by Steve Smith

In a remote valley in a restricted access nation, I gathered with my Ina partners as we discussed how to reach the 1.4 million Ina people. I had taught them repeatedly that the only way to reach all 5,000 villages was through a kingdom movement in which Ina people were ignited to reach their own people and beyond.

And yet these dear brothers and sisters continued to struggle with how this might happen, until one fateful afternoon.

One of the Ina leaders approached me, jumping up and down with excitement.

Brother Steve, you’ll never believe what we discovered! [Continued jumping.] As you know, we represent 80 new Ina churches. [Jumping.] We can easily go back and train each of our 80 churches to start a new church in six months or less. In six months, before the harvest season, we’ll have 160 churches! [Him jumping. Me feigning ignorance.]

That’s not all! We can train all 80 new churches to start a new church in six months or less. And before the planting season, six months later, we’ll have 320 churches! [Jumping higher; me feigning shock—though real shock is beginning to set in.]

That’s not all. Every six months, we can help the new churches to repeat the pattern so that every six months we double in number from 320 to 640 [pointing to the numbers] to 1,280 to 2,560 and finally to 5,120!

Brother Steve, we are going to be finished in 3 ½ years!

All the Ina in the room were jumping up and down, smiles on their faces. It was beginning to occur to me that the Spirit had finally opened their minds to understand Church-Planting Movements and their part in them. Hope welled up in my heart that the Ina could indeed be reached in my lifetime. They really were grasping the idea that every new believer could be trained and expected to live out a lifestyle of witnessing to and training other new believers.

The movement came to life.
A couple of years later, my supervisor responded to my monthly report: “Steve, this sounds like the book of Acts!”1

I just love Church-Planting Movements (CPMs)! The operative word here is movements. Jesus made it clear that He would be the force behind the church growing: “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matt. 16:18 ESV). CPMs are God-engineered movements in one of their purest forms, harking back to the kingdom movements of Acts. They can’t be explained from a human-engineered standpoint. I love CPMs because I love seeing Jesus at work! Interactions with faith-filled believers in CPMs have radically altered my life to one of increased devotion, faith, and effectiveness.

What is a CPM?

In their essence, CPMs are Spirit-engineered movements in which disciples and churches multiply generation by generation. Disciples display a value to love Jesus by immediately obeying all that they learn in Scripture and taking responsibility to win and disciple others in a like manner. CPMs emerge when there are consistent fourth-plus generation churches in multiple areas. “Fourth-generation” is defined by believers from a first-generation church (started by an outsider or pre-existing Christian) starting a second-generation church, which starts a third-generation church which then starts a fourth-generation church. If fourth-generation occurs consistently, then it’s usually a God-movement.

In CPMs, models of discipleship and church are extremely reproducible and life-changing in order to enable each new generation of believers to start new generations as a part of their normal lifestyle. How rapidly are the new generations emerging? CPMs typically double in size at least every 18 months, though new generations can start every few weeks or months.

Word, Works, Wineskins, and Worries

Most of us have never lived in such a kingdom movement. When we live in the world of non-movement, we find it hard to believe there is a reality different from our own experience. The goal of this regular column is to draw lessons from this alternate world of kingdom movements so that we can implement their biblical principles in our own lives. 

If I can get someone to walk in the midst of a CPM, then that person will much more likely know how to cooperate with the Spirit in CPM processes. The ethos of CPMs is more easily caught than taught. The faith of CPM believers is contagious.

But since most of us cannot physically walk among these movements, we will learn from CPMs and their practitioners in four areas:

Word – biblical principles for CPMs that were foundational for the explosion of the church in the first century A.D. and are foundational for modern CPMs. 

Works – case studies of modern CPMs. Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them. (Ps. 111:2) We will study what CPM practitioners are doing on virtually every continent.

Wineskins – methods and structures that effectively cooperate with the Spirit in reproducing generation by generation: finding God-prepared people, evangelism, short- and long-term discipleship, church planting/life and leadership development. We will share practical methods that can help you in pursuing a God-movement.

Worries – concerns and questions that are common when CPMs emerge, and biblical answers for those.

What’s Ahead in This Column, or Why I’m Tickled to Death About It

Mission Frontiers will serve as a worldwide forum for lessons from CPMs. Men and women in the midst of CPMs will share their insights with you. Here are some of the top highlights in the issues ahead, or why I’m tickled to death to learn what they are learning.

