What would you guess is the most frequent strength that CPM critics mention about church planting movements and its practitioners? Give it some thought before reading on. In reviewing over seventy critical CPM resources, the characteristic that emerged among the largest number of resources was the zeal, the passion, and the intentionality to take the gospel to…
Here is a table of CPM proponents and critics. A number of proponents have best-selling books to their names, but many of the critics are rather obscure. Note that critics are not necessarily against church planting movements, but that they have written or spoken critically about certain elements or methodologies. To add names to this list, please…
Russell Berger and Sean DeMars, co-hosts of the Defend and Confirm podcast, begin their series critiquing church planting movements with this episode. This episode is meant to introduce the issues, but they actually jump in with their critique. A couple of their points seem slightly off base—namely, that nearly all IMB missionaries are applying the CPM methodologies…
Brooks Buser, president of Radius International, interviews Mark Dever regarding church planting movements. It's evident that Mark Dever is, well, not a fan. Dever mentions CPM's roots in American pragmatism and the problem of false conversions. Watch it here.
Lance Quinn, an elder at The Anchor Bible Church in Redlands, California, writes a short review of Bob Roberts' book, The Multiplying Church: The New Math for Starting New Churches (2008, Zondervan), on the 9Marks website. While acknowledging a few good points, such as Roberts' strong desire to see society transformed for Christ, Quinn ultimately says that…