Church Planting Movements

Nakon knjige Ustani, zove te. Bogoslovno-pastoralna razmišljanja, koju je godine 2013. objavila Crkva u svijetu iz Splita, izv. prof. dr. sc. Alojzije Čondić, profesor pastoralne teologije na Katoličkom bogoslovnom fakultetu Sveučilišta u Splitu i aktualni dekan KBF-a, objavio je novu knjigu, pod naslovom: Obitelji, gdje si? Teološko-pastoralna prosudba, u izdanju Crkve u svijetu, Split, 2018., 276. str. Navedena knjiga, kako i sam autor u uvodnom dijelu donosi, predstavlja skup njegovih promišljanja i razmatranja o temi braka i obitelji, održanih i objavljenih na raznim mjestima, a sada proširenih i objedinjenih na jednome mjestu. Knjiga je podijeljena u tri poglavlja. Prvo poglavlje nosi naslov: Brak i obitelj od "početka" do danas, drugo: Pastoral i takozvana "neredovita" stanja braka i obitelji, a treće: Pastoralna priprava i praćenje braka i obitelji u duhu Amoris laetitia. Prvo je poglavlje u odnosu na druga dva sadržajno veće, što ni u kojem slučaju ne znači i da je važnije od njih. Naprotiv, možemo doći i do suprotnog zaključka ako na knjigu gledamo s aspekta aktualnosti ili autorovog osobnog doprinosa teološko-pastoralnom promišljanju neuralgičnih točaka pastorala braka i obitelji. U prvom poglavlju, naslovljenom Brak i obitelj od "početka" do danas, autor u iscrpnom obliku donosi pregled razvitka crkvenog nauka o braku i obitelji od početka kršćanstva sve do današnjeg vremena i postsinodalne pobudnice pape Franje Amoris laetitae. U tom pregledu na poseban način ističe specifičnosti nauka Crkve o braku i obitelji prije i nakon Tridentskog sabora (1545.-1563.) kao i prije i nakon Drugoga vatikanskog sabora. Više pozornosti (prostora) daje recentnim dokumentima Crkve o bračnoj i obiteljskoj tematici. U tom smislu obrađuje postsinodalnu pobudnicu pape Ivana Pavla II. Familiaris consortio, Pismo obiteljima pape Ivana Pavla II. Gratissimum sane, zatim encikliku Deus caritas est pape Benedikta XVI., kao i dvije pobudnice pape Franje: Evangelli gaudium i Amoris laetitiae.

In recent years, missionaries have discussed and strategized ways to catalyze “church planting movements” (CPMs) around the world.  However, many people have challenged mission practices that are oriented on CPM-theory.  Both sides of the debate appeal to Scripture to support their arguments. Indeed, CPM theorists implicitly and explicitly contend that CPMs are found in the Bible itself.  This article examines and contests any such claim.
This article makes a simple argument: there are no “church planting movements” in the Bible. Although someone might regard this as a “negative” thesis, the aim of the essay is quite constructive. It is utterly critical that certain notions and associations be set aside if we are to develop biblically faithful and strategically wise missiology. Of course, there is much to commend in CPM literature. However, we cannot simply draw out what it good from a CPM theory without examining related ideas, such as its use of Scripture. When applying some aspect of CPM missiology, we may unwittingly assume ways of thinking or interpreting the Bible that are counterproductive. Therefore, this essay tries to help readers discern theory from theology.

This article unearths the forgotten history of the first modern church planting scheme in the Church of England: an attempt to restructure parish ministry in Chester-le-Street, near Durham, in the 1970s and 1980s. This story of rapid growth followed by decline, and of an evangelical church’s strained relations with their liberal bishop, David Jenkins, has pertinence for contemporary Anglican antagonisms over ‘fresh expressions’ and other church planting programmes. A culture of mistrust is arguably apparent both then and now, between liberals and conservatives in ecclesiology, even as the same line divides those of the reverse tendency in broader, doctrinal theology: conservatives from liberals. Developments, decisions and, indeed, debacles in the story of Chester-le-Street parish point to the urgent need for liberals and conservatives in Anglican ecclesiology and theology to overcome their mistrust of each other by recognizing the other as valuable for the mutual strengthening and renewal of the Church.

Farah, Warrick, and Alan Hirsch. 2021. “Movemental Ecclesiology: Recalibrating Church for the Next Frontier.” IMES (blog). 2021. https://abtslebanon.org/2021/04/15/movemental-ecclesiology-recalibrating-church-for-the-next-frontier

This post contrasts a "typical ecclesiology" with a "movemental ecclesiology" in order to propose a way of imagining Church as a living, distributed, incarnational, network — the very essence and mark of all world-changing, transformative movements.