Changing the Percentages

Stan Parks, who works with BEYOND, says that in CPMs, we see real changes in percentages. CPMs are genuinely helping us win people faster than the birth rate so that cities and people groups are actually becoming Christian. 

Keeping up with population growth is a challenge any church faces. For example, the average annual birth rate in the U.S. is about 6.3%2 and does not include the growth in population of immigration to the U.S. For churches to actually make gains on the demographics of society, they would probably need to at least beat the birth rate. So a church of 100 people needs to evangelize and baptize at least 6-7 lost people each year just to maintain current Christian demographics and more than that to make net gains. Otherwise, we are losing ground in the kingdom. Is your church beating the birth rate?

In CPMs, the percentages are changing drastically. In CPMs, a group of 100 believers evangelizes and baptizes a typical range of 30 to 100 persons per year. In other words, many CPMs are doubling the number of believers every 12 to 24 months. In one recently-emerged CPM in an unreached people group in South East Asia, every village now has a church. 

In the months to come, we will discover ways to change the percentages in your community. Let’s beat the birth rate and reverse the decline of evangelism!

Diversity of Examples—A Model for Any Context

Fifteen years ago, CPMs were few and mainly occurred in certain regions and demographics. This led to the assumption that CPMs can only occur in limited-access nations among rural populations. Today, however, we are tracking dozens of CPMs­—on every continent in virtually every worldview. Places we thought would never experience CPMs are now blossoming. What this means is that there are probably examples that are very similar to the ones you face. Rural and urban. Literate and non-literate. Churched, post-churched, and pre-churched. Western and non-Western. Muslim-background, Hindu-background, tribal-background, atheist-background, etc.

We can no longer say: “It can’t happen here!”

Within the diversity of contexts are diverse models or adaptations of models which all share similar principles. In the months to come, we will explore models that will fit your context.

Mission or Ministry? True Community Transformation

Transformation and justice issues have rightly captured the attention of the church today. Frequently missionaries host short-term teams who say: “We want to come do hands-on ministry—help the poor, right injustice, set free the captives—not evangelism (or not just evangelism).” This is an understandable reaction to evangelism and discipleship that does not result in transformation. The result, however, has been an unfortunate pendulum swing in which churches and organizations attempt to transform communities without first transforming hearts.

An exciting phenomenon is emerging in CPMs: as churches multiply through a people group and take seriously the transformational commands of Scripture, societies are being transformed. Research still needs to be gathered in this area. But what is emerging are frequent testimonies of transformation. Women are being freed from prostitution. Crime is waning. Education and literacy are rising. Unemployment and poverty are decreasing. Acts of mercy abound. We are finding that the most effective transformational model is the biblical model of making disciples who have the power by the Spirit and admonitions of the Word to love others as they love themselves. Rather than transform first, we disciple first, then watch transformation emerge as a fruit of discipleship and church life.

In the months to come, we will learn how to follow a similar path of community transformation.

Immediacy­—A Return to Life-Changing Discipleship and Community

The ethos within these kingdom movements is to love God with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love one’s neighbor as oneself—and to do this in a life-changing community with others. Many churches around the world display a similar ethos. CPMs don’t have the edge on this. But it’s really impossible to see a God-movement like a CPM without this ethos. In other words, when you find a true CPM, you also find life-changing discipleship and community. The emphasis in CPMs is that by God’s grace we obey everything we’ve learned in Scripture. What emerges is an authentic Christianity that feels very New Testament-like.

While CPMs multiply rapidly, they are not primarily concerned with rapidity. Instead they are concerned with immediacy.

Believers hold a value of immediately obeying what they learn.

The Gospel of Mark uses the word ευθυς —“immediately”—over 30 times.

And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. (Mark 1:17-18 ESV, emphasis added). 

Mark emphasizes that disciples, like their Lord, obey immediately out of their love for God.

Because disciples in CPMs frequently obey the Word without delay or reservations, it results in rapid life transformation and rapid multiplication of believers and churches. But in reality, this is rapid only by Western standards, not by biblical standards. In CPMs, such Christianity is the norm; to not live this way is viewed as an aberration.

In the months to come, we will learn how to cultivate such discipleship.

