March 01, 2014 by Rick Wood

From the Editor

Embrace the Brighter Future of 4X4 Movements

Field workers like Jeff Sundell and Curtis Sergeant, who have pioneered movements among unreached peoples around the world, are now applying their expertise in the U.S. in pursuit of similar movements among unreached peoples here. These leaders have coined the term “4x4 Movement Starts” to describe a minimum goal for movement starts where 4 lineages of disciple-makers are developing 4 or more generations of disciples. These 4x4 movements are now emerging in 27 areas across the U.S. As these grow, the number of trained and experienced leaders is also multiplying, and the movement starts are beginning to penetrate every segment of society—including unreached peoples. Some of those reached are already going back to their homeland to start movements in their people group.

Tags: 4x4 movements, communities of practice, iron on iron, movements, sabbatical

March 01, 2014 by Jeff Sundell

4X4 Movements

Coming Soon to an Unreached People Near You!

In Jan/Feb 2011, MF first introduced readers to the T4T (Training for Trainers) model of Church Planting Movements, and in March the book2 was released here in the U.S. Since then, this “re-Revolution” has multiplied steadily in the U.S. with an ultimate agenda of reaching all of the unengaged and unreached peoples represented here. Read on to find out more about some of these exciting emerging movements!

Tags: 4x4 movements, discipleship, discovery bible study, movements, t4t, unreached

March 01, 2014 by Robby Butler

Introducing… “4X4 Movement Starts”

Movements are Distinguished from Ministry by Training Members to Multiply Rapidly

Ministries aim to grow wide (a regular audience of many members), but not deep (many generations). Ministries urge: “come to our meeting,” “listen to our message,” “read our materials,” or “visit our site.” Ministries ask members to invite others rather than training them to reproduce. Ministries tend to overextend leaders while leaving disciples dependent and underdeveloped. Movements equip members to obey and teach what they receive, often with little interaction two or more generations away. Recently movement leaders have identified four or more “lineages” of disciples, of four or more generations, as an important foundation for maturing movements and have coined the term "4X4 Movement Starts" to describe these emerging movements.

Tags: 4x4 movements, coach, discipleship, movement starts, movements

March 01, 2014 by Fred and Melissa Campbell

No Longer “Business as Usual”

As a family we have witnessed door to door for decades, using whatever model was favored by our current local church. They were always encouraged, and the people to whose homes we went seemed more responsive with someone from out of town. And as we shared the gospel, we joyfully experienced GOD! But after we, with others, helped add 1,200 people to one church, these people eventually wandered away because there was no structure for discipleship and leadership development to equip the fruit of these evangelistic outreaches for multiplication. Now, in the tools God has given us, we have a reproducing entry strategy, a reproducing gospel which new believers share right away, reproducing discipleship, reproducing gatherings of new believers, and multiplication of leaders.

Tags: austin, movement, t4t, texas

March 01, 2014 by Gary L. Stump

No Longer “Church as Usual”

I started my ministry as a pastor in 1990 in the usual way of “attractional” church. The traditional idea of “doing church” was to develop a program on Sundays that would draw those who were far from God to hear the Gospel and connect with the Lord and His people. But after more than 20 years doing it this way, something seemed very ineffective to me with this approach. I realized that in my 22 years as a pastor I had encouraged, challenged, rebuked, motivated, inspired and even scolded Christians toward disciple-making. But I had never taught them how to make a disciple.

Tags: church, disceipleship, disciple, great commission, t4t

March 01, 2014 by Chuck Wood

No Longer “Discipleship as Usual”

By 2010, I had been discipling others for 30 years and risen to national level leadership with the Navigators. Then a speaker introduced me to Steve Addison’s book, Movements that Change the World.1 I was more than curious. This launched me on a three-year study of what God is doing around the world. The final book on my reading list was *T4T: A Discipleship Re-revolution* by Steve Smith and Ying Kai. As I started reading a voice in my head said, “Humble yourself and do this.” By now I had read hundreds of books on discipleship methods, and I wasn’t about to blindly start doing new stuff. But the Holy Spirit persisted in speaking to me, and I determined to obey. Never have I seen God do so much so quickly, nor to such depth.

Tags: discipleship, families, san antonio, t4t

March 01, 2014 by Curtis Sergeant

Growing U.S. Movements to the Lost and the Unreached

We started our house church in October 2012. We just called it “porch church” since we started by meeting on our porch. We started with eight folks but only have seven now. We’ve intentionally not added new members but seek to start new churches with new folks. As of December, 2013 we have multiple streams to the 5th generation or beyond and well over a dozen more to the 4th generation. All told there are about 200 downstream churches in the USA and 162 overseas, including several among previously unengaged people groups. Our vision is to make it the norm for followers of Christ to become multiplying disciple-makers.

Tags: disciple-makers, gc2, great commandment, great commission, participative bible study, porch church

March 01, 2014 by Mike Shipman

Fostering Multigenerational Movements by Equipping Believer-Priests

I moved from traditional church ministry to pursuing a generational church movement in January 2005. A desire to reach the lost and an honest look at how the first-century world was discipled in reproducing churches inspired us to “Re-en-ACT” our approach to the Great Commission. As a result we’ve had approximately 1000 generational groups and churches started in our people group. We live outside our people group, but I have personally led two to faith who have started generational church streams. Also, a volunteer team I was with led another person to faith who started a large generational stream. As a result, my primary role shifted from evangelism to training. Discipling these new believers as partner-priests, rather than students, has fostered generational growth.