God's mission is diverse, and so are the ways missiologists discuss it. This article outlines a constructive missiology of the current "disciple-making movement" phenomenon in a way that makes creative connections between different conversations in the field of mission studies. In so doing, a new concept called motus Dei (Latin for movement of God) is situated into our understanding of the missio Dei.

Farah, Warrick. 2020. “Motus Dei: Disciple-Making Movements and the Mission of God.” Global Missiology 2 (17): 1–10.

http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2309

This paper will look at some of the strengths and weaknesses of church planting models and will assess several different popular church planting models that have been used in many different contexts. Also, emphasis will be placed on what each model looks like, how they function, how they multiply, and how they have been used in various international contexts.

While the dramatic growth of church-planting movements (CPMs) in non-Christian contexts around the world provides ample opportunity to explain their emergence and significance, a missiology of these movements is struggling to keep pace. This article argues that CPM is a unique feature in the field of mission studies that emerged in the later 20th century. Although it shares some of the same characteristics as the early Church Growth Movement discourse, CPMs today are a specific type of movement occurring mostly in least-reached Muslim and Hindu contexts. CPM missiology contains a number of features and unknowns which demonstrate that the discourse is both evolving and invaluable for how the global church understands mission. Keywords: church-planting movements, disciple-making movements, people movements, church growth movement, contemporary history of missions

Este seminario consiste en un taller con ideas y preguntas prácticas para llevar a la hermandad a concretizar la organización de una nueva iglesia en su comunidad.

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This seminar consists of a workshop with ideas and practical questions to lead the brotherhood to concretize the organization of a new church in their community.

Over the past twenty years church organizations in the global West have looked on with awe, tinged with envy, at the rapid growth of church planting movements (CPMs) in the developing world. These CPMs have emerged while the West has been preoccupied with the growing tide of post modernism and secularism in their once Christian nations. These movements have been observed to be emerging on every continent with developing nations, from South America to Asia, Africa, and Europe, and often under significant persecution.

For a movement to be defined as such, David Garrison suggests that it is one when there is a “rapid multiplication of indigenous churches that sweeps through a people group or population segment” (Garrison 2004:21). While it has been observed that there are numerously so-defined CPMs in places such as India and China, there are none that have been ob- served in the West. This is not due to a total lack of interest among Western Christians, for the zeal and for the desire to evangelize their home communities can be witnessed in the innumerable amount of time and money invested in trying to understand and develop the field of church growth.

In this paper, we explore three church planting strategies in Western Australia to assess how closely they match the characteristics of church planting movements and, hence, the likelihood that church planting movements will result.

The proliferation of church planting movements in least-reached peoples today provides an opportunity ripe for missiological research. Using the online application form for the Movements Research Symposium 2020 of the Motus Dei Network, this article identifies six gaps of understanding in the missiological discourse on movements: 1) Deepening Theological-Missiological Descriptions of Movements, 2) Identifying Best Practices and Effective Movement Strategies, 3) Clarifying Issues of Ecclesiology-Practical, Theological, and Spiritual, 4) Training Movement Catalysts and Practitioners, 5) Highlighting Contextual, Sociological, and Holistic Features of Movements, and 6) Documenting Movements with Respect to Verification, Metrics, and Administration. However, issues of positionality make investigating these gaps difficult, especially considering the problematic insider/outsider dichotomy in research. Opportunities for integration of perspectives are suggested in a way that values a multiperspectival framework while prioritizing and empowering local research initiatives.

The 2nd edition of Missions: Biblical Foundations and Contemporary Strategies  (Zondervan/Harper Collins) is a handbook of missions but written to describe the process of Christian servants becoming incarnational leaders planting and nurturing missionary movements. The goal is that this book will equip leaders to plant and renew hundreds of churches, thereby catalyzing movements of discipleship and mission. The story of Jim and Julie, in narratives interwoven throughout the book and in the epilogue, illustrates a journey of spiritual transformation to become incarnational missionaries. Missions equips and inspires learners to become leaders transforming the world.

A reflection about the theological inadequacy of the now deeply ingrained dichotomy "gathering - sending" as used both in missional and liturgical conversations. Presentation at the first Theological Consultation of the PC(USA)'s 1001 New Worshipping Communities Initiative (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, November 12-14, 2015). Forthcoming in a book in support of the Initiative published by Witherspoon Press.

China Ministries International-Philippines (CMIP) has specialized in forming mission partnerships with seven organizations in order to attain its major goal to effect "Insider (or Kingdom) Movements" (IM) through the use of the non-extractive "disciple multiplication movement" (DMM) strategy1 in China and beyond. As CMIP's founder and president since 1994, I believed that cooperation with other mission organization is the best way to do missions. May readers learn from our practice of using mission partnerships to maximize the potential for bigger impact in reaping the harvest.

