Ministry in a Multi-Cultural and Unchurched Society

Ses s i on 8: Reproduc i ng to the Four th Generat i on

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3. No guarantees exist: the laws of the harvest apply here, as nothing can more greatly sabotage a CPM than a dead, disconnected, and dud spirituality of the members and their congregations.

E. CPMs at their core, are simply concrete representations of the quality and dynamism of the traditions that they represent. As the spirituality of the tradition goes, so does the authenticity and depth of its church plant movement .

1. We reproduce after kind: whatever we sow, we reap, Gal. 6.7-8.

2. The principle of likeness and similitude applies directly to the notion of spiritual reproduction: we reproduce according to genus (or, you can only give whatever you got).

3. CPMs are movements of a kind , each bearing its own distinct, discrete form of theology, spirituality, and mission. Perhaps of all the indices of a movement, its shared spirituality is the single most important factor .

4. Healthy CPMs reflect the biblical principle of root-branches: if the root is holy, so are the branches .

F. Case in point: the Chinese Yanyin movement as expression of the Great Tradition

1. Creedal theology and pastoral care: Southern Baptists root discipleship training carefully tied to house church leaders and simple, reproducible curriculum (e.g., see the First Discipleship Training Center Curriculum, Garrison, Church Planting Movements , p. 57)