14 Pioneer Church Planting

Studying this lesson will help you:

• Describe why church planting among unreached peoples is difficult, feasible, and crucially important.
• Describe “conglomerate” churches formed by “extraction” evangelism and evaluate their potential for multiplying.
• Explain how people-specific church-planting efforts can, in Christ, lead toward brotherly relationships.
• Use the C-Spectrum to compare different Christ-centered fellowships.
• Define syncretism and describe why it is a necessary risk to plant culture-affirming, Christ-honoring churches.
• Distinguish three kinds of Christward movements: people movements, church-planting movements, and insider movements.
• Explain why some choose the identity of a “Christ follower” and not a socioreligious identity that labels them as a “Christian.”

Now we come to the strategic heart of this course. The plight of unreached peoples is not just that they have not heard the gospel. The real tragedy is that they have never seen how Christ can be followed by their own people without committing what amounts to cultural suicide. In their culture, there is no indigenous church. The salt and light of God’s kingdom do not touch their communities. This lesson is about how to bring about the all-important beginning, what we call the missiological breakthrough.

Recall the image of the gospel being brought as a seed to new soil and being allowed to bear fruit indigenous to the new culture. To push the analogy a step further, pioneer church planting aims to nurture entire groves of such living expressions of Christ’s kingdom. The new churches bear the same fruit of Christ’s character, but usually on stalks and branches of social customs that appear quite different from the missionary’s home culture.

We’ll face two key issues about pioneer church planting. First, some take issue with the practice of encouraging a new church movement to express the cultural identity of a single people group. Some have looked on such people-specific churches as exclusive or even racist. Others point to the value of penetrating many different people groups with distinct, but not divided, church movements.

Second, there are legitimate questions about some of the different cultural complexions of churches that emerge in frontier mission situations. Is it wise to encourage movements of new believers to follow Christ without affiliating themselves with what people would recognize in the West as a church structure? Is it possible to be a follower of Christ without taking on the label “Christian”?

We must have God’s wisdom about how to work together as His global people to work fruitfully in our complex world. There may be somewhere between five and seven thousand people groups in which there has never yet been a fruit-bearing implanting of the gospel. Every one of them will be different in some way. There is no standard plan or formula. To find fruitful ways to accomplish this work, we learn what we can from contemporary case studies of pioneer church planting.

I. A Church in Every People

Donald A. McGavran makes the surprising statement that “it is usually easy to start one single congregation in an unchurched people group” (p. 425). What is truly difficult but essential is planting not one church but a cluster of growing churches that reflect the cultural soul of the society. This missiological breakthrough is so crucial that McGavran states that the goal for mission should be to plant a cluster of growing congregations “in every unchurched segment of humankind” (p. 425).

A. Conglomerate Churches and Extraction. Consider McGavran’s description of how “conglomerate” churches are gathered. He calls it the “one by one out of the social group” method (p. 426). He uses the word “extraction” for the practice of urging an individual or family to divorce themselves from their family and culture to follow Christ. Extraction comes about when missionaries or nearby churches pull a new follower of Jesus toward a foreign or Christianized subculture. Alternatively, extraction can take place when members of the local culture ostracize or “squeeze out” new followers of Christ from their society. Either way, the new Christ followers are extracted from their family and friends. The emerging movements to Christ invariably slow down and often entirely freeze. The churches that result from evangelism by extraction are “sealed off” from the culture instead of permeating the entire people group with the life and message of Christ.

B. Seven Principles for Beginning Christward Movements. Each of the following principles could be expanded with libraries of research and illustration. You’ll find that some of them review what you’ve covered in earlier parts of this course. Seek to understand these principles well enough to identify when or how they are being implemented in the case studies that we will read later as part of this lesson.

1. Aim for a Cluster of Growing Churches. Always aim to plant a movement of multiple congregations. When there are several congregations, there is a rich web of friendships and supportive relationships that can withstand outbursts of hostility from those who oppose the movement. A cluster of congregations can more clearly display what it means to follow Christ in many different settings and sites.

