Church Planting Movements:
A Theological and Historical Evaluation
in Light of the Apostolic Pattern

Document Introduction

In every generation, Christians long to see the gospel spread rapidly and deeply. We pray for whole families, neighborhoods, cities, and people groups to turn to Christ. In the last few decades, a family of approaches often called Church Planting Movements (CPMs) and Disciple Making Movements (DMMs) has promised exactly this. These models tell stories of rapid multiplication. They speak of ordinary believers starting streams of new disciples and simple churches among unreached peoples. They call leaders to think in generations, not just single churches.

Many of these stories come from hard places. They involve costly obedience, bold evangelism, and perseverance under persecution. Because of this, CPM and DMM literature has inspired many leaders. It has helped some rediscover prayer, dependence on the Spirit, and the potential of ordinary believers.

At the same time, CPM and DMM models are not neutral. They contain definitions, assumptions, and methods. They decide what counts as a church. They shape how leaders are recognized and sent. They frame how doctrine is taught and how unity is preserved. In other words, they are not only inspiring stories. They are systems that can either honor or distort the apostolic pattern Jesus gave through his apostles.

This document exists to evaluate CPM and DMM methodologies through the full apostolic pattern that we have traced across the New Testament in thirteen dimensions. We do not want to judge movements by our preferences, traditions, or culture. We want to weigh them by Scripture. Where CPM and DMM practices align with the apostolic pattern, we want to receive them with gratitude. Where they drift, we want to name that drift, re-assert the apostolic standard, and offer clear correctives.

Our posture is not cynical. We are grateful for every true disciple and every true church Jesus raises up through any method. We are thankful for CPM and DMM practitioners who love Christ, suffer for his name, and labor among the unreached. Yet gratitude does not replace discernment. Love for the global church means testing every pattern of ministry by the teaching and practice of the apostles. This document also stands at the end of a broader history-of-mission sequence, so we are evaluating CPMs in light of two thousand years of drift, correction, and renewal, not in isolation.

1. Definitions and Background

1.1 What We Mean by “Movement”

In ordinary missiological usage, a movement describes a wide, sustained advance of the gospel in which many people come to faith and many congregations are formed across a people group or region. The book of Acts shows the gospel moving from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth through waves of proclamation, conversion, gathering, strengthening, and sending. Movement language can help us remember that God often works beyond the boundaries of a single congregation.

Modern movement language, however, often adds two further ideas. First, it emphasizes speed and scale. Second, it emphasizes indigenous multiplication, where new believers and new churches themselves plant the next generation. Many contemporary definitions of a church planting movement describe rapid and exponential growth in the number of churches, often measured in several generations of reproduction. For some practitioners, this generational growth becomes the main indicator that a movement is present.

In this document, we will use the word “movement” in a descriptive way. We mean the multiplication of disciples and churches across homes, cities, and regions under Christ. We will not treat speed or numerical thresholds as the main definition of movement. Instead, we will treat faithfulness to the apostolic pattern as the standard, and we will view speed as a secondary and variable outcome.

1.2 What We Mean by CPM and DMM

The phrase Church Planting Movements (CPM) grew in visibility as missiologists gathered case studies from around the world and identified patterns they believed were present wherever churches multiplied rapidly. They described universal elements that seemed to accompany movement, such as extraordinary prayer, abundant evangelism, intentional church planting, emphasis on the Bible, local leadership, lay leadership, house churches, and clear multiplication focus.

Disciple Making Movements (DMM) and related approaches share much of the same DNA. Many DMM streams emphasize entering new communities, seeking a “person of peace,” forming discovery Bible study groups, stressing obedience to Scripture, and training new believers to share what they are learning with others. They often measure progress in terms of generational streams of groups and churches that reproduce through relational networks.

For our purposes, CPM and DMM will function as a broad label for movement methodologies that stress rapid reproduction, obedience-based discipleship, and simple, reproducible patterns of church life. We will not attempt to separate every brand or training stream, but will treat them as variations on a family of approaches that share common strengths and risks.

1.3 Core Themes in Movement Methodologies

Across CPM and DMM literature, certain themes appear again and again. These include:

A strong focus on unreached or resistant peoples.
A conviction that God can still move in ways that look like Acts.
Extraordinary prayer and fasting for spiritual breakthroughs.
Empowering ordinary believers rather than relying on a few professionals.
Simple forms of gathering, often in homes.
Patterns that stress discovery and obedience rather than passive listening.
Generational thinking in terms of disciples and churches that multiply.

These themes are not all unique to CPM and DMM work, yet they are woven into its identity. Some of them reflect deeply biblical instincts. Others, if not held within strong doctrinal and ecclesial guardrails, can warp into distortions.

