All By Itself
Mark 4: 26-29.
"He also said, 'This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain--first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.'"
The next biblical principle I want to highlight I am calling the "All By Itself" principle. In the last post, I looked at the parable of the sower and the 4 kinds of soil, representing the 3 fold cord of the word, understanding, and obedience which result in a harvest. This is central to the cpm strategy that we and others are using. In this next parable, Jesus said that the kingdom of God multiplies "All By Itself". What does this mean?
This is what Roland Allen called "The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church" in his powerful book many years ago. George Patterson called it "The Spontaneous Multiplication of Churches" in his important article in Perspectives. Today David Watson and others call it a " Church Planting Movement". David Garrison defines it as, "a rapid and multiplicative increase of indigenous churches planting churches within a given people group or population segment".
I want to key on the word "spontaneous" and point out that this seems to be what Jesus was talking about. He says it happens, "All By Itself". Let me share a small bit of what I think this does and does not mean.
It does mean that:
1. Church Multiplication is God's work and is supernatural. It is not something that is merely done by human effort.
2. An Organic view of the church is superior to an Organizational view.
3. The church is a life form, alive by the Holy Spirit, and it grows and multiplies like a living thing.
4. Our best strategies are therefore cooperative with God, not merely something done for God.
5. Our work is to help prepare the ground ( the previous blog) and sow the seed and then harvest when the time is right.
6. CPM strategies are working with these kinds of insights.
7. Control from outside and dependency of the new church on outside funding are 2 of the worst "crop killing" activities, and will absolutely stop cpm and spontaneous multiplication.
It does not mean that:
1. Workers do nothing. In fact, we must prepare the soil, sow the seed and conduct the harvest. But these things do not create the life or cause the growth, they cooperate with the natural life principles that are God given.
2. All outside help is wrong. While we avoid control and dependency, there is the need for appropriate cultivation. Not control, but rather key mentoring assistance when needed is fine. Not financial dependency of the new churches, but rather some funding of access ministries and initial "seeding" activities can be both appropriate and vital to getting started.
We are living in a day when the strategies that have been in the Word of God all along are beginning to find practical understanding and application and are bringing forth much fruit.
Next time I want to look at what I call the "Counter intuitive Principle".
"He also said, 'This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain--first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.'"
The next biblical principle I want to highlight I am calling the "All By Itself" principle. In the last post, I looked at the parable of the sower and the 4 kinds of soil, representing the 3 fold cord of the word, understanding, and obedience which result in a harvest. This is central to the cpm strategy that we and others are using. In this next parable, Jesus said that the kingdom of God multiplies "All By Itself". What does this mean?
This is what Roland Allen called "The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church" in his powerful book many years ago. George Patterson called it "The Spontaneous Multiplication of Churches" in his important article in Perspectives. Today David Watson and others call it a " Church Planting Movement". David Garrison defines it as, "a rapid and multiplicative increase of indigenous churches planting churches within a given people group or population segment".
I want to key on the word "spontaneous" and point out that this seems to be what Jesus was talking about. He says it happens, "All By Itself". Let me share a small bit of what I think this does and does not mean.
It does mean that:
1. Church Multiplication is God's work and is supernatural. It is not something that is merely done by human effort.
2. An Organic view of the church is superior to an Organizational view.
3. The church is a life form, alive by the Holy Spirit, and it grows and multiplies like a living thing.
4. Our best strategies are therefore cooperative with God, not merely something done for God.
5. Our work is to help prepare the ground ( the previous blog) and sow the seed and then harvest when the time is right.
6. CPM strategies are working with these kinds of insights.
7. Control from outside and dependency of the new church on outside funding are 2 of the worst "crop killing" activities, and will absolutely stop cpm and spontaneous multiplication.
It does not mean that:
1. Workers do nothing. In fact, we must prepare the soil, sow the seed and conduct the harvest. But these things do not create the life or cause the growth, they cooperate with the natural life principles that are God given.
2. All outside help is wrong. While we avoid control and dependency, there is the need for appropriate cultivation. Not control, but rather key mentoring assistance when needed is fine. Not financial dependency of the new churches, but rather some funding of access ministries and initial "seeding" activities can be both appropriate and vital to getting started.
We are living in a day when the strategies that have been in the Word of God all along are beginning to find practical understanding and application and are bringing forth much fruit.
Next time I want to look at what I call the "Counter intuitive Principle".
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