Kingdom Kernels: CPMS – The Counter-intuitive Ways of Growing God’s Kingdom

Kingdom Kernels: CPMS – The Counter-intuitive Ways of Growing God’s Kingdom

Jul 20, 2023 | Longer Reads

by Steve Smith

The King’s ways in this world are counterintuitive. Intuitively we think His kingdom should follow a certain path or principles natural to us, but we find that it is quite the opposite. The primary way to discover the counterintuitive ways of the kingdom is to meditate on the Word of the King—Scripture. We think we should curse our enemy, but King Jesus says bless (Luke 6:27-28). We think that by elevating ourselves, we will succeed, but the King says to humble ourselves (1 Peter 5:5-6). We think that resources, education, and connections are the paths to breakthrough, but the King tells us that the weak, the have-nots, and the are-nots will find the ultimate victory in this world (1 Cor. 1:26-29).

Perhaps it is in this last reference that we, as a North American church, are challenged most. We are so accustomed to the power of education, resources, and fortitude to change the world that we’ve become much too self-reliant and too little God-reliant. If we ask ourselves the question, “Am I doing anything right now that absolutely requires faith in the Spirit to sustain me as opposed to my own personal abilities?” we often find ourselves at a loss.

I recall a group of twelve East Asian believers I worked with in a Church-Planting Movement. Their people group, on many economic scales, was classified as the poorest group in the country. Many individuals had one, perhaps two sets of clothes. Most had little, if any, money. The average educational level ranged between third and sixth grade. Illiteracy was at 86%. Drunkenness was rampant. They brought nothing to the table in their effort to reach their people group with the gospel—no resources, no education, no connections. And this brought great despair in a society in which connections were everything.

When I first saw them, clothes ragged, hair disheveled, teeth missing, I almost lost hope that God could do much with them. But then God gave me these counterintuitive promises for these precious new believers:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Cor. 1:26-29 ESV)

I told them: “You’re the poorest tribe in this country!” Their shoulders slumped. “You’re the most despised in this country!” Their eyes looked down at their toes in realization.

Then I told them, “So rejoice! That is why God is going to use you to win the world! You are in these verses. You are the weak, the poor, the despised to whom God will give grace. God gives grace to the humble, and there is no group more humbled than you! Take up your calling.”

At that, a deep, Spirit-prompted identity rose up in the hearts of this “insignificant” band as they laid hold of that promise. These were their verses. God had shown them their place in the cosmic plan for the redemption of this world. They took up this mantle and began to spread the kingdom of God from village to village and from valley to valley.

The counterintuitive nature of the kingdom joyfully catches us by surprise.

The Mustard Seed of Kingdom Growth
CPMs are kingdom movements that operate in the power of the Spirit on kingdom principles. Because we don’t naturally or intuitively understand kingdom ways, Jesus painted many word pictures of the kingdom in the form of parables, starting most of them with “the kingdom of God is like….” Each is a kernel of truth about the overall mystery of the King’s reign. 

Jesus answered [His disciples], “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted…. But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. (Matt. 13:11, 16, NASB, emphasis added)

Parables are a mystery to those outside, but to those who come like little children, God will disclose the mysterious nature of the kingdom. Surrender your pre-conceived ideas to Him and ask Him to speak afresh to you. We must be very purposeful if we would live King-centered rather than human-centered ways of ministry.

A foundational kingdom kernel is the mustard seed. 

He put another parable before them, saying, “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)

What is more insignificant than a mustard seed? What was more insignificant than this little band of barely literate, ignored believers in East Asia who sought to change the world?

The parable teaches us that large movements start from small beginnings. In this manner, God most fully receives the glory. Powerful transformation comes through those we would deem weak. It is not the resources, education, and connections that enable us to succeed but rather the recognition of our spiritual bankruptcy and absolute need for Jesus every day.1

What transformed that humble band of twelve into the early apostles was their recognition of their insignificance and their utter dependence on nothing but the Spirit of God. They had no other options. Like Peter, they could say, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee.”

The CPMs around the world have nothing to do with earthly socio-economic status and everything to do with spiritual socio-economic status.

