Obstacles to CPM Part 3
Church Planting Movements are occuring all over the world. CPM and Insider movements to Christ, are advancing the gospel throughout the Muslim and Hindu worlds especially, and WME is working to see such a movement take place in Honduras in Central America. In a future blog, I plan to share a new potential project in Indonesia that WME hopes to facilitate. But the question on which I am focusing in this series of 3 blogs, is whether such a movement is possible in the United States or the West in general.
My answer: a resounding Yes! In fact there are groups that may be in the early stages of experiencing this right now. But where it is happening, it is outside of the organized church in the West.
There is only 1 Body of Christ, and it meets in many ways, in many churches, and many fellowships and denominations and without those structures as well. The church is comprised of those who are connected to the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Meanwhile, the local expressions of the Church are multiplied, and we thank God for this. The last thing that we should want is for every church to be the same, because there are many cultures in the West (we are no longer a melting pot, we are a Mosaic) and the multiplicity of church structures can all be relevant to bring people to Christ. And that is ALL that matters. It is not bringing people to church, but bringing people to Christ.
I say all of that so that my readers will not hear me saying that the specifics of the principles I am sharing are "right" and any deviation is "wrong". What I am doing is addressing the question that is frequently asked by people in American churches: Can CPM happen here? and by implication, How?
And in this context, I am addressing what I call "3 Stones in the Field", that will hinder cpm. So let's finish with this blog.
Stone #1: The Waning Authority of Jesus Christ in the Church
Stone #2: An Organizational, Not Organic Paradigm of the Church
Stone #3: Man's Control Vs. God's Control
I was in Africa with leaders of church planting movements from the whole continent when one of the chief leaders was speaking. This man is one of the most respected leaders of the cpm strategy on the whole continent of Africa, and was the leader of what is one of the greatest cpms worldwide in his country. He is a Strong Leader to say the least. I have been in his country and in his home church where he pastored and have seen him strongly exhort his people. I would view him as one of the greatest leaders of the Church in our day (although most of my readers will never have heard of him).
Imagine the impact of these words as they came from him on that day, addressing key cpm leaders from the whole continent: You must avoid control! Control will kill CPM! (from my memory, so the words may not be a direct quote, but they were certainly the gist, and were spoken with passion)
Even as a great leader, he was saying that the cpm in his country could not be linked to him or his leadership. He was not the Bishop or Kingpin at the top of a CPM pyramid. It was his delight that the churches planted in the far reaching villages of his majority Muslim nation, never hear of him. He would never excercise authority there. The CPM in his country would have 1 King: Jesus Christ.
David Watson, the missionary who has been so instrumental in teaching us about CPM, frequently points out that in the CPM that he helped foster in India (which now has resulted directly and indirectly in over 80,000 churches and over 3 million baptized believers) probably only 100 leaders even know him.
Let me state this as plainly as I can: this is an absolute fundamental principle. Human Control Kills CPM. As long as any cpm ministry tries to excercise control or keep a group, denomination, local church, or human leader in a place of control no cpm will ever happen. Churches that are in cpms can have leaders, fellowships, networks etc. but whenever the work is limited to that kind of thing, the cpm will stop.
Jesus addressed this kind of thing in Matthew 23: 8-12.
"But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Here (and in other places) Jesus addresses the issue of leadership. There is leadership in Church Planting Movements. In fact, leadership development in CPM is critically important. However our leaders must be "servant leaders".
In that same conference in Africa, David Watson was present. During the 3 days of the conference, it was led entirely by the African leaders. David never addressed the group, although it was he who had really trained every leader there and transmitted the vision of CPM to them. On the last day, in one of the last sessions, one of the African leaders rose and said something like, "Before we close the conference it is only fitting that we recognize the man who has really taught us and given us this vision...etc," and began to ask the group to honor David.
I was sitting near the back of the room, and David was sitting about 2 rows behind me. As the African leader began this attempt to honor him, suddenly David shouted "Call no man Father! Call no man Teacher!".
The point is that he would not tolerate being moved into any exalted position. Here is a man who has trained leaders and probably been the catylyst of the planting of 100,000 churches worldwide, refusing to be called anyone's "spiritual father". Meanwhile here in America, if someone has 15 people in a home group, he'll want to be ordained, and will have "Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist (ape)" printed on his business cards!
I said that last with tongue in cheek, but with love may I implore that here in the US we let go of this addiction to titles and position. Until we do, we will not see cpm here, or at least our ministries.
