My Top 5 Recommendations for CPM reading

One of the things that has characterized my life is reading. One of WME's missionaries, Michael Goodnight, was here at our office this month, and we were talking about hobbies etc. I told him that my only hobby was reading. I am an inveterate reader.

But until fairly recently, there were not many books that would really explain CPM strategy, results, and theory. That is probably because most people involved in CPMs are active practitioners rather than academics. Thankfully, the dearth of literature about cpm is beginning to change and here are my top 5 recommendations for those who want to know more.

1. David Watson's blog: www.davidlwatson.org I want to start here because there is such a wealth of information here that you can launch from here to learn almost everything you want to know. David Watson is, I think, the leading practitioner, trainer, and mentor in CPM. His work 20 years ago with the Budjpuri in India was really foundational to CPM as we are working with it today.

2. David Garrison's blog: www.churchplantingmovements.com This website may actually be a better introductory portal for the person who knows nothing or next to nothing about what CPM is. Garrison is the author of both the booklet, "Church Planting Movements" 1999 (available for free download at his website) and the more extensive "Church Planting Movements" 2004 (available for purchase at his website). This website will cover a bit of a broader spectrum in terms of CPM. You may start here, but please go further.

3. Dave Hunt's 2009 doctoral dissertation: "A Revolution in Church Multiplication in East Africa". It is available for download at: http://www.davidlwatson.org/2010/07/23/a-revolution-in-church-multiplication-in-east-africa/

This is perhaps the most in depth study of cpm principles available. Highly recommended.

4. Neil Cole's books: Neil talks of Church Multiplication Movements. Some differences in approach from the above will be found, but this is very valuable reading. Here are the books I recommend: Organic Church, Organic Leadership, Church 3.0

5. Alan Hirsh books: Especially "The Forgotten Ways" Hirsch is a fascinating thinker and this book gives a larger Historical context for CPM and Missional movements. More properly belonging to the "Missional" category, it has much to say to the cpm strategy.

I challenge the readers of this blog, and the supporters of WME and the HCPM project to dig into these books and online resources. Doing so will give you a greater understanding of what we are doing in Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico.

Comments

andrew said…
Having read all of the materials you recommended I totally agree with everything you said. I re-read Dave Hunt's dissertation today and it is BRILLIANT!! The principles and inspiration is all here. Now we just need to keep putting it into practice.

Andrew
Perth, Australia
November 4, 2010 at 5:06 AM
David Parish said…
Hi Andrew,
Sorry it took me so long to post your comments. I have been in Honduras the last week and just now getting back to blog work. I'd love to connect with you on facebook. Look for David Parish and my email dparish9@cs.com
November 18, 2010 at 10:43 AM
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