2. Concentrate on One People Group. Missionaries should aim to draw new followers of Jesus from one segment of society. It may be those who have an affinity for one another based on shared interests, activities, or occupations. As the church forms, it will have a “built-in social cohesion” in which “everybody feels at home.” The sense of belonging is far more crucial to many than what many Westerners realize.

3. Encourage New Followers to Remain with Their People. Encourage every participant in the new church to remain in close contact with his family and friends.

• Trophies of Extraction Evangelism? Missionaries should be dismayed when new followers of Jesus are cast out from their families. Instead, some missionaries have commended the new believer for “paying the price” to follow Jesus. Social exclusion may take place, but severance from one’s people should never be reckoned as a standard price for following Jesus.
• Patiently Bear Disfavor. McGavran recommends coaching new followers of Jesus to aspire to exemplify all their society’s ideals. To do this, they must retain ties and identity with their people. This can be more costly than accepting the status of an outcast.
• Retain Most Cultural Practices. There are areas where new followers of Jesus cannot remain one with their people, such as idolatry or obvious sin. But in most matters, they can continue to embrace the values and practices of their people.

4. Encourage Group Decisions for Christ. Group decisions can bring about a “critical mass” of new believers who can stand together, resist mild or severe ostracism, and more likely present an effective invitation to the rest of their people to join them. McGavran suggests delaying baptism until there are large enough numbers to withstand ostracism.

5. Aim for a Constant Stream of New Followers. Why would missionaries ever fail to aim for a steady stream of new believers? It’s quite common. There is a window of time during which new believers have great power to persuasively tell their story. Missionaries often fail to maximize this optimum time by preoccupying these potential new messengers with teaching. Of the two “evils” of too little teaching or a sealed-off community, the missionary should always try to keep new believers in life-giving contact with their community. The brief period of instruction that Paul offered to churches shows that the Holy Spirit can be trusted to bring people out of darkness into light.

6. Help New Followers Exemplify the Highest Hopes. Pioneer church planting is successful when the churches have “witnessed” (as defined in lesson 5) in such a way that the value of following Christ can be observed. The church should aspire to surpass the ideals of their society. Every feature of noble character and wisdom that the people group has valued can probably be found in Christ. The new churches must realize that they exemplify the hope and destiny of their people.

7. Emphasize Brotherhood. God often takes many years to transform complex societies. McGavran recommends celebrating brotherhood, or familial relationships, in new churches from the first moment. We look forward to future times when God will bring about truly transformed societies in which the antagonism of class and race is overcome.

• Celebrate Equality within Imperfect Social Institutions. All persons are equal in Christ. However, the initial thrust of the gospel is not necessarily the challenge to evil social institutions.
• Obedience to Christ in Every Segment of Society. The best way to achieve reconciliation among the peoples of the earth is to see many from every segment of society and people introduced to an obedient relationship with Christ. Under Christ’s lordship, genuine brotherhood, justice, goodness, and righteousness can be increased.

II. Learning a Different Way: Two Case Studies Helping a movement form where there has never been a following of Christ is a daunting task. Read and compare two stories of church planting among unreached people groups. Both began with failure. But the church planters were persistent and eager to learn, and God intervened to help them find a different approach. In both stories, significant movements are still growing today.

A. A Movement of God in a Graveyard. David L. Watson and his son, Paul D. Watson, tell the story of how David began working in an area in India rumored to be “the graveyard of missions and missionaries” (p. 471). This movement is the same one that David Garrison mentions on page 440. He and other leaders refused to believe the explosive multiplication of churches that had taken place so suddenly. But the story started with costly failure.

1. Grievous Failure. The reputation of that area of India being a graveyard of missions seemed ominously real. After working for more than a year to plant one start-up church, six national coworkers had been martyred. Watson was ousted from the country. In despair, he asked God to show him how to get the task done. Watson turned to God’s word, and God showed him some new ideas and patterns.