It may be that the first thing that slowed down the early church and halted the spread of the gospel through the middle ages was the direct disobedience to the command of Jesus to "call no man your father".
May I lovingly address the trend we see today of "spiritual fathering"? I would suggest that this is really a hindrance to the advance of the Kingdom of God. The constant referencing to a leader as "my spiritual father" is, I believe, unbiblical.
Jesus directly said not to do this. We should obey Him.
Some would say, but did not Paul say that he was the spiritual father of some. Are not there frequent references to this in the epistles. Let's look at this for a moment.
Who is our Spiritual Father?
Ephesians 4:6-"one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all".
Hebrews 12:9-"Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live?"
We only have one Spiritual Father and He is God. We are not to call anyone on earth our "spiritual father".
What about Paul's writings?
1 Corinthians 4:1-"Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God".
In this passage, Paul is continuing his argument that we must not argue about being of Paul or of Cephas or of Apollos. We must not divide over following certain leaders and not others. And he says basically, Here is how I want you to view me, as a slave of Christ and a steward of God's mysteries. The authority lies in Christ and his Mysteries (His Word). The whole point of 1 Cor. 1-4 is to contradict sectarian followings of leaders. He calls it carnal. Boasting in "who" we are following, "what" our denomination or church, or "who" our spiritual father is, is contrary to Paul's teaching here. That is the point he is making, and that is the context in this chapter.
Therefore, it is in that light that we must read verses 14 and 15.
"I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel."
We must see this as descriptive of function and role and not as position and title, or else we will err and end up disobeying a direct command of Jesus. Paul is saying that he performed the role of "fathering" this church, and treated them (and later on Timothy) as his "children". This is not only good, but is the way we should treat those we lead to Christ and disciple for Him. To have a relational, parenting love for those we lead to Christ is modeled for us. We take it as a responsibility and as a pattern. But it is not an office, or some permanent official relationship that demands constant reference, constant submission, and constant financial remuneration. This is to miss the whole point of what Paul writes in 1 Cor.1-4.
I share this to deal with this "stone" in relation to CPM. No movement that seeks to establish controling structures will ever see CPM. They will see CP. Church planting may happen, and may even be significant. Large networks may form and leaders may rise to the top of huge pyramids of organizations. But this will never bring closure to the Great Commission. It has not in the last 2000 years and it won't in the next 2000 years. God's work will be done, and the Great Commission will be fulfilled, but in a way that the only glory will be to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
My answer: a resounding Yes! In fact there are groups that may be in the early stages of experiencing this right now. But where it is happening, it is outside of the organized church in the West.
There is only 1 Body of Christ, and it meets in many ways, in many churches, and many fellowships and denominations and without those structures as well. The church is comprised of those who are connected to the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Meanwhile, the local expressions of the Church are multiplied, and we thank God for this. The last thing that we should want is for every church to be the same, because there are many cultures in the West (we are no longer a melting pot, we are a Mosaic) and the multiplicity of church structures can all be relevant to bring people to Christ. And that is ALL that matters. It is not bringing people to church, but bringing people to Christ.
I say all of that so that my readers will not hear me saying that the specifics of the principles I am sharing are "right" and any deviation is "wrong". What I am doing is addressing the question that is frequently asked by people in American churches: Can CPM happen here? and by implication, How?
And in this context, I am addressing what I call "3 Stones in the Field", that will hinder cpm. So let's finish with this blog.
Stone #1: The Waning Authority of Jesus Christ in the Church
Stone #2: An Organizational, Not Organic Paradigm of the Church
Stone #3: Man's Control Vs. God's Control
I was in Africa with leaders of church planting movements from the whole continent when one of the chief leaders was speaking. This man is one of the most respected leaders of the cpm strategy on the whole continent of Africa, and was the leader of what is one of the greatest cpms worldwide in his country. He is a Strong Leader to say the least. I have been in his country and in his home church where he pastored and have seen him strongly exhort his people. I would view him as one of the greatest leaders of the Church in our day (although most of my readers will never have heard of him).
Imagine the impact of these words as they came from him on that day, addressing key cpm leaders from the whole continent: You must avoid control! Control will kill CPM! (from my memory, so the words may not be a direct quote, but they were certainly the gist, and were spoken with passion)
Even as a great leader, he was saying that the cpm in his country could not be linked to him or his leadership. He was not the Bishop or Kingpin at the top of a CPM pyramid. It was his delight that the churches planted in the far reaching villages of his majority Muslim nation, never hear of him. He would never excercise authority there. The CPM in his country would have 1 King: Jesus Christ.
