CHURCH PLANTING Movements

Church Planting is one part of the two-pronged integrated strategy of MMS. So, what is Church Planting? It is a process that results in a new indigenous church being planted.

MMS was inspired and guided by David Garrison’s booklet, Church Planting Movements, 1999. And it was used to facilitate church-planting movements as part of MMS’s missions growth strategy.

A Church Planting Movement (CPM) is a rapid and exponential increase of indigenous churches planting churches within a given people group or population segment. It is more than “evangelism that results in churches” and certainly more than a revival of pre-existing churches. It occurs when a church will sponsor formation of multiple spinoff churches that will themselves very quickly reproduce new churches, generally with common teachings and doctrine.

At the beginning of the second millennium, there was a lot of discussion at various levels of MMS leadership on how the key principles of church-planting movements could be adapted and contextualised to MMS fields. Whilst MMS has tried to practise this strategy, we have not always been successful but with God’s help, we persevere on.

The key highlights of Church Planting Movements worldwide as encapsulated by David Garrison are:

A. Ten Universal Elements

(1) Prayer (2) Abundant gospel sowing (3) Intentional church planting (4) Scriptural authority (5) Local leadership (6) Lay leadership (7) Cell or house churches (8) Churches planting churches (9) Rapid reproduction (10) Healthy churches

B. Ten Common Factors/Characteristics

(1) Worship is a language of the heart (2) Evangelism has communal implications (3) New converts are rapidly incorporated into the life and ministry of the church (4) Passion and fearlessness demonstrated (5) A price is paid to become a Christian (6) Society is perceived to have a leadership crisis or spiritual vacuum (7) Church leadership grows via on-the-job training (8) Leadership authority is decentralized (9) Outsiders keep a low profile (10) Missionaries suffer

C. Obstacles to CPMs

Measures that tend to obstruct, slow or otherwise hinder CPMs: (1) Imposing extra-biblical requirements for being a church (2) Loss of a valued cultural identity (3) Overcoming bad examples of Christianity (4) Non-reproducible church models (5) Subsidies creating dependency (6) Extra-biblical leadership requirements (7) Linear, sequential thought and practice (8) Planting “frog” rather than “lizard” churches, the former being a church that does not reproduce whereas the latter reproduces regularly. (9) Prescriptive strategies

D. Ten Practical Handles to Initiate and Nurture a CPM

(1) Pursue a CPM orientation from the beginning hence the DNA of the planted church is to grow and reproduce. (2) Develop and implement comprehensive strategies (3) Evaluate everything towards achieving the end-vision (4) Employ precision harvesting (5) Prepare new believers for persecution (6) Gather them, then win them (7) Try a P.O.U.C.H. methodology, which MMS modified to be the SEED approach.* (8) Develop multiple leaders within each cell church (9) Use on-the-job training (10) Model, Assist, Watch & Leave (MAWL) Strategy

* MMS aspires to plant SEED churches where the following aspects are intentionally encouraged and implemented:

S: Saltshakers Sprouted

Fruitfulness is the result when the DNA of the church is to: – Grow Cell Churches, – Guide Community Core Values, – Go Cross-Cultural.

E: Everyone Equipped

Every member is seen as a contributor and has the ability to reproduce when nurtured through: – Purposeful Worship, – Participative Bible Study, – Prayer and Preparation for Spiritual Warfare.

E: Enablers Empowered

Lay Leadership and Local Leadership are identified and developed so that there is: – Reduced load on every leader, – Preparation on-the-job, – Ready supply of ‘extra’ leaders.

D: Disciples Deployed

This is fanned out in practice by: – Servant mindset or attitude being developed within the church, – Spurring members to witness to family and friends, – Sharing resources for outreach with one another, – Sending out the harvest force.

Church Planting Movements are not limited to a geographical or racial sector of society. God has demonstrated that He can produce church planting movements amongst the urban or rural, educated or illiterate, on any continent and from any religious background. He has called all of us, everywhere to be colabourers with Him.

MMS continues to aspire to fan out via church planting movements. Come join us. If your church would like to partner with MMS to plant and grow churches in the mission field, email mms@methodist.org.sg now.