2. New Ideas. Our short case study doesn’t list all that Watson learned, but you’ll find three principles that he and his Indian coworkers discovered while working among the Bhojpuri people.

• Persistent Prayer. The amount of prayer driving the movement surprised Watson.
• Obedience-Oriented Discipleship. Watson found that the movements sustained the most remarkable growth when people were encouraged to read Scripture (or have it read to those who were illiterate), to obey Christ in whatever they learned in Scripture, and to share what they were learning and obeying with others. The cycle of hearing, obeying, and sharing developed mature believers rapidly.
• Person of Peace. Watson found that following Jesus’s instruction in Luke 10 about finding a person of peace enabled the gospel to multiply rapidly within existing family and community networks.

B. Learning the Hard Way. T. and R. W. Lewis attempted to plant churches in North Africa by contextualizing the forms and styles of their gatherings made up of individual believers from different parts of the city.

1. Early Success Turns to Failure. Even though they had used forms that were familiar, those who gathered did not recognize each other as a family. The believers had little in common. The initial gathering collapsed, as did just about every other gathering in that area. They attempted one other strategy: They tried to gather people of the same people group. This was an even more remarkable failure. What they had planned to do seemed easy to accomplish, but it was actually very hard.

2. God Showed a Different Way. God overhauled their concept of church by surprise. Entirely unexpectedly, a letter from two brothers, who had recently come to faith in Christ through a Bible correspondence course, asked for someone to visit them in their home in a remote town. When the worker arrived, the house was packed. The entire network of family and friends eagerly received the gospel and pledged as a group to follow Jesus. Decades later, this movement continues to grow. Like David L. Watson, the Lewis family turned to the Scriptures and found principles for what they were seeing.

• Believing Does Not Require Leaving. From John 4, they observed how Jesus refused to allow the gospel to be rejected because the Samaritan woman thought that she had to join the Jewish religion. The Samaritans welcomed Jesus within their community. They called Jesus “the Savior of the world” (4:42) in part because they found that they could become true worshipers without leaving their community.
• Person of Peace. From Luke 10, they saw that Jesus instructed His disciples to work within the communal structures by looking and waiting for key people to invite them into their households.
• A Church Born within a Natural Community. Instead of attempting to gather individual believers and form them into family-like fellowships, God showed them how to plant the gospel as a movement within existing households and communities.

III. One Insider Movement Starts Another

Rick Brown recounts the story of two movements to Christ. The story that follows contains some dramatic supernatural work of God. Note that missionaries did not play a part in the miraculous portion of the story. As you read, pay attention to two things: the community-oriented relationships of the followers and the identity of the followers.

A. Community. The followers remained in their family and community relationships. Respected key leaders helped many commit themselves to follow Christ. They did not form any new institutions or structures that could be considered anything like church gatherings, programs, or buildings. They continue as simple “house church” movements, regularly reading the Bible in a language without foreign-sounding vocabulary and grammar.

B. Identity. They were baptized openly as followers of Jesus and made no secret that they had put their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. But the followers of Christ felt no need to change their religious identity from Muslim to Christian.

IV. Contextualizing Christ-Centered Communities

John J. Travis describes the recent phenomenon of expressions of following Jesus that are not declarations of a religious identity but instead are clearly loyal to the person of Jesus. He developed a spectrum of six different types of Christ-centered communities that Muslims either join or form when they begin to follow Jesus.

He is careful to refer to these entities as “fellowships” rather than churches, since Muslims generally associate the word “church” with a place of religious identity. Travis calls it the “C-Spectrum.” This spectrum refers to the identity of those in these communities of faith, not the identity of missionaries who work among Muslims.

The C-Spectrum begins with the C1 fellowships, which are traditional church gatherings, and extends to the C6 fellowships, which are underground, secret gatherings. He developed the spectrum as a tool to clearly describe the phenomenon of Muslims following Jesus. The spectrum is not intended to promote any one of the six types.

