NK Investigative Report 2001

Defining a Church Planting Movement

from Chapter 3 of "Re-examining North Korea Missions" by David Lee, download entire thesis (185k, pdf)

Chapter 3:
A Strategy for Church Planting in North Korea

In this chapter the writer presents a strategy for a church planting movement as the most effective strategy for North Korea mission work. Chapter 3 argues that a church planting movement can be seen as the paradigm for a mission strategy in regards to North Korea and unite dispersed mission efforts under one banner. An attempt will be made here to define a church planting movement, apply a church planting movement as a strategy to North Korea, and offer short-term, as well as long-term, strategies for mission efforts. Chapter 3 addresses the question, "What is the most effective mission strategy for North Korea?"

A. Defining a Church Planting Movement

The first step in bringing mission strategy under the paradigm of church planting is to define a church planting movement-its background, definition, biblical basis, and characteristics.

1. Background

In the 1980s many involved in the task of world evangelization asked the question, "What would God have us do?"; it drove many to conclude that the true fruit of mission work is the fruit of the indigenous church. Thus, the focus of missions turned to evangelization that results in churches. However, in the 1990s world evangelizers were asking another question - "What's it going to take to get the job done?" With the millennium approaching, many were anxious to complete the Great Commission before the year 2000. The world was already divided into people's groups that needed to be evangelized, but there was uncertainity as to the method to reach them. The overriding conclusion has been a church planting movement for each unreached people's group.

2. Defining a Church Planting Movement

A church planting movement is a rapid and exponential multiplication of indigenous churches within a population segment (people, city or country). A church planting movement implies the rapid growth, expansion and mulitiplication of churches until a whole people has access to the gospel. Oftentimes, a church planting movement begins exogenously (of external origin such as by a missionary) but becomes indigenous and self-propagating. It is lay-intensive. It is not dependent upon buildings or facilities, and it tends to be messy both in form and doctrine.
Church planting movements are characterized by local initiative, discipleship, mentoring of leaders, families and homogenous groups coming to faith in Christ, the establishing of local churches and their expansion to begin more churches. This spontaneous expansion goes far beyond what can be strategized at the beginning. Missionary Ronald Allen explained this spontaneous expansion of the church as follows:

I mean the expansion which follows the unexhorted and unorganized activity of individual members of the Church explaining to others the Gospel which they have found for themselves; I mean the expansion which follows the irresistible attraction of the Christian Church for men who see its ordered life, and are drawn to it by desire to discover the secret of a life which they instinctively desire to share; I mean also the expansion of the Church by the addition of new churches.

3. The Biblical Basis for a Church Planting Movement

The express purpose of the early church was to see local churches planted in ever increasing number all over the known world. It was their biblical mandate inspired by the Holy Spirit. First, a church planting movement has a Spirit-empowered commission. This missionary burden for the planting of the church was born of the Spirit. Robert Coleman states the goal of Acts 1:8: "He intended to save out of the world a people for Himself and to build a church of the Spirit which would never perish." The Spirit is the One who took charge and empowered the early witnesses. And the Spirit of God is continuing to drive His people to plant new churches throughout the world. Second, a church planting movement is a Spirit-impelled witness. The Spirit impels us to witness. Further, the Spirit impels people in a church planting movement to witness and plant churches which will multiply themselves and extend the witness of their living Lord. Third, a church planting movement results in a Spirit-gifted community. The Spirit gives us a scriptural burden for fellowship (2 Pet. 1:1) and through that fellowship, nurturing and sharing, a motivation to grow and establish other new churches results. Missiologist David J. Hesselgrave states that the primary mission of the church "is to proclaim the gospel of Christ and gather believers into local churches where they can be built up in the faith and made effective in service, thereby planting new congregations throughout the world."

4. Marks of the Contextualized Church

Churches that are a result of church planting movements display the marks of a contextualized church. The four basic elements which make the church contextualized are: self-propagation, self-support, self-government, and self-theology.

First, a truly contexualized church must be self-propagating. In a successful church planting movement it is not enough that one church is planted. Rather, the established church must, in turn, reach out to its neighbors, grow, and create new churches.

Second, a contextualized church must be self-supporting. If a church established by a missionary continues to be dependent on mission offerings, the church will never gain the dynamic independence needed as a local church.

Third, the contextualized church must be self-governing. New converts must learn the responsibility of making their own decisions regarding church issues. Also, to place the responsibility of government upon the local church allows it to free itself from the domination of foreign missionaries and to follow a native style of administration and evangelization.

Fourth, the contexualized church must be self-theologizing. The church must be relevant to the culture and prophetic within the society. It should be able to interpret the Bible to meet the needs of the people.

5. A Church Planting Movement as a Strategy

One of the underlying premises of a church planting movement is that it cannot be controlled. It is an act of God's Spirit moving where churches are being multiplied even faster than one could plan or strategize. However, to do nothing would be as great a mistake as thinking that one could fabricate or plan up a church planting movement. Thus, in devising a strategy for a church planting movement the role of the missionary is to be a catalyst used by God to spark and nurture church planting movements.

As missionaries serve to facilitate church planting movements, it is essential that they uphold principles for an effective strategy. The International Mission Board (IMB) has summarized some of these basic principles as follows:

1. The gospel must be introduced in the language, forms of thought, and culture of the people.
2. Indigenous methodologies must be followed if the church is to have the freedom to expand exponentially without depending on outside support.
3. Local leaders must be discipled and trained to lead their own people.
4. Churches must be taught to carry out the missionary task in their own culture and other cultures.
5. Factors within the culture must be evaluated and strategies devised to take advantage of the unique opportunities presented among each people group.
6. The missionary must keep a low profile and be a servant to the local leadership to empower them to lead the movement.
7. The Holy Spirit must be active and at work in the people who receive the gospel to develop them in Christlikeness and give them a vision of His mission to reach all the peoples of the world.
8. The gospel flows most easily through homogenous units and especially people groups who identify the personnel as being "one of us."
9. Cooperation among evangelical groups greatly enhances the growth of a church planting movement.
10. A continual focus on bringing lost persons to faith in Christ is absolutely necessary to sustain the movement.
11. Research and methodology influences the movement although it is not the cause of it.

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