Are Movements Still Happening?
The movements of people to Christ in South Asia over the past two decades is truly a work of God. This region is wedged beneath the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush and includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Thirty years have passed since the International Mission Board (IMB) was first compelled to reckon with unprecedented growth in the region in its 1994 annual report.
Twenty years have passed since David Garrison published Church Planting Movements, which is based on his committee’s research into those reports out of South Asia. His published findings validated that reporting and found that there was indeed a massive movement of people to Christ in the region. These new believers were being discipled to obey the commands of Christ and formed into churches that planted multiplying churches. Though he was certainly not the first to do so, Garrison called this phenomenon “church-planting movements.” His definition is as follows: “A Church-Planting Movement is a rapid multiplication of indigenous churches planting churches that sweeps through a people group or population segment.”
David Watson offers a quantitative element to the definition: “An indigenously led Gospel-planting and obedience-based discipleship process that resulted in a minimum of 100 locally initiated and led churches, four generations deep, within three years.”
Bruce Carlton emphasizes the primacy of the Holy Spirit in his definition: “A church-planting movement is a Holy Spirit-controlled process of a rapid multiple reproduction of indigenous churches among the specific people group so that every individual within that people group has the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news of Jesus Christ.”
This blog post will use the following modified definition of a Church-Planting Movement (CPM): A Holy Spirit-controlled process of rapid multiplication of disciples and churches among a population segment, resulting in four streams of fourth-generation churches and a locally-owned missionary task. Any reference to CPM going forward will refer to phenomena that fall under this definition. To further define terms, the term worker will often be used to describe anyone, including missionaries doing cross-cultural evangelism, disciple-making, church planting, and leadership development in and around the region.
Over the past 20 years, there has been much discussion, particularly in Baptist circles, about the healthiness or helpfulness of movement paradigms (e.g., CPM). These discussions have been robust, voiced from pulpits, conferences, podcasts, books, and have even led to the formation of new organizations. This blog is simply to acknowledge the continued existence of the CPM phenomenon in South Asia and to analyze its contemporary distinctives. I will seek to identify ways in which these South Asian movements are similar and the ways in which they have changed in the past 20 years. Simply put: What’s new (or not) in church-planting movements?
Movements in South Asia Circa 2004
The missiological conversation around what is now called CPM germinated in South Asia in the 1990s, resulting in significant internal dialogue and research at the IMB, after which Garrison published Church Planting Movements in 2004. In the months before the book was published, IMB was tracking seven active (and 42 emerging) CPMs in the world. As Garrison documents, these included three in India: one in Madhya Pradesh, another among the Bhojpuri (of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh), and one more among the Kui (of Odisha). At that time, there were only a handful of confirmed CPMs in South Asia, but the numbers were significant.
According to the IMB researchers who assessed the Bhojpuri movement in 2000, the lowest estimates indicated there were 50,000 baptisms that year alone and around 250,000 believers in 3,277 churches. Likewise, the Kui people were seeing a church planted every 24 hours in 2001. By 2004, it was clear that God was doing something extraordinary in South Asia.
From these three movements and others, Garrison and the IMB distilled what they concluded to be 10 characteristics of every CPM they encountered. Those universals are:
Extraordinary prayer
Abundant evangelism
The intentional planting of reproducing churches
The authority of God’s Word
Local leadership
Lay leadership
House churches
Churches planting churches
Rapid reproduction
Healthy churches
Others, such as Steve Smith and Curtis Sergeant, claim signs and wonders as a characteristic of every CPM they encountered. According to Carlton, Garrison may have excluded signs and wonders as a concession to fellow Southern Baptists who were sensitive to such a claim. Additionally, regarding these CPM characteristics, Carlton warns against what he sees as a tendency to view these characteristics as prescriptive when they ought only to be viewed as descriptive. These few quantitative and qualitative data from around 2004 will now serve as the frame of reference for comparison with contemporary CPMs in South Asia and their distinctive.