David Watson, the missionary who has been so instrumental in teaching us about CPM, frequently points out that in the CPM that he helped foster in India (which now has resulted directly and indirectly in over 80,000 churches and over 3 million baptized believers) probably only 100 leaders even know him.
Let me state this as plainly as I can: this is an absolute fundamental principle. Human Control Kills CPM. As long as any cpm ministry tries to excercise control or keep a group, denomination, local church, or human leader in a place of control no cpm will ever happen. Churches that are in cpms can have leaders, fellowships, networks etc. but whenever the work is limited to that kind of thing, the cpm will stop.
Jesus addressed this kind of thing in Matthew 23: 8-12.
"But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Here (and in other places) Jesus addresses the issue of leadership. There is leadership in Church Planting Movements. In fact, leadership development in CPM is critically important. However our leaders must be "servant leaders".
In that same conference in Africa, David Watson was present. During the 3 days of the conference, it was led entirely by the African leaders. David never addressed the group, although it was he who had really trained every leader there and transmitted the vision of CPM to them. On the last day, in one of the last sessions, one of the African leaders rose and said something like, "Before we close the conference it is only fitting that we recognize the man who has really taught us and given us this vision...etc," and began to ask the group to honor David.
I was sitting near the back of the room, and David was sitting about 2 rows behind me. As the African leader began this attempt to honor him, suddenly David shouted "Call no man Father! Call no man Teacher!".
The point is that he would not tolerate being moved into any exalted position. Here is a man who has trained leaders and probably been the catylyst of the planting of 100,000 churches worldwide, refusing to be called anyone's "spiritual father". Meanwhile here in America, if someone has 15 people in a home group, he'll want to be ordained, and will have "Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist (ape)" printed on his business cards!
I said that last with tongue in cheek, but with love may I implore that here in the US we let go of this addiction to titles and position. Until we do, we will not see cpm here, or at least our ministries.
It may be that the first thing that slowed down the early church and halted the spread of the gospel through the middle ages was the direct disobedience to the command of Jesus to "call no man your father".
May I lovingly address the trend we see today of "spiritual fathering"? I would suggest that this is really a hindrance to the advance of the Kingdom of God. The constant referencing to a leader as "my spiritual father" is, I believe, unbiblical.
Jesus directly said not to do this. We should obey Him.
Some would say, but did not Paul say that he was the spiritual father of some. Are not there frequent references to this in the epistles. Let's look at this for a moment.
Who is our Spiritual Father?
Ephesians 4:6-"one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all".
Hebrews 12:9-"Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live?"
We only have one Spiritual Father and He is God. We are not to call anyone on earth our "spiritual father".
What about Paul's writings?
1 Corinthians 4:1-"Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God".
In this passage, Paul is continuing his argument that we must not argue about being of Paul or of Cephas or of Apollos. We must not divide over following certain leaders and not others. And he says basically, Here is how I want you to view me, as a slave of Christ and a steward of God's mysteries. The authority lies in Christ and his Mysteries (His Word). The whole point of 1 Cor. 1-4 is to contradict sectarian followings of leaders. He calls it carnal. Boasting in "who" we are following, "what" our denomination or church, or "who" our spiritual father is, is contrary to Paul's teaching here. That is the point he is making, and that is the context in this chapter.
Therefore, it is in that light that we must read verses 14 and 15.
"I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel."
We must see this as descriptive of function and role and not as position and title, or else we will err and end up disobeying a direct command of Jesus. Paul is saying that he performed the role of "fathering" this church, and treated them (and later on Timothy) as his "children". This is not only good, but is the way we should treat those we lead to Christ and disciple for Him. To have a relational, parenting love for those we lead to Christ is modeled for us. We take it as a responsibility and as a pattern. But it is not an office, or some permanent official relationship that demands constant reference, constant submission, and constant financial remuneration. This is to miss the whole point of what Paul writes in 1 Cor.1-4.
I share this to deal with this "stone" in relation to CPM. No movement that seeks to establish controling structures will ever see CPM. They will see CP. Church planting may happen, and may even be significant. Large networks may form and leaders may rise to the top of huge pyramids of organizations. But this will never bring closure to the Great Commission. It has not in the last 2000 years and it won't in the next 2000 years. God's work will be done, and the Great Commission will be fulfilled, but in a way that the only glory will be to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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