Chapter 7: Dynamics of a CPM – Planting Rapidly Reproducing Churches

By Curtis Sergeant_,_

The principles in this chapter are gleaned from experience in planting rapidly reproducing churches in China. They were then tested through training, coaching and mentoring church planters serving in over one hundred nations, mostly working among unreached people groups.

Involve All Disciples

Life’s main purpose is to glorify God. We can do this best when we know Him most intimately and serve Him most fervently. God intends every disciple to engage in ministry. Those having the leadership gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11-12 are to equip those with other gifts to do the work of the ministry. This results in building up the Body of Christ. Every believer has a unique gifting and calling. Yet all are to be engaged in living out the Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37-40) and carrying out the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20).

If we obey the Great Commission, we will make reproducing disciples. Because part of the disciple-making process is “teaching them to obey everything I [Christ] have commanded” and the Commission itself is one of those commands. So by definition every believer should be involved in making reproducing disciples. It is a short step from this to starting reproducing spiritual communities (churches). Because we need a spiritual community to obey several of the other commands. Reproducing disciples will result in reproducing churches as a matter of obedience.

God wants to accomplish something in us: conforming us to the image of Christ. He also wants to accomplish something through us: bringing glory to His name by being a blessing to everyone. We are called to bless unbelievers by being a testimony of his grace and mercy. And we are called to bless fellow believers by encouraging, partnering, and equipping them.

Be Worth Reproducing

We should always aim to grow in our character, faith, fruit of the Spirit, and obedience. Such growth in discipleship transforms us into something worth reproducing. God doesn’t want to multiply mediocrity. So every disciple needs to spend time examining themselves and as needed, repenting. We should never be content with the level of maturity, love and faith to which the Lord has already brought us. We must always aim to more fully love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. And to more fully love our neighbors as ourselves. One way we can pursue this is to structure our spiritual communities to provide “dual accountability.” That is, accountability to obey the Lord, and accountability to share with others what we have received.

God’s spiritual economy differs from earthly economy. His spiritual economy is based on giving away what one has. God reveals to us more of Himself when we faithfully share with others what we already know of Him. He speaks to us more clearly when we obey what he has already spoken.

What, then, is the most loving thing we can do for one another? It is to hold one another accountable for obeying what we learn from the Lord and sharing it with others. This is not legalism, but love. We will do this if we truly want the best for one another. If we want the greatest spiritual blessing, insight, and deepest intimacy with our Father.

This can be done in many ways, but the simplest is my favorite. It happens at the end of each time of small group Bible discussion and prayer. Each disciple tells others in the group a specific thing the Lord is telling him/her to do. And they share who they plan to tell about the topic. The person(s) with whom they share might be an unbeliever. If so, the conversation would be pre-evangelistic or evangelistic in nature. Or the person might be a believer. In that case the goal would be to encourage or equip. The next time the group gathers, each person shares how they did in obeying what the Lord had spoken to them and sharing it with others. In such a setting, the whole group can be held accountable. They tell how they applied God’s Word in their own lives and how they passed on their insights to others. This keeps every disciple always involved in reaching the lost or helping disciple believers or both.

Rethink Leadership

Ministry is not only for the mature in Christ, but for all who follow Him. So all of us are leaders in some sense of the word. In the church, we often think of leaders just as those serving with specific gifts. Perhaps those listed in Ephesians 4:11-12 (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors or teachers) or officers of the church (bishops/pastors, elders or deacons). We tend think that leaders in the church must be mature believers. This is true of the types of leaders just mentioned. However God has given each believer a sphere of influence. A poor, illiterate housewife in the developing world can lead her children and neighbors. This type of “leadership” needs greater emphasis in the Kingdom of God today. Scripture shows the importance of informal leadership as well as formal. Note, for example, the command that a church leader “must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect” (1 Timothy 3:2-5, NIV).

I think of this type of leadership using the picture of a mother duck leading her ducklings. As they walk or swim single file, only the first duckling follows the mother duck. Each of the other ducklings follows the one in front of them in line. In order to lead a duckling like this, one does not have to be a mature duck. One just needs to be one step ahead of another duckling. Following this picture, there is only one Leader of leaders – Jesus. All the rest of us are simply ducklings. None of us are totally mature (to the full measure of the stature of Christ). We are all in process. However, this does not excuse us from God’s calling to lead those whom we can. We are called to make the most of all the leadership opportunities God gives us.