This article discusses the strategic nature of church planting movements research and communal benefits for the Church on mission. A theological concept called "motus Dei" is briefly introduced. This forms the basis for the Motus Dei Network focusing on the missiological study of global movements to Christ and is a collaboration between mission agencies, movement practitioners, and academic research centers.

Farah, Warrick. 2021. “The Motus Dei Network: Fostering Communal Intelligence on Movements.” Mission Frontiers 43 (2): 39–41.

In Acts 1:8, Jesus gave his disciples one final word. He said, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In Matthew 28:19 he says, “go and make disciples of all nations.” This is commonly known as the Great Commission.  In Viral Churches, Warren Bird writes that “the single most effective method for fulfilling the Great Commission that Jesus gave us is to plant new churches!” 
In the book Planting Missional Churches: Your Guide to Starting Churches that Multiply, authors Ed Stetzer and Daniel Im work to provide church planters with the resources to plant multiplicative churches. To do this, they organized the book is organized into five sections: foundations, models, systems, ministry areas and multiplicative movements.

The purpose of this paper seeks to discover emerging Christian practices in Western cultures that transcend personal and privatized practices of individuals and looks toward a social involvement of encountering God by way of relationship and community. The particular focus of the paper is on the leadership necessary for churches to flourish and to influence society in the way of Jesus.

By most popular North American accounts, the European church is dying. Old, tired, and running out of energy. Soon the last generation will turn off the lights. It is also possible to look at the European church as going ahead of us into fresh territory, pioneers of a new age, being the first of the Christian family to face a situation the USA will face in a generation or two: that of a post-Christian world. This essay, published in The Presbyterian Outlook, reports on a study trip to the Netherlands, where the church is deeply involved in missional redevelopment and church planting.

How precisely does culture influence ministry methods? The question is multi-layered. In a missionary setting, the relationship between culture and strategy becomes even more complicated. At one level, Christian practice should stem from a sound interpretation of the Bible. Yet, ministry does not happen in a vacuum. Global missions brings people from diverse backgrounds together in a cross-cultural setting. Mission strategies are constantly shaped by at least three different cultures––the missionary’s home culture, the local culture in which he or she ministers, and the biblical culture(s).  Of course, people may not be conscious of this fact.

Therefore, it is important that we intentionally consider how culture shapes mission strategy and practice. Given the vast breadth of the topic, a helpful approach would be to examine a particular philosophy of ministry that is popular among missionaries around the world. In this way, we can avoid abstraction. Also, our analysis will be relevant for a greater number of people.

This article highlights three specific ways that culture contributes to the evolution of a missionary strategy. As a case study, I will examine the cultural influences behind “church planting movements” (CPMs). This study first considers how CPM practitioners understand culture’s influence on Paul’s missionary efforts. The second section identifies a number of cultural assumptions affecting the application of the CPM paradigm. Third, I give one explanation why the model survives despite a lack of biblical precedent.  There are strong forces within missionary subculture that have enabled CPM theory to evolve into a popular ministry model. Finally, I conclude by offering a few practical suggestions that will help us resist the rapid spread of syncretism within contemporary mission strategy.

In this paper I suggest that theologizing is a significant missionary task because theology defines the church's mission and priorities. Theology drives methodology. In a next step I break this down for my missionary work in Thailand looking at issues like evangelism, discipleship and ecclesiology.

The purpose of the research is to provide an academic introduction to the Chinese House Church Movement in South Africa, and to give a brief description of the importance of this new missiological event – for, even though the presence of these churches is well known, little is known about the churches themselves. This research represents some of the very first explorations and missiological reflections on this phenomenon in South Africa. Therefore, in this article Alan Hirsch’s idea of ‘apostolic genius’ and its connection to ‘Jesus People’ Movements and their impact is explored within the context of the Chinese church, both in mainland China and in South Africa. A brief history of the church in China is provided as background and context for an exploration of the Chinese House Church Movement in South Africa – through ‘participant observation’. Consequently, suggestions are made as to ways in which one can more effectively assist already existing Chinese house churches, as well as ...

Based on our extensive research, this article looks at three of the greatest stated obstacles to church planting. Using real examples, we see how God can turn every obstacle into an incredible opportunity.

In the first century A.D. the Christian church was raised up as a rapidly expanding church planting movement. In the 1800s the Adventist church was raised up as a rapidly expanding church planting movement. The Seventh-day Adventist Church experienced explosive growth, launching a movement that spread and continues to advance across the world. Today, 150 years later, the time has come to ask, How are we doing with raising up new congregations to finish the harvest in North America?

To answer this question, we decided to look at at statistics from the last century of church planting and population growth in North America. We hope that the findings of this study will benefit the global church.
We also identified the top conferences in church planting in the last decade and interviewed leaders from all levels of the church to find out what they were doing that was working to multiply churches in their areas. What could God do to raise a Spirit-led Adventist church-planting movement in North America?