Blog
Hi Everyone,
The last few years I have felt the Lord gently but firmly moving me in another ministry direction. Although I have always been involved in equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry, I have spent a rather disproportionate amount of time doing the ministry myself. God has shown me that if I continue to do that, the best I could ever expect is more addition-additional souls, additional churches planted etc., yet I have always wanted to see multiplication take place in my ministry.
God has shown me a way to do that – Church Planting Movements. A Church Planting Movement (CPM) is a rapid and multiplicative increase of indigenous churches planting churches within a given people group or population segment. CPM’s are multiplying (in every sense) across the globe. Some of the really big ones comprise between 1-6 million people.
Just a few of weeks ago I heard of a young man in his early 20’s who began training a handful of Gypsies in one nation just two years ago, now there are 39,000 baptised believers in that CPM. CPM’s begin with the “CPM initiator,” he or she has a both the call and God given strategy to make it happen and works with his “chosen” people group to facilitate that.
Becoming a CPM initiator would be a natural progression from my regular method of church planting. With that in mind I am looking to begin my first CPM ministry in a mostly Buddhist nation. For me this would mean 3 months in that country and then a further 2-3 weeks every six months for 2-3 years. Also, for a few years now I have been getting regular invitations from pastors and leaders in two relatively “closed” nations to help plant churches there. Because the timing wasn’t right for me I had always told them ‘no’. However just recently I have told two of these pastors about CPM's and both shared an interest. Please pray that something will come of that.
Prayer Requests
- Please pray for Gods perfect timing in regard to (my) CPM ministry- I am not clear with the time frames of any of this at the moment.
- Please pray and ask the Lord to lead and show me the right steps to take in planning.
- Please pray that the people in my target nation will be receptive and open to this ministry.
Marty