This bursts a common myth about CPMs: that they only occur in poor societies. They more often occur in poor societies, perhaps because their physical poverty helps them recognize spiritual poverty. But CPMs are also taking place in educated communities and professional arenas. The key is not economic status but the status of the heart.

The King’s ways are to take the spiritually bankrupt when they rely on Him and His Word in absolute dependence and use them to spread throughout the world as His change agents. In the West, we find it hard to imagine that a small group of poverty-stricken or poorly-educated believers and churches could grow like a mustard tree and become the largest tree in the garden. We find the speed of Church-Planting Movements of the world unbelievable precisely because we forget how the kingdom operates. It does not depend on human resources or engineering.

And that’s what I love about CPMs: God taking bedraggled have-nots and shaming the haves. That’s our King! If we plant the right DNA of the kingdom in the right types of individuals, the growth of the kingdom is inevitable. It is critical that we get the beginnings right! We must start with the counterintuitive ways of the King.

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 Equipping the People of God for the Mission of God, May/June 2013 pages 28-31. It was used here with permission.

Interested in ways to get involved?  Talk to Us
Want to Learn More About Movements? Watch our Six Simple Shifts Video

Three Major Hindrances — 4000 Disciples

Three Major Hindrances — 4000 Disciples

Jul 20, 2023 | Austronesia, Stories

Hanli* helped her husband track data describing their region’s largest family of church planting movements. After reading all the descriptions of transformed lives, and the stories of Muslims coming to faith along with their families or groups of friends (not as individuals), she asked the Lord to use her in the same way. Hanli trusted God to retrain her: to leave behind unfruitful traditional evangelistic approaches, and try the new approach she had read about for reaching Muslims.

God delights to use those who know the voice of Jesus and obey His beckoning, who step outside their comfort zones and say “Yes, Jesus,” no matter the cost. They trust God to make disciples who make disciples, regardless of their own weaknesses or strengths.

Some might think Hanli had three hindrances to effectively multiplying disciples among Muslims:

  1. She is Chinese-Indo (an ethnic people typically hated by indigenous unreached people in her country)
  2. She is a theological professor (having much theological knowledge, most of which is offensive to Muslims rather than helpful in reaching them)
  3. She is from a very traditional church (lacking contextual understanding of effective ways to reach Muslims).

However, in the past two years, Hanli has seen roughly 4,000 Muslims come to follow Isa al Masih (Jesus the Messiah), in multiple generations of families and friends. These new disciples meet in house fellowships and are reproducing disciples who make disciples.

*pseudonym

SUSI IS STILL SEARCHING
She wanted something to hold on to wholeheartedly. She even told her mom that she was searching outside Islam for truth. read more …

JOURNEY TO DISCIPLESHIP
Susi was interested in each of the Old Testament stories and asked, “Are these stories talking about the blood of Jesus?” read more …

GIVE UP YOUR WAY
Together the couple had sought the Lord on where they might live to be most effective in making multiplying disciples. And the Lord had answered. read more …

Kingdom Kernels: The Journey Ahead

Kingdom Kernels: The Journey Ahead

Jul 6, 2023 | Longer Reads

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.

Interested in ways to get involved?  Talk to Us
Want to Learn More About Movements? Watch our Six Simple Shifts Video

“What Kind of God Allows Everyone to Pray?”

“What Kind of God Allows Everyone to Pray?”

Jul 6, 2023 | South Asia

Sharan* and his family became followers of Jesus less than two years ago. Before Jesus, they worshiped idols and brought offerings to the temple, even though they were not allowed to enter it and sit with the higher caste peoples or the priest. As Nai caste (haircutter caste), they are considered a polluting people. Being Hindu was hard, but they didn’t know another way.

One Friday, as Sharan and his wife walked to the market, they heard singing. Curious, they entered the home to observe the group. They listened to a Bible story and a Discovery Bible study discussion. Sharan was deeply impacted by the prayers. They prayed for the sick and things happening in the village. Everyone was praying. Sharan wondered what kind of god allowed everyone to pray. 

