Pioneering Movements: Leadership That Multiplies Disciples and Churches

by Steve Addison

He had no doubt that as he prayed God would provide the workers and the funds. But could he trust God to sustain him as their leader? He was troubled and torn for months. A friend who was concerned invited him to Brighton on the south coast of England for a weekend break. After worship on Sunday morning he was “unable to bear the sight of a congregation of a thousand or more Christian people rejoicing in their own security while millions were perishing for lack of knowledge.”2 He wrote, “I wandered out on the sands alone, in great spiritual agony.”

Taylor formed his own—the China Inland Mission (CIM), the first of what became known as faith missions. It could equally be described as the beginning of the frontier mission movement.3 In the days of William Carey, everywhere outside the Western world was a frontier. Now the frontier had shifted from the accessible coastal areas to the interior of places like China and Africa. This new mission agency would be shaped by six principles: (1) China Inland Mission would accept missionaries from any denomination, if they could sign a simple statement of belief. (2) CIM would accept candidates who were “willing and skillful workers” despite any lack of formal education. (3) Authority was in the hands of field leadership, not a distant board in England. (4) Missionaries would adopt Chinese dress and customs. (5) They would not ask for money. Workers did not receive a set salary but trusted God to provide. (6) Their purpose was widespread evangelism in the interior of China, where Christ had not been preached.

Progress came at a price. Idealism and faith were tested by pressures of life in a strange culture, in remote locations. Conflict over Taylor’s methods and leadership took a toll. Some left the mission; others were asked to leave. They faced sickness, danger and persecution. Taylor’s methods and leadership were attacked from within CIM and by other missionaries. He suffered from depression, constant poor health and a spinal injury that almost crippled him. Four of their eight children died before they reached ten. In 1870 Maria, pregnant, became seriously ill. She gave birth to a boy who lived just two weeks. A few days after his death Maria died. She was thirty-three. Despite the heartache and the opposition, Taylor was resolute. He wrote, “China is not to be won for Christ by quiet, ease-loving men and women.” He wanted men and women who would put Jesus, China and souls first in everything—even life itself must be secondary.

Evangelism was the priority of CIM, but church planting was the fruit of making disciples.

There is no hint that Luke takes the so-called apostolic age as somehow totally unique and unrepeatable. Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles

In the sixteenth century, Roman Catholic missions were at their peak, yet Protestants made almost no attempt to spread the gospel beyond the borders of Europe. C. W. Ranson notes, “The paradox of the Protestantism of the Reformation era is that while it called the Church back to its apostolic faith it was largely content to leave the fulfillment of the apostolic mission to the Church of Rome.”5 Some Reformers argued that the Great Commission ceased with the apostles. Others believed that the ministry of apostolic pioneers ceased once churches were established. Mission was no longer crossing cultural and geographic boundaries with the gospel, but fulfilling one’s calling in everyday life. Mobile missionary bands were no longer required. Every Christian had his own parish and each bishop his diocese, and no one could claim a roving commission. The call of every believer to fulfill the Great Commission was viewed as subversive to the social order.

So, how are we to understand the relationship between movement pioneers, their teams and the local churches? Who’s in charge? What are their respective functions? How do they partner in mission? Or are they independent of each other?

The Christian movement has two structures: the local church and the missionary band. A local congregation is composed of anyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ. Joining a missionary band requires a second commitment to the task of the missionary band.

The history of the Christian movement reveals that breakthroughs in the spread of the gospel into unreached fields normally require focused mission structures. These mission structures begin on the fringe, not at the ecclesiastical center.

The expansion of the church has always been carried on most effectively when these two structures have accepted each other’s legitimacy and worked in partnership.

The New Testament never refers to Paul and his coworkers as a church. The local church by its nature is open to all who believe, while a missionary band is restricted to a few.11 There are good reasons for not calling mission bands churches, as though somehow they are a functional equivalent to the local church. Yet the closest possible relationship exists between the missionary band and the local church. Nevertheless, when Paul and his team traveled to a location, they immediately formed a church. They would have worshiped, celebrated the Lord’s Supper and gathered to hear and obey the Word. They would have loved one another and given generously. How could they not be the church? Missionaries do not leave the church behind when they enter a new field.

If mission agencies were churches, they could conclude, “Our people don’t need to participate in or plant local churches. We are already a self-contained church.” Paul’s team existed only to form new churches in unreached areas. His team was not an end in itself. It was not a self-contained entity that existed apart from planting and strengthening local churches. Paul never called his team a church because the missionary band was not the goal of their mission. The goal of his apostolic ministry was a new church in an unreached field. The team existed as both a missionary band and a local church in formation. When new disciples were made, they were gathered into the church. But only a few ever joined Paul’s mobile missionary band. Paul’s apostolic band was an expression of the body of Christ in mission, not an end in itself. It was the seed for a new church or churches in a region. The danger of calling mission structures churches is that they may lose sight of their unique mandates. They do not exist to be a church; they exist to form new local churches in which team members participate. Apostolic ministry does not elevate individuals out of the local body of Christ. Once local churches are established, pioneers begin looking for new, unreached fields. The churches continue the spread of the gospel in depth. This includes planting new churches in their regions. The churches also send out workers to take the gospel beyond their local areas. The Great Commission is the respo...

