Miracles
In the list of critical elements, number 6 is "Miracles". I must admit, I was surprised to find this as a critical element. Not because I doubted that miracles happen in church planting movements. Quite the contrary, from the stories I have heard, especially from India and West Africa, I knew that miracles are a regular occurrence in cpms. In fact, it was miracle stories that first gripped me to begin the change in our church planting paradigm 3 years ago.
I was taking the Perspectives class, from the U. S. Center for World Missions, as an intensive class in June of 2005. (Incidentally, if you have never taken the Perspectives course, please go to Perspectives.org and find a class near you. It will be the most important next step in your preparation for mission ministry). On the 4th day of the class (I think) the teacher was deeply involved in cpm ministry in West Africa and the miracle stories he told, including of resurrections from the dead, got my attention as did the phenomenal church planting results. WME was already attempting to do some form of cpm (we helped plant 212 churches between 2000 and 2008 with our old paradigm). However, we were not seeing the "movement" part becoming a reality. The combination of stories of massive multiplication and the testimonies of great miracles set my heart on fire. That began the quest that led me and WME to where we are today.
In a trip to West Africa in 2006 to visit an ongoing cpm, I met a woman who had been raised from the dead! She had been a Muslim, and died on the day that a trained church planter entered her village. Sensing an opportunity from God, he asked permission to pray for her and when it was granted, persistent prayer saw results. God raised her from the dead! 2 Muslim villages turned to Christ because of this 1 miracle.
So I knew that miracles are frequent accelerators of cpm.
However, in all my research and training on cpm, I do not believe that I had heard Miracles listed as a critical element. I do believe that it had been listed as a characteristic of most cpms.
So when I read it as a part of the list of critical cpm elements in Bob Roberts' book as listed in the first September article on this blog, I was surprised. I am not sure that all practitioners of cpm would agree that it should be there.
But let me say that as I have thought about it, I agree that it should. For one thing, salvation itself is a miracle of God. Secondly, cpm itself is a miracle. No human strategy can produce cpm. It is the work of God and in this we join Him. Thirdly, I must admit, I have never heard of a cpm occurring anywhere in which supernatural miracles of healing, supply, protection, or other kinds did not occur. The miracles are demonstrations of God's power and proof that it is His work. This element belongs with the three that we have previously discussed as the Spiritual critical elements. They are:
1. Extraordinary Prayer
2. The Authority of the Word of God (Scripture)
3. The Authority of the Holy Spirit
4. Miracles
We do not produce miracles. That is God's prerogative. We obey and trust His Word and Spirit and He does miracles. We are joining God in His work. But where Extraordinary prayer connects with obedience to the authority of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, miracles are to be expected. We do not seek miracles, rather we seek and obey God.
So these are the Spiritual critical elements of cpm. These are God's works. Soon we will focus on the elements that we might call the Strategic elements, the principles for the church planter.
I was taking the Perspectives class, from the U. S. Center for World Missions, as an intensive class in June of 2005. (Incidentally, if you have never taken the Perspectives course, please go to Perspectives.org and find a class near you. It will be the most important next step in your preparation for mission ministry). On the 4th day of the class (I think) the teacher was deeply involved in cpm ministry in West Africa and the miracle stories he told, including of resurrections from the dead, got my attention as did the phenomenal church planting results. WME was already attempting to do some form of cpm (we helped plant 212 churches between 2000 and 2008 with our old paradigm). However, we were not seeing the "movement" part becoming a reality. The combination of stories of massive multiplication and the testimonies of great miracles set my heart on fire. That began the quest that led me and WME to where we are today.
In a trip to West Africa in 2006 to visit an ongoing cpm, I met a woman who had been raised from the dead! She had been a Muslim, and died on the day that a trained church planter entered her village. Sensing an opportunity from God, he asked permission to pray for her and when it was granted, persistent prayer saw results. God raised her from the dead! 2 Muslim villages turned to Christ because of this 1 miracle.
So I knew that miracles are frequent accelerators of cpm.
However, in all my research and training on cpm, I do not believe that I had heard Miracles listed as a critical element. I do believe that it had been listed as a characteristic of most cpms.
So when I read it as a part of the list of critical cpm elements in Bob Roberts' book as listed in the first September article on this blog, I was surprised. I am not sure that all practitioners of cpm would agree that it should be there.
But let me say that as I have thought about it, I agree that it should. For one thing, salvation itself is a miracle of God. Secondly, cpm itself is a miracle. No human strategy can produce cpm. It is the work of God and in this we join Him. Thirdly, I must admit, I have never heard of a cpm occurring anywhere in which supernatural miracles of healing, supply, protection, or other kinds did not occur. The miracles are demonstrations of God's power and proof that it is His work. This element belongs with the three that we have previously discussed as the Spiritual critical elements. They are:
1. Extraordinary Prayer
2. The Authority of the Word of God (Scripture)
3. The Authority of the Holy Spirit
4. Miracles
We do not produce miracles. That is God's prerogative. We obey and trust His Word and Spirit and He does miracles. We are joining God in His work. But where Extraordinary prayer connects with obedience to the authority of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, miracles are to be expected. We do not seek miracles, rather we seek and obey God.
So these are the Spiritual critical elements of cpm. These are God's works. Soon we will focus on the elements that we might call the Strategic elements, the principles for the church planter.
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