marked by a organizational structure. In fact, organizations couldn't keep up with the growth; it was out of control. It was made up mostly of small churches (10 - 50 people) meeting in homes or in the community. Most leaders were not seminary trained and were not paid. It was self-sufficient and did not require a lot of outside resources or funding. The movements were marked by signs and wonders that are difficult for many of us to comprehend. These characteristics were unusual for the modern times, but they also looked remarkably similar to characteristics of the early church in the book of Acts! Could it be that God has chosen this time in history to begin pouring out his Spirit in a special way on certain peoples of the world?
What kind of growth are we talking about ...
Here is one example. In China I had the privilege of meeting and learning from a couple who had sparked tens of thousands of churches to form and hundreds of thousands of people to begin following Christ in less than a decade. As you can imagine, people were skeptical of the reports so some outside research teams were sent in to validate them. In one case the researchers found a church that was 13 generations removed from the original. Take 2^13 and see what would happen if all the churches had multiplied like that! It was not uncommon to find churches 5-10 generations away from the source. Everything was really happening as reported, and rapid multiplication was the key. Similar, but smaller movements have continued to occur all across China. The church in China is estimated today at over 100 Million and growing. The church in China has grown from relatively few in 1980 to a point where more people attend church in China than in the U.S.!!
So I ask you, who wouldn't want to be a part of this? CPM is our goal for our work in India. It is a huge and humanly unattainable goal. We set it as our goal because it is the only way possible to meet the spiritual needs we see. Building a church, or two, or ten just would not sufficiently meet people's needs. In addition, it would take monetary resources away from other initiatives such as orphan care, HIV/AIDS care, Leprosy care, providing clean drinking water, and fighting poverty.
Fortunately, we share this goal with many like-minded groups throughout the India. We are all working together to see the Kingdom expand - and Kingdom expansion is the goal. I think I'll spend some time writing on Kingdom expansion during my next post. You can't really understand the Biblical basis for CPM until you have a little bit of a grasp on what Jesus is talking about when he refers to the Kingdom. He talks about the Kingdom more than just about anything else yet it is a word we don't use much in the church. In fact most of Jesus' parables begin with the phrase 'the Kingdom of God (or of the Heavens) is like ...'. These parables are where we first start to see CPM principles in the Bible.
At its simplest, a CPM is a movement of rapidly multiplying churches. David Garrison says it this way - "A Church Planting Movement is a rapid multiplication of indigenous churches planting churches that sweeps through a people group or population segment."
How we (the church) stumbled upon this ...
In the 1990s, several segments of population around the world (within China, India, Cuba, North Africa, etc.) began experiencing explosive growth in the number of churches and believers. God was up to something big! He was also up to something quite different than had been seen in recent time. This explosive growth showed some unusual characteristics. The growth was occurring in persecuted population segments. It was not marked by a organizational structure. In fact, organizations couldn't keep up with the growth; it was out of control. It was made up mostly of small churches (10 - 50 people) meeting in homes or in the community. Most leaders were not seminary trained and were not paid. It was self-sufficient and did not require a lot of outside resources or funding. The movements were marked by signs and wonders that are difficult for many of us to comprehend. These characteristics were unusual for the modern times, but they also looked remarkably similar to characteristics of the early church in the book of Acts! Could it be that God has chosen this time in history to begin pouring out his Spirit in a special way on certain peoples of the world?
What kind of growth are we talking about ...
Here is one example. In China I had the privilege of meeting and learning from a couple who had sparked tens of thousands of churches to form and hundreds of thousands of people to begin following Christ in less than a decade. As you can imagine, people were skeptical of the reports so some outside research teams were sent in to validate them. In one case the researchers found a church that was 13 generations removed from the original. Take 2^13 and see what would happen if all the churches had multiplied like that! It was not uncommon to find churches 5-10 generations away from the source. Everything was really happening as reported, and rapid multiplication was the key. Similar, but smaller movements have continued to occur all across China. The church in China is estimated today at over 100 Million and growing. The church in China has grown from relatively few in 1980 to a point where more people attend church in China than in the U.S.!!
So I ask you, who wouldn't want to be a part of this? CPM is our goal for our work in India. It is a huge and humanly unattainable goal. We set it as our goal because it is the only way possible to meet the spiritual needs we see. Building a church, or two, or ten just would not sufficiently meet people's needs. In addition, it would take monetary resources away from other initiatives such as orphan care, HIV/AIDS care, Leprosy care, providing clean drinking water, and fighting poverty.
Fortunately, we share this goal with many like-minded groups throughout the India. We are all working together to see the Kingdom expand - and Kingdom expansion is the goal. I think I'll spend some time writing on Kingdom expansion during my next post. You can't really understand the Biblical basis for CPM until you have a little bit of a grasp on what Jesus is talking about when he refers to the Kingdom. He talks about the Kingdom more than just about anything else yet it is a word we don't use much in the church. In fact most of Jesus' parables begin with the phrase 'the Kingdom of God (or of the Heavens) is like ...'. These parables are where we first start to see CPM principles in the Bible.
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