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A Church Planting Movement is "unprecedented world-wide growth" through rapid multiplication of indigenous churches planting more churches within a people group or geographic area that spread rapidly through a people group or population segment. It is an evangelical Christian approach where a church will sponsor formation of multiple spinoff churches that will themselves very quickly reproduce new churches, generally with common teachings and doctrine. It is different from traditional missions or church planting efforts in that the new churches are generally started by a lay leader from the sponsoring church and not the outside missionary. A key characteristic of an authentic church planting movement is the rapidity with which a new congregation itself starts another similar church.

History

The modern Church Planting Movement can trace its roots to the mid-nineteenth century when Henry Venn and Rufus Anderson developed the three-self formula of an indigenous missions policy. "They believed that young churches should be self-propagating, self-supporting, and self-governing from their inception." This was important as revolutions such as in China and Cuba expelled Western missionaries and churches had to rely on local pastors. However, the rapid growth of a CPM seems not to have taken hold until it began in a number of closed countries in the late 1990s.

Fox news reports, "According to China Aid, a Texas-based human rights group, the number of Christians in China has increased 100-fold since 1949. Current estimates range from 80 million to 130 million active members. And one startling estimate from a Chinese Christian businessman has that number doubling or even tripling in the next generation." In 2010, a BBC article wrote "Christianity is growing beyond its control. One day soon, Christians may even outnumber Communists."

The movement has also occurred in other parts of the world, such as Cuba, India and Africa. In India, one source noted "there has been 'abnormally high' growth of Christian population in the North-East" part of India.

Essentials

There are three key characteristics of a Church Planting Movement: it reproduces rapidly, multiplying churches, and that the churches are indigenous.

Not every large evangelistic event is a Church Planting Movement. CPMs are well-document representations of rapid growth, using rigorous study methods consisting of preparation, training, assessment, site evaluation and debriefing.

Methods

There is not a solitary method used to spark a Church Planting Movement. The Training for Trainers (T4T) method has been successful in China, while the Camel method has been used in the Muslim world. It differs from the Insider Movement in that leaders do not seek to act like indigenous persons, but simply train locals who train others within their (or closely related) people group.

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