After attending the meetings for several weeks, Sharan and his wife said, “We, too, can invite people to our house to listen to stories and pray to this amazing God.” The neighbors who came were impressed that everyone was invited. Everyone could have chai and eat together, sing and pray together. There were no caste barriers among themselves or between themselves and God.

Sharan and his family became followers of Jesus. They never went back to the temple. “There is nothing good for me back in Hinduism,” Sharan said. And he found that as he prayed about everything, life improved. “What an amazing God!” he thought.

But when high-caste villagers noticed that Sharan didn’t go to the temple anymore, they were unwilling to tolerate his new life. They persuaded officials to keep him from his harvest and arrest him. 

During Sharan’s imprisonment, God’s people provided for his family. Sharan’s father was impressed, “We are not alone. These people help us. This is not just talk.” Sharan’s family continued hosting prayer meetings and sharing about Jesus. No one walked away from Jesus.

Six weeks later, Sharan was freed from jail. Village leaders were sure he would deny Jesus to return to his old job, but Sharan had another idea. He decided to try disciple-making full-time for three months. If God would provide work for his wife and father during that time, Sharan would continue. If not, he’d go back to his old job.

Sharan gave himself to disciple-making, faithfully telling people about Jesus and passing along the trainings his mentor shared with him. In this way, he discipled 19 families. After three months, 11 families were baptized. A few months later, the remaining eight were baptized.

At the end of three months, Sharan had discipled 19 lost families to Jesus. Within the next few months, all 19 families obeyed the Lord in baptism. And God provided work for his wife and father. Through the network of churches that has now reached seven spiritual generations and the business, God is providing all their needs. Sharan’s life is a testimony to all of what God can do.

God is building His church in the places we least expect it. Praise the Lord! 

*pseudonym

 

GOD STORIES CHANGING LIVES IN INDIA
Life was not peaceful. I was a cruel person. Even my children did not want a relationship with me. read more …

FROM BRICKMAKERS TO DISCIPLEMAKERS
Lakshmi poured some of their precious water over John’s feet and wiped them with her hands. John wept unashamedly.  read more …

ONE ILLNESS, 63 HOUSE CHURCHES
One day, in the midst of this desperate sadness, they had the opportunity to attend a nearby house church read more …

All In for All Peoples

All In for All Peoples

Jun 20, 2023 | Longer Reads

by R. Nyman

A few years ago, the VP of Global Strategies for BEYOND turned to me and stated, “We are observing a challenge to see women, as well as men, come to initial trainings in CPM (Church Planting Movements) globally. If we are serious about the fulfillment of the Great Commission, then we need to figure out a way to make sure both men and women are equipped/coached in making reproducing disciples for the launch of CPMs among all UPGs (Unreached People Groups).”

My husband and I also had observed many cases among other organizations where the commitment to equip/coach women, as well as men, for the making of reproducing disciple-makers in a CPM process was not emphasized.

When it comes to whether the global body of Christ truly yearns to be the “final lap”¹ generation of the fulfillment of the Great Commission, for Jesus’ fame and renown, there is what I like to call the No Child of God left behind policy of Jesus. All disciples of Jesus in for all peoples. Not some for all peoples, not all for some peoples, but ALL disciples for ALL peoples. (See Hab. 2:14; Rev. 5:9–14; Matt. 28:16–20; Rev. 7:9–12; Matt. 24:14; 2 Peter 3:9).

No Caveats in the Kingdom of God
In a recent conversation with an ex-pat CPM Outside Catalyst² who visited a movement in the Middle East, she relayed the following. When she listened to their all-male leadership share amazing stories, she asked them what they do to help equip and coach their women in the multiple house churches to reproduce as disciple-makers. The movement leader was puzzled and answered, “We have no plan. The women have to take care of the men and the children. How could they be involved?”

Another movement leader, when asked what their plan was for the equipping of both men and women to implement making reproducing disciples, looked a bit puzzled and then responded, “The women in our movements must take care of the children, as well as work in order to bring in support of the male CPM catalysts.”

Another movement leader was facilitating a CPM training for the week. He assumed that the women who were gathered in the room next to him were there in order to pray for his training. In reality, the women were meeting to be trained in CPM. This common assumption that women’s sole role in movements is to support the men as they lead movements overlooks the rich resource women are and can be in seeing the Great Commission fulfilled.

