Books
In this post, I want to recommend some resources that will be helpful concerning missions and church planting movements. I think that by recommending some books, I can help people to go deeper into the cutting edge strategies that are bearing fruit in the harvest of souls.
Let me start by recommending Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, edited by Ralph Winter and Steven Hawthorne. This book was first produced in 1981 and then revised in 1992, 1999, and just last month in January 2009. This is a large book that is a set of readings in missions by numerous authors and produced by the U.S. Center for World Missions, in Pasadena, California. It is also a 15 week course that can be taken for college credit or just a certificate and is taught in hundreds of locations in the U.S. and around the world. I had the privilege of being part of the contributing team to this 4th edition of Perspectives, by helping produce some of the study questions for the book. Perspectives, the book and the class, is the number 1 place to start learning about missions and the state of world evangelization.
By the way, in this edition of Perspectives, David Watson has an article telling the story of the Bhojpuri church planting movement, which pioneered the principles that WME is using in Honduras.
Perspectives can be ordered from perspectives.org.
Then having recommended Perspectives, let me move on to a few other books.
Next in line would be David Garrison's "Church Planting Movements", the 2004 edition. This can be obtained from churchplantingmovements.com. It is indispensable in terms of specifics about the cpm strategies around the world.
For a book that seeks to apply these principles in the U.S. context, you would want to read, "The Multiplying Church" by Bob Roberts Jr. It is published by Zondervan and can be obtained in most Christian bookstores.
Before I leave this blog, let me mention 1 business book that has been influential on my life. It is "Good to Great" by Jim Collins. Although this is a business management title, the message and principles of this book are very impacting on ministry. As the title suggests, good can be the enemy of great. One ministry that I know of, after its president read "Good to Great" and then heard the testimony of the Bhojpuri cpm, redirected the priorities and has since seen about 7000 churches planted....and this was not a church planting mission! This book will challenge you about your priorities and give practical ways to move to greatness in your work or ministry.
Well that is enough for now. I hope that you can obtain some or all of these books and I believe that if you do, it will transform your perspective and help you engage Kingdom work with greater passion and productivity.
Let me start by recommending Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, edited by Ralph Winter and Steven Hawthorne. This book was first produced in 1981 and then revised in 1992, 1999, and just last month in January 2009. This is a large book that is a set of readings in missions by numerous authors and produced by the U.S. Center for World Missions, in Pasadena, California. It is also a 15 week course that can be taken for college credit or just a certificate and is taught in hundreds of locations in the U.S. and around the world. I had the privilege of being part of the contributing team to this 4th edition of Perspectives, by helping produce some of the study questions for the book. Perspectives, the book and the class, is the number 1 place to start learning about missions and the state of world evangelization.
By the way, in this edition of Perspectives, David Watson has an article telling the story of the Bhojpuri church planting movement, which pioneered the principles that WME is using in Honduras.
Perspectives can be ordered from perspectives.org.
Then having recommended Perspectives, let me move on to a few other books.
Next in line would be David Garrison's "Church Planting Movements", the 2004 edition. This can be obtained from churchplantingmovements.com. It is indispensable in terms of specifics about the cpm strategies around the world.
For a book that seeks to apply these principles in the U.S. context, you would want to read, "The Multiplying Church" by Bob Roberts Jr. It is published by Zondervan and can be obtained in most Christian bookstores.
Before I leave this blog, let me mention 1 business book that has been influential on my life. It is "Good to Great" by Jim Collins. Although this is a business management title, the message and principles of this book are very impacting on ministry. As the title suggests, good can be the enemy of great. One ministry that I know of, after its president read "Good to Great" and then heard the testimony of the Bhojpuri cpm, redirected the priorities and has since seen about 7000 churches planted....and this was not a church planting mission! This book will challenge you about your priorities and give practical ways to move to greatness in your work or ministry.
Well that is enough for now. I hope that you can obtain some or all of these books and I believe that if you do, it will transform your perspective and help you engage Kingdom work with greater passion and productivity.
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