Starting Church Planting Movements in the USA

In 2020, while serving on the staff of Greater Orlando Baptist Association, I hosted an online training event with Dr. David Garrison on starting Church Planting Movements in the United States.

CPM's focus on starting small, rapidly reproducing churches with little to no money. They usually meet in places that do not require the church to own a building or pay rent. Their pastors are often volunteers who take care of their own living expenses through employment in jobs outside of the church. 

This video is a part of our online curriculum on Becoming a Multiplying Church Leader, which is a free online course that anyone can take to learn how to multiply disciples, leaders, small groups and churches. 

What is Obedience-Based Discipleship?

Church Planting Movements (CPMs) are movements of God where churches multiply rapidly - reaching to four generations in less than two years. Reports are coming in from all over the world where Christian churches are seeing rapid multiplication.  Multiplication of churches stems from the multiplication of leaders, which comes from the multiplication of disciples. We see this occurring in the New Testament and in various parts of the world today. 

There are many common characteristics of church planting movements and they have been well documented. However, one characteristic that appears to be common in areas where there is rapid church multiplication is obedience-based discipleship. 

Obedience-based discipleship is a method of discipleship that focuses on teaching people to obey the Bible, rather than simply teaching them Bible content. This approach is based on the belief that true discipleship is not just knowing about Jesus, but following Him in every area of our lives.

Obedience-based discipleship often results in the multiplication of disciples, leaders and churches. In the Great Commission, Jesus commanded us not only to make disciples, but we are to be about "teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:20). When we move from knowledge-based discipleship to obedience-based discipleship, we begin to see the 30, 60, 100 fold kind of fruit that Jesus talked about in Mark 4:20.

If you are interested in learning more about obedience-based discipleship and church multiplication, sign up for our free online course, "Become a Multiplying Church Leader" and see for yourself at: 

https://www.reach.mba/obedience-based-discipleship

Why Church Multiplication is Important

What would your church look like if every follower of Jesus was involved in making disciples who made disciples? Can you imagine a day when all of the leaders in your church actively enlisted and developed new leaders? What if your church had so many leaders that you had to send some of them out to revitalize and plant other churches in order for them to continue developing spiritually? Can you imagine the impact on global evangelism and missions if every church was sending people to the mission field? This isn't a dream, it is a Biblical expectation. Church multiplication is both prescriptive and descriptive in the Acts of the Apostles and early churches in the New Testament.  

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” - Mark 4:20 ESV

When we look at churches in the New Testament, we see that they made disciples who made disciples, developed leaders who developed leaders, and planted churches who planted churches. 

But the word of God increased and multiplied. - Acts 12:24 ESV

In the Great Commission passage of Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus instructed his disciples to make more disciples. In Acts 13, the church in Antioch sent out leaders to spread the Gospel further and to start more churches. In Ephesians 4:12, Paul instructed the church in Ephesus to build up the body of Christ by preparing the people for the work of the ministry. 

and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. - II Timothy 2:2

In the letter to the Colossians, Paul is writing to people that he did not know in a church that he did not start. We understand from the context in chapters 1 and 4 that Paul heard about this church from a disciple named Epaphras.  Evidently the church in Ephesus sent Epaphras to Colossae to preach the Gospel and start a church there. Then, the Colossian church started churches in Hierapolis and Laodicea.

This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Acts 19:10 ESV

It is clear that the New Testament pattern is for church leaders to train new disciples of Jesus to obey His command to take the Gospel to all people groups everywhere. Church leaders also developed more leaders who served in the local churches and were also sent to spread the Gospel and plant churches in other places.  The church in Ephesus was so effective in following the instructions of Paul that they were able to reach everyone in their entire region with the Gospel as reported in Acts 19:10.

According to a study conducted by LifeWay Research, only 7% of the churches in America are practicing Biblical multiplication (You can download the report by clicking here).