Movements in South Asia in 2024
Quantitative Trends
The number of professions of faith, baptisms, and church starts from missionary work in South Asia continues to stun even after 20 years. Though numerous mission organizations are now focused on disciple-making and church planting in this region, surprisingly few seem to have the caliber of granular quantitative reporting like IMB. Each year, IMB publishes its Annual Statistical Report (ASR), a high-level quantitative report that highlights their work by region. Were these numbers to include the total impact of all evangelical missions organizations in South Asia, the figures would be much higher. The table below contains the annual statistics for the past four years of solely IMB data for the Subcontinent.
In 2022 alone, there were almost a quarter million Gospel shares. That number averages to about 628 Gospel shares for every day of the year. From those shares, 115,317 repented and believed in Christ. That averages out to about 316 new believers per day. The number of church starts is just as remarkable: 19,244 for the year, or around 52 per day.
Just like in the early 2000s, explosive numbers like these were cause for both celebration and concern back at the home office in Richmond, Virginia. Some seem to have had concerns about the soundness of the ecclesiology while others were suspicious of the soundness of the methodology. A team of three IMB trustees, including Andrew Davis, was dispatched in March 2022 to assess a particular segment of that work. In a journal article Davis wrote after his visit he clearly affirms that those IMB teams and their national partners “have been instruments in a remarkable work of God unlike anything else reported all over the IMB.” He adds that “converts were coming in like wildfire” and that these new churches were growing toward health. For any Southern Baptists who were asking for verification of authenticity and soundness in the work and its results in South Asia, Davis’s endorsement surely provided it.
Other confessionally conservative, evangelical missions organizations have seen similar phenomenal statistics up to the present. In a recent interview with J, a missionary who has lived and labored in India for over 10 years, he estimated that in his networks there are currently 25,000 churches being coached by eight national leaders across Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Similarly, R has been working in South Asia for the past seven years and has seen the number of believers in his networks double year-on-year over the past two years, with approximately 120,000 new believers in 2023. Both J and R find it difficult to assess the number of active CPMs in the region due to such explosive growth. It is clear, however, that each of their national partners is seeing exponentially more than four streams of churches to the fourth generation. These national partners’ teams have evangelized across numerous population segments who have subsequently come to faith and been gathered into local churches.
Qualitative Trends
Little has been formally published on the qualitative distinctives of contemporary CPMs, and that which has been published in print or online is not descriptive, but largely polemical. For that reason, interviews with workers with current ground knowledge who have witnessed CPM phenomena are necessary to get a clearer picture of realities in the region. In this section, there will be summary highlights from five interviews with workers associated with South Asia, all of whom are actively leading, teaching, and coaching work in South Asia in one form or another. The following were the interview questions:
What is the definition you are using for CPM?
What are the current practical distinctives within CPMs?
What are the current theological distinctives within CPMs?
What is the role of the outsider in current CPMs?
Interview with J
The first interviewee, J, is leading the Ignite Network in South Asia, which has witnessed explosive growth in conversions, churches, and leaders over the past 10 years, as detailed above. J defines CPM as both rapid and continual multiplication of churches across at least four streams to the fourth generation within a three-year span. He highlighted that CPM is not the focus of the work, however. Rather, Gospel saturation is the goal. The simple obedience of every disciple proclaiming the Gospel results in massive seed sowing (i.e., Gospel proclamation), which is a part of the DNA of discipleship for the leaders in this network.
When asked about practical distinctives, J listed the following: radical prayer and fasting, abundant seed sowing, decentralization of authority, steadfastness in persecution, peer coaching and mentoring, modeling everything, doing everything simply and reproducibly, intentional planting of house churches, and “go and tell and gather” instead of “come and see and gather.”
Garrison offered 10 characteristics witnessed in many (though not all) CPMs.28 J affirmed several of these characteristics across his networks, such as a climate of uncertainty in their society, a high cost for following Jesus, bold fearless faith, rapid incorporation of new believers, worship in the heart language, and divine signs and wonders (which happen often but not everywhere). J offered a short list of theological distinctives, namely: the headship of Jesus, the authority of God’s Word, and the priesthood of the believer.
