Church Planting Movements—Why Is the World’s Most Proven Church Planting Method Still Controversial?

Gospel movements are multiplying rapidly among least-reached people groups, yet still face criticism and scepticism.
In one of the hardest places on earth to plant churches—a region once called the ‘graveyard of missions’—something extraordinary happened. When Victor John heard about a new approach to planting churches in unreached communities, he wanted to know more. Although missionaries had been working in his part of northern India for 200 years, they had seen little fruit among the unreached. His 15-year ministry as a pastor in Uttar Pradesh had also failed to significantly impact the unreached majority around him.

• Criticism versus Evidence from the Field
  "CPMs have proven better able to survive and flourish in the context of the majority non-Christian settings of unreached groups"
  "those involved in movements see presenting rapid kingdom growth not as a goal in itself but as a result of God’s powerful work."
• The Question of Sound Doctrine
  Other concerns often include questions about the doctrinal and ecclesiological soundness of the teaching and churches in movements, for example, the definition of ‘church’.
• Discipleship in Practice
  Concerns about the quality of discipleship within movements ironically turn the tables on questioners.
• A Call to Gratitude and Humility
  The question is no longer whether CPMs work—but whether we have the humility to learn from them.

For more information go to Church Planting Movements—Why Is the World’s Most Proven Church Planting Method Still Controversial? on the Lausanne Movement website.
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