ANALYSIS OF THE CHURCH PLANTING MOVEMENT

"Praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the Church daily those who were being saved." Acts 2: 47(NKJV)

BIBLE READING: ACTS 2: 41-47; ACTS 13:1-51; ACTS 16: 1-40

In line with our topic today, we are presented with a critical yet expedient question: What exactly is a Church Planting Movement? A simple, concise definition of a Church Planting Movement (CPM) is "a Rapid and Exponential Increase of Indigenous Churches planting Churches within a given people group or population segment." There are several key components found within this definition, which we would examine:

(1.) Rapid: As a Movement, a Church Planting Movement occurs with rapid increases in newly planted Churches. The Truth is that Church Planting Saturation over decades and even centuries is good but doesn't qualify as a Church Planting Movement.

(2.) Exponential Increase: This means that the increase in Churches is not simply Incremental Growth i.e., adding a few Churches every year or so. Instead, it compounds exponentially, e.g, two Churches become four, after which four Churches become sixteen and so forth. Exponential multiplication is only possible when New Churches are being started by Existing Churches themselves rather than by professional Church planters or missionaries.

(3.) Indigenous Churches: This means the Church membership and leadership is 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 which is the task of the missionary who serves as a catalyst for the Move of God. 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.

A Church Planting Movement is more than mere 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 people group. 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 Outreaches and Witnessing Programs may lead thousands to Christ, which is wonderful, but it isn't the same as a Church Planting Movement. Church Planting Movements feature Churches rapidly reproducing themselves.

Perhaps the closest thing to a Church Planting Movement is when local Church planters are trained and deployed to plant multiple Churches among their own people. This is a highly productive method of spreading Churches across a population segment or people group, but the momentum remains in the hands of a limited group of professional Church planters rather than in the heart of each new Church that is begun.

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 a 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 would always be legitimate grounds for celebration.

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, we thank You for empowering us, and we pray that You grant us the Wisdom for Church Multiplication in Jesus' Mighty Name. Amen.