1.4 Why Definitions Matter

Definitions are not neutral. If we redefine “disciple,” “church,” “leader,” or “movement” in ways that differ from the New Testament, we will inevitably reshape our ministries. For example, if we define a church simply as a small group that reads Scripture and commits to obey it, we may neglect baptism, the Lord’s Supper, recognized shepherds, and formal responsibility for one another. If we define success mainly by speed and generational multiplication, we will naturally favor methods that can be reproduced quickly, even if they are thin in doctrine or structurally fragile.

In addition, movement narratives can create powerful expectations. Leaders can begin to feel that anything that produces numbers must be right, or that anything that seems slow must be unfaithful. Good intentions and spiritual passion cannot protect us from the consequences of partial definitions. Only a full apostolic pattern can.

For that reason, we now turn to the thirteen apostolic categories that form our evaluative grid.

2. The Apostolic Pattern as the Framework for Evaluation

Our larger work on the Apostolic Pattern traces the way the risen Christ led the apostles to carry out his mission across the first century. We have organized this pattern into thirteen interlocking documents:

Apostolic Mission
Apostolic Calling and Conversion
Apostolic Virtues
Apostolic Principles
Apostolic Strategy
Apostolic Implementation
Apostolic Message
Apostolic Doctrine
Apostolic Gatherings
Apostolic Unity
Apostolic Education
Apostolic Endurance
Apostolic Vision and Legacy

These thirteen lenses do not describe thirteen separate ministries. They describe one integrated architecture. The apostles did not separate mission from doctrine, gatherings from leadership, or speed from endurance. The same Christ who commanded them to preach the gospel to all nations also commanded them to teach converts to obey everything he had commanded, to appoint elders in every town, to guard sound doctrine, and to endure suffering with hope.

Document 13, Apostolic Vision and Legacy, gathers the whole pattern into a single picture. It describes the multi-layered church that Jesus built through the apostles across homes, cities, regions, and the world. This four-level reality is crucial for evaluating any movement methodology. We are not only asking whether groups multiply. We are asking whether the result looks like the church the New Testament describes across these levels.

In this document, we will use the thirteen apostolic categories as the framework for evaluating CPM and DMM models. For each category, we will:

Name the issue.
Highlight an affirmation where CPM and DMM models contribute something valuable.
Express concern or caution where they drift or expose the church to risk.
State a guardrail that summarizes the apostolic standard.
Offer a corrective that describes how movement methodologies should be reshaped to honor that standard.

Our goal is not to dismantle CPM or DMM work. Our goal is to help churches and church networks bring any movement methodology into obedient alignment with the apostolic pattern.

3. Evaluation of CPM and DMM Through the Thirteen Apostolic Lenses

3.1 Apostolic Mission

Issue
How CPM and DMM models define the mission of the church and set its central goals.

Affirmation
CPM and DMM models rightly emphasize the Great Commission. They keep the command to make disciples of all nations in view and refuse to shrink mission down to maintenance, programs, or internal care. They remind the church that the gospel is for whole peoples and regions, not only for individuals. They encourage leaders to think in terms of multiplying disciples and churches, not just adding members to a single congregation. They often target unreached and resistant peoples, which reflects the apostolic concern for those who have not yet heard.

Concern / Caution
In many CPM and DMM writings, the mission is described mainly in terms of rapid multiplication. Definitions of success often center on generational growth, numbers of churches, and speed of reproduction. This can subtly shift the focus from faithfulness to Christ to visible expansion, and from a full-orbed vision of the church to a narrower emphasis on streams of small, reproducing groups. There is also a tendency to treat methods that seem to “work” as self-justifying. Fruit becomes the main validation of practice, rather than Scripture.

Guardrail (Apostolic Standard)
The mission of the church is to proclaim Christ, make disciples, and gather them into stable, ordered churches that obey all he commanded and participate in his global purpose. The apostles pursued breadth, yet they never sacrificed depth, doctrinal health, or church integrity in the name of speed.

Corrective (Apostolic Realignment)
Movement methodologies should define mission first in terms of faithful obedience to Christ’s commission and only second in terms of numerical expansion. Training and metrics should be reshaped so that leaders ask “Are we forming real disciples and real churches in obedience to the whole counsel of God?” before asking “How fast are we multiplying?” In practice, this means that planners and trainers must be willing to slow visible expansion in order to strengthen the substance of disciples and churches.

3.2 Apostolic Calling and Conversion

Issue
How CPM and DMM models treat conversion and the nature of a disciple’s calling into Christ’s mission.

Affirmation
CPM and DMM writers urge new believers to obey Jesus from the beginning and to share what they have received with others. They encourage immediate involvement in witness rather than long delays. Many models stress repentance, baptism, and a visible break with old life patterns. New disciples are expected to follow Christ publicly and to embrace his mission as part of their identity. This expectation corrects patterns where people are treated as “converts” with no call to participate in the mission of God.

