This is one of the very few full-length book responses to church planting movements. Matt Rhodes critiques CPM and DMM in Chapter 3—and if you're only looking for critique, you only need to read that chapter. The book, however, is not merely a critique; it positively advocates for professionalism in missions. This includes learning to be ambassadors…
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…
Caleb Morell, currently the Senior Pastoral Assistant for Research at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., reviewed Steve Addison's 2019 book, The Rise and Fall of Movements: A Roadmap for Leaders (100Movements Publishing). Morell takes issue with several DMM elements featured in Addison's book, including obedience-based discipleship, definition of church (or lack thereof), and Discovery Bible…
The Missions Podcast co-hosts Alex Kocman and Scott Dunford interview IMB Vice President for Global Training Zane Pratt. The interview addressed disciple-making movements (DMM), syncretism, and obedience-based discipleship. Questions included: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your ministry.What is a disciple-making movement?What about the Great Commission's inclusion of teaching?Why is it important to discuss disciple-making…
In this article, Zane Pratt, vice president for global training for the IMB, addresses rapidity in church planting movements. His three key points are: (1) rapid multiplication is biblically possible, (2) rapid multiplication is not normative, and (3) rapid multiplication is something we should desire. Pratt cautions against sacrificing discipleship, the content of the gospel, and the…
Adam Coker is a former missionary with the IMB and currently serves as Assistant Professor of History and Christian Studies at Brewton-Parker College. In this article, he shares his personal experience of being trained in CPM methods as a new IMB missionary. He then critiques T4T methodology using seven T4T problems as his outline: Making the method…
John Michael Morris is (or was) a professor of missions at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS). In this article from SBTS's Southwestern Journal of Theology, he contrasts two conflicting approaches to discipleship that are both based on different interpretations of Matthew 28:20, namely the phrase "teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you." CPM proponents…
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…
George Robinson (DMiss, Western Seminary) reviews T4T: A Discipleship Re-Revolution in the October 2011 issue of Global Missiology. While favorable to movements, Robinson expresses concerns with issues of rapidity, ecclesiology, definition of church, and heresy. This review contains both positive and negative aspects of the book, and Robinson concludes that he would recommend the book with certain…
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.