V. Contextualization and Syncretism

The gospel has already been likened to a seed that must be planted in the soil as opposed to a potted plant to be transported. Charles H. Kraft extends the illustration to help us understand how the churches that result from effective gospel communication almost always seem different from the churches of the home culture of the missionary. He says indigenous churches can be likened to trees that bear similar fruit but appear much different from the “trees” of the missionaries’ homeland and culture.

A. Contextualization. Consider carefully how Kraft describes contextualization as an ongoing process instead of merely passing on or packaging a product. Contextualization may not be something that outsiders can somehow “do” to a church. Churches must emerge—and once again the botanical analogy helps—as living entities with expressions that are appropriate and relevant to the local culture.

B. Syncretism. Syncretism refers to situations in which foreign religious practices have been adopted while the deep-level worldview has not changed. Syncretism is sometimes mistakenly thought to be an extreme form of contextualization. They are actually different dynamics. True contextualization is a process of churches finding expressions that are biblically faithful and culturally appropriate. In true contextualization, there are deep-level worldview changes that relate in clear ways to the practices and articulations of belief. Missionaries can help in this process. But when outsiders attempt to impose local cultural forms, it often fails to be relevant. On the other hand, outsiders can successfully encourage local leaders to find ways to use their own cultural forms.

C. Two Paths to Syncretism. Outsiders may feel safer observing new converts acting and speaking in ways that are similar to Christian practice in their home culture. But in fact, this is the kind of situation in which syncretism is much more likely to result. Kraft describes the two most common paths to syncretism:

• Too Careless? One path is allowing the receiving people to attach their own worldview assumptions to Christian practices. External practices are imported. Internal belief structures are not changed.
• Too Careful? The other path is when sincere missionaries import both a worldview package as well as a recommended pattern of behavior. Their intent is to guard new converts from ever experiencing even a moment of theological error and to bestow upon them the great blessing of living as Western Christians do. The result is usually an isolated, conglomerate church that is perceived by the larger society as a foreign religious intrusion.

D. Syncretism, the Necessary Risk of Contextualization. Kraft says that syncretism is a constant risk when working to help bring about culturally appropriate, Christ-honoring churches. He says that it is better to meet the risk than to avoid it. He recommends that we operate with a “deep trust in the Holy Spirit” by turning the attention of new believers to the Scriptures, giving them encouragement and freedom to make biblically informed decisions. As believers learn to use the Scriptures themselves and learn to walk with the Holy Spirit, God brings about the changes He desires (reference Brian Hogan’s article “Distant Thunder” as an example of how local believers find biblical ways to solve complex behavior issues).

VI. Understanding Insider Movements

The rise of new movements of people with Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist backgrounds has brought about considerable controversy. Some of these movements have been called “insider movements.” In this course, we do not promote or advocate insider movements as the preferred approach. We do not endorse every practice that has been associated with them. To deal with the challenges of evangelizing unreached peoples in our day, it is important to have an acquaintance with these movements and an understanding of some of the underlying issues. Keep weighing the ideas in light of Scripture, especially asking what the Bible requires of communities of new believers.

If believing, repenting, and obeying Jesus Christ is a process for individuals, it can be an even lengthier, complicated process for entire families and clans. How can missionaries—outsiders by definition—encourage new movements to clearly identify with Jesus Christ in a way that is appropriate for their culture and glorifying to God? How can they help new movements read and obey the Scriptures and learn how to find and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit?

Among other issues faced by outside workers: How much or how little can or should outside workers influence these movements? To insist that new followers join Christian communities of a different culture as a requirement for salvation seems inconsistent with New Testament teaching about salvation by grace and freedom in Christ.

R. W. Lewis (the same person who told of her church-planting experience in “Planting Churches: Learning the Hard Way”) defines insider movements in terms of the dynamics of identity and community instead of what cultural forms the movements may use in their worship.

A. Two Dynamics of Insider Movements:

1. Continued Preexisting Community. The gospel takes root in preexisting social networks. No new structures are needed. Rarely are believers gathered from diverse social networks. Lewis contrasts the conventional approach of planting churches with the insider approach. Since there are no resulting new organizations established, she does not use the term “planting churches” to describe insider movements. Instead, she introduces the term “implanting the gospel.”