Concern / Caution
Some DMM teachings place heavy stress on obedience-based discipleship in ways that risk blurring the order of gospel and obedience. In some settings, discovery processes move quickly to “What will you obey?” without always giving clear, explicit proclamation of Christ crucified and risen. There is a risk of thin conversion, where people are counted as disciples because they participate in groups and agree to obey passages, without a clear grasp of sin, grace, and saving faith in Christ. Over time, this can form communities that love the Bible’s wisdom but are not anchored in the gospel.

Guardrail (Apostolic Standard)
In the New Testament, Christ confronts, calls, and converts sinners through the gospel. People repent and believe the message about Jesus. They are united to him by faith, receive forgiveness, and receive the Spirit. Obedience flows from this new life, not as a condition for earning it but as its necessary fruit.

Corrective (Apostolic Realignment)
Movement approaches should place clear, explicit proclamation of the gospel of Christ at the center of their understanding of conversion. Discovery processes and obedience emphases must be anchored in the message of the cross and resurrection. Training material should underline that obedience is the result of regeneration and justification, not a pathway to gain God’s acceptance. Leaders should be cautious about counting people as disciples or churches only because they participate in obedience cycles, and should instead look for evidence that they have grasped and trusted the saving work of Christ.

3.3 Apostolic Virtues

Issue
The character traits that shape movement workers, local leaders, and ordinary disciples.

Affirmation
CPM and DMM streams often model remarkable courage, sacrifice, and zeal. Workers go to hard places and persevere through opposition. Many accounts describe prayerful dependence on God, bold witness, and a willingness to suffer for the gospel. There is a strong emphasis on ordinary believers taking responsibility for the mission rather than leaving everything to professionals. This reflects a real hunger for lives that match the urgency of the message.

Concern / Caution
Character formation is not always treated as a central, slow, and tested work. Leaders can be raised and deployed very quickly in order to maintain momentum. This can create thin leadership pipelines and expose churches to pride, instability, or moral failure. When metrics dominate, workers may feel pressure to produce numbers rather than to cultivate deep humility, holiness, and love. Over time, this can erode credibility and wound the very communities that movements are trying to serve.

Guardrail (Apostolic Standard)
The apostles carried their mission in Christ-shaped virtues. They were marked by humility, courage, holiness, steadfast love, and endurance. They warned that leaders must be above reproach, tested, and trustworthy. The New Testament treats character not as a luxury, but as the foundation of credible ministry.

Corrective (Apostolic Realignment)
Movement training should place virtue formation at the center of leadership development and discipleship. Assessment of potential leaders needs to emphasize integrity, faithfulness over time, and tested character rather than only evangelistic fruit or rapid reproduction. This will require patient investment and sometimes a willingness to say “not yet” to gifted individuals. It will also call networks to celebrate quiet faithfulness as much as dramatic stories.

3.4 Apostolic Principles

Issue
The core ministry ethos and commitments that guide CPM and DMM approaches.

Affirmation
CPM and DMM models often embody helpful principles such as simplicity, intentionality, and reproducibility. They encourage teams to pray, to listen for the Spirit’s leading, and to focus on lost people rather than on internal programming. Many practitioners have recovered patterns of extraordinary prayer and fasting as they seek breakthroughs. They highlight team-based work and dependence on the Word, often using Scripture as the basic curriculum for groups. This corrects many Western instincts toward complexity and passivity.

Concern / Caution
Simplicity can drift into minimalism. In the desire for reproducible patterns, some CPM and DMM streams flatten important biblical distinctions. They may treat any group that reads Scripture and obeys as a church, even when it lacks shepherds, sacraments, discipline, and connection to wider church life. There can also be a tendency to highlight principles drawn from case studies and to underemphasize systematic engagement with the whole counsel of God. Over time, this can create a culture where what “worked” in one movement feels more authoritative than what Scripture actually requires.

Guardrail (Apostolic Standard)
The apostles operated with principles like prayerful dependence, team-based labor, Scripture-rootedness, relational credibility, and self-giving service. These principles flowed from their theology and from Christ himself. They never used simplicity to override the structural and doctrinal requirements of healthy churches.

Corrective (Apostolic Realignment)
Movement training should present simplicity as a means to obey Scripture, not as a master that trims Scripture down. Case-study principles need to be brought under the explicit authority of Scripture so that teams ask, “How do the apostles embody this principle?” rather than “What seems to work?” Definitions of success and recommended practices should be revised wherever simplicity undermines the marks of a New Testament church. Leaders may need to retrain teams to see that adding biblical structures or content is not “complicating” the work, but completing it.

3.5 Apostolic Strategy

Issue
How CPM and DMM models envision the movement of the mission from place to place.

Affirmation
CPM and DMM practitioners think strategically. They talk about entering new communities, identifying receptive people, forming groups, and sending out new workers. They train believers to think in terms of generations. They do not want the mission to stop with them. In this sense, they share the apostolic concern to see the gospel move from city to city and region to region. They remind sedentary churches that God intends the gospel to travel.