Help Shape New Believers

How can we begin a pattern of dual accountability, involving each disciple in leadership? It begins with immediately guiding new believers to evangelize their own friends and family. As soon as someone decides to repent and follow Jesus, I tell them, “It is a great blessing to bring others into a relationship with Jesus. A greater blessing is to start a new spiritual community. The greatest blessing is to equip others to start new spiritual communities. Right now I want to help you have a blessing, a greater blessing, and the greatest blessing.”

I then ask them to make a list of 100 people with whom they need to share the good news about Jesus. I ask them to select five to share with immediately. I teach them a fitting way to share the gospel in their conbody. I then have them practice five times. Each time they pretend they are sharing with one of the five people on their list. I do the same thing in helping them prepare to share their testimony and practice it. This process takes at least two hours, but is well worth the time. When I finish, I set a time for them to meet again with me. Then I send them out to share their faith. I tell them what to do if any of the five people they share with decide to follow the Lord. They should follow the same process I followed with them. Often one or more people come to the Lord as a result. Sometimes a new spiritual community (church) is born very quickly.

When I meet with them again, I model the dual accountability model. What if they have not shared with five people and followed up with any who responded positively? We go over the same material again and make sure they are well prepared. This sets up a pattern for their spiritual lives. More responsibility and leadership are given to those who have been faithful. This starts with the small tasks they have already practiced. Small steps are important in this process. This approach is most easily practiced in a small group setting. So if you are part of a larger church you can offer these accountability patterns as a portion of the large group meetings.

Equip for Self-Feeding

Every new disciple must be equipped to feed themselves spiritually in at least four things. These are Scripture, prayer, church life, and persecution and suffering. These are some of the main ways God grows us to maturity.

We want believers to learn to interpret and apply Scripture well. This happens most easily through teaching a series of questions to use in any Scripture study. This includes questions to help them observe, interpret and apply. Many sets of questions can be used in this way. Which to use depends on the age, education and spiritual maturity of the believers. After reading or hearing a passage of Scripture, every believer should be able to do three things. They should be able to tell what it says, what it means, and how it can apply in his/her life. They will get better at this over time. The point is to set a pattern for how they view and respond to Scripture.

Prayer is another key tool God uses to grow us into the likeness of Christ. Through prayer we speak to the Lord and hear from His heart and mind. We also minister to both believers and unbelievers. Prayer is a teaching tool and an evangelism tool. In fact, praying for unbelievers in their presence can be one of the best evangelistic tools. We could use it more often than we do. The best way to teach prayer to a new believer is by example, reinforced by studying biblical teaching about prayer.

The church is the Body of Christ.  The Bible teaches that members of Christ’s Body have diverse gifts and abilities. (See Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and 1 Peter 4.) These work together to build up the Body and bring it to maturity. This idea is strengthened by many “one another” passages in the New Testament. Scripture tells us more than fifty times to do something for one another in the Body. We need each other in order to grow.

Persecution and suffering can also bring spiritual growth. The Bible says that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). We know we have an enemy who opposes us in many ways as we follow the Lord. New believers need to understand how God works through persecution and suffering. He uses it to perfect our character, prove our faith, equip us for ministry, and provide a testimony. Knowing this before it happens can help avoid off discouragement. It can help us make the most of these opportunities rather than wasting them or responding poorly.

A believer who understands and applies these things plus dual accountability is well equipped. They can initiate an entire movement of new churches even if something separates them from their spiritual community. They have the power of the Holy Spirit and access to Scripture. That plus these basic skills can move them toward maturity and equip them to bring others along. Such a movement is hard to stop.

Use the Training Cycle

As believers increase in their competence in these areas, we must help them understand the phases of the training cycle. This will guide them as they begin work with new believers or new churches. It will help them know when and how to transition from modeling, to assisting, to watching, to leaving.  This is a natural process by which they can help others grow, as individuals and as a group.

