Perspectives Highlights and Review: Lesson 14, Pioneer Church Planting

April 22, 2012

The key article in Lesson 14, Pioneer Church Planting is “Three Kinds of Movements” by Rick Brown and Steven C. Hawthorne and “The C-Spectrum” by John J. Travis.

A summary and discussion questions are below:

Brown and Hawthorne list three kinds of movements of people to Christ in the last century:

Insider Movements: These have two common dynamics: continuing community (care to not break with community upon faith) and retained sociopolitical identity (e.g. upon faith I’m still a Muslim, but a different kind of Muslim).
People Movements: When whole communities make a group decision for Christ and turn away from their prior religious affiliation.
Church Planting Movements: Characterized by a simple church structure that rapidly multiplies. Believers make a clean break with their old religion to redefine themselves as followers of Christ.

C-Spectrum

Questions for Discussion and Reflection:

Do you think that anyone can be a true believer in Jesus who also says that he is a Muslim?
What advice would you give to a new believer from an Muslim background on how he should communicate his new faith to his family? Should he stop going to the mosque?
What are some things that missionaries may inadvertently do to slow down the spreading of the faith across a people group?