The Journey Ahead

CPMs are not a cure-all. They come with their own set of problems. Any model of discipleship and church does. But they are the most concrete expression of God’s kingdom coming on earth as in heaven that I know of. They beautifully display the growth of the kingdom that Jesus described as the new norm:

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches (Matt. 13:31-32 ESV).

Not only do CPMs expand like this, but the number of CPMs is expanding like this, and our understanding is also expanding like this. At a recent CPM conference we hosted in the U.S., a participant remarked that it was somehow appropriate that America was now learning from Asia, where many of the modern CPMs were originally birthed. In the coming months may we develop a global conversation where the whole Body of Christ is learning from mustard-seed movements on each continent! 

About the Author: Steve Smith planted a church in Los Angeles and then helped initiate a church planting movement (CPM) among an unreached people group in East Asia. He trained believers in CPM and worked with the International Mission Board (SBC) in reaching Southeast Asian Peoples. Steve graduated to heaven in March 2019.

This article was first published in Mission Frontiers: Urbana Gets Radical, March/April 2013 , pages 33-35. It was used here with permission.

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by Jean Coles

Why develop a prayer strategy?

While my family served in Asia, my husband and I visited a team on an island a short flight away. They had experienced many setbacks to sharing Jesus with those around them. Their children often had nightmares, as did those who slept in the guest room of their house. The team leader’s wife struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts, which she had never experienced before moving to that location. Kingdom work and the team limped along. A prayer calendar had been developed by the team, but it encountered multiple setbacks and delays before it was finally printed. When the team investigated the spiritual history of that area, they discovered (among other things) that human sacrifice had been practiced there until the early 1900s.

When the prayer calendar was finally printed, that area was featured in the Global Prayer Digest also, which mobilized even more prayer. Prayer always precedes breakthrough. And, initial breakthroughs came, and the work continues to this day. So also do the challenges and the need for more focused prayer.

As Walter Wink wrote:
Intercessory prayer is spiritual defiance of what is in the name of what God has promised. Intercession visualizes an alternative future to the one apparently fated by the momentum of current forces. Prayer infuses the air of a time yet to be into the suffocating atmosphere of the present. … History belongs to the intercessors who believe the future into being. … Even a small number of people, firmly committed to the new inevitability on which they have fixed their imaginations, can decisively affect the shape the future takes.

Scripture teaches much about the importance of prayer. It highlights praying effectively and fervently, in holiness: The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 5:16b). It teaches us to pray together in agreement with others: Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father in heaven (Matt. 18:19). And it encourages us to pray always with rejoicing and thanksgiving: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thess. 5:16-18). Much more could be said about Scripture’s teaching on prayer.

How can we pray more effectively?

Our God invites us into deep relationship with himself and prayer is a very important part of that relationship. It involves asking, listening, resting, abiding, seeking, and more. It’s not meant to be part of a checklist. Praying is about communicating with the Heavenly Father. Praying more effectively is about growing in connection with our Lord, aligning with His heart and purposes, seeking Him above all, and living in holiness. As we spend time with our King, we grow in faith and joy, and in recognizing that He is good and delights in hearing our prayers and answering them.

One way to grow in praying more effectively is to learn from prayer strategies in Scripture. To mention only a couple of many, in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 we learn that we have been given divine power to tear down1 strongholds. John 14:12-14 teaches us to believe and ask in Jesus’ name. Esther mobilized backup prayer and fasting before asking the king for help (Esther 4:12-17).

Looking at the following two passages gives insight into the prayer strategy of identifying strongholds, hindrances to the advance of God’s kingdom in a location, situation, or group of people (2 Cor. 10:3-6), and kingdom opposites, what it might look like for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done in that place (Matt. 6:9-13).

Strongholds in a people or place can affect lost people, disciples, and gospel messengers. Negative effects can include nightmares, suicidal thoughts, division, intrusive thoughts, anger, infighting, fear, intimidation, sexual sin, unfaithfulness, miscommunication, sickness, and more. All too often these challenges debilitate God’s people. Yet God’s good plan is to give His people victory over the stronghold, then have them bring this victory to the lost, setting captives free. In this process, strongholds are demolished, God’s kingdom expands, and He gets all the glory.

