This document discusses Church Planting Movements (CPMs), which are defined as the rapid multiplication of indigenous churches planting churches that sweeps through a people group. Some key points: 1) CPMs have been reported in India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and other regions, resulting in thousands of new churches and hundreds of thousands of new believers in just a few years. 2) CPMs have 10 common characteristics, including extraordinary prayer, abundant evangelism, intentional church planting, authority of Scripture, local leadership, house churches, churches planting churches, and rapid reproduction of healthy churches. 3) CPMs differ from traditional church growth models in starting among unreached groups and quickly shifting

1. Church Planting Movements
A Summary

2. First Reports
• David & Jan Watson, India, 1994
• Almost 100 new churches in one year
• Thousands of new believers
• 1995 – Southeast Asia
• 1996 – Latin America

3. A Rising Tide
• East Asia, 2000 – 6 months, 360 new
churches, 10,000 baptized believers
• Latin American country, 1990s – from
235 churches to over 4,000 with 30,000
converts awaiting baptism
• Southeast Asian country – 7 years, 920
new churches, 90,000 baptized believers
• Currently IMB is monitoring 30
locations worldwide where some form
of CPM is occurring

4. Definition
• A Church Planting Movement is a rapid
multiplication of indigenous churches
planting churches that sweeps through a
people group or population segment.

5. Key Concepts
• Rapid Reproduction – outstrips population
growth
• Multiplication – virtually every church is
engaged in starting other churches
• Indigenous – Insiders drive the movement
• Churches planting churches – exercising
autonomy and to rapidly to control
• People groups – naturally within shared
language and ethnic boundaries, then bridging
to other people groups

6. What They Are NOT
• Not just a revival or spiritual awakening
– the people converting were formerly
unreached
• Not just mass evangelism – new
churches start and multiply themselves
• Not just people movements – CPM
results in new churches
• And finally, NOT the Church Growth
Movement…

7. CGM vs. CPM
CGM CPM
Bigger is Better Smaller is Better
Focus on Harvest Fields Begin Among Unreached
Pour Resources into Shift Quickly to
Responsive Fields Indigenous Workers

8. India - Madhya Pradesh
• 4,000 new churches in seven years with
over 50,000 believers
• Key was moving away from church
buildings to village-based house churches
• Pastoral leaders are being raised up through
the house-church system

9. Asia - Three examples
• Mongolia – 60,000 new believers in the
decade of the 90’s
• Cambodia – 60,000 new believers in ten
years
• Another Asian nation – 50,000 new
believers in five years

10. Africa - A Century of Effort
• From 9 million to 360 million believers
• 1200 new churches per month
• 83 new churches in eight months in
Ethiopia
• Kenya revival among Maasai results in
90,000 believers among 600,000 people
group

11. Ten Characteristics
in Every Church Planting Movement
• Extraordinary Prayer • Lay Leadership
• Abundant Evangelism • House Churches
• Intentional Planting of • Churches Planting
Reproducing Churches
Churches • Rapid Reproduction
• The Authority of • Healthy Churches
God’s Word
• Local Leadership

12. 1. Seven Roles for Prayer
1. Prayer for Missionaries
2. Prayer for the Lost
3. Prayer modeled by missionaries
4. Prayer for new believers
5. Prayer by new believers
6. Prayer between partners
7. Prayer for more workers

13. 2. Abundant Gospel Sowing
“In Church Planting Movements we find
hundreds and thousands of people hearing
the gospel every day and out of this
abundant sowing a growing harvest begins
to take place.”

14. Should “Responsiveness” be an issue?
“True evangelism goes beyond proclamation
to communication. Communication means
someone has to hear and understand what is
proclaimed. Often times, the subtle shift
from proclamation to real communication
triggers a response that was previously
absent.”
Must understand nuances of language and
culture; other aspects of context.

15. 3. Intentional Church Planting
• Not just prayer
• Not just abundant evangelism
• Having an objective of new
congregations is the key to
multiplying new congregations

16. 4. An Authoritative Bible
• Teach converts to get doctrine from the
Bible through guided study
• Don’t rely on your own expertise
• Don’t rely on written material

17. Communicating God’s Word
Among Illiterate People
1. Memorization and Recitation
2. Audio-Visual resources
3. Bible Storying
4. Singing Scripture and Theology
• EX: The Wesleys working with coal miners
5. Educated Youth

18. 5. Local Leadership
“The resources are in the harvest”
“Never do anything by yourself, always bring
a brother along with you so you can model
and mentor as you go.”
“In a CPM you begin with the ‘torch’ in their
hand” – you don’t pass the torch eventually

19. 6. Lay Leadership
Practically – CPMs produce thousands of churches; well
beyond the ability of institutions to produce
professional leaders
Theologically – the priesthood of the believer
From Jesus – his disciples were “unschooled men” who
had been with him
For Retention – Putting laymen to work assimilates them
into the church
For Relevance – Laymen connect better with laymen
For Economics – Allows CPMs to expand in
underdeveloped countries
To work well, laymen must be life-long learners and
churches must stay small enough for a layman to
lead

20. 7. House Churches
CPM churches begin as small groups meeting
in natural settings, such as homes
What they become after rapid reproduction
begins is not of great concern. The
movement will take on the shape that is
appropriate in that culture

21. 8. Churches Planting Churches
Exponential growth only begins to occur
when churches start planting other churches
Missionaries consciously follow a pattern of
Model, Assist, Watch, Leave

22. 9. Rapid Reproduction
Rapid is undefined, but in the range of months, not
years
Rapid Reproduction must be part of the core values
Movement becomes
• Out of control
• Generating internal momentum
• New Christians passionately share their faith
• Fields are confirmed to be ripe for harvest
• Things foreign and hard to reproduce rapidly
are eliminated

23. 10. Healthy Churches
Exhibiting the Five Purposes of the Church
• Fellowship
• Discipleship
• Ministry
• Evangelism/Missions
• Worship
In a balanced, healthy way

24. Characteristics of Church Planting
Seen in Scripture
• Vision Driven • Divine Power evident
• Prayer in evangelism
• Abundant Evangelism • Person of Peace
• Scriptural Authority • House Church
• Models for Movement
Multiplication • Rapid Conversion
• Preparation for
• Multiple Lay Leaders
Persecution
• Family and Friends • A Portrait of Multiple
Evangelism Movements

25. In Most CPMs
• Societal Uncertainty • Rapid Assimilation
• Insulation/ Isolation • Heart Language
• High Cost of Worship
Following Christ • Signs & Wonders
• Bold Fearless Faith • OJT Leadership
• Family-based Training
conversion patterns • Missionaries Suffering

26. How to Obstruct a CPM
• Blurred Vision – failing to clarify and revisit
• Improving on the Bible – outside sources
• Sequentialism – milestones for movement
• Unsavory Salt – poor Christian models
• The Devil’s Candy – money, ministry, unity
• Alien Abduction – foreign-feeling gospel, foreign
funds a necessity, irreproducible foreign elements
in church life
• Blaming God for a lack of results