Tags: acts, equipping, movements, multigenerational, partner-priests

March 01, 2014 by Dave Campbell

Disciples Unleashed

In Honduras, Kenya, Guatemala, Israel, Congo, Pakistan, and many other nations, the Body of Christ is stirring in a mighty way, hungry for God’s work. Pastors and church leaders all over the world are hearing the call to return to “the Jesus model” of making disciples. Applying the tools Jesus modeled for us is resulting in the church becoming an army of disciples unleashed to impact the world. Let me elaborate...

Tags: disciple-making, disciples, movements, real life ministries, rlm, uganda

March 01, 2014 by David White

What Makes a CPM Training Fruitful?

Take a self assessment of your church planting training

Tags: assessment, church-planting movement, training

March 01, 2014 by MF Staff

Leave a Lasting Witness by Illustrating the Gospel as you Present It

Tags: discipleship, drawings, gospel, illustration, t4t

March 01, 2014 by Bob & Koleen French

Solid Grounding Transforms Worldview to Bring Forth Multiplying Fruit

(originally printed September 2009 in eLINK—Magazine of World Team, under the title GO SLOW TO GO FAST: Cell and House Church Multiplication in the Philippines. The article has been updated for...

Tags: cell church, church, church planting, fruit, multiplying

March 01, 2014 by Drew Steadman

Antioch

How One Church is Growing

Our History

Antioch started in 1988 as a discipleship school based around three simple concepts: encountering God, life-on-life discipleship and missions through the local church. Our goal has...

Tags: antioch, church, discipleship, growth

March 01, 2014 by "James Nyman"

Learning by Example (A Book Excerpt)

Tags: book, church planting movements, muslims, novel

March 01, 2014 by George Patterson

Come Quickly Dawn

From George Patterson’s book Come Quickly Dawn (William Carey Library: 2012)

Become Holy by Nurturing the Fruit of the Spirit with Others’ Help

(pp 89-90, 92)

Julio groaned. “Leaping over Mount Silverado would be easier for me than to be holy. I can’t live with purity...

Tags: book, church, holy, novel, patterson

March 01, 2014 by MF Staff

Organizations and Coaches to Help You Pursue 4x4 Movement Starts

Tags: 4x4 movements, agencies, discipleship, list, t4t

March 01, 2014 by Steve Smith

Kingdom Kernels

The Engine That Sustains Movements

Imagine that you are responsible to insure the training and personal development of a growing number of new pastors each year. This year it is 500, added to 300 from the previous year and 200 from the year before. However, these leaders must remain on the job, not leaving their locations for any extended period of time, since they are in charge of their flocks. Finally, circumstances dictate that they cannot connect consistently to online education due to the lack of connectivity and lack of resources. What will you do?

Tags: church planting movements, leadership, movements, paul, reproducing

March 01, 2014 by MF Staff

The Zwemer Center for Muslim Studies

Equipping Christians to Understand and Engage Muslims with the Gospel for 35 Years

Founded in 1979 at the U.S. Center for World Mission, the Zwemer Institute became a major resource and training center for Christians seeking to engage Muslims with the gospel. This need was...

Tags: conference, history, institute, missionary, research, zwemer

March 01, 2014 by Robert Osburn, Ph.D.

Hope for the Nations

A Review of Wayne Grudem and Barry Asmus' book The Poverty of Nations: A Sustainable Solution

Two years from now, in 2016, Niran, his wife, and his five children in a rural southwestern Nigerian community will bow together in family worship without aching, empty stomachs. They will give money at church, dream about a college education for one of their children, and, most of all, transcend a subsistence lifestyle for the first time ever. Here’s how this could become reality…

Tags: book, book review, government, poverty, sustainable, the poverty of nations

March 01, 2014 by Jean Johnson

Raising Local Resources

30 to 50 Years From Now

As missionaries, I wonder what will be staring us in the face in 30 to 50 years from now? Are there aspects of our mission work that look progressive and expedient now, but may backfire in the long-term? What changes will we have made around the world that we may regret? Will we find the prosperity gospel running rampant? Will we find that the ability for the majority of the world to show compassion and make disciples in their context is utterly dependent on a few wealthy countries? What if those few wealthy countries have serious economic downturns?

Tags: legacy, missionaries, money, poverty, strategy

March 01, 2014 by Steve Smith

The Final Assault: Hastening

Could it really be? Was it possible? Maybe it wasn’t a pipe dream after all. Maybe, just maybe… Slowly words came to Christopher’s thoughts. “We can do this. Brainstorm with me! How can we finish the task? How can it happen in our generation? That is, how can we become the last generation in history?!” “I don’t know, but I do know this,” said John. “Renee told me that the lecturer said there have been over a thousand plans in history, and all have failed. What makes us think we’ll succeed?” Christopher set his mug down on the table harder than he intended, sloshing coffee out of the cup. “Because we must. We must! Someone must finish this thing. Not finishing it is unacceptable. There must be a way."

Tags: church in the city, finishing the task, kingdom movement, perspectives, t4t

March 01, 2014 by Greg Parsons

Further Reflections

Age-Related Retirement

So many things from our cultural background color our perspective, which makes it difficult to see where we might be wrong. For instance, just a week ago at church, I was talking to an older “retired” missionary. He worked on campuses for many years. But at a certain age, he was told that he would have to retire. I see no clear biblical teaching to argue for what many ministries do when someone reaches 62 or 65, or even 70. In fact, I would suggest that if the Bible says anything, it would tend to illustrate quite the opposite.

Tags: age, elders, old age, retirement, wisdom