Concern / Caution
The apostolic strategy is often reduced to a rapid cycle. In some CPM models, the pattern becomes: identify a person of peace, start a discovery group, press for obedience, multiply groups, and move on. The deeper phases of the apostolic cycle, such as strengthening disciples, teaching doctrine, forming stable leadership, and revisiting churches, receive less attention. Strategy can feel like a formula that must be followed to keep multiplication going, which can make workers feel controlled by the system instead of led by the Spirit and guided by Scripture.

Guardrail (Apostolic Standard)
The apostolic strategy included proclamation, gathering believers into churches, strengthening those churches, developing leaders, and entrusting the work as the team moved on. This was not a one-time sequence. It was a cycle that included revisiting churches, addressing problems, and deepening their life over time.

Corrective (Apostolic Realignment)
Movement methodologies should reintroduce the full apostolic cycle as the strategic framework. That means planning not only for first-generation groups and churches, but also for revisiting, strengthening, doctrinal teaching, leadership testing, and relational follow-through. Generational thinking must be anchored in this whole cycle, not only in reproducible launching steps. Teams should be trained to view a region through the lens of this cycle so that they ask where proclamation, gathering, strengthening, leadership development, and entrustment are each needed next.

3.6 Apostolic Implementation

Issue
How CPM and DMM models compare to the real ministry history of the apostles from Jerusalem to the nations.

Affirmation
CPM literature often recognizes that mission unfolds in real places over time. It acknowledges persecution, opposition, local cultures, and the need to adapt methods. It encourages workers to trust that God can do in our day what he did in Acts. It also challenges Western churches that have grown slow, complex, and maintenance-focused to recover urgency and outward focus. In this way, movement stories can awaken imagination and hope.

Concern / Caution
The historical narratives of CPMs can be told in a way that downplays the slow, corrective, and painful parts of the apostolic story. The book of Acts and the letters show churches that struggled with false teaching, division, moral failure, and persecution. They needed repeated visits, letters, and adjustments. Modern movement stories can feel smoother and more linear than the New Testament narrative. There is a danger of idealizing certain case studies and then imposing those stories as templates that other contexts are expected to repeat.

Guardrail (Apostolic Standard)
The implementation of the apostolic mission was messy, contested, and long-term. Paul and his co-workers spent years in certain cities. They returned to earlier churches to strengthen them. They wrote letters to correct serious problems. They faced betrayals, conflicts, and disappointments, yet continued in hope. The Spirit worked powerfully, but not always quickly or in predictable patterns.

Corrective (Apostolic Realignment)
Movement training should present the real complexity of apostolic implementation. Case studies need to be told with attention to setbacks, corrections, and long-term care, not only to rapid breakthroughs. Workers should expect slow seasons, painful discipline, doctrinal crises, and relational strain. They should be formed to persevere through these realities rather than to move on quickly whenever problems surface. This will help guard movements from discouragement when their own journey does not match the most dramatic stories they have heard.

3.7 Apostolic Message

Issue
How CPM and DMM models handle the content of the gospel proclaimed to non-Christians.

Affirmation
Most CPM and DMM models insist that Scripture itself must be central. Many encourage extensive Bible reading in groups and expect group members to share what they learn with others. There is a genuine desire to let people encounter God’s Word directly rather than depending on the personality or eloquence of a single teacher. Discovery Bible study patterns aim to expose people to Jesus in the Gospels and to key passages about discipleship. This can be a healthy corrective to forms of ministry that only offer second-hand summaries.

Concern / Caution
Some DMM approaches appear to assume that the gospel will “emerge” through discovery without always insisting on clear proclamation of the apostolic message about Christ crucified, risen, exalted, and returning. In these settings, the focus can lean toward “What will you obey?” and “What will you share?” more than toward “What has God done in Christ?” This risks creating groups that respect Scripture and practice obedience, yet never fully grasp the saving work of Christ as the foundation of that obedience.

Guardrail (Apostolic Standard)
In Acts and the letters, the apostles proclaimed a specific message. They preached Jesus’s life, death, resurrection, exaltation, and return. They called people to repent, believe, and be baptized. They announced forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Spirit on the basis of Christ’s finished work.

Corrective (Apostolic Realignment)
Movement methodologies should ensure that explicit gospel proclamation stands at the center of evangelism. Discovery methods can be powerful tools, but they must not replace clear preaching and explanation of Christ’s saving work. Training should equip workers to articulate the apostolic message plainly and to help new believers grasp the difference between receiving salvation by grace and responding in obedience. Leaders should periodically audit their own practice to ask whether people have heard and understood the gospel itself, not only patterns of obedience.

3.8 Apostolic Doctrine

Issue
How CPM and DMM models treat ongoing teaching and doctrinal formation inside churches.