I compare this process to teaching a child to ride a bicycle. The first step in a child learning to ride a bicycle is seeing someone else ride one. This only takes a moment, but it shows a model. In making disciples or planting churches, this can be a very quick process as well. But no matter how good the model, simply modeling will never train someone to ride a bicycle. The learner must get on the seat and begin to pedal for themselves. This brings us to the second stage.

We need to assist the beginner right away. This means the learner is “on the seat” and we hold them up. They cannot do it without us. But from the first moments, we try to reduce their dependence on us. As soon as we think they may be able to keep their own balance and momentum, we release them. We must be willing to let them fall, since it may often happen as they learn. We must not let our fear of their falling keep us from letting go. That is part of the learning process. This stage of learning lasts a bit longer than the modeling stage, but should still be kept as short as possible. I expect to get through this stage in about three months in a church planting setting. During that time, I “shadow mentor.” I meet alone with the natural leaders in the new church and model what they should do when the whole group meets together. During this period I cover the self-feeding skills mentioned earlier.

After I assist, I watch. This phase is much longer, often taking many years. But it happens at a greater distance and less often. One person can observe many churches at the same time. In the New Testament we see the Apostle Paul use this cycle. He modeled and assisted with a new church when he first entered a city. This was a very brief process in all the churches except for Corinth (eighteen months) and Ephesus (three years). The watching stage, however, lasted for many years. He visited, sent coworkers to check on things, and wrote letters. He made sure the churches practiced what they had received.

Once the basic skills have been learned, it is time for the mentor to leave. A teacher can’t always watch when someone rides a bicycle. That wouldn’t be practical or helpful and it would embarrass the rider. The same is true in spiritual learning. As soon as possible, new believers and new churches should begin producing, not just receiving. Spiritual reproduction should happen. This is one good sign that the time has come to begin moving to the next phase. Model for the first generation, then assist while they model for the second generation. Next watch for the third generation. If the other indicators look good, it is time to leave. We see Paul formally leave the Ephesian church in Acts 20:17-38. This touching scene shows when leaving is right and helpful.

Enter New Communities

New disciples and new churches also need to become more able to see where the church is not. At this point they can begin to understand how to cross cultures and other boundaries to make disciples of all nations (peoples). I use maps with known churches shown with pushpins. This can begin to make people aware of geographic gaps. Very soon I also begin to explain concepts of gaps in language, socioeconomic levels, education levels, ethnicity, and so on. This helps new believers begin to look for opportunities to reach out to people and places in the greatest spiritual darkness.

We need to model biblical approaches in ministry as well as teach them. For example, people need to understand how to look for and recognize a “person of peace” as they enter new communities. This term comes from Matthew 10 and Luke 10, where Jesus gave instructions to His disciples. A person of peace is responsive, has a circle of influence and will open the door to that circle. Going in a needy state can often uncover a person of peace as they offer help. One of my favorite ways of finding such a person is to begin a spiritual conversation. If someone show interest, I don’t just keep talking with them. I ask whether they know of others who might have interest in discussing such matters. If they do, I ask if they would be willing to gather them. If they are willing, I have quite likely found a person of peace.

Finding a person of peace is helpful in many ways. First, winning a group of unbelievers is more effective than winning individuals and then grouping them. The new spiritual communities tend to be stronger and function more smoothly. They also have higher levels of trust and mature more quickly. If we are not sure whether we have found a person of peace, we should still see if we can assist a new believer or seeker to establish a new church. They can do this among their own network of relationships rather than simply adding them to an existing church. This can happen naturally when they begin sharing their new faith with their list of 100 people who need to know the Lord. The pattern used in Acts still works well today. New believers gather in new spiritual communities with new leaders raised up from among them. Christians often just add new converts to existing churches, which hinders multiplication of disciples and churches.

Conclusion

When basic elements such as those mentioned in this chapter are combined, God often moves in amazing ways. The resulting disciples and churches are very fruitful and more resistant to false teaching. We also often see a Spirit-led push to take the gospel where it has not gone. Thus unengaged people groups around the new churches quickly gain access to the gospel. This pattern is key: involving every disciple to live out and share their faith, and lead others. We can do this with new believers by using the training cycle. This helps them learn to feed themselves spiritually. This can be done in such a way that the disciples do this beyond their own community and relationships. These simple biblical principles can do much to equip new believers to become catalysts, planting rapidly reproducing new churches.

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