Church Planting Movements

Starting next week I will be attending a training for two weeks for "Strategy Coordinators" of Church Planting Movements.  In preparation for this course we are reading the book Church Planting Movements: How God Is Redeeming a Lost World.

I was a bit skeptical, but this is a really good book.  It captures much of what I have been thinking after nearly a decade of service in The Location.  It has also encouraged me to refocus and reignite my passion for playing a part in reaching our particular unreached people group.  It has been encouraging to read about different movements of church planting around the world.

I like this book because it emphasizes the planting of churches as discipling agents rather than simple mass evangelism and large numbers of people coming to faith.  It takes time to survey different Church Planting Movements around the world and identify universal elements.  It also discusses the dynamics that kill Church Planting Movements.  Among these include over-injection of foreign funds, church buildings, dependency upon foreign funds, clergy-leadership, having short-termers doing too much for them such as building buildings,  paying preachers, etc.  And it doesn't limit the discussion to third world non-Western countries--it discusses every continent on the globe.

You can download the booklet for free here.  However, I am reading the full version, which you can purchase on Amazon or the Church Planting Movements website at the link above if you are interested in reading.  I recommend it for anyone doing ministry involving church planting, discipleship and evangelism wherever you are--even in the West.

I will post a few items from the book over the next couple of days.  Then, as I go through the training, I plan to make a post each day of the most important things we've learned.  So, stay tuned...