Affirmation
CPM practitioners rightly insist that Scripture must drive discipleship. Many DMM streams call every disciple to handle the Bible directly and to obey what they see. There is a strong impulse against mere knowledge without obedience, and a concern that churches have produced hearers who do not do the Word. This emphasis has helped expose the emptiness of discipleship that never reaches daily life.

Concern / Caution
Disciple-making movements often emphasize obedience over knowledge in a way that can unintentionally devalue the teaching and preaching office and the long work of doctrinal formation. Some models flatten the difference between mature teachers and new disciples, out of fear that “experts” will hinder multiplication. This creates vulnerability to syncretism, error, and shallow theology, especially as movements spread into complex cultural and religious contexts. Without recognized teachers who labor in the Word, movements can become unstable or captive to the latest local influence.

Guardrail (Apostolic Standard)
The apostles treated doctrine as essential to the health and survival of churches. They devoted themselves to teaching. They passed on patterns of sound words. They appointed elders who were able to teach and who could refute false teachers. They warned that different gospels and false teaching would destroy churches.

Corrective (Apostolic Realignment)
Movement methodologies must reintegrate robust doctrinal teaching into every level of the work. This does not require complex institutions, yet it does require recognized teachers who labor in the Word and sound doctrine. Obedience-based study should be married to teacher-led exposition. Generational multiplication must not outpace the capacity of the movement to train and deploy doctrinally sound leaders. Networks should have clear plans for how deeper teaching will reach each generation of disciples and churches over time.

3.9 Apostolic Gatherings

Issue
How CPM and DMM models define and practice the gathered life of the church.

Affirmation
CPM and DMM streams often restore household-based gatherings, shared meals, and simple forms of church. They push against the idea that a church requires a building, paid staff, and heavy program structure. They highlight participatory meetings where many can speak and where gatherings happen close to where people live. This resonates with New Testament references to churches meeting in homes. It also makes church life more accessible to people with limited resources.

Concern / Caution
In the effort to keep gatherings simple and reproducible, some models redefine “church” in minimal terms. A group that reads Scripture, prays, and commits to obey may be labeled a church even when it does not regularly celebrate the Lord’s Supper, practice baptism, have recognized shepherds, or exercise discipline. This can produce fragile communities that lack the historic marks of the church and the pastoral care people need. Over time, such groups may drift or dissolve without anyone feeling responsible for their long-term health.

Guardrail (Apostolic Standard)
According to the New Testament, churches gather for the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayers. They practice baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They recognize overseers and deacons. They are accountable to one another and walk under Christ’s authority together. The simplest churches in Scripture still exhibit these realities in appropriate forms.

Corrective (Apostolic Realignment)
Movement methodologies should clarify that simple churches must still be real churches. Training should help practitioners move groups toward the full marks of church life. This includes regular celebration of the Lord’s Supper, baptism into identifiable congregations, recognition of local shepherds, and serious mutual care. Groups should not be counted as churches solely because they meet and obey. Leaders should be helped to ask, “Have we truly formed a church here yet?” and to keep working until the answer is yes.

3.10 Apostolic Unity

Issue
How CPM and DMM models handle unity across churches and across regions.

Affirmation
Many movements rightly emphasize indigenous churches and local ownership of the mission. They resist forms of control that keep power in the hands of foreign missionaries. They often encourage networks of relationships in which churches share stories, learn from each other, and spur one another toward faithfulness. In some settings, movement practitioners have restored relational collaboration where older structures had become rigid and distant.

Concern / Caution
The strong emphasis on local autonomy and rapid reproduction can make it hard to maintain doctrinal and relational unity across a movement. As streams multiply, they may drift from one another in teaching and practice. Without structures for common discernment and shared decision-making, serious controversies can fragment the work. The New Testament picture of churches across a city or region acting together can be overshadowed by independent generational chains that share methods but not deep unity.

Guardrail (Apostolic Standard)
The apostles envisioned the church across a city and region as a connected reality. Believers in different households belonged to one church in a city. Churches across a region were described together. When doctrinal disputes arose, churches sent representatives to seek a common judgment. This kind of unity protected the gospel and displayed the oneness of the body of Christ.

Corrective (Apostolic Realignment)
Movement methodologies should build in patterns for shared discernment, mutual accountability, and regional unity. This does not require heavy structures, yet it does require recognized gatherings where elders and leaders across churches weigh teaching, address problems, and reaffirm the apostolic gospel together. Multiplication must remain connected to a visible, relational, and doctrinal unity. Over time, this will help form a church in each city and region that is more than a collection of unrelated streams.

3.11 Apostolic Education

Issue
How CPM and DMM models identify, equip, and entrust new leaders.

Affirmation
CPM and DMM models are passionate about training leaders from within. They do not want to rely on formal schools that pull potential leaders away from their communities. They emphasize learning by doing, mentoring in real ministry contexts, and the expectation that everyone can grow and serve. They rightly see that the future of the mission depends on raising up many workers, not only importing them. This has led to creative approaches to training that take place in homes, workplaces, and villages rather than in distant institutions.