There are two equal and opposite errors in structuring the relationship between the churches and the missionary bands. On one side, one party attempts to dominate or control the other. On the other side, one party or both seek to be independent. The solution to these extremes is an interdependent relationship expressed in partnership for mission.

Control. Control takes place when one party directs the activities of the other. Typically, this happens when local churches or denominations seek to control the activity of the apostolic bands. Control can be exercised because the churches have the resources and people that the apostolic band needs to fulfill its mission. When this imbalance occurs, local churches and denominations seek to rein in the work of movement pioneers rather than release resources and people for reaching new fields. When movement pioneers seek to control the churches, the opposite imbalance produces the same result. Mission leaders settle down to care for local churches rather than opening up new fields. Circuit riders were the early pioneers of Methodism. They were mobile evangelists and church planters responsible to reach a region rather than settle in one location. They equipped local Methodists to lead a growing network of churches. Eventually, when they got off their horses and became settled pastors of local churches, the Methodist movement lost its momentum.13 Partnership. Paul resisted the pressure to settle down as the pastor of the churches he planted. He worked to develop local leaders and mature churches that no longer depended on him but could support his mission into new fields with prayer, workers and giving. Paul wanted partnership with the churches. Partnership occurs when local churches and apostolic bands affirm the legitimacy and unique contributions of the other. The pioneer...

In summary, these are the principles that guide a beneficial relationship between the apostolic band and the local church. God remains responsible for his mission and, through the Word and the Spirit, empowers and directs his people to participate in it. The spread of the gospel is at the heart of God’s mission, resulting in the multiplication of disciples and churches. There are two structures for the fulfillment of God’s mission—local churches and apostolic bands. Churches are responsible for reaching their regions in depth. They are also responsible to partner with pioneers in taking the gospel to unreached fields beyond their geography or cultures. Apostolic bands are responsible, in partnership with the churches, to spread the gospel in fields that are unreached geographically or culturally. They spread the gospel, make disciples, and multiply and strengthen churches. Both structures are self-governing under the leading of the Holy Spirit and the authority of the Word. Neither controls, directs nor dominates the other. Partnership is the relationship God intends between the churches and the apostolic bands. John Howard Schutz observes, “Both the Church and the apostle are to be subordinate to and manifestations of the one gospel.”

There is no more place for me to work in these regions. Romans 15:23

Looking back, Nathan felt that the biggest barrier to a church-planting movement in north India and Nepal had been Nathan Shank. He realized he had too much faith in his own abilities. They had blinded him to the power of God and the resources God had placed in local disciples. Nathan came to accept that he was not the key to fulfilling the Great Commission in north India. His ministry had to die. He had to become the kernel of wheat that falls to the ground. The vision to reach north India, Nepal and Bhutan was right. He was called by God, and he had to learn the most basic lesson for a movement pioneer. It wasn’t about him but about God and his mission. It was about God and the resources he had placed in the lives of ordinary believers.

To become a movement pioneer, Nathan had to look beyond himself. He had to look past his efforts, his schedule and his achievements as the strategy. He was never going to be enough.

Nathan studied Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel of Mark. He compared Jesus’ public ministry to the crowds with his private ministry to the disciples he called out from the crowds. Jesus’ private ministry was the key to changing the world—Jesus’ time with the disciples on the road, his sharing on their trips across the lake, his taking them aside to explain things, his ...

Jesus laid the foundation for a missionary movement by training his disciples. Nathan was ready to do the same. He began to see God’s people as the key to fulfilling what God had put on his heart. He realized that vision could be limited by rules about “who can and who can’t”: Who can and who can’t evangelize? Who can and who can’t baptize? Who can and who can’t make disciples? Who can and who can’t plant a church? Nathan realized that if his vision was to plant one church every year, he could limit the ministry to paid professionals. But if the vision was for...

A vision shaped by God’s grace will demand urgency, faith and taking risks. Nathan was compelled to release ordinary people to spread the gospel, mak...

the five parts of a church-planting movement (CPM) plan: How do we enter a new field and connect with lost people? How do we share the gospel? What do we say? When people say yes to following Jesus, how do we train disciples? How do we gather disciples into new communities? How do we form churches? How do we multiply workers?2 Nathan wanted every disciple to know how to do these things. As he trained, he identified the workers who were faithful and fruitful.