As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
This article is the second in a series of articles on Church-Planting and Disciple-Making Movements. In our first article, we explored the history and core characteristics of these multiplying movements (MMs for shore). In today’s article, I’d like to overview and analyze the first main strategy that movement leaders emphasize.
“De-Urbanization… For Keller, ministering in cities was ministering to the future. To plant churches in rural or suburban areas was a losing proposition. This is no longer the case.” - Juicy Ecumenism
“There is no new thing under the sun,” the Preacher tersely stated (Ecclesiastes 1:9). However, between 1997-1998, missionaries David Garrison and David Watson began to speak of “something new” God was doing in the world through a ministry paradigm shift that would eventually become known as a Church Planting Movement. According to Jerry Trousdale, “Over the last 50 years, and especially since the turn of the 21st century, the Spirit of God has been birthing a new concept in the earth. Instead of addition, the Spirit of God is calling forth multiplication.
“But what might be surprising in all of this, if we are paying close attention, is that there were Pharisees who were followers of Jesus! …. With this in mind, I want us to go back to the gospels and look carefully at Jesus’ interaction with the Pharisees.” - P&D
“A major new survey reveals the religiously unaffiliated ‘nones’ aren’t all the same. How should that shape our approach to reaching them with the gospel?” - TGC
“Nathan didn’t say to David, ‘Repeat this prayer after me.’ No, he left it to David’s conviction to get before the Lord and say, ‘O, have mercy upon me, O God, according to your lovingkindness.’” - C.Leaders
“The moment is delicate. Questions are good, but they can easily become interrogations. What do we say when there’s so much we don’t know? Jesus once met a woman like this.” - TGC
Like a diamond, the gospel glistens with a myriad of facets. The good news of salvation through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) not only saves from hell but also delivers from the power of sin in daily life (Romans 6:1-8:14). What’s more, the gospel is our hope for the future when salvation is complete. When Jesus returns, all who trust in Him alone for salvation become like Him, sinless forever (Romans 8:29-30). The depth and wonder of the gospel takes centuries to explore and fills entire libraries.
“This article was produced by Claude.AI based on a message preached by pastor Johnson on June 15, 2025. The audio and video will be available later this week.” - P&D
The phrase “ask Jesus into your heart” does not occur in Scripture. My recent article makes this point. So, why do we use this phrase? I’ve only just scratched the surface with my research, but here is what I have found so far. Encouraging unbelievers to ask Jesus into their hearts only seems to appear in Christian vocabulary in recent centuries.
Discussion