2. Retained Socioreligious Identity. Believers retain their identity as members of their socioreligious community while living under the lordship of Christ and the authority of the Bible.

B. Kingdom Circles: Distinguishing Religious Identity from Spiritual Identity. Lewis draws a simple diagram to distinguish between having a particular religious identity and being part of the kingdom of God through a relationship with Christ. This diagram illustrates why participating in the particular religious tradition of Christianity may not necessarily be essential to being part of the salvation and blessing of Christ. The circles illustrate what Lewis means by the expression “going through” Christianity or Judaism.

VII. Three Types of Christward Movements

At several points in the course, we’ve encountered the idea of “people movements,” made widely known by Donald A. McGavran. In lesson 13 we encountered the term “church-planting movements,” defined by David Garrison. There are obviously many similarities between these. But Garrison was careful in other writings to distinguish church-planting movements from people movements.

Now we find yet another term used to describe some Christward movements: “insider movements.” They are highly controversial and worthy of careful consideration to understand how outside workers and other churches can recognize and possibly serve these new followers of Christ.

The same two dynamics that Lewis used to define insider movements (continuing community and retaining identity) can help us to compare the kinds of movements and appreciate how God is using each of them in tremendous ways. For the most part, in each of them, most people choose to follow Christ along with their natural communities. In each of them, people embrace a new spiritual identity as Christ followers. However, how they form or join church structures, or how they change or retain socioreligious identity, does vary.

VIII. A Movement Begins

We turn to the thrilling story of how the gospel was implanted amid an entire clan in a staunchly Muslim land, as told by Ken Harkin and Ted Moore.

Examine the story, particularly taking note of the two dynamics of continuing community and retaining identity. Seeing these rather theoretical concepts played out in the drama of recent events is helpful. Look for other themes from this course found in the story. How does this movement seek to glorify the name of Christ? How is suffering a part of advancing the gospel? Who could be seen as a “person of peace” in this story? What part did prayer play? How did God intervene with supernatural power?

Conclusion of Certificate Readings for this lesson.

After studying this section you should be able to:

• Describe how the historic backdrop for questions about Christian identity has moved many to simplify their identity as people who follow Jesus.
• Describe some of the challenges and opportunities of seeing Christ-following movements among Hindu peoples.
• Describe the value of planting different churches for different people groups.

IX. A New Movement with Ancient History

Gilbert Hovsepian and Krikor Markarian tell a small part of the present-hour drama of how Persian people are following Christ.

A. Ancient Roots: From Persia to Armenia. In lesson 6, we explored how the gospel moved eastward, gaining significant followings in the ancient Persian Empire. A missionary sent from Persia was largely responsible for the gospel coming to the Armenian people. You may want to refer to the map on page 162 of the Sunquist article (ancient Persia is where Iran is today). Consider the grievous blow to the gospel when enmity between the Roman and Persian Empires devastated the Persian church. For many centuries, the Persian people have formed their sociopolitical identity within and under Islam.

B. A New Move: Armenians in Persia. Armenian believers have played a huge role in declaring the gospel in the midst of a repressive regime. The reaction to the harsh enforcement of Islamic law has brought a new receptivity. When Armenians were martyred, thousands of Iranians began to follow Christ, meeting in networked underground movements of small house groups.

C. The Complexity of Identity. For centuries, if someone in Persia/ Iran was Christian, it was assumed that they were of Armenian descent, since in their worldview, to be Persian was to be Muslim. But something unusual is taking place. Because of the antipathy toward the harsh Islamic regime, many thousands of people are hungry for an alternate identity. It is amazing to find that a new identity is becoming commonplace in some cities. Someone can be asked, “Are you a Persian Christian?” This means that within the Persian ethnic identity, there is a new identity, acceptable to many, of being a Christ follower. It is evidence of a truly indigenous, self-reproducing movement.