In J’s view, the role of the outsider has shifted and evolved over the years. First, the insider/outsider paradigm is still considered essential and beneficial to Kingdom advance. In recent years, the outsider has played more of a role in coaching, casting vision, and catalyzing new work in place of simply being the frontline evangelist. Additionally, there is more consensus on a 1-3-9 paradigm of leadership development. Instead of one outsider focusing on one main national partner and that national partner focusing on one main leader, the 1-3-9 principle is derived from the model Jesus displayed by making significant, special investments in three disciples (i.e., Peter, John, James; Luke 9:28-36), or from Paul’s example of focusing on a handful of emerging leaders (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1).
Interview with D
The second interviewee, D, is a ministry leader currently at e3 Partners Ministry, which focuses almost exclusively on disciple-making and church planting, including in South Asia.30 D defined CPM as the rapid multiplication of rapidly multiplying churches across six streams to the fourth generation. When asked about changes during his more than 20 years of field support, D shared several changes he has seen. CPMs in the 1990s and 2000s were occurring in rural settings (e.g., Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Bihar), but now they have shifted to major urban centers that, in turn, engage rural environments. Workers are calling this phenomenon “the ping pong movement.”
Practical distinctives have evolved in teaming, such as national leaders (cultural insiders) taking the lead in strategy with the expatriate workers (cultural outsiders) playing a catalytic and coaching role. This has come to be known as the “player-coach” dynamic. This dynamic is like soccer, in which the coach, who is often from a different country, is coordinating the strategy for the team, but the team’s players are the frontline actors in the game. D noted teaming has evolved from the traditional sending of individual missionary units to developing “apostolic bands,” composed of both national and expatriate workers, which execute complementary and overlapping strategies among regional people segments.
Additional practical developments include more sophisticated tracking of the progress of the work. Workers tracking the progress of the work can now use one of several cloud-based databases with a graphical user interface (GUI).31 Many workers, like those connected with the No Place Left coalition, track their work using a paradigm of Great Commission progress, called “seven phases.” The seven phases are: (1) adoption, (2) Gospel engagement, (3) baptized believers, (4) church gathering, (5) churches reproducing, (6) churches multiplying, and (7) sustained Gospel presence. D stated that he sees a growing inter-organizational consensus around ecclesiology as well. Recent multi-organizational meetings of both national and expatriate leaders on ecclesiology built consensus around four key elements: headship of Christ, regenerate church membership, sufficiency and authority of Scripture, and the priesthood of all believers.
Interview with J2
The third interviewee, J2, has served with IMB and e3 Partners in numerous parts of South Asia for the past seven years. J2 uses the following definition of CPM: a Holy Spirit-guided process of intentional church planting and disciple-making with multiple streams of fourth-generation churches and 1,000 baptisms within a three-year window. He added that this is usually on the tail end of four to seven years of effort. J2 provided the following practical
distinctives: biblical, simple, reproducing methods; low-cost or no-cost ground strategy; a participative approach to discipleship and church; recognizing lay leadership; developing leaders theologically while maintaining the priesthood of the believer; teaching theology, not jargon; and distinguishing between those pursuing only disciple-making movements (DMM) versus those pursuing church planting (CPM). J2 also expressed the view that there is growing consensus among regional workers around the following ecclesiological distinctives: the headship of Jesus, the authority of Scripture, regenerative church membership, and the priesthood of the believer.
Interview with D2
The fourth interviewee is D2, who serves with IMB in South Asia. In lieu of providing a definition of CPM, D2 emphasized that regional workers devote themselves to the core missionary task, not to pursuing CPM. The aspects of the core missionary task are entry, evangelism, disciple-making, church formation, leadership development, and exit and partnership. Though CPM may occur, it is not the main focus. Of those aspects, there is a heavy focus on local leadership development (e.g., strong local church pastors), which D2 sees as a key to church longevity among a population segment. This leadership development focuses on biblical hermeneutics, particularly in biblical theology of mission. D2 accentuates the importance of possessing a strong biblical theology of mission, which includes Pauline emulation, for both national and expatriate workers.36
Interview with Bruce Carlton
Bruce Carlton has over 30 years of missions experience, much of which was in South Asia. Like both J and D2, Carlton emphasizes that the goal of the worker is not movement, but rather the proclamation of the spoken Gospel to every person. He defines CPM as a Holy Spirit-controlled process of a rapid, multiplying reproduction of indigenous churches among a specific people group so that every individual within that people group has the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news of Jesus Christ. Carlton stresses that CPM is not a formula, but rather a Holy Spirit-controlled process that workers and missiologists have sought to describe. Additionally, he underscores the difference between a DMM and CPM. Church, not simply converts (i.e., disciples), is the goal.
