Ecclesiology - CPM Critic | Critical Church Planting Movement (CPM) Resources

The Defend and Confirm Podcast Interviews Radius President Brooks Buser

Brooks Buser is the president of Radius International and a vocal critic of CPM and DMM. In this episode of the Defend and Confirm Podcast, co-hosts Sean DeMars and Russell Berger ask Brooks the following questions (paraphrased): Brooks, tell us a little about who you are and what you do.What does training missionaries at Radius look like?Have…

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January 20, 2022

Baptist / Definition of Church / Ecclesiology

“Are Church Planting Movements Actually Planting Churches?” on the Defend and Confirm Podcast

Russell and Sean with the Defend and Confirm Podcast discuss whether the churches planted in CPMs actually fit the biblical definition of a church. One interesting point was that the IMB defines a church differently than the Southern Baptist Convention. Watch it here and then come back and leave a review.

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December 17, 2021

Ecclesiology / T4T

“An Embryonic Ecclesiology Enabling Church Planting Movements to Flourish” by Robert Christopher Abner

Abner completed this PhD dissertation in December 2019 as a student of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He argues for an "embryonic ecclesiology" which "identifies the core elements of a church that, when given appropriate attention, will enable a new church plant to flourish where it is planted" (p. 50). He uses his rubric of an embryonic…

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January 1, 2020

Baptist / Ecclesiology / New Converts Leading Churches / T4T / Women Leading Churches

“The Ecclesiology of Training for Trainers: The Issue of Method and 1 Timothy 3:6” by John Henry Serworwora

John Henry Serworwora is a native Indonesian educated at Mid-America Baptist Seminary and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also the former president of Jakarta Baptist Theological Seminary (2006-2010). In this 2014 article in the Great Commission Research Journal, he heavily critiques the ecclesiology of T4T, including using new converts as leaders, promoting women to church leadership,…

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July 1, 2014

Baptist / Ecclesiology / Rapidity

“Wrinkling Time in the Missionary Task” by John D. Massey

This article by John D. Massey is one of the more frequently cited critical CPM articles. It is somewhat lengthy (38 pages), but overall an excellent critique. "Wrinkling time" is a concept that David Garrison takes from Madeleine L'Engle's 1962 book A Wrinkle in Time. It essentially means to "shorten" time. Massey takes issue with this in…

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November 1, 2012

Book Reviews / Ecclesiology / Pragmatism / Rapidity

Book Review of David Garrison’s “Church Planting Movements” (by Ed Roberts)

Ed Roberts, a church planter in Central Asia for over twenty years, critiques David Garrison's book Church Planting Movements: How God is Redeeming a Lost World (2004, WIGTake). The critique includes issues of rapidity, pragmatism, and ecclesiology. The book review was written on July 25, 2009. Read it here.

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July 25, 2009

Definition of Church / Ecclesiology / Pragmatism / Rapidity

“Is Church Planting Movement Methodology Viable?” by Hoyt Lovelace

In this article, Hoyt Lovelace (PhD, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary) critically examines several controversies over church planting movement (CPM) methodology. These controversies include: a rapidity requirementbiblical controversies:strategic problemsevangelistic problemsecclesiological problemsmissiological problemsa universal solution I'd say that this is one of the top articles critiquing Garrison-defined church planting movements. Perhaps the cheapest and easiest way to read this…

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March 21, 2007