Extraordinary Prayer and Abundant Evangelism - Universal in Every Church Planting Movement

Les Puryear, a North Carolina Mission Planter in his blog "Joining God in His Work" reports that David Garrison who has spent years researching church planting movements in third world countries found that there are 2 universal elements to any church planting movement

The first is extraordinary prayer - not just the kinds that says "God bless our church planting efforts" but rather prayer to open the hearts of pastors, people and churches to have a passionate desire to share the Good News of Jesus with others and to plant new churches to evangelize and disciple those people.

The second is abundant evangelism. If prayer links a Church Planting Movement to God, then evangelism is its connection with the people.

"Essential to every movement is the principle of over-sowing. Just as nature requires a tree to drop thousands of seeds to produce a single sapling, or a human body to generate hundreds of eggs to yield a single baby, so it is with evangelism. In Church Planting Movements we find hundreds and thousands of people hearing the gospel every day and out of this abundant sowing, a growing harvest begins to take place."


"Conventional wisdom in the West has often taught a reasonable yet much less effective pattern of gospel transmission. "You must first earn the right to share your faith," goes the traditional model. "Once you have developed a friendship and demonstrated that you are really different, your lost friend will ask you what is special about your life. Then, you can tell them about Jesus."

I have taught this very concept myself. Garrison says this is a very western concept and not true. It certainly makes me sit up and take notice. I am still thinking about this. A passionate purveyor of Church Planting Movements denounced this Western model. "We teach that it's not about you or your earning the right to share your faith. Jesus earned that right when He died on the cross for us. Then He commanded us to tell others!"

That makes sense! It's Biblical. I still believe that I can be a more effective witness if I am willing to invest in the person as I begin to witness. That way I can share God's Word in ways that meet that person where he or she is. Also, the stronger the relationship I have with those who need to hear the Good News, the more urgent my witness becomes...because I want them to share heaven with me!

"If nature's principle of sowing abundantly to reap abundantly is true, then so is its opposite: if you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly. ( 2 Cor. 9:6) This simple truth is so powerful and yet many well-intentioned missionaries accomplish every lofty ideal except this one. To remind them of the importance of abundant gospel sowing, many successful church planters have prominently displayed a one-page sign at their workstation which reads: "How many of my people will hear the gospel today?" If there's going to be a movement, then the answer must be in the thousands."

This means that attractional programs, outstanding worship, servant events in the community, etc. can only be that which supports the personal witness of church planting pastors, launch teams and members of new missions. It also must be a core value and behavior that is not allowed to fade when the church reaches a comfortable size. What do you think?