Carlton shared several practical and theological distinctives for modern-day CPMs in South Asia. He assessed that Garrison’s original 10 characteristics are still present, including signs and wonders in many, though not all, movements. He shares the assessment of others that there seems to be growing inter-organizational consensus around ecclesiology and practical missiology, namely in the espousal of the Lordship of Jesus and the sovereignty of the Spirit of God in the work, the authority and sufficiency of the Scriptures, and the priesthood of the believer. As far as practical distinctives, he highlights tracking, local ownership of the work, and developing leaders. The key for Carlton in terms of leadership development is focusing on the few to reach the masses.
Collated Information and Conclusions on Distinctives
The CPM phenomenon in South Asia persists and has increased in the 20 years since Garrison originally studied it. It is clear from the IMB’s data alone that, even after over two decades, there continues to be massive quantitative growth in both newly baptized believers and churches in South Asia. This is only IMB’s data and does include data from numerous other organizations, including those of the interviewees, which are focused on the core missionary task and are witnessing CPMs in South Asia. This continuation of the phenomenon is the main quantitative observation.
Qualitatively, on the other hand, most workers continue to affirm the 10 characteristics Garrison articulated. However, the interviews provided valuable insights into the contemporary distinctives of CPMs in South Asia, revealing patterns of emphasis among leading workers in the region.
First, the working definition used in this blog post seems to be an honest representation of the various definitions of CPM given by the interviewees. Furthermore, the emphasis on the singular role of the Spirit in starting and sustaining CPMs is a shared one.
Second, a common practical distinctive is that the main focus of workers in the region is not CPM, in and of itself, but rather on the core missionary task. There is broad inter-organizational consensus among those witnessing CPMs around all aspects of the core missionary task, or what some others would label as the “Four Fields”: entry, evangelism, disciple-making, church formation, leadership development, and exit and partnership. This pattern is derived from a biblical theology of mission, which is essentially Pauline in emulation. As a result, there is a heavy emphasis on abiding with Christ in the Scriptures, prayer, and fasting; abundant Gospel proclamation; teaching obedience to Christ; the indispensability of locally-led and lay-led church, and heavy time and teaching investment in leaders. Though locally-led, the insider-outsider paradigm, which is widely practiced through the player-coach model, is still considered essential for sustained Kingdom expansion by nationals and expatriate workers alike.
Third, there have been significant technological and paradigmatic strides in targeting and tracking over the past 20 years. Thanks to technology, even workers who are geographically separated now have tools with which to track and share the progress of the work down to the village level. The “seven phases” paradigm helps to define the current stage of the work among different peoples and places. The benefit is multi-faceted, including but not limited to bolstering cooperation and deconfliction and pointing to remaining gaps in the harvest.
Fourth and lastly, there are interestingly baptistic theological distinctives being articulated by workers of various denominational backgrounds throughout the region. Those distinctives are the Lordship of Jesus, the sufficiency and authority of God’s Word, regenerate church membership (implying believer’s baptism), and the priesthood of the believer. There are likely several reasons for this that go beyond the space and scope of this blog post, two of which are the popular shared paradigm of Four Fields, as well as tracking tools that use “seven phases” of progress.
For any disciple of Jesus, the continued explosive expansion of the Kingdom in South Asia is exhilarating, or at least intriguing. What appears to be Holy Spirit-controlled growth is being described as CPM, and in its contemporary form is characterized by an emphasis on a biblical theology of mission, being stewarded by insider-outsider teams, tracking that is pushing to the gaps, and interestingly baptistic distinctives.
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