When we first moved to Asia, a huge stronghold in my life was fear. It was also a stronghold among the Unreached People Group we sought to serve. As God set me free from fear, He led me to deeper faith and hope. Then I was more able to pray this same victory for those around me. God gave me significant insights about that road, which I was able to pass along to others. One fruit of this was the birth of Wholeness Prayer (www. freemin.org), which God has since used to set many spiritual and emotional captives free, as He speaks to the roots of the issues involved.

Another place my husband and I lived in Asia suffered from a stronghold of division. A kingdom opposite to that is unity. A related key Scripture is John 17. Many of the churches in that city regularly join together to pray for unity. They also hold multi-denominational events and seek to speak well of one another.

Once strongholds are identified, they can be integrated into a broader prayer strategy. For example, if the strongholds are nightmares, intimidation, and intrusive thoughts, a prayer strategy might include putting on the armor of God, rejoicing in the power of God, and developing a month-long prayer campaign.

Develop an effective prayer strategy

A first step is to identify key strongholds hindering kingdom advance in a group or location. This can be done through prayerful observation, asking key questions to cultural insiders, researching the history of the location or group, and spending time in prayer (as a group and individually) asking God to reveal whatever we need to know about strongholds affecting that location or group.

Follow-up steps include prayerfully seeking to identify kingdom opposites for each of these strongholds, identifying key Scriptures that connect with these, then using those Scriptures as the basis for effective prayer. Once you’ve created and implemented your prayer strategy, you’ll want to periodically evaluate it, then update it as needed.

Real Strongholds, Real Strategies

After moving to a new location in Asia, I noticed that I was more inclined to be irritated with my husband. I would hear a voice in my head saying, “Find something to get irritated at him about.” Since that’s not a common issue for us, I started asking other workers in that area if they were also experiencing this. They were! So, a group of us began to pray together about this stronghold we’d identified. Once this stronghold was brought into the light, its power decreased.

In that situation, one potential kingdom opposite we could have focused on is thankfulness. A related verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:18: Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

A prayer strategy we might have chosen would be for this group to pray weekly about this issue, and invite others to do the same, and ask God to birth thankfulness in His people and in that location. An additional step could be to see how we could practice and model thankfulness and hold each other accountable to do so.

Think about your context (or the one for which you are interceding). What strongholds are there? Then, consider:

1. When do you plan to pray (rhythms of prayer)?
2. What are you planning to pray (prayer strategy)?
3. Who will you share your prayer initiative with?
4. Who will you pray with?
5.  What are the next steps?

What does it mean to multiply prayer?

It’s often helpful for many people to join together in agreement about a hindrance to kingdom advance. There is kingdom power when one person prays. And there is power where two or more are gathered in his name, agreeing together about what they are asking God to accomplish.

Key ways to multiply prayer include: (1) more and more people praying, (2) praying longer or more frequently, (3) praying more strategically (e.g., using strategies from Scripture), (4) praying more fervently or from a place of increased desperation, (5) praying from a place of deeper connection with God, and (6) praying from a place of greater purity or deeper surrender.

Extraordinary prayer has preceded every Church Planting Movement we know of. It goes beyond the ordinary in commitment, desperation, frequency, and/or quality, with the goal of engaging with God at a deeper level. The following are extraordinary prayer strategies organized by the acronym PRAY2:

Prepare the way for the coming of His kingdom: prayer as strategy; listening prayer; prayer mobilization, training and team building and prayer shield teams and prayer research-which is Spirit- guided research into the supernatural underpinnings of reality to help produce more informed, effective intercession and outreach.

Restore God’s rightful rule: prayer worship warfare, i.e. raising the waterline of God’s manifest presence through worship, engaging with God, proclaiming His will, and exercising His delegated authority through supplication and obedience; prayer as member health; prayer as representational repentance and reconciliation; prayer and crisis response; and prayer and suffering.

Advance of His kingdom for His glory: prayer walking-when we carry His presence as we move prayer out of the church building or home and into the community; prayer power evangelism; prayer as spiritual warfare, i.e. taking authority over spiritual powers and strongholds hindering the advance of God’s kingdom; prayer and fasting for breakthroughs; and prayer presence.

Yearn for the now-but-not-yet kingdom to come: prayer yearning for maturity; prayer yearning for the full harvest-pressing forward with urgency to reap the white harvest that the Lamb who was slain receive His full reward; prayer yearning for kingdom transformation; and prayer yearning for our Bridegroom.