Concern / Caution
The desire for rapid multiplication can lead to premature appointment of leaders. People may be recognized as elders or church planters after a short period of apparent fruitfulness, without long testing or thorough grounding in doctrine and character. Formal training models may be rejected so strongly that no robust alternative system emerges. The result can be leaders who are overwhelmed, easily swayed, or unable to guard the flock from error. When such leaders fail, the damage can spread across entire generational streams.

Guardrail (Apostolic Standard)
The apostles formed leaders through Scripture, imitation, shared labor, correction, suffering, testing, and formal entrustment. They did not lay hands on people quickly. They expected elders to have a proven track record in family life, character, and faithfulness. They invested deeply in a smaller number of trusted co-workers who could teach others.

Corrective (Apostolic Realignment)
Movement methodologies should develop layered pathways for leadership formation. These pathways need to combine local mentoring with increasing depth in Scripture and doctrine, clear expectations for character, and meaningful testing over time. The goal is not to copy Western seminary models, but to ensure that leaders are not rushed into roles for which they are not yet ready. Multiplication of churches must be paced to the capacity of the movement to form and sustain mature leaders. Networks may need to accept fewer recognized elders in the short term in order to have more faithful ones in the long term.

3.12 Apostolic Endurance

Issue
How CPM and DMM models understand suffering, opposition, and long-term perseverance.

Affirmation
Many workers in CPM and DMM contexts serve in hostile environments. They face security risks, persecution, and spiritual opposition. They often endure hardship with striking courage. Movement materials sometimes include strong calls to take up the cross, suffer with Christ, and accept loss for the sake of the gospel. This emphasis stands in helpful contrast to consumer forms of Christianity that avoid difficulty.

Concern / Caution
At times, movement stories can unintentionally suggest that faithfulness will normally produce rapid visible fruit. When that fruit does not appear, workers may feel that they are failing, or that God is not at work. There can also be a subtle overemphasis on early phase breakthroughs and underemphasis on late phase endurance, betrayal, and sorrow. The narrative tone may lean toward the dramatic rather than the patient. This can leave workers unprepared for years of hidden obedience and sacrifice.

Guardrail (Apostolic Standard)
The apostles understood their calling in terms of suffering and endurance. They expected many hardships. They knew that some seasons would be fruitful, while others would be marked by resistance or apparent failure. They rejoiced in conversions, yet they also spoke honestly about burdens and afflictions. They saw ministry as a long race that had to be finished well.

Corrective (Apostolic Realignment)
Movement training should normalize slow, hidden, and costly endurance. Testimonies should include stories where fruit came after many years or remained small outwardly. Success should be reframed in terms of long obedience to Christ rather than only in terms of rapid multiplication. Leaders can help one another by naming seasons where the main work is to stand firm, continue teaching, and care for the flock. In this way, movements will be less likely to burn out workers or despise faithful labor that does not produce dramatic reports.

3.13 Apostolic Vision and Legacy

Issue
How CPM and DMM models compare to the final picture of the church Jesus formed through the apostles.

Affirmation
CPM and DMM approaches aim at reaching whole peoples and whole regions. They think beyond a single congregation and long to see waves of disciples and churches fill cities, nations, and unreached groups. In this sense, they share something of the apostolic burden for the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth. Many practitioners carry a genuine longing to see the earth filled with the knowledge of the Lord.

Concern / Caution
The end-state envisioned by some movement models can feel more like endless generational streams of small, fragile groups than like the multi-layered, interconnected church the New Testament describes. The four levels of church, believers in homes, in a city, across a region, and across the world, are not always clearly in view. The result can be a lattice of micro-groups rather than a visible church that spans households, cities, and regions with shared doctrine, worship, and mutual care. When that happens, movements may multiply but remain thin.

Guardrail (Apostolic Standard)
Through the apostles, the risen Christ formed one church that existed at multiple levels. Believers met in homes. Churches existed across cities. The church throughout a region was a real reality. All of this belonged to the one global body of Christ. This multi-layered church displayed God’s glory, exalted the Son, and bore witness by its unity and holiness.

Corrective (Apostolic Realignment)
Movement methodologies should align their vision of the end-state with the New Testament picture of the church across homes, cities, and regions. Generational charts and multiplication language need to be tied back to this integrated vision. Instead of counting streams only, leaders should ask whether those streams are maturing into visible, interconnected churches that share doctrine, leadership, worship, and mission as one body in Christ. In other words, the long-term goal must be the church Jesus actually built through his apostles, not a permanent network of starter groups.

4. What to Receive, What to Modify, What to Reject (Under Apostolic Guardrails)

This section gathers the evaluation into a simple summary to help churches and church networks respond wisely. It turns the thirteen categories into concrete counsel.

