Many of us have been fascinated over the last decade at the phenomenal results reported in international settings by missionaries using a Church Planting Movement (CPM) approach. Some church planters have begun experimenting with CPM in North America to see if God would bless in the same way in this region of the world. The results have been mixed with nothing like the rate of multiplication found elsewhere. Nevertheless I think there are several principles and lessons that can be taken from the CPM studies and applied to any style of church. These principles can be especially useful in establishing an evangelistically effective church plant.
Immediate Redeployment of Converts in Evangelism
The first principle I observe in the stories of CPMs around the world is that new converts are immediately redeployed among their family and friends to tell their story. One method being used is the developer of the “training for trainers” (T4T) system. This system begins by teaching a group of new believers two things: how to effectively give their testimony and how to lead someone to assurance of salvation using key scripture passages. He coupled this with an operational mandate. The mandate was to train each round of converts in the same two skills and charge them to tell their story among family and friends.
The lesson for our church planting efforts in North America is that even before a person converts to Christianity, they can be talking about their journey with family and friends. Once they have committed their life to Christ, the first step should be to teach them how to tell their story to family and friends, not isolate them while they are “disciples.” Ideally, this “telling my story” will start a chain of conversions that will multiply beyond the geographic area and relational span of the church planter. Each person the planter leads to Christ, when viewed this way and trained to be effective, can result in one more chain of conversions. This can greatly accelerate the growth of the church plant, and act to “leaven” the social soil for the witness of believers in other Great Commission Churches. The Bible reinforces this emphasis on cultivating an effective witness to family and friends. Although most of the historical record focuses on the efforts of leaders who championed the spread of the gospel, like Paul, the greatest impact came from the witness of average people among their family, friends, and business associates.
Obedience-based Discipleship
The second principle I want to call attention to is Obedience-based Discipleship. This is closely related to the first. Once a person becomes a believer, the principle of passing on what they learn continues. Discipleship occurs in a context of immediate application and obedience to the Word of God. This obedience-based discipleship results in much faster growth toward mature Christian service and also allows for the trainers span of discipling influence to spread far beyond what they could accomplish if they tried to be the sole discipler. Church planters in North America would do well to ponder this. We have a bias in the western church toward defining maturity by what you know rather than by how much of what you know you have incorporated into your lifestyle. We tend to think of discipleship in terms of classes where a lecturer conveys a body of knowledge. The biblical perspective is that you only truly know something when you are living it out. When converts are trained from the very first that even the smallest point of truth is to be wholly and immediately lived out in day-to-day life, this results in the growth of radical, fearless faith – or the quick discovery that the “convert” really is not converted to Christ. A church planter who builds upon this kind of discipleship, teaching coupled with application, finds a solid core of workers to advance the work, even though they are young in the faith.
Discipling New Believers in Groups of New Believers
The last observation that seems especially relevant to church planting in North America is that new believers grow and mature best in groups containing other new believers. CPM does this somewhat unthinkingly because multiplication of churches is so rapid that every unit contains mostly newer believers.
I served as Pastor of New Believers at Saddleback Church for a time and noted that when a new believer is with other new believers they are less intimidated by their lack of Bible knowledge. They feel free to ask questions that come out of their ignorance, but the answers to which are crucial to their continued growth. I led a group in another context that was mostly made up of believers of long standing. When we tried to incorporate new believers, unless they had an extraordinarily strong self-image, they were intimidated into silence by the biblical “assumptions” of the group and the disciplined life of the members. Many dropped out of the group and even out of the church.
Many planters don’t have multiple converts to group, but if the first two principles I have discussed are applied to the church plant this can quickly change. Until it does, the discipling of new converts should be done by people that have some sensitivity to the intimidation factor that can work against you. It helps if the discipler came to Christ as an adult, or if the discipler takes with them a younger believer who can act as a “gate-keeper,” helping surface issues that the new believer may be too intimidated to ask.
Although there is no magic bullet to insuring evangelistic effectiveness in church planting, these three principles drawn from the successful CPMs occurring around the world can help expand the evangelistic fruit of any planter who thoughtfully applies them to their context.
~ Dr. Morgan is Director of the Nehemiah Project at SWBTS and Associate Professor of Missions.