Consider which of these extraordinary prayer strategies you might want to include in your personal prayer strategy.

Length of prayer strategies

Prayer strategies may span short, medium, or long-term timelines. They may involve just a few people or even millions, praying individually and together. One shorter prayer initiative I pursued was fervent prayer for one of our sons while he was hospitalized with dengue fever. In God’s graciousness, He granted complete healing in a relatively short period of time.

In “Gaining Church Planting Momentum During COVID-19,” Aila Tasse described their responses to numerous challenges COVID-19 brought to their ministry in 2020:

Our first response was prayer. In mid-March we called for prayer among all our team members: our core team and our country leaders, representing all the countries where we work. We all started praying at the same time, using WhatsApp to distribute the prayers. We prayed that God would sustain the movement, because we realized that leaders and families were suddenly losing all their sources of income. Prayer was very key for us to keep the momentum. We all started praying, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We called for fasting on Wednesdays. It was a whole day of fasting every week, which still continues today.

He later described God’s provision in response to their prayers:

I looked at what has happened in the last 15 years of our movement in East Africa, and 2020 was the peak. We saw 1,300 churches planted in just that one year. This was amazing because earlier in the year, we had scaled down our goals by 30%; we said we’ll trust God for 600 to 800 new churches. But God took us way beyond that, as only He can do. I could hardly believe it, as all the teams presented their data for the year. I had to see the graphs and look for myself at people group by people group.4

A lifelong prayer that I, and many others, are committed to pursue is for John 17 unity and shalom wholeness in the global Church. Whatever the length of the prayer strategy, and however you update it over time, keep praying and persevering in faith. As my brother, JFK Mensah, so aptly described,

We must believe in the weapons of our warfare. Over time there is no curse that can’t be broken. To believe otherwise is to believe a lie. Have courage! You are seated with Christ in heavenly places. You are tiny, but the weapons are mighty.5

Whatever God calls you to pray for, don’t stop. Align with His vision and promises and pray them into being. His victory is certain. He is bigger and more powerful than any problem, and all problems combined. Rejoice in Him, worship with joy, and give thanks in all circumstances. As He answers your prayers, give appropriate testimony (consistent with confidentiality). And give Him all the praise and glory.

Steps to develop a prayer strategy

Here are some steps for developing and implementing a prayer strategy in response to an ongoing situation.

•   Develop the prayer strategy (as a group).
•   What strongholds/hindrances are factors in this situation?
•  How are they affecting the lost, the church, individuals, families, groups, and/or field workers?
•  What are the historical roots of these strongholds or hindrances?
•   What kingdom opposites do you sense God wants to bring in their place?
•  What verses connect with each of these kingdom opposites?
•  What initial prayer strategy will you pursue? i.e., Who, when, how, where, and resources, rhythms, or other activities.
•  What prayer materials will you create?
•  What rhythms of prayer will you pursue?
•  How will this multiply prayer?
•  Implement the prayer strategy.
•  Periodically evaluate and update the prayer strategy.
•  What progress has been made?
•  In what ways is the situation unchanged?
•  How have the challenges and opportunities changed?
•  Based on the above, how will you update your prayer strategy?
•  Repeat as new situations arise.

About the Author: Jean and her husband Dave served in Indonesia for 24 years, is founder of Freedom for the Captives Ministries (freemin.org), and author of Becoming Whole a prayer resource. She serves as Beyond’s (beyond.org) Director of Prayer Strategies and Associate to the VP of Team Development.

This article was first published in Mission Frontiers: Mar/April 2023 Edition pages 16-20. It was used here with permission.

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Over 1% of the World: A Macroanalysis of 1,967 Movements to Christ

by Justin Long

For over 25 years, I have been involved in mission research, working mostly on global documentation of unreached places and peoples, and efforts to reach them. During that time, I have worked with a variety of projects, from the second edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia in the late 1990s to my current work documenting movements.

For over a decade, I have met various people in the missiological community who have talked about rapidly multiplying Church Planting Movements. Until 2015, most of those familiar with the global situation thought there were perhaps as many as 100 active movements. During the 2010s, out of curiosity, I began collecting case studies and quantitative data on movements. This effort gathered momentum in advance of meetings in 2017 to discuss the formation of what would become the 24:14 network. Several advocates encouraged others to share information beyond their own networks and movement(s) for the first time. I aggregated the data while adhering to the security and confidentiality requirements of each data submitter.