4.1 What to Receive with Gratitude

Churches and church networks can receive the following emphases from CPM and DMM streams, provided they are brought under apostolic guardrails:

A fresh sense of urgency about the Great Commission and the need to reach whole peoples and regions. God has not retired from mission, and many movements remind us of that.
Extraordinary prayer and fasting for breakthrough among the lost. These practices help expose how prayerless and self-reliant many churches have become and can call us back to dependence on the Spirit.
Confidence that God can still work in “movement” ways, not only in slow incremental growth. This faith can shake us out of low expectations and inspire bold, faith-filled requests.
Empowerment of ordinary believers as witnesses, disciple-makers, and hosts of gatherings. This corrects models where only a few professionals are expected to speak and serve.
Household-based and simple churches that do not depend on buildings or heavy structures. These forms can travel across cultures and economic levels with far less friction.
Relational and obedience-oriented discipleship, which challenges passivity and calls believers to respond to the Word. This focus can revive stagnant congregations if it is rooted in the gospel.
Generational thinking, which expects disciples to make disciples and churches to plant churches. This pushes churches to think beyond their own comfort and timeline.
Focus on unreached and resistant peoples, often at great personal cost. This reflects the heart of Christ, who sends his people where he is not yet known.

These are real gifts. They can help sluggish churches repent of comfort, complexity, and institutionalism, as long as they are held inside the apostolic pattern.

4.2 What to Modify Under Apostolic Guardrails

Some CPM and DMM practices overlap with apostolic patterns but require careful adjustment:

Definitions of “church” that count any discovery group as a church before it exhibits the historic marks and structures of New Testament congregations. These definitions need to be tightened so that the word “church” matches the reality of gathered, shepherded communities.
“Obedience-based” language that risks overshadowing clear gospel proclamation and the teaching office. Obedience needs to be explicitly grounded in the finished work of Christ and in the ongoing ministry of recognized teachers.
Patterns of leadership recognition that move promising people into oversight roles too quickly, without testing or doctrinal grounding. Local leaders should be trained and affirmed with patience, not rushed into shepherding roles to keep pace with multiplication goals.
Strategic diagrams and training materials that compress the apostolic cycle into a short formula and underplay the strengthening and revisiting of churches. These materials should be revised so that strengthening and long-term care are presented as essential, not optional.
Stories of rapid multiplication that are not balanced by examples of slow growth, painful correction, or long-term endurance. Testimony culture should be broadened so that the full range of faithful ministry is honored.

These areas can be redeemed. They need clearer alignment with the apostolic pattern so that movement energy is harnessed for durable, healthy churches.

4.3 What to Reject as Incompatible with the Apostolic Pattern

Certain tendencies and practices, when present, should be avoided altogether:

Treating speed and numbers as the main validation of method, so that success becomes more important than faithfulness. Any pattern that says “it must be right because it works” needs to be rejected.
Redefining the gospel in ways that minimize or obscure the apostolic message about Christ’s atoning death and bodily resurrection. Where the gospel itself is blurred, the method must not be used.
Devaluing the preaching and teaching office as if teachers and preachers are obstacles to multiplication. Christ gave teachers to the church for its protection and growth, and any approach that treats them as the problem has lost the mind of Christ.
Permitting doctrinal vagueness or syncretism for the sake of rapid spread. Movements that refuse to take clear doctrinal stands will eventually collapse or distort the faith.
Refusing meaningful structures of unity and accountability between churches, so that “movement” fragments into disconnected streams. A method that celebrates disconnection cannot claim to be apostolic.
Using human methods and training as if they guarantee spiritual outcomes, rather than treating the Spirit as sovereign and methods as servants. Any promise that “if you follow this pattern you will get a movement” should be rejected as spiritual presumption.

Where these elements appear, churches and networks should resist them and return to a more fully apostolic pattern of ministry, even if that means laying aside highly promoted tools.

5. Implications for Churches and Church Networks Today

This evaluation is not an academic exercise. It raises concrete questions for churches and church networks who want to be faithful to Christ in a world that still needs the gospel. We must ask not only “What is wrong or right with CPMs?” but “What should we do now, in our own context, in light of this evaluation and in light of the apostolic pattern?”

1. Re-center on the apostolic pattern as your main framework. Churches and church networks should treat the thirteen apostolic categories as their primary grid for evaluating all methodologies, including CPM and DMM. Methods can be helpful tools, yet they must remain subordinate to the architecture Jesus gave through the apostles. In practice, this means pastors and leaders sitting with these categories and asking how each one currently shapes their mission decisions, rather than letting contemporary models set the agenda.

2. Repent of comfort and maintenance where needed. Many Western churches can learn from the urgency, prayerfulness, and outward focus of movement workers. The answer to CPM concerns is not a return to complacent institutionalism, but a deeper repentance that leads to renewed mission rooted in sound doctrine and healthy church life. Churches may need to confess that they have used fear of error as an excuse for inactivity and have hidden behind complexity instead of going to their neighbors and the nations.

