Book: Church Planting Movement By: David Garrison

1. International Christian College of Manila Mr. Recardo Garcia
Noel R. Gonzales Reflection Paper
Church Planting Movement
by: David Garrison
When I started reading this book I felt astounded because the author was extravagant
when it comes to the progress of the church in different countries, so I simultaneously made a
research on his life. his family, educational background, mission and vision about spreading the
good news regarding planting a church and these are what I gather: For more than three decades,
Dr. David Garrison has been a missionary pioneer serving with the International Mission Board.
His assignments over the years have included being Associate Vice President for Global Strategy
for the agency's 5,600 missionaries. Other assignments have taken him and his family to Japan,
Hong Kong, Egypt, Tunisia, India, Germany and the U.K.. Garrison's efforts to understand and
join God's global mission have led him to study a dozen languages and travel through more than
100 countries. Garrison has a PhD from the University of Chicago and a Masters degree from
Golden Gate Seminary, with undergraduate study at Ouachita Baptist University and Seinan
Gakuin University in Japan. He is also the author and/or editor of several books including The
Nonresidential Missionary (MARC, 1990), something New Under the Sun (IMB, 1998), and
Church Planting Movements (WIGTake, 2004), which has been translated into twenty languages.
That is why David Garrison has luxury in wisdom concerning church planting and no doubt that
he can able to build a firm foundation in making his movement rapidly grows till now.
In his book there are many questions that I want to discuss: What is a Church Planting
Movement? What is this observable fact that has so captivated us? Where are these Church

2. Planting Movements taking place? Why are they happening now? Is this something new or have
they always been with us? I want to share what I've got in this book.
Church Planting Movement is a rapid and multiplicative increase of indigenous churches
planting churches within a given people group or population segment. The momentum quickly
becomes indigenous so that the initiative and drive of the movement comes from within the
people group rather than from outsiders. Indigenous means they are generated from within rather
than from without. Church Planting movement also is more than a revival of neither pre-existing
churches nor evangelistic crusades and witnessing for this may lead to a thousand souls but it
will not build a church for a church increases itself.
The International Mission Board missionaries are currently engaged in a number of
Church Planting Movements and near-Church Planting Movements around the world. While
each of these movements bears the influences of many missionaries; there are obstacles that
these movement encounters, they are expelled in certain country probably because of the
resistance of changing the government or leadership; missionaries were separated and suffer
persecution, and imprisonment and torture were widespread. During this time of opposition, the
number of believers slowly increased. During these years of isolation, media missionaries
working outside the country saturated the land with gospel radio broadcasts in the people’s
Spanish heart language. Missionaries and Diaspora Christians also maintained a steady vigil of
prayer for the believers and the lost living inside the country. When IMB missionaries
reconnected with the churches in the late 1980s, they found a Baptist faith that was deeply rooted
in the nation. At this point, the missionaries made a second strategic contribution by feeding the
movement through prayer, discipleship, leadership training and workshops on evangelism and
cell church methodology without creating dependency or imposing a foreign flavor on the
movement. These all happened to motivate them in standing firm to their ministries.

3. There is something that I noticed in this book, The Church Planting Movement is more
on practical way in spreading the gospel and a good tool or method rather to plant a church, to
impose good leadership and to launch a passive and deductive way of witnessing for Christ.
However this method is not biblical like other technique that emerge regarding the church
growth for an instance the method of “one-to-one”, the “duplication” and the “G12” are
examples of the top of the line methods that other denomination used. They are trying to prove
that these techniques were also in the bible but you can find it fictitious, meaning you cannot find
it there but you cannot say do not practice it, because it has an impact to the gospel of Christ. It
reminds me of0 what Paul says in Philippians 1: 18 “But what does it matter? The important
thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of
this I rejoice”.
There are also some things that I agreed on in this book. These are the way they did or
experienced in every missions they had in different countries. They are valiant servants who
served God in season and out of season, they are willing to suffer in the name of Jesus, therefore
they come up and put their occurrences into principles to know-how. The “Ten Universal
Elements” considerations, the “Ten Common Factors” and “Ten Practical Handles” that every
missionary must have. They made these not a mere thought but from collaborative efforts of
individuals and their experiences. They got it through survey and used it to improve their
methodology in church planting.
Finally to end this cogitation I felt privileged that I read this book because it gave me a
full knowledge on how to do church planting and to lead the existing church to move, go out and
plant more churches. Today’s standard is different from the past but we can be a good advocate
of change if we connect our innovations in coherence to the plans and knowledge of our God.
Thank you and be blessed!