By the time of the meetings, we had documented nearly 1,300 engagements and 600 movements. These totals were significantly more than what most expected and raised the aspirations of the meeting participants. The evidence of the geographic and ethnographic spread of movements throughout the world’s clusters and affinity blocks encouraged many that the possibility of “a movement team for every people and place” might become possible in the near future. Since that time, I have continued to collect and share updated data on movements around the world in order to encourage practitioners and provide information on the remaining gaps.

Let me state the obvious fairly clearly: we only gather data to document the total global numbers and regional trends and identify gaps. I do not claim credit for these movements. Further, much of what movements share with me is provided in confidence and is very sensitive. I lead this research effort and hold this movement data in trust for the 24:14 network. Obviously, various movements and teams do much of the research. Globally, a research team and a leadership team help make decisions on how to use and protect this data. We do not share or publish information below the regional level (e.g., at the country or people group level). We point interested people toward the various regional networks, which internally determine processes for connecting people and sharing information, based on the security requirements of the region’s situation.

Families of Movements

Movement data comes to me from various networks. We don’t just accept any report published on the web or delivered to me. Our network examines new reporting organizations to confirm their reliability. The movements whose data we trust and use have webs of accountability and reporting.

In all, there are 40 different “families” or networks of movements. Some are quite large, numbering in the millions; others are quite small, numbering a few thousand. No network makes up more than half of the total. Some are centered on specific regions of the world, while others are multi-regional and even multi-continental in scope. Nearly all the movement families, no matter how widely spread, have “concentrations of focus” on specific peoples or specific religions. Outside these concentrations, the methods they have developed seem less effective. Movements focused on former Muslim radicals, for example, are less effective among agnostic or secularized non-religious people.

Global Totals

As part of the 24:14 effort, all the organizations or movements report on their work using a scale, the CPM Continuum, which measures the level of activity of an existing team. This scale ranges from “1” (a single team just getting started) to “5” (a full movement), to “6” (local leadership), and “7” (movements that send workers to start new movements).

Teams report their efforts by a specific place (country, province, city) and, typically, people group, people cluster or language. Some agencies, due to their security requirements, may only report activity in a specific country (e.g., Austria, Australia, or Armenia). Others might report activity among a specific language group or cluster (such as “Turks,” or “Kurds,” or “Chinese students”). Still, others might report activity coded with Joshua Project’s people group ID codes (PEO1-3).

All the reported data is aggregated and coded, then totaled to the regional level. This data is useful for telling us where gaps in effort likely exist. But to actually understand the scope, the “national movement” totals above may be more useful.

We count engagements as a team or group of teams focused on starting a movement among a specific people group, cluster, or language, at any level on the CPM Continuum (1 to 7). Counting this way, we know of 5,475 engagements.

An engagement is counted as a movement when it consistently sees four generations of disciples gathered in churches, in multiple streams. Although not every movement has a minimum measure of total disciples, many use the 1,000 disciple minimum. Even if they don’t use that measure, four generations in multiple streams means a movement would normally be close to or greater than 1,000 disciples. Counting this way, we know of 1,967 movements.

Once movements reach the four-generation threshold, they tend to grow consistently until they reach larger sizes (around 100,000 and into the millions). At this point, they may plateau or shift into starting new movements (if they have not already begun doing so). While many teams have engaged, failed to see anything start, and returned home (I do not track that data), once a movement reaches four generations, it rarely ends. I have found only 18 examples of such endings (which I have, in the past, referred to as “fizzles”). In each of these, the disciples in the movements have either transitioned into more traditional churches or gone on to start new movements. So even in the few cases where movements have ended, seemingly, the growth has not been lost.

Based on what movements have reported, there are currently at least 114 million disciples in 8.6 million churches. I must emphasize our awareness that what we have documented so far is limited. Some movements report yearly, while others report less frequently. Some movements intentionally report smaller numbers than they have measured or only report on streams that have reached a particular size. The reports of some movements have been delayed by turmoil in their region, so the number we are using is a year or two old. Our numbers, therefore, constitute a conservative “floor,” not an estimate of the “ceiling.” We are aware of some movements that we have not included in our numbers because we haven’t been able to fully document them. We hear tantalizing rumors of growth that still await adequate documentation. More is happening than anyone knows; only God sees the full scope.