There are well over a million Christ followers now, supported by a fresh Farsi Bible translation and radio/ television broadcasts.

X. Christ Followers in East Africa

Aila Tasse, a Muslim-background leader from Kenya, along with Dave Coles, describes the start of movements. They quickly review the beginnings of several movements. As in other vibrant movements, the outside workers did not stay any longer than it took to help local leaders follow the person of Jesus Christ according to what they read in Scripture.

A. No Imported “Christian” Culture. These mission leaders taught people to follow Christ and, at the same time, to avoid features of Christian culture, such as music, clothing, and architecture of gathering places. In this way, they urged the people to develop their own homegrown worship style.

B. Identifying as Christ Followers. In many areas, the word “Christian” can make people stop listening. Because of this, believers call themselves “Christ followers” or “disciples,” avoiding the word “Christian.” By avoiding foreign forms of church and focusing on what Scripture reveals to them, they are making it easier for many people to convey the gospel to their friends and family. Many new movements are flourishing.

XI. Movements in the Hindu World H. L. Richard sums up the history, complexity, and hope of Christward movements in the Hindu world.

A. A World of Diverse Teachings and Practices. Richard explains why the notion of monolithic Hinduism was more of a generalization invented by Western imperialists than a reality. In fact, what is regarded as Hinduism, whether as a teaching or as a religious practice, is incredibly diverse.

B. The Complexity of Indian Society. The incredibly intricate social infrastructure of Indian society means that it is fraught with obstacles and opportunities for movements toward Christ. The history of people movements could well be only the beginning. There are a few emerging movements of Christ worshipers. They signal that there is hope for significant future movements toward Christ, which would retain family and community identities and relationships but devote themselves to obeying and worshiping Jesus Christ.

XII. Unity and Uniformity

We return to Ralph D. Winter’s important address at Lausanne in 1974. He presented what he felt to be “the most important issue of evangelism today.” It is still of vital importance decades later. He rightly turns to Scripture for wisdom on these matters. Winter points out a common presumption in American cultural Christianity that there ought to be just one national church in a country. The rest of his presentation challenges the parallel assumption that distinctive church-planting movements are divisive.

A. Unity and Liberty. The key point is that Christian unity cannot be healthy if it infringes upon Christian liberty.

1. Christian Unity is not a matter of reversing denominationalism but of celebrating a healthy diversity within the worldwide Christian church. Winter likens the church to an orchestra, with churches of different cultural backgrounds playing their different cultural instruments to the same score of the word of God.

2. Christian Liberty can be seen in the diverse congregations of Paul’s day—practicing different lifestyles regarding diet, Sabbath-keeping, and so on. Paul was determined to allow Christians to follow different Christian lifestyles. He was opposed to anyone who would try to preserve a single pattern as normative for all Christians. The gospel required diversity with regard to peripheral matters. In fact, this concern is what finally brought about his martyrdom. The gospel should not result in or preserve alienation between cultural traditions. Instead, by affirming the liberty of different segments of society to retain elements of their lifestyle that are not contrary to the gospel, these peoples are welcomed into a global Christian family. They flourish under the teaching of God’s word, which calls for the elimination of prejudice.

B. Unity Is Not Uniformity. Winter discusses why we should aim to plant different churches for different people groups.

1. The Power of Attraction. The example of a “youth church” shows the potential for unified groups attracting many other people of the same type. Such an approach is encouraged if it is recognized that the “youth” church is a means to attract many other young people. Should we use this strategy with an “ends justify the means” pragmatism? Winter says that the powerful strategic idea that more people will follow Christ if they can join their own kind of people is grounded in the firm biblical truth of Christian liberty.

2. Never Exclusion. Winter responds to the critique that churches that focus on a particular social group are thereby excluding others. The diversity of churches does not imply forced segregation. Churches have become diverse because, given the freedom to choose, people consistently seek fellowship with others most like themselves. God is not threatened by diversity—He created it. Biblical unity does not require uniformity.