I assert that we can raise the bar to see both men and women become more effective as a global mission effort to establish a movement mindset norm of ALL in for ALL peoples.

Vision Anemia
At least 50% of most UPGs are female, and in many cultures, it is not appropriate for men to interact with women. Often, especially among Muslim UPGs, women see themselves as the gatekeepers³ for their households. In other words, why wouldn’t we trust the Holy Spirit to leverage women as CPM catalysts in these UPGs? Who, if not women laborers, will seek out  Women of Peace to open their oikos to the Gospel? And as new CPMs emerge, who will help to equip the multiple generations of local women leaders?

The intent of this article is to encourage those who have yet to make sure both men and women are equipped as disciples who understand how to make reproducing disciple-makers. But it’s important to pause and reflect on the various seasons of life in which women may find themselves that may impact how they engage in disciple-making.

Whether they are single, married without children, married with children, single again, young or old,  they all have been called by Jesus’ command to make disciples who make disciples of the ethne. This great work was given to all people (male and female) in every generation. While the call is the same, the implementation may vary significantly depending on their season of life. However, what is true in any season is that women are hugely gifted in relational acumen. That gift provides avenues into communities that might otherwise have been inaccessible.

A Bit of History
The Jan/Feb 2016 issue of Mission Frontiers⁴ was a huge piece in laying a foundation toward the normalization of women, as well as men, as Jesus’ disciples who make reproducing disciples in CPM efforts. When I had the opportunity to put that issue of Mission Frontiers together, it was mostly outside catalysts who were sharing CPM implementation stories and experiences.

Now, six years past that groundbreaking MF issue, we are seeing the multiplication of near-neighbor and focus UPG women who are sharing their stories, giving their insights as they implement to see the launch of CPMs. Finally, we are seeing ALL for ALL, not outsiders only for ALL peoples, not men only for ALL peoples. Not near-neighbor/indigenous UPG laborers only for ALL peoples, but ALL ethne to ALL ethne. Both men and women for the baseline making of reproducing disciples who love, hear, and obey Jesus.

What must be done to see women flourish as CPM practitioners
Potential actionable steps for more intentional equipping/coaching of women for CPM-focused efforts could include the following:

  1. Listen to and learn from the movement leaders and their stories. Discuss with listening ears how they train/coach women in their movements. The purpose is to be diagnostic in gaps in the CPMs to this end.
  2. Discern gaps in present movements in order to serve their gaps of seeing ALL (male and female) of their potential laborers equipped and coached more intentionally.
  3. Create avenues for women within CPMs to tell the story of how they partner with men in training/coaching others to reproduce disciple-makers.
  4. A weekly CPM coaching circle of men and women can be a most effective way to equip others. Use 7 DMM High-Value Activities⁵ to be woven into the coaching times. These CPM coaching times are suggested to be an ongoing coaching piece. The coaching circle can be most effective with four to six CPM implementers when held for 90 minutes divided into 1/3 member health, 1/3 CPM vision strengthening, 1/3 CPM actionable steps through listening prayer in mutual accountability.

All of us (men and women) are to delight in and declare God’s glory, developing intimacy with God. Out of the overflow of this intimacy, we are to “be” and “do” in Christ and seek to reproduce Jesus in others. For all who follow Jesus, making reproducing disciples is a privilege as well as a command.

I urge the Body of Christ to consider how to best support, inspire, and equip women to thrive and bear multiplying fruit to the glory of God. As co-laborers with God in His mission to reconcile the world to Himself, women have a place and a role to play, and it is right beside their brothers in the faith who are committed to the same call.

This article was first published in Mission Frontiers: Women in Mission, Mar/April  2023 , pages 41-43. It was used here with permission.

About the Author: R. Nyman and her husband have served with BEYOND (http://www.beyond.org) in SEAsia among Muslim UPGs since 1991 and train/coach and personally implement Disciple Making Movements. R. serves as Austronesian Affinity Bloc Strategy Leader for BEYOND.