Nevertheless, the numbers we have are inspiring:

• More than 1 out of 100 people in our world today are part of a rapidly-multiplying movement to Christ.
• The number of house churches in movements exceeds the number of organized churches in all other denominations in the world’s Christian traditions (obviously, the average size of these churches is different).
• The numbers of house churches and disciples are growing exponentially.
• Some movements are starting to plant new movements, which we expect will lead to even more exponential growth.

Some Movements are Big, but Most are Fairly Small

The average size of most individual movements (bounded by people cluster and country) is 56,000 people. Due to small disparities in the way movements report disciples, comparing some movements to other movements isn’t always “apples to apples.” However, generally speaking, most movements are in the size range of 1,000 to 10,000 people; only a handful of movements have more than a million disciples in them.

A better approach is to look more broadly: within the 40 “families” of movements, eight families account for over one million people each. Another eight account for over 100,000 each. The remaining 22 each account for fewer than 100,000 people.

With 114 million people in 8.6 million churches, the average size of a house church is about 16. This seems to be a fairly common average in countries. Some of the larger movements, in slightly more open countries, do see house groups grow into larger churches with as many as 200. In some smaller movements in very dangerous places, constrained by security issues and even by local ordinances on how many can gather at one time, the average size is smaller. Both larger and smaller-sized churches are seemingly less common; an average size of 12 to 16 is the typical anecdotal report from most movement practitioners. Much like we see in the New Testament, various groupings of these churches are bound together by relational and leadership lines.

Movements Can be Found in All UN Regions

Unsurprisingly, most of the world’s movements are found in Asia: 55 in Central Asia, 62 in East Asia, 267 in South Asia, 167 in Southeast Asia, and 232 in West Asia. Together, these represent the vast majority of the disciples in movements: over 86 million. While this is an enormous number, it represents just slightly more than 2% of Asia’s total population of 4.8 billion (and it is also unevenly distributed, which leaves some massive gaps). While I am pleased to see these enormous movements, I also recognize they are a drop in the bucket compared to the need.

The second largest grouping of movements is found in Africa: 213 in East Africa, 121 in Middle Africa, 127 in North Africa, 22 in South Africa, and 216 in West Africa. Together, these represent over 18 million disciples. These numbers make up slightly more than 1% of Africa’s total population of 1.26 billion.

Europe has the third largest grouping of movements: 60 in Eastern Europe, 54 in Northern Europe, 56 in Southern Europe, and 42 in Western Europe. Together, they have just over 4 million disciples. Many of these movements are among diaspora peoples. Very few of these movements are large; most are a few thousand disciples, with a few numbering over 10,000. All operate very much under the radar. They total about half of one percent of Europe’s total population of 742 million.

South and Central America combined have a handful of movements: 10 in the Caribbean, 23 in Central America, and 30 in South America. Together they comprise just over a million disciples. This makes them far less than one percent of South and Central America’s total population of 693 million.

North America has 35 movements, numbering a bit over half a million people. Most of the movements are very small groups among diaspora peoples. This constitutes less than one percent of North America’s 382 million.

Finally, there are a half-dozen movements in the Pacific, comprising about 70,000 people. This also makes up about one-tenth of one percent of the Pacific region’s 45 million people.

Over ¾ of Countries Have Movement Engagements

While we don’t reveal specifics of engagements, we do note that out of 240 countries, 50 are unengaged. Out of 43 countries that are less than 8% Christian, just three are unengaged. Broadly speaking, movements have been shown to happen in every kind of place, but movement practitioners are inclined to work in largely non-Christian places.

Movements Have Mostly Engaged Muslims and Hindus

It is somewhat challenging to estimate the number of disciples with a background in other religions. Many movements end up affecting more than one religious group, and it’s nearly impossible to know the distribution of focus. Nevertheless, I have estimated which movements are “majority focused” on a specific religion (e.g., Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism). Of the 114 million disciples, at least 55 million come from a Muslim background, and at least 40 million come from a Hindu background. There is some growing fruit amongst those from Buddhist backgrounds, as well as from non-religious and culturally Christian backgrounds, but this is far smaller by comparison.