3. Clarify your definitions of disciple, church, leader, and movement. Churches and networks need to articulate biblically grounded definitions and use them consistently. This will protect them from drift when they adopt outside training and will give them a way to discern which CPM or DMM practices can be integrated and which cannot. These definitions should be simple enough to teach to ordinary believers, yet rich enough to capture the substance of the New Testament witness.

4. Honor both the teaching office and ordinary believers. Apostolic ministry involved both recognized teachers who labored in the Word and ordinary believers who shared Christ in daily life. Churches should resist any model that sidelines teachers or professionalizes witness. Instead, they should equip every believer while still recognizing and supporting those called to preach and teach. Networks can intentionally design rhythms where teachers and evangelists serve side by side and where both roles are honored.

5. Build leadership pathways that are simple yet substantial. Churches and networks should develop reproducible, field-based systems of leader formation that include Scripture, imitation, shared ministry, suffering, testing, and entrustment. These systems must be realistic for bivocational and grassroots leaders, yet robust enough to form durable shepherds. Over time, such pathways will allow churches to plant and strengthen new congregations without constantly importing leadership from outside.

6. Design structures for city and regional unity. Churches should not be content with isolated congregations or disconnected streams. They should work toward visible unity at the city and regional level, gathering elders and leaders to guard doctrine, address challenges, and collaborate in mission. These structures can be simple, but they should be real. When this happens, the church in each city and region can begin to look more like the multi-layered reality described in the New Testament.

7. Evaluate methods by how well they serve the four levels of church. Churches and church networks should ask how any method, including CPM and DMM trainings, helps them embody the church across homes, cities, regions, and the worldwide body of Christ. A method that only focuses on small groups and generational charts but never asks how those groups become part of a visible church is incomplete. Leaders can use the four levels as a simple diagnostic tool whenever a new approach is proposed.

8. Tell honest stories about mission and refuse to worship methods. When churches share stories of God’s work, they should highlight both breakthroughs and long seasons of slow growth and suffering. This will form realistic expectations and protect workers from discouragement when their context does not resemble high-profile movement narratives. At the same time, churches should pray boldly for God to do more than they ask or imagine while refusing to treat any training or technique as the key to guaranteed results. The Spirit is sovereign, and methods must serve his purpose, not replace him.

6. Conclusion: Movements Without Drift

The risen Jesus has not changed. He is still gathering a people from every tribe, language, people, and nation. He is still building his church. He is still sending workers to the ends of the earth. In many places, CPM and DMM practitioners have reminded the wider church that God is able to do far more than we imagine, even in hard and resistant contexts. Their courage and creativity have exposed the smallness of our expectations and the narrowness of many of our plans.

At the same time, the apostolic pattern has not changed. Christ is not calling us to trade old forms of unfaithfulness for new forms. He is not asking us to choose between doctrinal depth and evangelistic breadth, between real churches and multiplying streams, or between teachers and ordinary saints. The New Testament gives us a way of ministry that keeps all of these together in a single, coherent architecture. When that architecture is honored, churches can stretch without snapping and multiply without losing their identity.

If churches and church networks receive what is good in CPM and DMM models, modify what is partial, and reject what distorts the apostolic pattern, then they will be positioned to pray and labor for movements without drift. They will be free to pursue bold mission, simple and reproducible practices, and wide multiplication, while still guarding the gospel, forming mature leaders, and building stable churches that can endure for generations. In this way, we can seek not only movements of activity, but movements that look like the church Jesus actually formed through his apostles and that will bear fruit for his glory long after our own generation has passed.

7. Questions for Reflection and Action

Seeing the Framework: Where do you see the thirteen apostolic categories already shaping your understanding of mission, and where have contemporary movement methods or stories had more influence on you and your team than Scripture?
Weighing Methods: If you have used or considered CPM or DMM training, which elements most clearly align with the apostolic pattern, and which ones now raise concern or caution as you compare them to the New Testament and to this evaluation?
Church and Church Network Health: How well do your churches and church networks embody the four levels of church life, from households to citywide to regional to global, and what concrete steps could you take in the next season to move closer to that apostolic vision?
Leadership Formation and Pace: In your current context, are leaders being raised and entrusted too slowly out of fear, or too quickly out of pressure for visible results, and how might you redesign your leadership pathways so they are both simple and substantial in light of the apostolic standard?
Metrics, Stories, and Expectations: Where do you sense a temptation in your church or network to measure success mainly in terms of speed, numbers, or generational charts, and how could you reshape your metrics and your testimony culture to honor faithfulness, endurance, and deep formation?
A Shared Next Step: What is one near-term step of obedience that your church or your church network can take in light of this evaluation, whether in clarifying core definitions, adjusting training content, strengthening doctrinal teaching, or deepening visible unity with other churches in your area?

Church Planting Movements: A Theological and Historical Evaluation in Light of the Apostolic Pattern