Movements Tend to be Found in Rural Areas but are Expanding into Urban Ones

We’ve only just begun to fine-tune the amount of information we have on where movements are engaging within specific countries, provinces, and districts. Most of what we know is very broad. It’s difficult to discern what percentage of movements are in urban areas, and what percentage are in rural areas.

By examining the historical data we have in the database and in the collected case studies, it appears the majority of movements began in rural areas and continue to operate mostly in those situations. Even when they are present in towns and cities, many of these areas have a rural flavor.

Nevertheless, movements are more and more reporting intentionally engaging peoples in cities and seeing fruit there. The idea that movement methodologies can’t work in cities is being challenged in many places. Movements like those among the Bhojpuri in India as well as other Indian movements, a variety of movements in Africa, and various movements in Eurasia are engaging many people groups and geographical areas within the major cities of those nations. Some of those cities have a more rural feel to them, but many are megacities. In addition, much of the work among Muslims is taking place in cities. At the same time, while the data is not comprehensive, it seems not many efforts focus on cities as a whole (versus focusing on specific peoples or segments within certain cities). This is an area for development in the future.

Movements Currently Engage Over 1,000 People Groups and 2,000 Languages

As with geographic locations, we are just beginning to gather good information on all the peoples and languages being engaged. From our limited data, we know of 1,140 people groups that are engaged, and 2,600 languages in different countries. This means that if Kazakhs in Germany, Kazakhstan, and China were all engaged, it would count as “3” toward the total number of engagements. We also know of at least 469 provinces that have movement-focused teams. We have just recently started gathering this dataset, so we expect this reported number to grow significantly as more data becomes available. Again, this data should be understood as the “floor,” not the “ceiling.”

Virtually All of the Joshua Project Affinity Blocs are Engaged

We have a better view of people group engagement when we look more broadly. Joshua Project has categorized the world’s 16,000 people groups into 272 clusters, which in turn are grouped into 16 affinity blocs. Fifteen of the 16 have movements. The sixteenth is the Deaf, and while there are certainly deaf disciples in movements, as of this writing, we don’t know of movements specifically engaging this group.

The three affinity blocs with the greatest number of engagements are the Arab World, South Asian peoples, and Sub-Saharan peoples. The reason is fairly simple: people trying to start movements have worked the longest in these three blocs. Many movement efforts in other blocs have sprung out of the initial fruit in these blocs.

82% of Joshua Project’s People Clusters are Engaged

Of Joshua Project’s 272 clusters, 223 are presently engaged with movement efforts. This doesn’t necessarily represent a fully adequate engagement yet, since many of these clusters number in the millions of people. Efforts in these locations should be undertaken in collaboration with existing fieldwork, which in many places is being done by near-culture workers.

Conclusion: Movements as a Focus for the Future of Missions

We have been gathering information about each movement’s beginning date and its growth in five-year increments. About three-quarters of all known movements have reported this data. This analysis has led us to the conclusion that the number of movements is currently growing incrementally, not exponentially. However, unsurprisingly given the methodology, the number of churches in these movements has been growing exponentially. Generally, over the past 35 years, the number of churches has doubled about every three years; between 1990 and 2025, there have been four points by which the number of churches has grown by over ten times.

Rapidly multiplying movements to Christ have been sowing seed and steadily growing, out of the limelight, in the spiritually darkest places of the world, for nearly three decades. While they remain a small percentage of the world, they are not insignificant. Disciples in movements make up over 1% of our world’s population, and many movements have emerged in some of the most spiritually hungry regions. We know of 1,967 movements today, but another 3,500 teams are steadily and passionately working to catalyze movements in their own spheres. Out of those, over 1,600 have seen multi-generational fruit, and are growing rapidly toward the four-generation threshold. Within the next five to 10 years, we could easily see the current 1% become 2% of the world, and almost certainly significantly more within specific areas of focus.

Movements are not a passing fad but a significant topic for the future of our missiological discourse. There is much to be excited about, but still much to be learned. As the Body of Christ, we must continue to collaborate and refine our research in order to steward this knowledge responsibly.

About the author: Justin has spent the last 30+ years developing and contributing to various missions efforts including: the World Christian Encyclopedia, the strategicnetwork.org, the Ethné network, and the Movements Database. His research findings and missions articles have been published in several places, and currently publishes a weekly newsletter at justinlong.org

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